Try the Online Quiz on Poetry Terms to test your knowledge of these terms.You might also like to try the Online Quiz on Prosody to test your knowledge of scanning poetry.Īlliteration: The repetition of identical consonant sounds, most often the sounds beginning words, in close proximity. The destruction of the world, however, would take more than an adequate disaster.Poetry Terms: 40 Brief Definitions Home | Literary Movements | Timeline | American Authors | American Literature Sites | Bibliographies | Site Updates Poetry Terms: Brief Definitions Try another ode if you need more examples.Įxample: But if it had to perish twice, / I think I know enough of hate / To say that for destruction ice / Is also great / And would suffice.Īnalysis: The entire poem’s understatement is emphasized with its last word, suffice, which means to be adequate.
He comments on the art and questions the images throughout the poem. Poem: “Ode on a Grecian Urn” by John KeatsĮxample: THOU still unravish’d bride of quietness, / Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time, / Sylvan historian, who canst thus express / A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:Īnalysis: Keats begins the ode by directly addressing the artist who painted the picture on the urn. Wow! He also claims he would walk 10,000 miles to see his true love again.įor another example, check out “Auguries of Innocence” by William Blake Burns claims he will love his “bonnie lass” till all the seas dry up, the rocks melt with the sun, and the sands of life run dry.
Eliot.Īnalysis: Nothing suits hyperbole more than a love poem. His question, “Is there balm in Gilead?” alludes to Job from the Old Testament, who suffered the insufferable and hints at the internal pain suffered by the narrator on account of Lenore’s death.įor a more complex poem using allusion, try “The Love Song of J. Let’s begin by analyzing the following examples to test your newly found skills.Įxamples: Pallas Athena, Greek goddess of war and wisdom The Night’s Plutonian Shore, a reference to the underworld in Roman Mythology Balm of Gilead, a reference to the book of Job in the Old Testament The raven, a mystical mythological bird.Īnalysis: “The Raven” is a melancholy poem, and what could be more melancholy than a raven, a pitch black, magical bird that portends death, arriving from Pluto’s realm in the underworld? The bust of Pallas on which the raven alights adds to the ancient feel to the narrator’s tale. Once you are able to own figurative language and use it to present your ideas clearly, you can become a master of language. You should be able to use figurative language in your own writing to communicate more clearly. You should be able to write poetry using figurative language.ĥ. You should be able to explain the purpose for the figurative language and analyze how it contributes to the theme of the poem.Ĥ. You should be able to identify examples of figurative language in poetry on your own.ģ. pun– when a word or phrase is used with two different meanings.Ģ.apostrophe– a speech given to an inanimate object, an idea, or someone who is dead.allusion– a reference to a famous person, event, or other literary work.Examples of poems using personification abound. personification– giving human characteristics to inanimate objects.Examples of poems containing similes abound. simile– a comparison between two seemingly unlike things using like or as.Examples of poems containing metaphors abound. metaphor– a comparison between two seemingly unlike things.Recognize and master the many types of figurative language used in poetry: Mastering figurative language will help you communicate more clearly than an annoyed mother shouting at her two-year old to get out if the road.ġ. Just print, make copies, and accept accolades from colleagues and students. These units are teacher ready and student ready. Imagine having 11 complete poetry units with handouts and lesson plans completed.