Poetry_MMG

Poetry Types

There are 3 types of Poetry:

• Narrative
• Dramatic
• Lyrical

Types

Alliteration

Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonants in a series of words.

Examples:

• I waited and whimpered and whinged- The 'w' is repeated.
• Lake water lapping with low sounds- the 'l' is repeated.
• The busy bee bumbled bravely beyond the bough- the 'b' is repeated.
• The glow-worm glimmered in the gloomy glade- the 'gl' is repeated.

Task: Create your own alliteration

Alliteration

Assonance

Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in a series of words.

Soft broad vowels (a, o, u)

Example: Peace comes dropping slow, dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings.

Harsh slender vowels (i, e)

Example: Icy rivulets of rain dripping into his eyes.

Task: Create 2 assonance sentences

(1 x soft; 1 x harsh)

Metaphors

• Metaphors are comparisons which do not use 'like' or 'as'.
• Metaphors compare one thing to another.
• They say something is something else.

Examples:

• Her smile is a summer's day.
• The moon is a golf ball.
• Homework is an itch which will not go away.
• The sea is a hungry dog.
• The night is coal-black.
• 'Roses were young girls hanging from the sky' (from 'Spraying the Potatoes', Patrick Kavanagh)

Task: Create 5 metaphors.

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is when you almost hear the sound of the word.

Example:

Onomatopoeia

Task:

Come up with 10 more onomatopoeia words.

Repetition

Repetition occurs when words or sentences are repeated.

Example:

• 'I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree... I will arise and go now, for always night and day' ('The Lake Isle of Inisfree', W.B. Yeats).

• 'I get up every day torn in two, I trudge to the minimart torn in two, I buy my sliced pan torn in two' ('Torn in Two', Paul Durcan.

Task: How do these examples show repetition? Explain your answer.

Why use repetition in your writing?

Rhyme

Words with the same or similar endings that sound the same, and when used together, form a rhyme.

Example:

• Street/ feet
• Light/ night
• Lose/ shoes
• While/ smile
• Shake/ snake
• Tame/ same

Task: Find 5 words that rhyme with

a) Neat

b) Sea

c) Chat

d) Skin

Rhythm

Rhythm is a regular, repeated sound pattern.

It is created in a poem by using rhyme and/ or a particular pattern of syllable (a unit of sound).

The combination creates rhythm.

Syllable example:

Wa-ter = 2 syllables

Char-act-er = 3 syllables

A-ccomm-o-dation =5 syllables

Here are two lines from Passenger 'Let Her Go':

Star-ing at the cei-ling in the dark (9 syllables)

Same old emp-ty fee-ling in your heart (9 syllables)

Task: how many syllables does your name have?

Sibilance

Sibilance is the repetition of the 's' sounds.

Example:

• Swift as an antelope runs from the houses towards Suir Road.
• Soft salted sheets of sea water splashed the sandy shoreline.

Task 1: Identify where sibilance takes place in the following sentence.

She sells seashells by the sea shore. The shells she sells are seashells, I'm sure.

Task 2: What other technique/ style does the above sentence use?

Similes

Similes are comparisons using the words 'like' or 'as'.

Example:

• I feel like a foreigner in my native land.
• I wandered lonely as a cloud.
• His face beamed like sunbeams.
• Legs, long as spears.
• Fangs that snap like a murder trap.

Task 1: Create 5 sentences that show your understanding of similes.

Task 2: What is the difference between a metaphor and a simile?

Similes

Can you identify these poems? Explain your answers

Task

A. Limerick

B. Acrostic

c. Japanese Haiku

D. Sonnet