Elements of Poetry
Rhythm
A musical quality produced by the repetition of stressed and unstressed
syllables or by the repetition of certain sound patterns.
Rhyme
The repetition of accented vowel sounds and all sounds following them, in words that are close together in a poem.
(Example: mean and scream)
Alliteration
The repetition of the same, or very similar,
consonant sounds in words that are close together.
Personification
Personification is a literary device that gives human qualities such as emotions, intelligence, personality, or form to animals, ideas, or inanimate objects.
The Musical Lion
by Oliver Herford
Said the lion, "On music I dote
But something is wrong with my throat.
When I practice a scale
The listeners quail,
And flee at the very first note!"
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is a literary form in which words sound like meaning. (Example: snap, hiss, bang, clash, boom, pow)
Ice Cream Shop
Fizz, fizz is the noise
in the ice cream shop
of root beer splashing into vanilla.
Crack is the sound of the crystal clear clink
of the cherries bouncing on the sides of a glass.
Simile
A comparison between two unlike things using the words
like or as. (Example: Her hair is as gold as the sun.)
Metaphor
A comparison between two unlike things in which one thing
becomes another. (Example: The bullfrog's croak was the tuba of the swamp band.)
Imagery
Written detailed descriptions of people, places, and things
to create pictures with words.
Weave My Dreams
Weave my dreams.
Sew the questions.
Crochet a web to hold my thoughts.
Stitch the comfort of a friend.
Knit the silence like a ghost.
Shape the night into a blanket.
Paint your feelings and hold them close.
-Angela Lewis (age 17)
Go home!