Slideshow of poetry vocabulary for slesl.net, Second Life for English as a Second Language, a distance learning site with digital classes in the 3D game and virtual reality realm of Second Life.

1. PoetryPoetry
VocabularyVocabulary
Free powerpoints at http://www.worldofteaching.com

2. 1. Alliteration:
– Repetition of initial consonant
sounds
– Example: Sister Suzy sat on the
seashore until suddenly she was
swallowed by a shark.
1. Allusion:
– A reference to a well-known
person, place, event, literary
work, or work of art

3. 3. Ballad:
– A song-like poem that tells a story
4.Blank Verse:
– Poetry written in unrhymed,
iambic pentameter.
5.Concrete Poem:
– A poem with a shape that
suggests its subject
– Example: George Herbert’s
Easter Wings and The Alter

4. 6. Figurative Language:
– Writing that is not meant to be
taken literally
– Example: He made me so mad I
wanted to die.
7. Free Verse:
– Poetry not written in a regular
rhythmical pattern or meter

5. 8. Image:
– A word or phrase that appeals to one
or more of the five senses
9. Lyric Poem:
– Highly musical verse that expresses
the observations and feelings of a
single speaker
9. Metaphor:
– A figure of speech in which something
is described as though it were
something else
– Example: He is such a pig when he eats!

6. 11. Mood:
– The feeling created in the reader by a
literary work
12. Onomatopoeia:
– The use of words that imitate sounds
– Example: The buzz of the bee was very
loud.
13.Personification:
– A type of figurative language in which a
non-human subject is given human
characteristics
– Example: The tree waved excitedly in
the wind.

7. 14. Repetition:
– The use, more than once, of any
element of language
15. Rhyme:
– Repetition of sounds at the end of
words
– Example: Roses are red, violets are
blue…..
16. Rhyme Scheme:
– A regular pattern of rhyming
words in a poem

8. 17. Rhythm:
– Pattern of beats or stresses in
spoken or written language
18. Simile:
– A figure of speech that uses
like or as to make a direct
comparison between two unlike
ideas
19. Stanza:
– A formal division of lines in a
poem considered as a unit
My love is like a red rose.

9. 20. Motif – Main or reoccurring
theme.
21. Extended Metaphor – a
comparison developed over several
lines of poetry.
22. Pun – Humor from a double
meaning

10. 23. Confessional poetry –
confession of an activity or an
emotion.
24. Elegy – Pays tribute to a
person (usually dead)
25. Imagist poetry – uses
lots of images to paint a
picture for the reader.

11. Humor
• Humor in poetry can arise from a
number of sources:
–Surprise
–Exaggeration
–Bringing together of
unrelated things
• Most funny poems have two things
in common:
–Rhythm
–Rhyme

12. Rhythm & Rhyme
• Using more spirited language makes
humorous situations even more humorous
“The Porcupine”
By Ogden Nash
Any hound a porcupine nudges
Can’t be blamed for harboring grudges.
I know one hound that laughed all winter
At a porcupine that sat on a splinter.

13. If you take away the rhythm and rhyme,
the humor vanishes.
Any hound that touches a porcupine
Can’t be blamed for holding a grudge
I know one hound that laughed all
winter long
At a porcupine that sat on a piece of
wood

14. Limericks
• A limerick is a poem of five lines
• The first, second, and fifth lines
have three rhythmic beats and rhyme
with one another.
• The third and fourth lines have two
beats and rhyme with one another.
• They are always light-hearted,
humorous poems.

15. Limericks
There once was a man with no hair.
He gave everyone quite a scare.
He got some Rogaine,
Grew out a mane,
And now he resembles a bear!

16. Limerick About a Bee
I wish that my room had a floor,
I don’t care so much for a door.
But this walking around
Without touching the ground
Is getting to be quite a bore.

17. Another Limerick
There once was a very small mouse
Who lived in a very small house,
The ocean’s spray
Washed it away,
All that was left was her blouse!

18. You will create a limerick similar to
this one…
There once was a man from Beijing.
All his life he hoped to be King.
So he put on a crown,
Which quickly fell down.
That small silly man from Beijing.

19. Fill in the blanks and create your
own Limerick.
There once was a _____ from _____.
All the while she/he hoped ________.
So she/he ____________________,
And ________________________,
That _________ from ___________.

20. The Class Limerick
There once was a _____ from _____.
All the while she/he hoped ________.
So she/he ____________________,
And ________________________,
That _________ from ___________.