Definitions of Poetry Terms
Identify Figurative Language
Identify Sound Devices
Analyze Figurative Language
The Color of My Words
100

The voice who is saying the poem to the reader

What is the speaker of the poem?

100

The moon shines like a new nickel in the sky.

What is a simile?

100

The hiss of the busted pipe alerted me to the leak.

What is onomatopoeia?

100

What is the meaning of the simile? 

It’s as easy as A-B-C.

It’s very simple/easy.

100

The author’s use of _____________ lets the reader imagine the sound in this scene.

“Then WHACK! I smack the clothes on the rocks

to scare out all dirt and grassy spots” (Joseph 1).

What is onomatopoeia?

200

The person who wrote a poem

Who is the author or poet? (either answer correct)

200

Life is a roller coaster.

What is a metaphor?

200

“The way a crow

Shook down on me

The dust of snow

From a hemlock tree

From “Dust of Snow” by Robert Frost

What is rhyme?

200

What is the meaning of the hyperbole? 

These new boots are killing me!

They’re really hurting my feet!

200

In this excerpt, Mama uses _____________ to warn Ana Rosa to be careful with her words.

“You are this river, Ana Rosa, but you must flow softly around the rocks on your way to meet the sea” (Joseph 4).

What is a metaphor?

300

Lines in poetry grouped together; like a paragraph in a poem

What is a stanza?

300

Time raced ahead, and I could not keep up.

What is personification?

300

He sat in serious silence.

What is alliteration?

300

What is the meaning of the metaphor? 

You are my rock.

You are someone who I can rely on to be strong and supportive.

300

In this poem, the author uses _____________ and  _____________ to show the importance of the tree.

“On top of the gri gri

I’m a tall, dark queen

sitting on a throne

of towering green” (Joseph 24).

What are metaphor and imagery?

400

Where a line of a poem ends and the next line begins

What is a line break?

400

The week off from school passed by in a second.

What is hyperbole?

400

“Of the bells:

Keeping time, time, time...”

From “The Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe

What is repetition?

400

What does this personification tell the reader? 

The dark grey clouds marched in from the West with their rumbling thunder-canons.

A thunderstorm approached from the West.

400

In this poem, the author uses _____________ and  _____________ to emphasize the speaker’s need to write down her words.

“May I have some paper please

Please, may I have some paper

‘Cause these words of mine

go walk away

they go walk away all by themselves

and get lost in the crowd” (Joseph 8).

What are repetition and personification?

500

Vivid description using one or more of the five senses

What is imagery?

500

The lonely tree reached its branches over the snowy ground.

What is personification?

500

Identify TWO: 

“The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew…” 

From “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

What is alliteration and rhyme?

500

What does the metaphor tell the reader? 

“Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly.”

From “Dreams” by Langston Hughes

If you abandon your dreams/goals, life is sad and meaningless.

500

In this excerpt the author uses _____________ and  _____________ to help the reader visualize the scene.

“One Sunday, a storm blew in

with green-gold waves

touching the sky

and coconut trees flinging about

dancing with ghost clouds

whispering lies” (Joseph 56).

What are imagery and personification?

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