Poetry Terms and Knowledge
General Figurative Language
Theme
Symbolism
Wildcard
100
SLAM is this type of poetry
What is free verse?
100
I shall lift my arms and "my roots will set off to seek another land." This is the literary device used in the quoted section of this poem.
What is personification?
100
Now you understand Just why my head's not bowed. I don't shout or jump about Or have to talk real loud. When you see me passing It ought to make you proud. I say, It's in the click of my heels, The bend of my hair, the palm of my hand, The need of my care, 'Cause I'm a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That's me. This is the central theme of this excerpt from Maya Angelou's work.
What is women don't have to draw attention to be incredible and they don't have to look a certain way (something like this is fine).
100
Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. The light symbolizes this.
What is life?
100
This man wrote the poem "The Road Less Travelled".
Who is Robert Frost?
200
Phrases not meant to be taken literally and can be very funny if you do, such as "when pigs fly" or "he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth" are
What are idioms or idiomatic expressions?
200
Like primitives we buried the cat with his bowl. Bare-handed we scraped sand and gravel back into the hole. They fell with a hiss and thud on his side... This is the literary device used at the end of this poem
What is onomatopoeia?
200
The Pool Players. Seven at the Golden Shovel. We real cool. We Left school. We Lurk late. We Strike straight. We Sing sin. We Thin gin. We Jazz June. We Die soon. The central theme of this poem is this.
What is that we indulge in things that cost us our lives or waste time on what doesn't mattter?
200
The stars are not wanted now; put out every one, Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun, Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood; For nothing now can ever come to any good. These two things symbolize TIME in this stanza.
What are the sun and the moon?
200
Knowledge, fear, hope, happiness, rage, etc. are all examples of this.
What is abstract language?
300
"Your lips are as red as a rose" and "your hair is as soft as silk" or "I love you so much it hurts" are all
What are cliches?
300
Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up Like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore-- And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over-- like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode? These are the TWO literary devices this poem relies most heavily on.
What is imagery and simile?
300
The art of losing isn't hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster, Lose something every day. Accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent. The art of losing isn't hard to master. Then practice losing farther, losing faster: places, and names, and where it was you meant to travel. None of these will bring disaster. I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or next-to-last, of three loved houses went. The art of losing isn't hard to master. I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster, some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent. I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster. - Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident the art of losing's not too hard to master though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster. This is the central theme of this poem.
What is we are good at losing things and when we do, we adjust to it?
300
A bare tree in the middle of winter standing alone on a hill represents
What is loneliness, isolation, death, etc.?
300
Fill in the blank... A poem is a series of ___________.
What are images?
400
Instead of saying "he died", we say "he passed on". This is an example of:
What is a euphemism?
400
Last Night I Dreamed of Chickens Last night I dreamed of chickens, there were chickens everywhere, they were standing on my stomach, they were nesting in my hair, they were pecking at my pillow, they were hopping on my head, they were ruffling up their feathers as they raced about my bed. They were on the chairs and tables, they were on the chandeliers, they were roosting in the corners, they were clucking in my ears, there were chickens, chickens, chickens for as far as I could see... when I woke today, I noticed there were eggs on top of me. Name and give an example of one figurative language device used here.
What is allegory, metaphor, hyperbole, onomatopoeia?
400
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle Can patter out their hasty orisons. This theme is clearly present here.
What is not enough mourning is done for lost soldiers?
400
IF I should die, think only this of me: That there’s some corner of a foreign field That is forever England. There shall be In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam, A body of England’s, breathing English air, Washed by the rivers, blest by the suns of home. England represents or symbolizes this to the speaker.
What is pride, hope, life, etc.?
400
This is a type of poem with no set pattern or rhyme or meter or line
What is free verse?
500
A recurring idea or element of a work--freedom, hope, fire, home, etc.
What is a motif?
500
so much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens. This figurative language is the ONLY device present here.
What is imagery?
500
All you who sleep tonight Far from the ones you love, No hand to left or right And emptiness above - Know that you aren't alone The whole world shares your tears, Some for two nights or one, And some for all their years. In one sentence, without stumbling, say clearly the central theme of this poem. Make sure you know exactly what you want to say before you say it!
What is all of us who feel lonely are not alone in our loneliness? (something like this is fine)
500
we had goldfish and they circled around and around in the bowl on the table near the heavy drapes covering the picture window and my mother, always smiling, wanting us all to be happy, told me, 'be happy Henry!' and she was right: it's better to be happy if you can but my father continued to beat her and me several times a week while raging inside his 6-foot-two frame because he couldn't understand what was attacking him from within. The goldfish represent this
What is the speaker and how trapped he feels, or his mother and her feeling trapped?
500
This defines imagery...
What is the use of all five senses?
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