Understanding

Poetry

Prepared by: Ms. Hanna Micaela O. Cruz

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 In poetry the sound
and meaning of words
are combined to
express feelings,
thoughts, and ideas.
 The poet chooses
words carefully.
 Poetry is usually
written in lines.

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Elements of Poetry
Writers use many elements to create their
poems. These elements include:
 Rhythm
 Sound
 Imagery
 Form

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Rhythm
 Rhythm is the flow
of the beat in a
poem.
 Gives poetry a
musical feel.
 Can be fast or
slow, depending
on mood and
subject of poem.

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Rhythm Example
The Pickety Fence by David McCord
The pickety fence
The pickety fence
Give it a lick it's
The pickety fence
Give it a lick it's
A clickety fence
Give it a lick it's a lickety fence
Give it a lick
Give it a lick
Give it a lick
With a rickety stick
pickety The rhythm in this poem is fast –
pickety to match the speed of the stick
pickety striking the fence.
pick.
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Rhythm Example
Where Are You Now?
When the night begins to fall
And the sky begins to glow
You look up and see the tall
City of lights begin to grow –
In rows and little golden squares
The lights come out. First here, then there
Behind the windowpanes as though
A million billion bees had built The rhythm in this poem is
Their golden hives and honeycombs slow – to match the night
Above you in the air. gently falling and the
lights slowly coming on.
By Mary Britton Miller

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Sound
Writers love to use interesting sounds in
their poems. After all, poems are meant to
be heard. These sound devices include:

 Rhyme
 Repetition
 Alliteration
 Onomatopoeia

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 Rhyme
 Rhymes are words that
end with the same sound.
(Hat, cat and bat rhyme.)
 Rhyming sounds don’t
have to be spelled the
same way. (Cloud and
allowed rhyme.)
 Rhyme is the most
common sound device in
poetry.

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 Rhyming Patterns
 Poets can choose from  AABB – lines 1 & 2 rhyme
a variety of different and lines 3 & 4 rhyme
rhyming patterns.  ABAB – lines 1 & 3 rhyme
 (See next four slides and lines 2 & 4 rhyme
for examples.)  ABBA – lines 1 & 4 rhyme
and lines 2 & 3 rhyme
 ABCB – lines 2 & 4 rhyme
and lines 1 & 3 do not
rhyme

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 AABB Rhyming Pattern
First Snow

Snow makes whiteness where it falls.

The bushes look like popcorn balls.
And places where I always play,
Look like somewhere else today.
By Marie Louise Allen

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ABAB Rhyming Pattern
Oodles of Noodles

I love noodles. Give me oodles.

Make a mound up to the sun.
Noodles are my favorite foodles.
I eat noodles by the ton.

By Lucia and James L. Hymes, Jr.

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ABBA Rhyming Pattern
From “Bliss”

Let me fetch sticks,

Let me fetch stones,
Throw me your bones,
Teach me your tricks.
By Eleanor Farjeon

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ABCB Rhyming Pattern

The Alligator

The alligator chased his tail

Which hit him in the snout;
He nibbled, gobbled, swallowed it,
And turned right inside-out.
by Mary Macdonald

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 Repetition
 Repetition occurs when
poets repeat words, phrases,
or lines in a poem.
 Creates a pattern.
 Increases rhythm.
 Strengthens feelings, ideas
and mood in a poem.
 (See next slide for example.)

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 Repetition Example
The Sun

Some one tossed a pancake,

A buttery, buttery, pancake.
Someone tossed a pancake
And flipped it up so high,
That now I see the pancake,
The buttery, buttery pancake,
Now I see that pancake
Stuck against the sky.
by Sandra Liatsos

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 Alliteration
 Alliteration is the
repetition of the first
consonant sound in
words, as in the
nursery rhyme “Peter
Piper picked a peck
of pickled peppers.”
The snake slithered silently
 (See next slide for along the sunny sidewalk.
example.)

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 Alliteration Example
This Tooth
I jiggled it
jaggled it
jerked it.
I pushed
and pulled
and poked it.
But –
As soon as I stopped,
And left it alone
This tooth came out
On its very own!
by Lee Bennett Hopkins
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 Onomatopoeia
 Words that represent the
actual sound of something
are words of onomatopoeia.
Dogs “bark,” cats “purr,”
thunder “booms,” rain
“drips,” and the clock “ticks.”
 Appeals to the sense of
sound.
 (See next slide for example.)

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 Onomatopoeia Example
Listen

Scrunch, scrunch, scrunch.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Frozen snow and brittle ice
Make a winter sound that’s nice
Underneath my stamping feet
And the cars along the street.
Scrunch, scrunch, scrunch.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
by Margaret Hillert
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Imagery
 Imagery is the use of words
to create pictures, or images,
in your mind.
 Appeals to the five senses:
smell, sight, hearing, taste
Five Senses
and touch.
 Details about smells, sounds,
colors, and taste create
strong images.
 To create vivid images
writers use figures of speech.
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Forms of Poetry
There are many forms of poetry including the:
 Couplet
 Tercet
 Acrostic
 Cinquain
 Haiku
 Concrete Poem
 Free Verse
 Limerick

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Lines and Stanzas
 Most poems are March
written in lines. A blue day
 A group of lines in A blue jay
a poem is called a
And a good beginning.
stanza.
 Stanzas separate One crow,
ideas in a poem.
They act like Melting snow –
paragraphs. Spring’s winning!
 This poem has two By Eleanor Farjeon
stanzas.
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 Couplet
 A couplet is a poem,
or stanza in a poem,
written in two lines.
 Usually rhymes.

The Jellyfish
Who wants my jellyfish?
I’m not sellyfish!
By Ogden Nash

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 Tercet
 A tercet is a poem, or
stanza, written in three
lines.
 Usually rhymes.
 Lines 1 and 2 can
rhyme; lines 1 and 3 can
rhyme; sometimes all 3
lines rhyme.
Winter Moon
How thin and sharp is the moon tonight!
How thin and sharp and ghostly white
Is the slim curved crook of the moon tonight!
By Langston Hughes

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 Quatrain
 A quatrain is a poem, or
stanza, written in four
lines.
 The quatrain is the most
common form of stanza
used in poetry.
 Usually rhymes. The Lizard
 Can be written in variety The lizard is a timid thing
of rhyming patterns. That cannot dance or fly or sing;
 (See slide 9 entitled He hunts for bugs beneath the floor
“Rhyming Patterns.”)
And longs to be a dinosaur.
By John Gardner

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 Traditional Cinquain
 A cinquain is a poem
written in five lines that do

 
not rhyme.
 Traditional cinquain has
five lines containing 22
syllables in the following
pattern: Oh, cat
Line 1 – 2 syllables are you grinning
Line 2 – 4 syllables curled in the                       
window seat
Line 3 – 6 syllables
as sun warms you this December
Line 4 – 8 syllables                                    
morning?
Line 5 – 2 syllables      
By Paul B. Janezco

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 Word-Count Cinquain
 Word-count cinquain for younger
students uses the following
pattern:

Line 1: One word (title)

Line 2: Two words (describe the
title)
Line 3: Three words (describe an
action) Owl
Line 4: Four words (describe a Swift, ferocious
feeling) Watches for food
Line 5: One word (another word for
Soaring through the night
title)
Hunter

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 Diamante
Diamante Pattern
 A diamante is a seven- Line 1 – Your topic (noun)
line poem written in the Line 2 – Two adjectives about
shape of a diamond.
Line 3 – Three “ing” words about
 Does not rhyme.
Line 4 – Four nouns or short
 Follows pattern. phrase linking topic (or topics)
 Can use synonyms or Line 5 – Three “ing” words about
antonyms. Line 5 – Two adjectives about
 (See next two slides for Line 7 – Your ending topic (noun)
examples.)

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 Synonym Diamante
Monsters
Creepy, sinister,
Hiding, lurking, stalking,
Vampires, mummies, werewolves and more –
Chasing, pouncing eating,
Hungry, scary,
Creatures

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 Antonym Diamante
Day
Bright, sunny,
Laughing, playing, doing,
Up in the east, down in the west –
Talking, resting, sleeping,
Quiet, dark,
Night

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 Haiku
 A haiku is a Japanese
poem with 3 lines of 5, 7,
and 5 syllables. (Total of
17 syllables.)
 Does not rhyme.
 Is about an aspect of
nature or the seasons. Little frog among
rain-shaken leaves, are you, too,
 Captures a moment in
splashed with fresh, green paint?
time.
by Gaki

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 Concrete Poem
 A concrete poem (also
called shape poem) is
written in the shape of
its subject.
 The way the words are
arranged is as important
what they mean.
 Does not have to rhyme.

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 Free Verse
Revenge
 A free verse poem
When I find out
does not use rhyme or who took
patterns. the last cooky

 Can vary freely in out of the jar

and left
length of lines, me a bunch of
stanzas, and subject. stale old messy
crumbs, I'm
going to take
me a handful
and crumb
up someone's bed.

By Myra Cohn Livingston

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 Acrostic
 In an acrostic poem
the first letter of each
line, read down the
page, spells the
subject of the poem.
Loose brown parachute
 Type of free verse
poem. Escaping
 Does not usually And
rhyme. Floating on puffs of air.
by Paul Paolilli

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 Limerick

 A limerick is a funny
poem of 5 lines.
 Lines 1, 2 & 5 rhyme.
 Lines 3 & 4 are
shorter and rhyme. There Seems to Be a Problem
 Line 5 refers to line 1. I really don’t know about Jim.
 Limericks are a kind When he comes to our farm for a swim,

of nonsense poem. The fish as a rule,

jump out of the pool.
Is there something the matter with him?
By John Ciardi

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Nonsense Poems
 A nonsense poem is a
humorous poem with
silly characters and
actions. It is meant to
be fun.
 Can be written as a A Princess Laments
limerick or as another
I kissed a frog because I’d heard
form of poetry.
That it would turn into a prince.
That’s not exactly what occurred,
And I’ve been croaking ever since.
by Jack Prelutsky

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Word Play
 Some poets use a
special kind of word
play by making up
words or misspelling
them on purpose. The Walrus
The pounding spatter
Of salty sea
Makes the walrus
Walrusty.
By Douglas Florian

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Acknowledgements
Books (Continued):
Random House Book of Poetry: A Treasury of 572 Poems for Today’s Child.
Selected by Jack Prelutsky. NY: Random House, 1983.
Recess, Rhyme, and Reason: A Collection of Poems About School. Compiled and
annotated by Patricia M. Stockland. Minneapolis, MS: Compass Point Books, 2004.
Teaching 10 Fabulous Forms of Poetry: Great Lessons, Brainstorming Sheets, and
Organizers for Writing Haiku, Limericks, Cinquains, and Other Kinds of Poetry
Kids Love. Janeczko, Paul B. NY: Scholastic Professional Books, 2000.
Tomie DePaola’s Book of Poems. Selected by Tomie DePaola. NY: G.P. Putnam’s
Sons, 1988.
The Twentieth Century Children’s Poetry Treasury. Selected by Jack Prelutsky. NY:
Alfred A. Knopf, 1999.
Weather: Poems. Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins. NY: HarperCollins, 1994.
Writing Poetry with Children. Monterey, CA: Evan-Moor Corp., 1999.

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Acknowledgements
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