English 11 Hh- Poetry Techniques

Front 1

Theme—

Back 1

The central idea of a literary work.

Front 2

Connotations—

Back 2

What a word suggests beyond its basic definition; a word’s overtones of meaning.

Hint 2

For example, some people think of how cute cats are and their first cats, etc...some people hate cats, and that's what they think of when they hear the word. Here's another example: thin and scrawny. Which one has the more positive connotation? Thin. Scrawny sounds like a malnourished and ugly thing to be, but thin sounds attractive and positive.

Front 3

Imagery—

Back 3

The representation through language of sense experience. Imagery may also represent a sound (auditory imagery); a smell (olfactory imagery); a taste (gustatory imagery); touch, such as hardness, softness, wetness, or heat and cold (tactile imagery); an internal sensation, such as hunger, thirst, fatigue, or nausea (kinesthetic imagery).

Front 4

Figurative language—

Back 4

Language employing figures of speech; language that cannot be taken literally or only literally.

Hint 4

All the world's a stage" Frost often referred to them simply as "figures." Frost said, "Every poem I write is figurative in two senses. It will have figures in it, of course; but it's also a figure in itself - a figure for something, and it's made so that you can get more than one figure out of it."

Front 5

Simile—

Back 5

A figure of speech in which an explicit comparison is made between two things essentially unlike. The comparison is made explicit by the use of some such word or phrase a like, as, than, similar to, resembles, or seems.

Hint 5

A figure of speech in which a comparison is expressed by the specific use of a word or phrase such as: like, as, than, seems or Frost's favorite "as if,"

Examples:
Mending Wall: like an old-stone savage armed
Stars: like some snow-white/ Minerva's snow-white marble eyes
Going for Water: We ran as if to meet the moon ---- we paused / like gnomes
Birches: Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair
Hyla Brook: Like ghost of sleigh bells

Front 6

Metaphor—

Back 6

A figure or speech in which an implicit comparison is made between two things essentially unlike. It may take one of four forms: 1) that in which the literal term and the figurative term are both named; 2) that in which the literal term is named and the figurative term implied; 3) that in which the literal term is implied and the figurative term named; 4) that in which both the literal and the figurative terms are implied.

Hint 6

To Frost, metaphor is really what poetry is all about. He is notably a poet of metaphors more than anything else. This is so important, we should hear directly from the poet. Frost said," Poetry begins in trivial metaphors, pretty metaphors, 'grace metaphors,' and goes on to the profoundest thinking that we have. Poetry provides the one permissible way of saying one thing and meaning another.

Examples:
The Silken Tent. A woman is admired for her strength and beauty, like a silken tent. Note the strength of the silk and cedar.
Putting in the Seed. The planting of seed in the garden, in springtime is like making love.
Devotion. The passive but ever-changing shore and the persistent energetic ocean are like a devoted couple.
To Earthward. The stages of love are like stepping stones to death.

Front 7

Symbol—

Back 7

A figure of speech in which something (object, person, situation, or action) means more than what it is. A symbol, in other words, may be read both literally and metaphorically.

Hint 7

A thing (could be an object, person, situation or action) which stands for something else more abstract. For example our flag is the symbol of our country.

Examples:
The Road Not Taken: the forked road represents choices in life. The road in this poem is a text book example of a symbol.
Rose Pogonias: Early in Frost's poetry, flowers become a symbol for the beloved, his wife Elinor.
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening: even though there is no one overt symbol in the poem, the entire journey can represent life's journey. "Dark woods" also become a powerful recurring symbol in Frost.
The Pasture and Directive. Spring (as in water spring) is very meaningful in Frost's poetry. Spring represents origin or source, almost in a Proustian sense. Other variations include "brook" Hyla Brook and West-Running Brook. Water often deals with an emotional state.
Come In: "But no, I was out for stars." The star is one of the chief symbolic images in Frost's poetry. (Table)

Front 8

Allegory—

Back 8

A narrative or description having a second meaning beneath the surface one.

Hint 8

A poem in the form of a narrative or story that has a second meaning beneath the surface one. Frost is notable for his use of the parable using the description to evoke an idea. Some critics call him a "Parablist."

Examples:
After Apple-Picking: the apple harvest suggests accomplishment
The Grindstone: the grinding of the blade suggests the idea of judging and recognizing limits
The Lockless Door: a story of self escape
Birches: the climbing suggests the value of learning and experience
Design: the incident suggests a universal design

Front 9

Paradox—

Back 9

A statement or situation containing apparently contradictory or incompatible elements.

Hint 9

A statement or situation containing apparently contradictory or incompatible elements, but on closer inspection may be true.

Examples:
Nothing Gold Can Stay: green is gold
The Gift Outright: "And forthwith found salvation in surrender."
Ghost House: I dwell in a house that vanished.
Fire and Ice:"But if it had to perish twice"
The Tuft of Flowers: men work together whether they work together or apart.

Front 10

Overstatement (or hyperbole)—

Back 10

A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used in the service of truth.

Hint 10

A bold, deliberate overstatement not intended to be taken literally, it is used as a means of emphasizing the truth of a statement. This is relatively rare in Frost. He has a penchant for fact and truth.

Example:
A Star in a Stoneboat: A meteorite is found in a field and supposed to be a star which has fallen to earth
Etherealizing: The idea of reducing ourselves simply to a brain.
After Apple-Picking: Ten thousand thousand fruit to touch.
Stopping by Woods: The woods filling up with snow.
The Milky Way is a Cowpath (title) (Table)

Front 11

Understatement—

Back 11

A figure of speech that consists of saying less than one means, or of saying what one means with less force than the occasion warrants.

Hint 11

he presentation of a thing with underemphasis in order to achieve a greater effect. Frost uses this device extensively, often as a means of irony. His love poems are especially understated. He cautions, "Never larrup an emotion."

Examples:
Fire and Ice: Ice, which for destruction is great, "will suffice."
Mowing: "Anything more than the truth would have seemed to weak" This is almost Frost's definition of understatement
Hyla Brook: the last line "We love the things we love for what they are."
My November Guest: The speaker appreciates the November landscape, but leaves it to his "guest" to praise.
Brown's Descent: After falling down an ice crusted slope, Farmer Brown still clutching his lantern says, "Ile's (oil's) 'bout out!"

Front 12

Irony—

Back 12

A situation, or a use of language, involving some kind of incongruity or discrepancy. Three kinds of irony are distinguished in the Sound and Sense:

Front 13

Verbal irony—

Back 13

A figure of speech in which what is meant is the opposite of what is said.

Hint 13

verbal irony is a figure of speech when an expression used is the opposite of the thought in the speaker's mind, thus conveying a meaning that contradicts the literal definition.
Often, Frost's use of irony convey's one meaning by word and syntax, and another by the tone of voice it indicates. The tone contradicts the words. Frost's irony is usually tricky because it is so subtle.

Examples:
Birches: Dramatic irony the wish to get away from earth may not be granted too soon
Range-Finding: Irony of situation when the spider is disturbed by a bullet but finds it unimportant.
The Road Not Taken: Verbal irony - the speaker knows he will tell the old story "with a sigh" of a choice that "made all the difference."
Ghost House: Irony of situation when daylight falls (usually night falls) into a place that was supposed to be dark in order too keep things for survival.The cellar was a storeroom filled with things to get you through the winter. In this case, daylight is dissolution of the proper and good use of the place. Wild raspberries now grow where fruit used to be stored. This poem is full of irony.
Stars: Minerva, the goddess of wisdom but her eyes are without the gift of sight.

Front 14

Dramatic irony—

Back 14

A device by which the author implies a different meaning from that intended by the speaker (or by a speaker) in a literary work.

Hint 14

Dramatic irony is a literary or theatrical device of having a character utter words which the the reader or audience understands to have a different meaning, but of which the character himself is unaware.

Front 15

Irony of situation (or situational irony)—

Back 15

A situation in which there is an incongruity between actual circumstances and those that would seem appropriate or between what is anticipated and what actually comes to pass.

Hint 15

Irony of situation is when a situation occurs which is quite the reverse of what one might have expected.

Front 16

Sarcasm—

Back 16

Bitter or cutting speech; speech intended by its speaker to give pain to the person addressed.

Hint 16

It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.
It is possible for your mind to be so open that your brain falls out.
I refuse to engage in an intellectual battle with an unarmed man.
One good thing about you being wrong is the joy it brings to others.
And your crybaby whinny opinion would be...?
Whatever kind of look you were going for, you missed.
If I throw a stick, will you leave?
If I want to hear the pitter patter of little feet, I'll put shoes on my cats.
Does your train of thought have a caboose?
Nice perfume. Must you marinate in it?

Front 17

Satire—

Back 17

A kind of literature that ridicules human folly or vice with the ostensible purpose of bringing about reform or of keeping others from falling into similar folly or vice.

Hint 17

Satire is any literary work that makes fun of vices, follies, stupidities, abuses, or wickedness.
A modest proposal
Gulliver's travels
The Simpsons, South Park

"This is my brilliant son, who failed out of college."

Front 18

Allusion—

Back 18

A reference, explicit or implicit, to something in literature or history.

Front 19

Tone—

Back 19

The writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward the subject, the audience, or herself or himself; the emotional coloring, or emotional meaning, of a work.

Front 20

Alliteration—

Back 20

The repetition at cose intervals of the initial consonant sounds of accented syllables or important words. Important words and accented syllables beginning with each other inasmuch as they all have the same lack of an initial consonant sound.

Hint 20

The sun sizzled the swimmers' skin.
The wild wind whistled and wailed.
The rapidly rising river rushed rampantly.
Little Leaping lizards lay lazily on a log.

Front 21

Assonance—

Back 21

The repetition at close intervals of the vowel sounds of accented syllables or important words.

Front 22

Consonance—

Back 22

The repetition at close intervals of the final consonant sounds of accented syllables or important words.

Front 23

Rhyme—

Back 23

The repetition of the accented vowel sound and any succeeding consonant sounds.

Front 24

Masculine rhymes

Back 24

are when the rhyme sounds involved only one syllable.

Front 25

Feminine rhymes

Back 25

are when the rhyme sounds involve two or more syllables.

Front 26

Internal rhymes

Back 26

are when one or more rhyming words are within the line.

Front 27

End rhymes

Back 27

are when the rhyming words are at the ends of the lines.

Front 28

Refrain—

Back 28

A repeated word, phrase, line, or group of lines, normally at some fixed position in a poem written in stanzaic form.

Front 29

Rhythm—

Back 29

Any wavelike recurrence of motion or sound.

Front 30

End-stop line—

Back 30

A line that ends with a natural speech pause, usually marked by punctuation.

Front 31

Run-on line—

Back 31

A line which has no natural speech pause at its end, allowing the sense to flow uninterruptedly into the succeeding line.

Front 32

Caesuras—

Back 32

A speech pause occurring within a line.

Front 33

Meter—

Back 33

The regular patterns of accent that underlie metrical verse; the measurable repetition of accented and unaccented syllables in poetry.

Front 34

Free verse—

Back 34

Nonmetrical poetry in which the basic rhythmic unit is the line. And in which pauses, line breaks, and formal patterns develop organically from the requirements of the individual poem rather than from established poetic forms.

Front 35

Foot—

Back 35

The basic unit used in the scansion or measurement of metrical verse. A foot usually contains one accented syllable and one or two un accented syllables.

Front 36

Stanza—

Back 36

A group of lines whose metrical pattern is repeated throughout a poem.

Front 37

Blank verse—

Back 37

Unrhymed iambic pentameter.

Front 38

Structure—

Back 38

The internal organization of aa poem’s content.

Front 39

Form—

Back 39

The external pattern or shape of a poem, describable without reference to its content, as continuous form, stanzaic form, fixed form, free verse, and syllabic verse.

Front 40

Oxymoron—

Back 40

A compact paradox in which two successive words seemingly contradict each other.

Hint 40

open secret larger half clearly confused
act naturally alone together Hell's Angels
found missing liquid gas civil engineer
deafening silence seriously funny living dead
military intelligence jumbo shrimp
tragic comedy unbiased opinion
virtual reality definite maybe original copies
pretty ugly same difference plastic glasses
almost exactly constant variable even odds
minor crisis extinct life genuine imitation
exact estimate only choice freezer burn
free love working holiday rolling stop

Great Depression free trade peacekeeper missile
sweet tart crash landing now then
butt head sweet sorrow student teacher
silent scream taped live alone together
good grief tight slacks living dead
near miss light tanks old news
hot chilli criminal justice peace force

Front 41

Personification—

Back 41

A figure of speech in which human attributes are given to an animal, an object, or a concept.

Hint 41

A type of metaphor in which distinct human qualities,

e.g., honesty, emotion, volition, etc., are attributed to an animal, object or idea.

Examples:
My November Guest: the guest is Sorrow, personified as a woman dearly loved who walks with him.
Mowing: the scythe whispers
Range-Finding: the spider sullenly withdraws
Tree at my Window: the tree watches him sleep; it has tongues talking aloud
Storm Fear: the wind works and whispers, the cold creeps, the whole storm is personified

Front 42

Imagery may also represent a sound

Back 42

(auditory imagery)

Hint 42

imagery - represents a sound (Go back to table)

Examples:
After Apple-Picking - the rumbling .. of load on load of apples coming in.
Mowing - the scythe whispering to the ground
The Runaway - the miniature thunder... the clatter of stone
An Old Man's Winter Night - the roar of trees, the crack of branches, beating on a box
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening - the sweep of easy wind and downy flake

Front 43

Imagery may also represent a smell

Back 43

(olfactory imagery)

Hint 43

Examples:
After Apple-Picking - Essence of winter sleep in on the night, the scent of apples
Note: just the mention of "the scent of apples" does not make it an image, but when connected to
"essence of winter sleep" the scent gains vividness.
To Earthward - musk from hidden grapevine springs
Out, Out - the sticks of wood "sweet scented stuff"
Unharvested - A scent of ripeness from over a wall...smelling the sweetness in no theft.
To a Young Wretch - the boy takes the tree and heads home, "smelling green"

Front 44

Imagery may also represent touch, such as hardness, softness, wetness, or heat and cold

Back 44

(tactile imagery)

Hint 44

the apple tasted sweet and sour at the same time

Front 45

Imagery may also represent an internal sensation, such as hunger, thirst, fatigue, or nausea

Back 45

(kinesthetic imagery).

Hint 45

movement or tension ....(table)

Examples:
After Apple-Picking - "I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend."
Bereft - Leaves got up in a coil and hissed,/ Blindly struck at my knee and missed.
Ghost House - the black bats tumble and dart
A Late Walk - the whir of sober birds, is sadder than any words
Once by the Pacific: "Shattered water ...Great waves looked over others coming in,"

Front 46

Metaphor type 1:

Back 46

that in which the literal term and the figurative term are both named;

Front 47

Metaphor type 2:

Back 47

that in which the literal term is named and the figurative term implied;

Front 48

Metaphor type 3:

Back 48

that in which the literal term is implied and the figurative term named;

Front 49

Metaphor type 4:

Back 49

that in which both the literal and the figurative terms are implied.