Grade 8 English

Poetic

Techniques

www.azslides.com

Learning Objective

We will learn about the techniques poets use to convey mood and communicate meaning so we can analyse how they are used in a range of texts.

Introduction

1

Part 1 - The Sounds of Words

2

Part 3 - The Arrangement of Words

4

Part 2 - The Meaning of Words

3

Part 4 - The Imagery of Words

5

Contents

6

Your Turn

Introduction

They must sound right to the listener as they are read out aloud.

They must be arranged in a way that is easy to follow but also assists the reader's understanding.

They must encourage deep thoughts or emotions while appearing simple and self-contained.

They must have a meaning which is clear and thought-provoking.

Poets are limited in the materials they can use in creating their work – all they have are words to express ideas and emotions. These words need to be right on several levels at once.

Certain words can be selected and grouped together to achieve specific effects when we hear them. The sounds that are created might sound pleasing or soothing, clever or rhythmic, or harsh and uncomfortable to hear.

​

The following poetic devices can affect the way a poem sounds when read aloud. It's important to remember that these deliberate arrangements of words can convey a particular sense of mood, atmosphere or emotion.

The Sounds of Words

Part 1

Repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of words placed near each other or next to each other.

Alliteration

• Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
• Slim-pinioned swallows sweep and pass.
• The barbarians broke through the barricade.

Repeated vowel sounds in words placed near each other, usually on the same or adjacent lines.

Assonance

• I feel stressed and restless.
• The dapper lad chatted to the other happy chap.
• Johnny went here and there and everywhere.
• Go slow over the road to nowhere.

Words that imitate the natural sound of the thing they describe.

Onomatopoeia

• The clang of the pots and pans and woke the baby.
• The wolves howled at the moon.
• Zoom! Went the race car as it sped past the finish line.
• The bacon sizzled in the pan.

The purposeful re-use of words and phrases to create emphasis or convey a particular effect.

Repetition

• I will not brush my hair, I will not wear a dress and I will not clean my room
• We have so much stuff but still buy more stuff then need storage units to store all the stuff.

Rhythm is when words are arranged according to stressed and unstressed syllables so that they make a pattern or beat. Verses might contain a certain cumber of syllables to create this pattern. Rhythm helps to distinguish poetry from prose.

​

Some common rhythms include iamb (x /), trochee (/ x) or spondee (/ /).

​

You can usually hear rhythm if you hum the words instead of saying them.

Rhythm

Rhyme & Rhyme Scheme

Rhyme refers to words that have different beginning sounds but whose endings sound alike, including the final vowel sound and everything following it.

​

Rhyme scheme refers to the pattern established by the arrangement of rhymes in a stanza or poem, generally described by using letters of the alphabet to denote the recurrence of rhyming lines.

​

Capital letters in the alphabetic rhyme scheme are used for the repeating rhyming words at the end of each verse. The letters X and Y indicate unrhymed lines. In quatrains, the popular rhyme scheme of ABAB is called alternate rhyme or cross rhyme and the ABBA scheme is called envelope rhyme.

A word can be carefully selected to convey a precise idea but some words can carry several layers or depths of meaning at the same time. Poets can use these or combine them with other words for particular effects.

​

Some techniques that can enhance the meaning of words are as follows.

The Meanings of Words

Part 2

Creates a comparison between two things by using the words 'like' or 'as'.

Simile

• The desert was as dry as a bone.
• Her tempers were like an uncontrollable storm.
• He's as cool as a cucumber.
• Rain plastered the land until it was shining like hammered lead.

Creates a comparison by stating that one thing is another or does the actions of another.

Metaphor

• The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees.
• Her fingers danced across the keyboard.
• His stomach was a twisted storm of butterflies.

Attributing human characteristics to an inanimate object, animal, or abstract idea.

Personification

• As I climbed the stairs, the staircase groaned as if awoken from a long sleep.
• The days crept by slowly, sorrowfully.
• Seaweed snatched at his legs as he tried to swim away.

When a simple or ordinary object, event, animal, or person represents deeper meaning or significance.

Symbolism

• The dove is a symbol of peace.
• A red rose stands for love or romance.
• A skull can represent danger or death.
• A fork in the road may symbolise a choice or a decision.

Connotations are the ideas or feelings evoked by a word. These are the implications or associations we might form which are different to a word's literal meaning.

Word Choice & Connotation

E.g. The words ‘animal’ and ‘beast’ refer to the same type of creature but the second term has connotations of wildness and savagery.

​

E.g. The words ‘house’ and ‘home’ have the same denotation but the word ‘home’ has connotations of warmth, family, safety, belonging etc.

Paradox

Other Language Features

A statement which seems contradictory but may reveal an unexpected truth.

• You’ve got to be cruel to be kind
• I can resist anything but temptation
• The only constant is change

Oxymoron

A combination of two words that appear to contradict each other.

• Bittersweet
• Clearly confused
• Seriously funny
• Deafening silence

Euphemism

An understatement, used to lessen the effect of a statement that might sound harsh, offensive or hurtful.

• She is at rest
• I need to use the ladies room
• I'm currently between jobs
• She's a late bloomer

Idiom

Other Language Features

A group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words.

• I was over the moon.
• Put in some elbow grease.
• She was sitting on the fence.
• I have my finger on the pulse.

Metonym

A figure of speech in which a person, place or thing is referred to by something closely associated with it.

• The pen is mightier than the sword.
• Wall Street braces for further rate rises.

Allusion

A brief reference to a person, historical event, biblical or mythological situation or character.

• I thought the software would be useful, but it was a Trojan Horse.
• Chocolate cake is my kryptonite.

The poet decides on how the words are arranged into a certain order or sequence to achieve a particular effect. The structure of the poem can also contribute to its overall meaning.

​

Some words used to identify the structure and arrangement of a poem are as follows.

The Arrangement of Words

Part 3

The vantage point of the speaker. In poetry, this is also sometimes referred to as the persona.

Point of View

• First person – the speaker is a character in the story or poem and tells it from his/her perspective (uses “I”).
• Second person - an unusual form of storytelling that addresses the reader directly (uses “you”)
• Third person limited – the speaker is not part of the story, but tells about the other characters through the limited perceptions of one other person (uses “he”, “she” or “they”)
• Third person omniscient – the speaker is not part of the story, but is able to “know” and describe what all characters are thinking (uses “he”, “she” or “they”)

A verse is one single line of a poem arranged in a metrical pattern.

​

A stanza is a group of verses where the lines are arranged into a unit and often repeated in the same pattern throughout the poem (similar to a paragraph).

​

Poems are made up of multiple verses and stanzas and poets can make particular choices in the length and number of verses and stanzas for various purposes.

Verses & Stanzas

When lines or verses have incomplete syntax and the meaning runs over from one poetic line to the next without punctuation.

​

It might be used for the following reasons:

• fosters fluidity to allow a more narrative-like style within a poem as thoughts aren't confined to a single verse
• increases the pace or momentum by eliminateing pauses at each line break so the reader continues onto the next verse more quickly
• moves the reazder forward to reach the resolution of the poet's thought sooner

Enjambment

Free Verse - Poetry that lacks a consistent rhyme scheme, metrical pattern, or musical form.

Poetic Forms

Sonnet - A 14 line poem, typically on the topic of love that contains internal rhymes within their lines.

Limerick - A 5 line poem that consists of a single stanza, an AABBA rhyme scheme, and focuses on a short tale or description, often humorous.

Ballad - A form of narrative verse that can be either poetic or musical. It typically follows a pattern of rhymed quatrains.

Blank Verse - Poetry written with a precise meter (almost always iambic pentameter) that does not rhyme.

Rhymed poetry - In contrast to blank verse, these poems rhyme although their rhyme scheme can vary.

Although poems explore deep human emotions or thoughts, an audience won't generally respond very strongly unless the poem creates imagery. These are the vivid mental pictures or sensations created through descriptive words.

​

The poet must include these details that calls upon the five senses in order to show the reader rather than to merely tell them about the subject. The six main types of imgagery are as follows.

The Imagery of Words

Part 4

Imagery that calls upon our sense of sight.

Visual Imagery

E.g. The shimmering sun bounced waves of light off the surface of the ocean.

Imagery that calls upon our sense of sound.

Aural Imagery

E.g. She could hear the gentle whisper of the breeze and the chirping of the birds.

Imagery that calls upon our sense of smell.

Olfactory Imagery

E.g. The sticky sweet scent of cinamon donuts wafted in the air.

Imagery that calls upon our sense of touch.

Tactile Imagery

E.g. She could still taste the salty sea water on her lips.

Imagery that calls upon our sense of taste.

Gustatory Imagery

E.g. The grass prickled his skin as he lay on the sports ground.

Imagery that calls upon our sense of movement.

Kinesthetic Imagery

E.g. Tripping and stumbling she lurched towards the traitor with her arms outstretched.

Your Turn

Now that we've revised these features, let's look at a range of poems and consider the choices the poets have made to communicate various moods, themes or experiences.

​

www.azslides.com