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POETIC TERMS POETIC TERMS 1 st Year English
POETIC TERMSPOETIC TERMS1st Year English
Figurative Figurative languagelanguage
You’re doing You’re doing my head in!my head in!
Literal Literal languagelanguage
You are annoying You are annoying meme
The time (both the time of day and period in history) and place in which the action of a literary work takes
place.
“Tiger! Tiger!
burning brightIn the
forests of the night”
• November• Season =
winter• Night• Edinburgh
The use of concrete details that appeal to
the five senses.
What are What are the 5 the 5
senses?senses?
SmellSmell
TasteTaste
TouchTouch
HearingHearing
SightSight
What What image image
corresponcorresponds to each ds to each sense in sense in
this this poem?poem?
November Night, Edinburgh
The night tinkles like ice in glasses.Leaves are glued to the pavements
with frost. The brown air fumes at the shop
windows,Tries the door, and sidles past.
The repetition of consonant sounds
at the beginnings of words.
“Swiftly, swiftly
flew the ship”
• I gulp down winter raw. The heady• Darkness swirls with tenements.• In a brown fuzz of cotton wool• Lamps fade up crags, die into pits.
• Frost in my lungs is harsh as leaves• Scraped up on paths. — I look up,
there,• A high roof sails, at the mast-head• Fluttering a grey and ragged star.
• The world’s a bear shrugged in his den.• It’s snug and close in the snoring night.• And outside like flowers• The fog unfolds its bitter scent.
Lungs / leaves
Shrugged /snug / snoring
The repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different
consonant.
“. . .that hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not
me.”
• I gulp down winter raw. The heady• Darkness swirls with tenements.• In a brown fuzz of cotton wool• Lamps fade up crags, die into pits.
• Frost in my lungs is harsh as leaves• Scraped up on paths. — I look up,
there,• A high roof sails, at the mast-head• Fluttering a grey and ragged star.
• The world’s a bear shrugged in his den.• It’s snug and close in the snoring night.• And outside like Chrysanthemums• The fog unfolds its bitter scent.
Cotton / Wool
Lamps fade
A direct comparison between two basically
different things. A simile is introduced by the words
“like” or “as”.
My love is like a red, red
rose.
An implied comparison between two basically different things. Is not
introduced with the words “like” or “as”.
His eyes were
daggers that cut
right through
me.
November Night, EdinburghThe night tinkles like ice in glasses.Leaves are glued to the pavements
with frost. The brown air fumes at the shop
windows,Tries the door, and sidles past.
• I gulp down winter raw. The heady• Darkness swirls with tenements.• In a brown fuzz of cotton wool• Lamps fade up crags, die into pits.
• Frost in my lungs is harsh as leaves• Scraped up on paths. — I look up,
there,• A high roof sails, at the mast-head• Fluttering a grey and ragged star.
• The world’s a bear shrugged in his den.• It’s snug and close in the snoring night.• And outside like Chrysanthemums• The fog unfolds its bitter scent.
Human characteristics are given to non-human
animals, objects, or ideas.
My stereo walked out of
my car.
November Night, Edinburgh
The night tinkles like ice in glasses.Leaves are glued to the pavements
with frost. The brown air fumes at the shop
windows,Tries the door, and sidles past.
The air tries the doorThe air sidles past
• the form of a poem is the the form of a poem is the physicalphysical
• arrangement arrangement • of the wordsof the words• on the on the
page page
The repetition of consonant sounds
that are preceded by different vowel
sounds.
“Wherever we go
Silence will fall like dews”
The use of words whose sounds suggest the
sounds made by objects or activities.
“Blind eyes could
blaze like meteors”
Other examples:
buzz, hum, kiss
The repetition of identical sounds at the ends of lines of
poetry.
“He clasps the crag with
crooked handsClose to the sun in lonely lands”
from “The Eagle”
The repetition of identical sounds within a line of
poetry.
“We three shall flee across the sea to Italy.”
Or“Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.”
Something concrete, such as an object, action, character,
or scene that stands for something abstract such as a
concept or an idea.
“Do not go gentle into that good nightRage, Rage against the dying of the
light”
Both phrases are symbols that
stand for death.
The main idea or underlying
meaning of a literary work.
• Civilization vs. Savagery
• The central concern of Lord of the Flies is the conflict between two competing impulses that exist within all human beings: the instinct to live by rules, act peacefully, follow moral commands, and value the good of the group against the instinct to gratify one’s immediate desires, act violently to obtain supremacy over others, and enforce one’s will. This conflict might be expressed in a number of ways: civilization vs. savagery, order vs. chaos, reason vs. impulse, law vs. anarchy, or the broader heading of good vs. evil.
The repeating of a sound, word, phrase,
or more in a given literary work.
“I sprang to the stirrup, and Jarvis, and he;I galloped, Derrick galloped, we galloped all
three”
The overall atmosphere or
prevailing emotional feeling of a work.
“It was the best of
times, it was the worst of
times.”
