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Overview of PoeticElements
Part II
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5 More Poetic Elements
Symbol Paradox Overstatement
(hyperbole)
Understatement Irony
Verbal
DramaticSituation
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Figurative Language Part IISymbol
Symbol: Something that means more thanwhat it is.
Image: means what it is A shaggy browndog was rubbing its back against a white picketfence. Metaphor: means something other than what it
is Some dirty dog stole my wallet. Symbol: means what it is and something more,too You cant teach an old dog new tricks.
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The Road Not Taken (p. 734) is anexample of the use of symbol.
The literal meaning describes an experience bya traveler in a wood.The symbolic meaning describes any majorchoice in life and the feelings surrounding it.
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Other Poems Which Use Symbol
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost (p. 793)
To the Virgins to Make Much of Time byRobert Herrick (p. 742) Fire and Ice by Robert Frost (p. 746)
The Writer by Richard Wilbur (p. 751) Because I could not stop for Death by
Emily Dickinson (p. 752)
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Examples of Paradox
Much Madness is Divinest Sense by EmilyDickinson (p. 757)
Batter my heart, three -personed God byJohn Donne (p. 766)
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me. A Considerable Speck by Robert Frost
(p. 771) Also employs the use of irony
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Overstatement/Understatement
hyperbole = exaggeration Understatement = saying less than one
means Examples of hyperbole:
The Road Not Taken (p. 734) I shall be telling this ages and ages hence
Incident by Countee Cullen (p. 769) Thats all that I remember
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More Examples of Overstatement/Understatement
Fire and Ice by Robert Frost (p.746) for destruction/ice is also great/and will suffice
Understatement Sorting Laundry by Elisavietta Ritchie (p. 767)
Overstatement: a mountain of unsorted wash
The Sun Rising by John Donne (p. 759) Overstatementalso employs extended use of apostrophe
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Verbal Irony
Saying the opposite of what one means To every woman a happy ending.
Example Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy(p. 762)
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Dramatic Irony Discrepancy
between thespeakers meaningand the poemsmeaning
Example The
Chimney Sweeper by William Blake(p. 763)
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Another Example of Dramatic Irony
My Last Duchess by Robert Browning(p. 775)
Click on link for a full-screen version of the
poem
http://barney.gonzaga.edu/~jdavis6/poem.html
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Irony of Situation
Something unexpectedhappens
Ozymandias (p. 764)
Poem on next slide
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