Poetry and Literary Devices

Poetry, Poem, and Poet

• Poetry is the art of creating; a poem is the resulting work; the poet is the creator.
• Poetry originated orally, often accompanied by music and dance, expressing cultural significance. Common themes included natural disasters, life events, heroic deeds, and battles, frequently integrated into religious rituals.
• Poets and audiences engaged with wordplay, selection, and arrangement for musicality and meaning.

Literary Devices

• Rhyme: Repetition of similar sounds, either within a line (internal rhyme) or at the end of lines (end rhyme). It creates rhythm, musicality, and aids memorization.
• Sound Devices: Tools used to emphasize sounds.
  • Alliteration: Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words (e.g., "cabin, campfire, cat").
  • Assonance: Repetition of vowel sounds within words (e.g., "beat, meat, heat").
  • Consonance: Repetition of consonant sounds within or at the end of words.
• Interjections: Words or phrases expressing strong emotion (e.g., "Wow!", "Alas!").

Transitional Devices

• Chronological Order: Presenting information in a time sequence (first, then, next, finally).
• Spatial Order: Describing location (here, there, beneath, beyond).
• Order of Importance: Arranging information from most to least important.
• Comparison and Contrast: Highlighting similarities and differences (like, unlike, similarly, in contrast).
• Developmental Order: Showing a process or progression.

Common Text Types

• Narrative Text: Tells a story (fiction or nonfiction), with a beginning, middle, and end, using characters, setting, and plot.
• Descriptive Text: Uses vivid language to create a mental image of people, places, things, or events.
• Expository Text: Explains or informs by presenting facts, definitions, or processes.
• Procedural/Instructional Text: Explains how to do something step-by-step, often with visuals.
• Argumentative/Persuasive Text: Tries to persuade the reader to a specific viewpoint using evidence and reasoning.

Text Structures

• Text Structure: The way an author organizes information. Understanding this helps comprehension.
• Five Common Text Structures: Description, cause and effect, compare and contrast, chronology/sequence, problem and solution.
• Text Signals: Words or phrases indicating the text structure (e.g., "first," "because," "similarly").

Text Structures in Different Text Types

• Narrative Texts: Often employ description, cause-effect, chronology/sequence, and problem-solution structures. They typically include exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.
• Descriptive Texts: Primarily uses description and compare-contrast structures.
• Expository Texts: Can utilize all five common text structures.
• Procedural/Instructional Texts: Primarily uses chronology/sequence.
• Argumentative/Persuasive Texts: Commonly uses description, cause-effect, compare-contrast, and problem-solution. Usually follows a claim, reasons, evidence, counterclaims, and rebuttals pattern.

“Considerate Texts”

• User-friendly texts that are easy to understand, using clear structures, plain language, and helpful features like headings, definitions, and visuals.

Specific Text Structure Examples

• Description: Focuses on characteristics, location, and appearance; uses words like "for example," "looks like," "is like."
• Cause and Effect: Explains cause-and-effect relationships; uses words like "because," "as a result," "therefore."
• Compare and Contrast: Examines similarities and differences using words like "like," "unlike," "similarly," "in contrast."
• Chronology/Sequence: Presents information in order, using words like "first," "next," "then," "finally."
• Problem and Solution: Identifies a problem and its solution; uses words like "problem," "solution," "dilemma."