Understanding Poetry II PDF

Understanding Poetry II Creating Images with Words Visual Imagery and Figurative Language  Poems help us see and hear their situation, people, tone, and meaning through word choices, language, and rhythms.  Decisions about word choice and language help create imag...

Understanding Poetry II Creating Images with Words Visual Imagery and Figurative Language  Poems help us see and hear their situation, people, tone, and meaning through word choices, language, and rhythms.  Decisions about word choice and language help create images in the reader’s mind.  While poems can use descriptions to achieve this effect, they also evoke images through the use of literary devices, or figures of speech.  Visual Imagery  Visual imagery is the creation of mental images of something or someone, even when that thing or person is not present. In literature, visual imagery uses descriptive language to create a visual image in the reader’s mind.  We use visual imagery everyday:  Examples:  The pillow was as soft as a cloud.  Her perfume filled the air with roses and sunshine.  My dog is such a terror!  Figures of Speech  There are many ways in which language can be used to create images and meaning.  Some major types of figurative language include:  Simile  Metaphor  Personification  Allusion  Figurative Language  A simile is a comparison made about something to something else.  Simile is one of the easier types of figurative language to identify because it uses the word “like” or “as” to make the comparison.  Examples:  “My love is like a red, red rose.”  “She walks in beauty, like the night.”  Let’s practice.  Metaphor  A metaphor is also a comparison of two things, but it is implied, not stated outright. It is like a simile, but does not use “like” or “as”. Metaphor’s are more subtle, but they convey the comparison as clearly as a simile does.  Examples:  “The moon was a ghostly galleon, tossed upon cloudy seas.”  “Hope is a thing with feathers- that perches in the soul.”  Let’s practice.  Personification  Personification uses language to discuss an abstract idea (like death, beauty, justice, etc.) or an object (a chair, a rock, etc.) as if it were a person. The object takes on recognizable human qualities so the reader “sees” it as a character within the poem.  Examples:  “The fog comes in on little cat feet.”  “Here in the room of my life, the object keep changing.”  “A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”  Let’s practice.  Allusion  An allusion refers to a person, place, or thing, and usually, to the stories or myths associated with that subject. Allusions rely on shared literary and cultural knowledge.  Allusions call the shared knowledge to mind without actually mentioning it specifically.  Examples:  “Perched upon a bust of Pallas, just above my chamber door”  “I am Lazarus, come from the dead”  Let’s practice  Symbol  Symbols in poetry, just like in fiction, are words and phrases that have more than one meaning within the poem. They are not restricted to their literal meaning.  Some traditional symbols in poetry are:  Birds: symbolizing freedom, escape, flight from an earthbound existence  Example: The nightingale in “Ode to a Nightingale” by John Keats.  A Rose: symbolizing beauty, the shortness of life, passion  Example: Rose imagery in Shakespeare’s sonnets.  Let’s practice.