Poetry is a kind of writing that is like a song, but we do not sing it.

Poetry uses words to help create different thoughts and feelings. Poems use different combinations of words to make a pattern of beats, or rhythm. Poems use the sounds of words and the way words look to help readers feel, touch, hear, taste, or smell what the poem is about. Poetry is a kind of writing that is like a song, but we do not sing it. Poetry uses words to help create different thoughts and feelings. Poems use different combinations of words to make a pattern of beats, or rhythm. Poems use the sounds of words and the way words look to help readers feel, touch, hear, taste, or smell what the poem is about. What Is Poetry? Poetry has been a part of writing for a long time. Hundreds of years ago, poetry was written with music. Today, poetry has become its own genre, or type of writing. It does not usually have music, but poems can still sound like songs. That is because a poem usually has rhythm. People can feel rhythm when they listen to music. Poems create rhythm by using words in different ways. Rhyme, Repetition, Assonance, and Alliteration Rhyme, repetition, assonance, and alliteration are four ways that poetry uses words to create rhythm.

Rhyme is when two words sound alike. Words that rhyme usually have the same ending sound. For example, cat, fat, and hat all rhyme because they have the same "at" ending. Repetition means that a word or several words are used many times in a poem. The words are repeated, or said again and again. Assonance is when a poem keeps using the same vowel sounds. The vowels are a, e, i, o, and u. For example, the sentence "I ate a cake at eight a.m." shows assonance by using the vowel sound "a" many times. Alliteration is when a poem uses the same consonant sounds at the beginning of many words. Consonants are all of the letters of the alphabet that are not vowels. For example, the sentence "The slippery, slimy snake slithered into the sand" uses the consonant sound "s" many times at the beginning of words in the sentence.

Types of Poetry Different poems look and sound very different from each other. Poems can be different lengths. The three main types of poetry are lyric, epic, and dramatic. Lyric Poetry Lyric poetry is a very old kind of poetry. The name comes from a musical instrument called a lyre. Many years ago, poets sang lyrical poems while they played the lyre. Lyrical poetry does not use music anymore, but it does include a lot of rhythm. Lyrical poetry also includes a lot of personal feelings.

A sonnet is one kind of lyrical poetry. William Shakespeare wrote many sonnets. Sonnet 130 Written by William Shakespeare
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips' red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damasked, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound; I grant I never saw a goddess go; My mistress when she walks treads on the ground. And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare.

[http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5791] [caption] This is "Sonnet 130" by William Shakespeare. The sonnet shows the rhyming pattern at the end of each line. The pattern in the first four lines is abab. For example, the word at the end of line 1, "sun," rhymes with the word at the end of line 3, "dun." The end of line 2, "red," rhymes with the word at the end of line 4, "head." A sonnet always has 14 lines. However, there are different types of sonnets, with different rhyming patterns. The English sonnet ends with a rhyming couplet. A couplet is two lines of poetry that rhyme at the end.
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.

[http://www.enotes.com/shakespeare-quotes/love-looks-eyes-mind] [caption] This is a rhyming couplet from "A Midsummer Night's Dream," an English sonnet by William Shakespeare. The ending words "mind" and "blind" rhyme. Epic Poetry Epic poems are usually long poems that tell a story about history, or about famous people in history. Epic poems often use formal language that is different from the language that we use every day. Formal language can be more difficult and is sometimes harder to understand. One famous epic poem is the Odyssey, by a Greek poet named Homer. The Odyssey tells the story of a Greek man named Odysseus, who has just come back from the war.

An epic poem is also a narrative poem. Narrative poems are poems that tell stories. Dramatic Poetry Dramatic poems are poems that are supposed to be read out loud to an audience, or group of people. Dramatic poems usually tell a story, and include different groups of people acting out the poem. Acting out the poem is when the people actually do what the poem says. This way, the audience can see what the poem means. A dramatic poem is also a narrative poem, because it also tells a story. Bibliography Reference Books Burkholder, Kelly. Poetry. Rourke Publishing, LLC. 2001. Online. EBSCO. 21 July 2008. http://search.ebscohost.com.vlib.interchange.at/login.aspx?direct=true&db=n4h&AN=7442608 7&site=src-live. "Dramatic Poetry." New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry & Poetics. 1993. EBSCO. 17 August 2008. http://search.ebscohost.com.vlib.interchange.at/login.aspx?direct=true&db=n9h&AN=1889117 66&site=src-live. "Epic." Funk and Wagnall's New World Encyclopedia. 2002. EBSCO. 17 August 2008. http://search.ebscohost.com.vlib.interchange.at/login.aspx?direct=true&db=funk&AN=EEP048 400&site=ehost-live. "Homer." Funk and Wagnall's New World Encyclopedia. 2002. EBSCO. 17 August 2008. http://search.ebscohost.com.vlib.interchange.at/login.aspx?direct=true&db=funk&AN=HHO08 3000&site=ehost-live. "Poetry." Funk and Wagnall's New World Encyclopedia. 2002. Online. EBSCO. 17 August 2008. http://search.ebscohost.com.vlib.interchange.at/login.aspx?direct=true&db=funk&AN=PPO101 300&site=ehost-live. "Sonnet." Funk and Wagnall's New World Encyclopedia. 2002. EBSCO. 17 August 2008. http://search.ebscohost.com.vlib.interchange.at/login.aspx?direct=true&db=funk&AN=SSO148 100&site=ehost-live. Website Basic Parts of a Poem. Poetry.com. 21 July 2008. http://www.poetry.com/techniques/content.asp?ref=30. Comprehension Test

Multiple-Choice Questions
1. Poems use different combinations of words to make a pattern of beats, or A. B. C. D. genre. rhythm. sonnet. epic.

2. Two lines of poetry that rhyme at the end are called A. B. C. D. epics. lyrics. couplets. repetitions.

3. When a poem keeps using the same vowel sounds, it is called A. B. C. D. rhyme. assonance. alliteration. sonnet.

Fill-in-the-Blank Questions
4. ____ is when a poem uses the same consonant sounds at the beginning of many words. 5. A ____ is a type of lyric poetry that always has 14 lines. 6. ____ poems are usually long poems that tell a story about history, or about famous people in history.

~~~~~~~~ By Jennifer O'Brien Jennifer O'Brien has a Master's in Education from the University of Bridgeport and a Master's in Bilingual/Multicultural Education and TESOL from Southern Connecticut State University. She has assisted in a variety of workshops on instructional best practices for English Language Learners and is on the board of the Massachusetts Association of Teachers of Speakers of Other Languages (MATSOL). Jennifer is currently an ESL Specialist and Sheltered English Immersion Teacher in Massachusetts.

Voice & Tone.

Writers create narrators (people in the story who tell the story) to tell a story in a specific way. Each narrator has a voice, a special way of talking. Writers choose words to make their narrators sound like real people. Each narrator also has tone. Tone is the emotion or feeling of the words. A narrator's tone can change when he or she is talking about different people or events. Writers create narrators (people in the story who tell the story) to tell a story in a specific way. Each narrator has a voice, a special way of talking. Writers choose words to make their narrators sound like real people. Each narrator also has tone. Tone is the emotion or feeling of the words. A narrator's tone can change when he or she is talking about different people or events. An Example of Voice Voice is the special way a narrator talks. For example, in Mark Twain's book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck Finn, the narrator, speaks like a young boy from the southern United States. Here is an example. And got to thinking over our trip down the river; and I see Jim before me, all the time, in the day, and in the nighttime, sometimes moonlight, sometimes storms, and we a floating along, talking, and singing, and laughing. I'd see him standing my watch on top of his'n, stead of calling me, so I could go on sleeping (Twain 235) Huck Finn's voice is full of phrases, or groups of words, such as "got to thinking" and "a floating along." He also shortens his words. For example, "his'n" is short for "his one (watch)." Also, his sentences all run together, and they often begin with and. In this way, Mark Twain, the writer, makes the narrator, Huck, sound like a real boy from the South. Writers give narrators a voice that they use for the whole story. However, narrators can change their tone many times. Some tones are: playful (fun) serious (thoughtful, heavy) angry (mad) loving formal (following the rules) excited worried

For example, in the example above, Huck Finn's tone is loving toward Jim. Later in the story, Huck Finn's tone becomes angry, when he talks about slavery (laws that said white people could own African Americans and make them work for free). Bibliography Book Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Penguin Classics, 1985. Reference Books Abrams, M. H. "Persona, Tone, Voice." A Glossary of Literary Terms. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, 1993. Sebranek, Patrick and Verne Meyer. "Voice." "Tone." Basic English Revisited. The Write Source, 1985. "Authorial Voice." "Tone" Literary Glossary. Literary Reference Center, 2008. Online. EBSCO. 18 July 2008. no permalink available. Susan Jones Leeming is a writer and educator in the fields of English, Spanish, language arts, and drama. She has taught students from ages 2 through 42. She writes textbooks and leveled readers while living in a 200-year-old barn with her husband and their four children. Comprehension Test Multiple-Choice Questions
1. The person in the story who tell the story is the A. B. C. D. voice. narrator. tone. event.

2. The emotion or feeling of the words is the A. B. C. D. voice. tone. phrase. event.

3. Groups of words are called A. voices. B. slavery. C. phrases.

D. events.

Fill-in-the-Blank Questions
4. Each narrator has a ____, or a special way of talking. 5. ____ happened when there were laws that said white people could own African Americans and make them work for free.

~~~~~~~~ By Susan Jones Leeming Susan Jones Leeming is a writer and educator in the fields of English, Spanish, language arts, and drama. She has taught students from ages 2 through 42. She writes textbooks and leveled readers while living in a 200-year-old barn with her husband and their four children.

Imagery
Imagery is a literary tecchnique. A literary technique is a tool that writers use to make their writing more interesting. Writers use imagery to help the reader make a picture in his or her mind. Imagery is a literary tecchnique. A literary technique is a tool that writers use to make their writing more interesting. Writers use imagery to help the reader make a picture in his or her mind. Definition Imagery is also called sensory language. It is called sensory language because the words make the reader think of the five senses. Writers use words that describe how something looks, sounds, tastes, smells, or feels. Examples Robert Frost is a poet. His poems have many examples of imagery and sensory language. Example of Seeing From "Birches" "the iced branches shed crystal shells" The reader sees a picture in his or her mind. The picture is a tree in winter. Ice is falling from the tree branches.

Example of Hearing From "After Apple-Picking" "the rumbling of a load of apples coming in" The reader imagines a sound of a heavy truck filled with apples. The truck is driving down a road. The truck is rumbling, or moving slowly and making a long, rolling sound, because it is so heavy. Example of Tasting From "A Record Stride" "the walking boots that taste of Atlantic and Pacific salt" The reader thinks about the taste of saltwater (from the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean). Example of Smelling From "To a Young Wretch" "the boy takes the tree and heads home, smelling green" The reader thinks about how a green tree branch might smell. Example of Feeling From "The Witch of Coos" "the bed linens might just as well be ice and the clothes snow" The reader thinks about touching the sheets on a bed (bed linens) and clothes. They both feel very cold. Bibliography Reference Books "Imagery." Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2005. Online. EBSCO. 16 July 2008. http://search.ebscohost.com.vlib.interchange.at/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=17269783 &site=lrc-live.

"Imagery." New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry & Poetics. Princeton University Press, 1993. Online. EBSCO. 16 July 2008. http://search.ebscohost.com.vlib.interchange.at/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=18911943 &site=lrc-live. Website The Poetics of Robert Frost: Examples. The Friends of Robert Frost. 16 July 2008. http://www.frostfriends.org/imagery.html. ~~~~~~~~ By Tiffany Gibson Tiffany Gibson has written and edited reading, language arts, social studies, and ELL materials for students and teachers. Before becoming a writer, Tiffany taught secondary English language arts classes.

Structure.
Structure is the way different texts are organized, or put together. Writers structure fiction and nonfiction texts in different ways. Structure is the way different texts are organized, or put together. Writers structure fiction and nonfiction texts in different ways. Structure of Fiction Fiction is a made-up or untrue story or narrative. A narrative has these parts:
Exposition: The introduction to the main characters (or people in the story) and how the story begins Rising action: The problems that the main characters have to solve Climax: The turning point that changes things for the main characters Falling action: How the main characters deal with this change Resolution: How things end for the main characters

Structure of Nonfiction Nonfiction is information, and information can be structured in different ways. Here are some examples of nonfiction structures.
Problem/Solution: Explaining how to solve a problem Cause/Effect: Explaining why things happen Sequence: Putting things in time order or explaining steps in a process

 Compare/Contrast: Explaining how two things are the same or different Describe: Listing facts or details about something

Bibliography Reference Books Abrams, M. H. "Form and Structure." A Glossary of Literary Terms. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, 1993. Sebranek, Patrick and Verne Meyer. "Structure." Basic English Revisited. The Write Source, 1985. "Structure." "Novel." "Poem." "Play." Literary Glossary. Literary Reference Center, 2008. Online. EBSCO. 16 July 2008. no permalink available. Susan Jones Leeming is a writer and educator in the fields of English, Spanish, language arts, and drama. She has taught students from ages 2 through 42. She writes textbooks and leveled readers, while living in a 200-year-old barn with her husband and their four children. Comprehension Test Multiple-Choice Questions
1. This is the turning point in the story that changes things for the main characters. A. B. C. D. exposition rising action climax resolution

2. This part of the narrative introduces the main characters. A. B. C. D. exposition rising action falling action resolution

3. A made-up or untrue story is A. B. C. D. nonfiction. fiction. sequence. structure.

Fill-in-the-Blank Questions
4. ____ is the way different texts are organized, or put together.

5. The ____ tells how things end for the main characters. 6. In nonfiction, a ____ puts things in order or explains the steps in a process.

~~~~~~~~ By Susan Jones Leeming Susan Jones Leeming is a writer and educator in the fields of English, Spanish, language arts, and drama. She has taught students from ages 2 through 42. She writes textbooks and leveled readers, while living in a 200-year-old barn with her husband and their four children.