Forms of poem
- A sonnet has 14 lines and is often about love. A haiku has 3 lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables. A limerick has 5 lines, rhymes AABBA and is funny.
- A ballad tells a story, often in four-line stanzas. Free verse has no regular rhyme or rhythm.
Structure
- A stanza is a group of lines (a verse). The rhyme scheme uses letters to show which lines rhyme, such as ABAB.
- Enjambment is when a sentence runs on from one line to the next. A caesura is a pause in the middle of a line.
- A refrain is a line or phrase that is repeated through a poem.
Sound and imagery
- Alliteration repeats the same consonant sound at the start of nearby words ("silent snowflakes softly settled"). Assonance repeats vowel sounds. Sibilance repeats "s" sounds.
- Onomatopoeia uses words that sound like their meaning: crash, buzz, sizzle.
- Imagery includes similes, metaphors and personification.
Analysing a poem
- The speaker is the voice of the poem, which isn't always the poet. The tone is the attitude (angry, playful, sad); the mood is the feeling it creates.
- Ask: what is the poem about? How does it make me feel? Which techniques create that feeling?
- Always explain the effect of a technique, not just name it.
Key terms
- Stanza
- A group of lines in a poem (a verse).
- Rhyme scheme
- The pattern of rhymes in a poem, such as ABAB.
- Sonnet
- A 14-line poem, often about love.
- Haiku
- A three-line poem with 5, 7 and 5 syllables.
- Alliteration
- Repeating the same consonant sound at the start of nearby words.
- Onomatopoeia
- A word that sounds like its meaning, such as "buzz".
- Enjambment
- A sentence running on from one line to the next.
- Caesura
- A pause in the middle of a line.
- Personification
- Giving human qualities to something that isn't human.
- Refrain
- A line or phrase repeated through a poem.
- Speaker
- The voice of a poem, which isn't always the poet.