Resources

Below is a few helpful resources, both covering the formal form of poetry and a helpful site on WWI history that students can explore.

• A multimedia history of the First World War
• Poetic forms
• Literary Terms and Poetry Glossary
• Wilfred Owen's letters

Poetry "Cheat Sheet"
Rhythmic Devices
Alliteration (use the same initial consonant sound at the beginning of words)
EXAMPLE: The bumble bee buzzed over the babbling brook.
                   The chatty children were chastised for throwing chalk.

Rhyme (use the same vowel and consonant combination sound at the end of sentences in order to create cadence; the number of syllables in each sentence should be similar)
EXAMPLE:  My mother baked a cake (6 syllables)
                    It wasn’t hard to make (6 syllables)
                    It became so hard to wait (7 syllables)
                    For dinner that was at eight (7 syllables)

Onomatopoeia (a word is placed in the poem that sounds like the sound it makes)
EXAMPLE: Crack! The bat hit the ball at full force!
                   I finally squished that bug flat.

Repetition (a word or phrase is repeated throughout a line or poem)
EXAMPLE: My grandmother could take a rainy day
                   And fill it with sunshine.
                   My grandmother could make a candy bar taste sweeter.
                   Oh, I wish my children could know my grandmother.

Figurative Language
Simile – a comparison that use “like” or “as”
EXAMPLE: It was as hot outside as an oven.
                   Sitting in the pool was like laying in the snow making an angel.

Metaphor – a comparison without like or as in which one object becomes the other object
EXAMPLE: Mica was a jewel; always sparkling even when things looked grim.
                   The tree was my protector. I could run to it and hide whenever things got bad.

Hyperbole – an exaggeration that seems truly impossible
EXAMPLE: The sun was beating so strongly I thought I would melt.
                   The teacher wanted the classroom as quiet as a funeral when she taught. (This is also a simile!)

Allusion – the writer refers to an event, a story or a pop culture reference that which everyone should be familiar
EXAMPLE: I am no Mother Theresa.
                   The girl’s love of sweets was her Achilles’ heel.

Symbolism – using an object to represent something else; the meaning of symbols can change
EXAMPLE: a “heart” can represent “love”
                   “red, white and blue” represents “freedom” or “America” or “patriotism”

Cheat sheet from LopezProfessionals.wikispaces.com