Wednesday, February 4 - Poetry - Persona, Rhyme Scheme, Alliteration, Assonance, Consonance and Onomatopoeia

As we talked about yesterday, poets use literary devices to create images in our mind. Here are three more literary devices.

Persona: The poet takes on the voice of a character, a fictional identity, or a persona. Because a dramatic monologue is by definition one person’s speech, it is offered without overt analysis or commentary, placing emphasis on subjective qualities that are left to the audience to interpret.

Rhyme: A similarity of sound in words such as cat, bat; pot, hot; man, can; pet, let

Rhyme Scheme: The ordered pattern of rhyme at the end of a line of poetry.

Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds in words.

Alliteration: The repetition of the same sounds in words.

Consonance: The repetition of consonant sounds.

Onomatopoeia: The use of a word that sounds like its meaning.
Examples: Bang! Boom! Wow! Hey! Ouch!

 

POEM OF THE DAY: “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

 

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

 

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise.

 

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries?

 

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin’ in my own backyard.

 

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I’ll rise.

 

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

 

Out of the huts of history’s shame

I rise

Up from a past that’s rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

 

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.