Grade 7 and 8 Poetic devices to help you with your project

Poetic Devices in Lyrics

Poetic devices can help lyrics go from mundane to awesome if used properly!
Some of the more popular poetic devices to spice up one's lyrics include: rhyme, metaphors, similes, alliteration, imagery, personification, point-of-view, hyperbole, repetition and symbols. There are others, but these are the most commonly used ones by lyricists.

Rhyme is the most popular of the poetic devises as most lyrics use rhyme to create memorable songs. Rhyme as a poetic device has been around for thousands of years and songs that have survived by word-of-mouth typically employ rhyme since people can remember them more accurately.

Metaphors are comparisons between two objects that give a clearer meaning. For instance, saying "She is the rain" is a metaphor comparing a woman to rain. If a metaphor uses "like" or "as" for the comparison, that is called a simile. Saying "She is like the rain" is a simile. Notice the difference between the two phrases and the emotion they evoke for you and then note how you can use this in your own lyric writing adventures.
Metaphors can create powerful and lasting images ingrained in our brains for years. This is why the use of metaphors is so popular not only among songwriters, but writers in general.

Alliteration is the repetition of sounds in a line of the lyrics. Assonance and consonance are subsections of alliteration and are the repetition of vowel sounds and consonant sounds respectively.

Imagery is used in lyrics writing to appeal to any or all of one's senses. Typically writers use visual imagery in their music lyrics, but this isn't always the case as auditory imagery is also frequently used followed by words and phrases that appeal to the other senses as well. Be creative and see what works best in the context of your own song.

Personification is basically animating some inanimate object or objects. Some songwriters personify animals to great effect as in "Rocky Raccoon" or in the song "Joy to the World" where "Jeremiah was a bullfrog."


Point-of-view is also used by lyricists to great effect. Lyrics may be written in first, second or third person point-of-view, each giving a different perspective to the lyrics. Sometimes also the point-of-view will also change during a song, especially in a duet, but at times with solo performances as well.

Hyperbole is the exaggeration of something for dramatic effect. This exaggeration or overstatement is a figure of speech that lends itself well to songwriting. "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse" is an example of hyperbole. "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse with no name" is just plain wrong, however.

Repetition is what it is and what it says it is and is self-explanatory, in itself it is. By repeating line or words over and again, such as in the chorus, the song become more memorable and adds to the "catchiness" of the song.

Symbols are used sometimes in lyric writing as a brief way to evoke a larger emotional response. The Statue of Liberty is a great symbol of freedom in the U. S. and mentioning the statue in the song lyrics may evoke larger feelings of patriotism, yearning for freedom, liberty, justice and many other feelings. Symbols of love, heroism and death are many times used in lyric writing to evoke certain emotional responses.
These are but some of the poetic devices used in lyric writing that should be in every songwriter's tool chest. It is important to know how to use these tools and just as important to know when to and when not to use them as well. By using these poetic devices well your lyrics will jump to life and engage the listener in a meaningful musical experience.

Some Literary DevicesAppearing in Song Lyrics
imagery
specific word-"pictures" for any of the senses ("a tall cedar tree," "sweet honey," "cool water," "flaming embers," "blistered feet," "smoking ruins," "a strong wind," "a dizzying height")
simile
a strong comparison using a connecting word such as like or as ("an army like a flood approaching ," "a girl as nimble as a deer")
metaphor
identification of one thing as, or in terms of, a very different thing (old age identified as "the evening of life," or a person identified as "a rose" or "an oak")--without use of like or as
synecdoche
reference to a part of something to represent the whole, or vice versa ("the hands of the enemy shall conquer the land," "the people bend their knees to the king," "the chariot-wheels surrounded the city")
metonymy
reference to something by naming a merely associated thing (for example, referring to a military force by calling it "the sword," to a government by calling it "the law," or to journalists by calling them "the press")
personification
attribution of human qualities or capacities to non-human objects or to abstractions ("the willow tree weeps," "the stream murmurs," "the land tells a tale," "justice cries out," "mercy argues the case of the oppressed," "common sense must step forward")
parallelism
repetition, contradiction, or expansion of a given thought in a pair or series of similar lines ("I will meditate on the Lord, and my thoughts shall be continually of Him"; "The wicked may prosper for a time, but their doom is sure")
symbol
an object, condition, or action that represents something else, especially an abstraction, within a certain context (For example, a blush may represent embarrassment or shame, a kiss may represent love, shabby clothes may represent poverty, a flying bird may represent freedom--but in other contexts, they may represent other things or be virtually nonsymbolic. The color green may in one context represent new life and in another represent jealousy; Judas’s kiss is an ironic, or reversed, symbol representing unfaithfulness or lack of love.)
hyperbole
exaggeration, overstatement ("I could eat a horse," "My eyes popped right out of my head," "The light took forever to turn green," "There wasn't enough grain in the barn to feed a sparrow")
litotes
a type of understatement whereby an idea of size or extent is expressed (1) by negating its opposite ("That's no small decision to make," "The pay wasn't bad at all") or (2) by using language obviously insufficient to do justice to the referent ("Jesus was quite capable of defending himself," "Cats had a good run on Broadway," "lightning played between sea and sky")
assonance
repetition of vowel sounds in syllables near enough to each other to make it noticeable and potentially significant ("All the air things wear that build this world of Wales," a line from Gerard Manley Hopkins's poem "In the Valley of the Elwy," displays such repetition in the vowel sounds of the words air and wear--and possibly in the word Wales. "Complete thy creature dear O where it fails," another line from that poem, displays assonance in the long e sounds of the words Complete, creature, and dear.)
consonance
repetition of consonant sounds (particularly after a stressed vowel) in syllables near enough to each other to make it noticeable and potentially significant (examples: stark and stork, in which all of the consonants "rhyme"; kick and sock, in which the -ck sounds "rhyme"; flint and bent; case and remorse)
alliteration
repetition of initial sounds of stressed syllables near enough to each other to make it noticeable and potentially significant (examples: the initial w sounds of the words wear, world, and Wales in the line "All the air things wear that build this world of Wales"; the initial m and f sounds in the Hopkins line "Being mighty a master, being a father and fond"; the initial o sounds in the line [not from Hopkins] "old Olmec ornaments were the only offense"); sometimes "eye" repetition of initial letters, even if the sounds don't match ("active anticipation's arresting agency"); most often used to identify separate words beginning with the same sound(s), which may be vowels and/or consonants
end rhyme
repetition of terminal sound(s) of words at the ends of two or more poetic lines (Frost example: "Whose woods these are I think I know. / His house is in the village, though")
internal rhyme
repetition of terminal sound(s) of words within a poetic line (Poe example: "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary")
exact rhyme
the loud "echo" created by words having correspondent sounds and stresses (threw, blue; painful, gainful; watched, botched; dispensation, compensation)
imperfect rhyme
a "faint" or "suggested" rhyme, usually at ends of lines, that is carried by some small vowel or consonant sound(s) shared by two or more words where rhyme might be expected; variously known as slant, near, half, and approximate rhyme (examples: remark, impart; low, law; years, yours; diving, lightning; feed, blade)
persona
the speaker or "speaking voice" in a poem or any part of a poem; the author's more or less "masked" or inflected voice, analogous in many cases to the narrator's in a short story or novel; sometimes an "unreliable" voice completely at odds with the author's apparent worldview or expressly preferred attitude toward something (thus establishing an irony that may suggest some theme of the work); a speaking entity distinct from the author much as a character in a play is distinct from the actor. For further understanding of the term persona, see a specialized dictionary of poetry such as the New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics; and see scholarly narratological distinctions between real author, implied author, narrator, and characters.
addressee
the primary (first and most directly addressed) audience for the poem's persona (speaker); a figure analogous to the narratee in a short story or novel, a presence who may or may not be named in the work and who may or may not be an overt participant in the plot or the occasion but who is at least made evident as an "invisible entity" engaging the attention and receiving the utterances of the narrator/persona

Grade 7 and 8 Poetry Project! Due: Dec. 11th

POETRY SEMINAR Ms. Dingwell
THE ASSIGNMENT
You will find a poem and then tell the class the "meaning" of the poem. As you should recall, "meaning" is the sum of many things. Select a song that you feel tells a good story and makes use of literary or poetic devices you will be able to turn into a good essay paper. You're not likely to get a lot of meaning from a rock 'n' roll song about girls and partying all night. Those songs serve a purpose, but not in an English-class analysis.

Listen to your song choice several times. Pay attention to the lyrics. Write them down and make notations if it helps. Try to read between the lines. Look for literary devices such as simile, metaphor and parallelism. These devices are often used in well-written song lyrics. Consult a literary device guide to help you understand these literary elements. Look for poetic devices and poetic structure, such as internal and other rhyme schemes found in poetry. Search the lyrics for hyperbole, symbolism and beautiful language you would be more inclined to find in the works of noted poets. You can find more about poetic devices by referring to a guide as you analyze your song. Use the resources on my webpage http://drclarkschool.blogspot.com/ to help you.

Discuss the music of your song in terms of tone, mood, and how it works with the song lyrics to enhance the overall message of the song. You don't need to be able to read music to hear what's going on musically within a song.

Your seminar presentation will include your reading the poem or playing it for the class if it is on CD and then explaining the meaning.

The written part of the assignment will be to write a critical analysis of another student's seminar. This will test your knowledge of poetic techniques and critical thinking. It will also prepare you for JEOPARDY!

PREPARATIONNeedless to say, begin immediately. You will be required to give me the poem written out legibly in dark print by the day before your seminar at the latest. We will also have 2 labs to work on this.

THE PRESENTATION will be about 5 to 10 minutes long and be brilliant. You should organize it in advance. Props or handouts are allowed.

THE WRITTEN REVIEW will be about 150 words long and, although it will be kept confidential, it must be constructive as well as honest in its criticism. You should concentrate on areas such as clarity of presentation, depth of research, bibliographic information and the seminar's intellectual and informationalcontent.

A SIGN UP SHEET will be posted in the classroom as soon as a set of dates has been arrived at. The slots will be on a first come, first served basis.

SEE ME FOR ANY HELP OR SUGGESTIONS.