Poetry Exam

The Poetry Exam will have three basic parts to it. The first part will be matching literary terms to their definitions (this is the purpose for the flash cards you made and have been studying from both in and out of class for the past few weeks). The second part is multiple choice for identifying the type of literary device that is being used in a specific passage from a poem (this is the purpose of the notes that you have taken in class with examples of how the different literary terms actually work). The third section is short answer based upon a poem that will appear on the test. You will have to read the poem and answer the questions to the best of your knowledge and ability (this is the purpose of our reading and discussing poems throughout the unit).

In the following you will find some examples of questions for all three sections of the exam:
Alliteration:
Definition: Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds. Writers use alliteration to give emphasis to words, to imitate sounds, and to create musical effect.

Example (The Weary Blues, p. 268):
“Droning a drowsy syncopated tune. . .”

Figurative Language
Defintion: Figurative language is writing or speech not meant to be interpreted literally. Figurative language is often used to create vivid impressions by setting up comparisons between dissimilar things.

Example (Right Hand, p. 954):
“Grandfather carried his voice in the seamed / Palm of his right hand. . .’

*Grandfather did not literally carry his voice--this is a figurative expression.

Imagery
Definition: Imagery is the descriptive or figurative language used in literature to create word pictures for readers. These pictures, or images, are created by details of sight, sound, taste, touch, smell, and movement.

Example (Jade Flower Palace, 970):
“There are / Green ghost fires in black rooms.”

Metaphor
Definition: A metaphor is a figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else. Unlike a simile, which compares two things using like or as, a metaphor implies a comparison between them.

Example (Metaphor, p. 953)
“Morning is / A new sheet of paper / For you to write on.”

Meter
Definition: The meter of a poem is its rhythmical pattern. This pattern is determined by the number and types of stresses, or beats, in each line. To describe the meter of a poem, you must scan its lines, marking the syllables.

Example (Sonnet 18, p. 990):
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of may,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:”

Shall-I-com-pare-thee-to-a-sum-mer’s-day (10 syllables)
Thou-art-more-love-ly-and-more-tem-per-ate (10 syllables)
Rough-winds-do-shake-the-dar-ling-buds-of-may (10 syllables)
And-sum-mer’s-lease-hath-all-to-short-a-date (10 syllables)

Onomatopoeia
Definition: Onomatopoeia is the use of words that imitate sounds. Whirr, thud, sizzle, and hiss are typical examples.

Example (The Weary Blues, p. 269):
“Thump, thump, thump went his foot on the floor.”

Personification
Definition: Personification is a type of figurative language in which a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics.

Example (The Weary Blues, p. 268):
“With his ebony hands on each ivory key / He made that poor piano moan with melody.”

Simile
Definition: A simile is a figure of speech in which like or as is used to make a comparison between two unlike ideas.

Example (Jazz Fantasia, p. 270):
“Cry like a racing car slipping away from a motorcycle cop.”

The following are the types of short answer questions that you will be answering concerning the poem that will appear on the exam:
What is the rhyme scheme of the poem?
What is the meter (number of syllables per line) in the poem?
What type of stanzas are used?
What is the name of this type of poem?
What literary techniques are used in this poem and what do they mean (I.e. metaphor, simile, personification, etc.,)
What is the Theme of the poem?
What is the overall meaning of the poem?
What is your personal response to the poem? Explain why you think and feel the way that you do about this poem.