Introduction to Poetry: Forms and Elements - Study Guide

Through this intense look at poetry's form and elements, students will learn:

Historical Timeline

Types of Poetry: Narrative poems, lyric poems, dramatic poems.

Elements of Poetry: Lines, stanzas, words, impressions, sounds, rhyme, slant rhyme, sibilant, common meter, poetic foot, iambic tetrameter, iambic trimeter, imagery, analogy, tone.

Forms of Poetry: Petrarchan or Italian sonnet, Shakespearean or English sonnet, octave, sestet, couplet, villanelle, blank verse, haiku, ballad, limerick, terza rima, tercet, parody, Petrarchan conceits, free verse.

Literary Techniques: Enjambment, denotation, connotation, diction, alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia, theme, poetic license, simile, metaphor, personification, paraphrasing, allusion, explication, narrative, quatrains.

Moral Lessons and Character Values: Decision making and prayer, loving God means we must love our neighbor, inner beauty, materialism, use our time wisely, the Trinity, hypocrisy, grace in weakness, death, peace, serve one another, contentment, authority, and hope.

Activities and Writing Assignments: Research Elihu Burritt. Writing activities include connotations, couplets, senses, feelings, haiku, limerick, parody, sonnet, villanelle, ballad, terza rima, free verse. Paraphrase a poem and then write an explication of the same poem.

Suggestions for Further Reading: We include an in-depth reading list of more poetry by the same author(s) and other books that tie in with, or are similar.

All of the unit lessons are written from a Christian worldview!

Features and Benefits of the study guide

Printed Workbook Format

• Large 8.5x11 format is convenient to read and easy on the eyes
• Every question has plenty of whitespace for student’s answers
• Encourages neat and clean handwriting practice
• Easily transports without the need for a laptop or other expensive equipment
• Provides a permanent record of the student’s work
• Convenient, removable answer key included for the teacher!