Test Your Knowledge

Here are lyrics to Norah Jones' Turn Me On. What poetic element(s) can be found in these lyrics?

Like a flower
Waiting to bloom
Like a light bulb
In a dark room
I'm just sitting here waiting for you
To come on home and turn me on

Like the desert waiting for rain
Like a school kid waiting for spring
I'm just sitting here waiting for you
To come on home and turn me on

My poor heart
Its been so dark
Since you've been gone
After all your the one who turns me off
You're the only one who can turn me back on

My Hi-Fi is waiting for a new tune
My glass is waiting for some fresh ice cubes
I'm just sitting here waiting for you
To come on home and turn me on
Turn me on

Can you find the element(s)? Or better yet post your own song and have others find the elements!!!

Poetry in Novels

Although poetry can stand on its own there are also many novels that are comprised solely of poems. A great example of this type of literature is Helen Frost's Keehsa's House. The poem-story uses sestinas and sonnets( for more information on the forms visit: www.poemofquotes.com/articles/poetry_forms.php) to explore the minds of teens. Their stories touch issues of race, class, and residence; encompass pregnancy, responsibility, addiction, homosexuality, abuse, neglect, abandonment, and delinquency.

Poetry can be found all around us! Not only are poetic elements used in poems but also music lyrics and novels.

Can you think of other places poetic elements can be found?

Alliteration, Assonance, and Consonance

Just like poems, music lyrics can contain more than one poetic element. Tupac Shakur's Dear Mama contains examples of alliteration, assonance, and consonance. Alliteration is the repetition of the initial letter or sound in two or more words in a line of verse. Assonance is the resemblances of sounds (specifically vowels) that are used with different consonants in the stressed syllables of rhyming words. Consonance is the use of the repetition of consonants and consonant patterns as a rhyming device. Sometimes the definitions can be confusing and not very helpful so lets put them to use! Accompanied is the video and lyrics to Dear Mama. Some examples of alliteration are in red, assonance in blue, and consonance in green. Not all are highlighted so see if you can find some!!!

Dear Mama

You are appreciated

When I was young me and my mama had beef

Seventeen years old kicked me out on the streets

Though back at the time, I never thought I'd see her face

Ain't a woman alive that could take my mama's place

Suspended from school, and scared to go home, I was a fool

with the big boys, breaking all the rules

I shed tears with my baby sister

Over the years we was poorer than the other little kids

And even though we had different daddy's, the same drama

When things went wrong we'd blame mama

I reminisce on the stress I caused, it was hell

Hugging on my mama from a jail cell

An who'd think in elementary?

Hey! I see the penitentiary, one day

And running from the police, that's right

Mama catch me, put a whooping on my back side

And even as a crack fiend, mama

I finally understand

for a woman it ain't easy trying to raise a man

You always was committed

A poor single mother on welfare, tell me how ya did it

Lady

Don't ya know we love ya? Sweet lady

Dear mama

Place no one above ya, sweet lady

You are appreciated

Don't ya know we love ya?

The complete lyrics can be found at : http:/www.lyrics.com/dear-mama-lyrics-2pac.html

Can you find the reasons for each element? Test your knowledge!

Simile

As explained in the previous post, simile and metaphor are related in that they both are a comparison of two seemingly unrelated things. However, simile is easier to identify because it uses the terms like and as.

Bob Seger's Like a Rock is a perfect example of a simile. The comparison between himself and a rock is made throughout the song. Similar attributes include strength, lean, solid, and many others. After viewing the video see if you can find other comparisons!

Lets look at some poetry! There are many classic examples of similes. A well known poem that makes use of the element is:

A Dream Deferred

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore--

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over--

like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

like a heavy load

Or does it explode?

-Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes makes use of simile by exploring the idea of what happens to a deferred dream.

What are some of the things he compares to a deferred dream? What would you compare to a dream deferred?

Metaphor

In poetry, a methaphor is an implied comparison between two usually unrelated things indicating a likeness or analogy between attributes found in both things. Unlike a simile is does not use like or as to compare.

An example of a metaphor in music can be found in Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve. Lyrics can be found following the video.

Refrain Lyrics:

Cause its a bittersweet symphony, this life '

Trying to make ends meet

You're a slave to money then you die

I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down

You know the one that takes you to all the places

Where all the veins meet, yeah

No change, I can't change

I can't change, I can't change

But I'm here in my mold

I am here in my mold

But I'm a million different people

from one day to the next

I can't change my mold

No, no, no, no, no

What two things a being compared in this song?

What are their similar attributes?