StyleNo, it’s not just something that happens on

accident.

Metaphormy friend and i

got caught in a stormwith tears for rain

and shouts for thunder,lightning fistslashing out.

“Clouds Rolling In,” Melissa Leigh Davis, age 14Things I have to tell you

What is the speaker comparing to a storm? Why?

PersonificationInside this pencilcrouch words that have never been writtennever been spokennever been thought

they’re hiding

they’re awake in theredark in the darkhearing usbut they won’t come outnot for love not for time not for fire

“The Unwritten,” W.S. MerwinTruth and Lies

Why does the speaker give human feelings and actions to words? What is he suggesting about them?

When I slip, just slightly, in the dark,

I know it isn’t a wet leaf,

But you, loose toe from the old life,

The cold slime come into being,

A fat, five-inch appendage

Creeping slowly over the wet grass,Eating the heart out of my garden.

- “Slug,” Theodore RoethkeStep Lightly: Poems for the Journey

Why does Roethke repeat the “sl” and “l” sounds when describing the slug?

How does the speaker feel about the slug?What might the slug represent in addition to its slimy self?

Consonance / Alliteration / Symbol

a silk windsockof snowblowingunder the porch lighttangling treeswhich bendlike old womensnarledin their ownknitting

“Blizzard,” Linda PastanStep Lightly: Poems for the Journey

What do these images suggest about the snow and the trees? What words are connected by assonance? Why are they connected?

Imagery / Assonance

Look at itsy-bitsy Mitzi!See her figure slim and ritzy!She eatsaPizza!Greedy Mitzi!She no longer itsy-bitsy!

“The Pizza,” Ogden NashCustard and Company

What is the tone of this poem? How does the wordplay affect it?

Wordplay

O, love’s best habit is in seeming trust,And age in love loves not to have years told:

Therefore I lie with her and she with me,And in our faults by lies we flatter’d be.

“When my love swears she is made of truth,” William Shakespeare

Truth and Lies

What is a habit? What two meanings apply here?How do the multiple meanings of lie apply to the

concluding couplet?

Pun

A woman of thirty or so,With three small children at home,She’s told me she likesA long walk by herself in the morningAnd with pride in her work,She’s wrapped the news neatly in plastic—A bread bag, beaded with rain,That reads WONDER.

“Myrtle,” Ted KooserThe Invisible Ladder

What does “WONDER” imply beyond the brand name of the bread? How does the speaker see this woman?

Connotation / Denotation

Understatement

The world is not a pleasant placeTo be withoutSomeone to hold and be held by

“The World is Not a Pleasant Place to Be,” Nikki GiovanniThe Invisible Ladder

Is the world merely unpleasant when you are lonely? What is it like without “someone to hold and be held by”? Whom do we hold in life? Whom are we held by?

Hyperbole

You have taken the east from me; you have taken the west from me;

You have taken what is before me and what is behind me;

You have taken the moon, you have taken the sun from me;

And my fear is great that you have taken God from me!“Donal Og,” Anonymous, Trans. Lady Augusta Gregory

Step Lightly: Poems for the Journey

Can someone be robbed of time, direction, the past, and the future? Can someone be robbed of faith?

What is the speaker feeling? Who might be her audience and how does she feel about this person?

Loving you was a kindof Chinese guerilla war.Thanks to your lightfoot geniusno Eighth Route Armykept its lines more fluid,traveled with less baggage,so nibbled the advantage.Even with your small bad heartyou made a dance of departures.

“After the Last Dynasty,” Stanley KunitzThe Invisible Ladder

To what war is the speaker referring? What was the Eighth Route Army? What does this allusion suggest about the speaker’s relationship with his audience?

Allusion

i.one. now another. onemore. some again; then done.though others rundown your windshield, whenup ahead a suddenswirl and squall comes onlike moths, mayflies in a swarmagainst your lights, a storm…

from “Snow Songs,” W. D. SnodgrassThe Invisible Ladder

What is the subject of this poem? How do the short, one- or two-word sentences at the beginning reflect what the subject is doing?

Rhythm / Cadence

BibliographyAnonymous. “Donal Og.” Step Lightly: Poems for the Journey. Trans. Lady Augusta Gregory. Ed.

Nancy Willard. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1998.Davis, Melissa Leigh. “Clouds Rolling In.” Things I Have to Tell You. Ed. Betsy Franco. Cambridge,

MA: Candlewick Press, 2001.Giovanni, Nikki. “The World Is Not a Pleasant Place to Be.” The Invisible Ladder. Ed. Liz Rosenberg.

New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 1996.Kooser, Ted. “Myrtle.” The Invisible Ladder. Ed. Liz Rosenberg. New York, NY: Henry Holt and

Company, 1996.Kunitz, Stanley. “After the Last Dynasty.” The Invisible Ladder. Ed. Liz Rosenberg. New York, NY:

Henry Holt and Company, 1996.Merwin, W.S. “The Unwritten.” Truth and Lies. Ed. Patrice Vecchione. New York, NY: Henry Holt

and Company, 2001.Nash, Ogden. “The Pizza.” Ed. Quentin Blake. Custard and Company. Boston, MA: Little, Brown, and

Company, 1980.Pastan, Linda. “Blizzard.” Step Lightly: Poems for the Journey. Ed. Nancy Willard. San Diego, CA:

Harcourt Brace & Company, 1998.Roethke, Theodore. “Slug.” Step Lightly: Poems for the Journey. Ed. Nancy Willard. San Diego, CA:

Harcourt Brace & Company, 1998.Shakespeare, William. “When my love swears.” Truth and Lies. Ed. Patrice Vecchione. New York,

NY: Henry Holt and Company, 2001.Snodgrass, W. D. “Snow Songs.” The Invisible Ladder. Ed. Liz Rosenberg. New York, NY: Henry Holt

and Company, 1996.