Poetry is a type of writing that uses techniques to stir the reader’s imagination. The poet does this by carefully choosing words for their meaning, sound, and rhythm. Some poems are stories, some poems rhyme, some are humorous and others are like prayers. One thing that makes poems different from other types of writing is their structure. The words of a poem are arranged in lines and groups of lines called stanzas.
I Found Hope in a Cherry Tree is a poem. It is a style of poem called free verse because it does not follow a set form. It is lyrical because it shows the writer’s emotions in a beautiful, imaginative and flowing way. The poet, Jean E. Pendziwol, uses “literary devices” to do this.
Can you find where the poet uses the following literary devices?
- onomatopoeia – words that describe a sound and also sound like that sound (hush and hiss, whisper, sigh)
- alliteration – words that start with the same sound are repeated in a phrase or sentence (mischievous monkey, shadow shrinks, hush and hiss, large and long, toss and tumble)
- imagery – descriptive language that appeals to the senses (tastes like clouds)
- personification – giving nonliving objects characteristics of people (the wind tells stories, the shadows play, the wind dances, the cherry tree places buds on its branches)
- metaphor – where two things that are normally unrelated are compared to each other (hope/blossoms on a cherry tree)
- simile (a type of metaphor) – a comparison using “like” or “as” (like a sweet dream, taste like clouds)
- repetition – when words or phrases repeat (sometimes a few minutes, sometimes a few hours…)