Poetry Elements, the Couplet, Amanda Gorman, and You!

Today we watched the young Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman recite her original inaugural poem after President Joe Biden was sworn into office. It was a powerful moment in so many ways, and poetically speaking, it was simply phenomenal!

Below you will see a list of some of the literary devices Ms. Gorman used in her poem "In This Hill We Climb." We will discuss each of these terms together as a class, and then we will work with partners in breakout rooms to identify exactly where Ms. Gorman used these devices in her own poem. 

After that, can you guess what I have planned? We will write our own inaugural poem or reflection! We will brainstorm ways in which we can do this, as well as possible words to include before we work on this first draft! I cannot wait to see who our next poet laureate may one day be!

Devices to Look For Include:

Rhythm - a strong, regular, repeated pattern of movement or sound

Accented Syllables -- In poetry, it is important to listen carefully to hear when words are accentuated (or said a bit louder), and when they are not. 

Alliteration -- our favorite! This occurs when the same sound starts several words is what alliteration 

Repetition -- the use of the same word over and over for emphasis or to create a powerful statement

Rhyme and Internal Rhyme -- words that end with the same sound, such as the "at" at the end of "cat" and "hat"  An internal rhyme is a rhyme that occurs in the middle of the line instead of at the end!

Personification -- giving human qualities to inanimate objects

couplet -- two lines of poetry that have the same meter (amount of syllables) and rhyme! We will be talking more about the couplet in days to come!