When teaching poetry, it is often helpful to refresh or introduce students with technical words. Terms like “metaphor", "stanza", "alliteration", "personification", "imagery", "rhyme scheme", "apostrophe", and "assonance" are a few important terms.
After you have read the poem, ask your students to do a scavenger hunt using the Storyboard Creator. Give them the list again and have them create a storyboard that depicts and explains the use of each literary element in the poem! They will have an absolute blast and gain mastery of the words.
| DESCRIPTION | EXAMPLE | |
|---|---|---|
| Alliteration | Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words in a sentence or line | "Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest..." |
| Metaphor | An implied comparison between two things | "That on the ashes of his youth doth lie..." |
| Personification | Giving human-like characteristics to non-human objects or abstract ideas | "Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang..." |
| Assonance | The repetition of a vowel sound | "When yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang..." |
| Apostrophe | A direct address to an absent person, concept, or inanimate object | “This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong…” |
| Imagery | The use of descriptive or figurative language to create vivid mental imagery that appeals to the senses | “In me, thou seest the twilight of such day/ As after sunset fadeth in the west…” |
(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)
Student Instructions
Create a storyboard that shows five examples of literary elements in Sonnet 73.