Immigrant Chronicles by Peter Skrzynecki
IMMIGRANT CHRONICLES
By Peter Skrzynecki
STUDY NOTES
***
Studying poetry
Poetry appeals to our understanding through our imagination by making us see what the poet has seen, hear what the poet has heard and experience the poet wants us to feel.
Useful Literary Terms
Alliteration | repetition of initial consonant sounds close together – for a special sound effect and/or emphasis | Allusion | a reference to something from history/ literature/ religion that adds meaning to the text | Analysis | to examine closely; take apart for the purpose of greater understanding | Assonance | repetition of vowel sounds in words or lines close together for poetic sound effect and/or emphasis | Cliché | word or phrase which is very common and overused (e.g. “only time will tell” , “all is fair in love and war”) | Climax | where emotion/ideas reach a peak (often at the end of a poem) | Criticism | evaluation of literature; finding strong points which support the meaning and looking at style and language use | Dissonance | harsh sounding words together for a special effect and emphasis | Enjambment | run-on-lines, which no punctuation or pauses, which have an effect on the sense of the lines | Free Verse | a disregard for traditional rhyme/rhythm rules | Hyperbole | exaggeration for effect/emphasis (e.g. “this car goes faster than the speed of light”) | Imagery | the way the words of the poem make the reader ‘see’ in their imagination the colours, sounds and feelings evoked by the poem | Irony | when the spoken/written words do not convey the underlying meaning (e.g. “he is as smart as a soap dish”) | Juxtaposition | two contrasting ideas close together for dramatic effect and emphasis (e.g. “she’s pretty ugly”, “forget to remember or remember to forget”) | Metaphor | a direct comparison between two things, referring to one in terms of another without using ‘like’ or ‘than’ (e.g. “the wheels of justice turn slowly”) | Mood | overall
By Peter Skrzynecki
STUDY NOTES
***
Studying poetry
Poetry appeals to our understanding through our imagination by making us see what the poet has seen, hear what the poet has heard and experience the poet wants us to feel.
Useful Literary Terms
Alliteration | repetition of initial consonant sounds close together – for a special sound effect and/or emphasis | Allusion | a reference to something from history/ literature/ religion that adds meaning to the text | Analysis | to examine closely; take apart for the purpose of greater understanding | Assonance | repetition of vowel sounds in words or lines close together for poetic sound effect and/or emphasis | Cliché | word or phrase which is very common and overused (e.g. “only time will tell” , “all is fair in love and war”) | Climax | where emotion/ideas reach a peak (often at the end of a poem) | Criticism | evaluation of literature; finding strong points which support the meaning and looking at style and language use | Dissonance | harsh sounding words together for a special effect and emphasis | Enjambment | run-on-lines, which no punctuation or pauses, which have an effect on the sense of the lines | Free Verse | a disregard for traditional rhyme/rhythm rules | Hyperbole | exaggeration for effect/emphasis (e.g. “this car goes faster than the speed of light”) | Imagery | the way the words of the poem make the reader ‘see’ in their imagination the colours, sounds and feelings evoked by the poem | Irony | when the spoken/written words do not convey the underlying meaning (e.g. “he is as smart as a soap dish”) | Juxtaposition | two contrasting ideas close together for dramatic effect and emphasis (e.g. “she’s pretty ugly”, “forget to remember or remember to forget”) | Metaphor | a direct comparison between two things, referring to one in terms of another without using ‘like’ or ‘than’ (e.g. “the wheels of justice turn slowly”) | Mood | overall