Elements of Poetry
Characteristics of Poetry Unlike prose which has a narrator, poetry has a speaker. A speaker, or voice, talks to the reader. The speaker is not necessarily the poet. It can also be a fictional person, an animal or even a thing Example But believe me, son. I want to be what I used to be when I was like you. from Once Upon a Time by Gabriel Okara
Characteristics of Poetry Poetry is also formatted differently from prose. A line is a word or row of words that may or may not form a complete sentence. A stanza is a group of lines forming a unit. The stanzas in a poem are separated by a space. A Couplet is a rhyming two-line stanza A Tercet (Triplet) is a three line stanza with a rhyme scheme A Quartet is a four line stanza with a rhyme scheme A Quintet is a five line stanza with a rhyme scheme A verse can refer to either a line or a stanza.
Couplet Example Trees Joyce Kilmer I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth's sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in summer wear A nest of robins in her hair; Upon whose bosom snow has lain; Who intimately lives with rain. Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree.
Figurative Language Language that is not supposed to be literal. Explains ideas beyond conventional language. A simile is a figure of speech using a word such as like or as to compare seemingly unlike things. Example Does it stink like rotten meat?- from Harlem by Langston Hughes A metaphor also compares seemingly unlike things, but does not use like or as. Example: the moon is a white sliver From I Am Singing Now by Luci Tapahonso Personification attributes human like characteristics to an animal, object, or idea. Example: A Spider sewed at Night from A Spider sewed at Night by Emily Dickinson Hyperbole a figure of speech in which great exaggeration is used for emphasis or humorous effect. Example: You ve asked me a million times! Imagery is descriptive language that applies to the senses sight, sound, touch, taste, or smell. Some images appeal to more than one sense.
Literary Devices Used to add depth and meaning Diction the choice of words by an author or poet Connotation - the emotional and imaginative association of a word. Denotation - the dictionary meaning of a word. Example: You may live in a house, but we live in a home. Mood the feeling or atmosphere that a poet creates. Symbolism when a character, object, or event has a meaning beyond itself Syntax the arrangement of words into phrases, clauses, and sentences Tone a reflection of the poet s attitude toward the subject of a poem. Tone can be serious, sarcastic, humorous, etc.
Literary Devices Used to add depth and meaning Conceit a kind of metaphor that compares two very unlike things in a surprising and clever way. Often, conceits are extended metaphors that dominate an entire passage or poem. Allegory is a work where characters and situations symbolize greater issues beyond the text
Syntax The arrangement of words into phrases, sentences Caesura is a pause within the poem sometimes punctuated, sometimes not Enjambment when a line ends without a pause and must continue in the next line Inversion is a deliberate flipping of the order of words. Used to maintain meter, rhyme, or for emphasis Parallel Structure is when a grammatical structure is repeated for emphasis and rhythm Repetition is when an element is repeated for emphasis or rhythm.
Literary Devices - Enjambment It creates a flow in the poem Creates anticipation, as reader must move to next line to figure out what is happening Establishes a faster rhythm due to lack of pauses (end stops).
Literary Devices - Enjambment
Literary Devices - Inversion Inversion is used to retain a rhyme scheme or meter
Literary Devices Tone/Enjambment/Caesura Is the speaker truly sorry? How do you know? (tone) Notice how the lines run into each other (enjambment) Notice where the pauses are (caesura). What is the effect of these runon sentences and pauses?
Literary Devices Mood/Diction The diction in this poem is simple why?
Sound Devices Used to create a flow, rhythm, or musical quality Alliteration is the repetition of CONSONANT sounds at the beginning of words. Assonance is the repetition of VOWEL sounds within a line of poetry. Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds at the within a line of poetry Onomatopoeia is the use of a word or phrase, such as hiss or buzz that imitates or suggests the sound of what it describes. Refrain a line that is repeated at intervals within a poem Rhyme is the repetition of similar end sounds either within or at the end of lines of poetry
Sound Device Example:
Sound Device Example:
Sound Device Example: Refrain
Sound Devices: Rhyme Rhyme is the repetition of the same stressed vowel sound and any succeeding sounds in two or more words. Internal rhyme occurs within a line of poetry. End rhyme occurs at the end of lines. Slant rhyme (near rhyme) happens when the author rhymes with words that do not sound exactly the same Rhyme scheme is the pattern of end rhymes that may be designated by assigning a different letter of the alphabet to each new rhyme
Rhyme - Internal and External
Rhyme Example- Slant rhyme
Rhyme Scheme Example 1 All mine!" Yertle cried. "Oh, the things I now rule! I'm king of a cow! And I'm king of a mule! I'm king of a house! And what's more, beyond that, I'm king of a blueberry bush and cat! I'm Yertle the Turtle! Oh, marvelous me! For I am the ruler of all that I see! from Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss A A B B C C
Rhyme Scheme Example 2 Penelope by Dorothy Parker In the pathway of the sun, In the footsteps of the breeze, Where the world and sky are one, He shall ride the silver seas, He shall cut the glittering wave. I shall sit at home, and rock; Rise, to heed a neighbor s knock; Brew my tea, and snip my thread; Bleach the linen for my bed. They will call him brave. A B A B C D D E E C
Sound Devices: Meter Meter is a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables stressed syllables are marked with / unstressed syllables are marked with. A foot is a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem
Meter: Iambic Pentameter The most common type of meter is called iambic pentameter A pentameter is a line of verse containing 5 metrical feet. An iamb is a foot consisting of an initial unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Example:
Significance of Iambic Pentameter Iambic Pentameter is significant to the study of poetry because It is the closest to our everyday speech In addition, it mimics the sound of heart beat; a sound common to all human beings. Finally, one of the most influential writers of our times uses iambic pentameter in all that he writes William Shakespeare.
Iambic Pentameter Examples William Shakespeare, Sonnet 145:
Meter - Examples The meters with two-syllable feet are IAMBIC (x u) : That time of year thou mayst in me behold TROCHAIC (/ u): Tell me not in mournful numbers SPONDAIC (/ /): Break, break, break/ On thy cold gray stones, O Sea! Meters with three-syllable feet are ANAPESTIC (x x /): And the sound of a voice that is still DACTYLIC (/ u u): This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the hemlock (a trochee replaces the final dactyl)
Poetic Forms Blank Verse A poem that usually contains iambic pentameter but no rhyme Concrete Poetry A poem where the physical shape of the poem communicates meaning. Dramatic poetry is poetry in which one or more characters speak. Elegy a contemplative poem, usually about someone who has died Free Verse poetry that has no fixed pattern of meter, rhyme, line length, or stanza arrangement. Lyric poetry is poetry that expresses a speaker s personal thoughts and feelings. Short and musical. Sonnet a fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter, with a rhyme scheme Narrative poetry is verse that tells a story. Ballads a song or poem that tells a story. Epics a long narrative poem on serious subject that is centered on the actions of a heroic figure Ode a poem used to meditate on or address a single subject Villanelle a poem arranged into five tercets and one quatrain
Blank Verse Example
Concrete Poetry e.e. cummings Notice how the structure of the poem matches the topic
Concrete Poetry John Hollander Kitty and Bug Notice how the shape of the poem matches the topic
Dramatic Poetry
Elegy Example This poem was written by Walt Whitman upon the death of Abraham Lincoln Notice the mournful tone and the praise that is lavished upon the beloved captain
Free Verse Example A Noiseless Patient Spider by Walt Whitman A noiseless patient spider, I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated, Mark'd how to explore the vacant vast surrounding, It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself, Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them. And you O my soul where you stand, Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space, Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them, Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold, Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.
Structure of Sonnets The traditional Elizabethan or Shakespearean sonnet : Has fourteen lines Has three quatrains (stanzas of 4 lines each) quatrains follow an abab rhyme scheme Ends with a couplet (two line stanza). Sonnets are usually written in iambic pentameter.
Lyric Poetry Sonnet Example
Narrative Poetry Example The Raven, By Edgar Allan Poe Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore-- While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. "'Tis some visiter," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door-- Only this and nothing more." Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December; And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. Eagerly I wished the morrow;--vainly I had sought to borrow From my books surcease of sorrow--sorrow for the lost Lenore-- For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore-- Nameless here for evermore
Narrative (Epic) Poetry Example
Ode Poem Example This poem celebrates a single subject bread (This poem is much longer, this is just a brief section)
Villanelle Poetry Example Stanzas are in groups of 3 (tercets) The final stanza is 4 lines (quatrain) Rhyme Scheme: ABAAB