You are on page 1of 6

ELEMENT OF POETRY

I.

Poetry is one of the three major types of literature, the others


being prose and drama. Most poems make use of highly concise,
musical, and emotionally charged language. Many also make use of
imagery, figurative language, and special devices of sound such as
rhyme. Poems are often divided into lines and stanzas and often
employ regular rhythmical patterns, or meters. However, some poems
are written out just like prose, and some are written in free verse.
a. ORAL TRADITION is the passing of songs, stories, and poems
from generation to generation by word of mouth.
b. SOME TYPES OF POETRY

1.

A CONCRETE POEM is one with a shape that suggests its subject. (See

handout) William Burfords A Christmas Tree is a concrete poem:


Star,
If you are
A Love compassionate,
You will walk with us this year.
We face a glacial distance, who are here Huddld
At your feet.
The lines of the poem appear on the page in a shape of a tree, and the words star
and at your feet appear in appropriate positions, at the top and bottom.
2.

DRAMATIC POETRY is poetry that involves the techniques of drama.

a. A MONOLOGUE is a speech by one character in a play, story, or poem.


3.

An EPIGRAM is a short poem with a single point, usually two to four

lines long, but sometimes more. The word literally means inscription and they
originally were inscribed on tombs.

4.

FREE VERSE is poetry not written in a regular rhythmical pattern, or

meter. Free verse seeks to capture the rhythms of speech.


5.

The HAIKU is a three-line Japanese verse form. A haiku seeks to convey a

single vivid emotion by means of images from nature has a certain amount of
syllables
6.

LYRIC POETRY is a highly musical verse that expresses the observations

and feelings of a single speaker. They were at one time sung, but not
today. They still have a musical quality that is achieved through rhythm and
other devices such as alliteration and rhyme.
a. A SONNET is a 14 line lyric poem, usually written in iambic pentameter.
i.

The SHAKESPEAREAN (ENGLISH) sonnet consists of three quatrains


(four-line stanzas) and a couplet (two
lines), usually
rhyming abab cdcd efef gg. The
couplet usually comments on the ideas
contained in the preceding twelve
lines. The sonnet is usually not printed
with stanzas divided, but a reader can see
distinct ideas in each.

ii. The PETRARCHAN (ITALIAN) sonnet consists of an octave (eight line


stanza) and a sestet (six-line
stanza). Often the octave
rhymes abbaabba and the sestet
rhymes cdecde. The octave states a
theme or asks a question. The sestet
comments on or answers a question.
7.

A NARRATIVE POEM is one that tells a story.

c. SPEAKER is the imaginary voice assumed by the writer of a poem. In


many poems the speaker is not identified by name. When reading a poem,

remember that the speaker and the poet are not the same person, not more than
an actor is the playwright. The speaker within the poem may be a person, an
animal, a thing, or an abstraction.
d. STRUCTURE OF POETRY
1.

BLANK VERSE is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter

lines. This verse form was widely used by Elizabethan dramatists like William
Shakespeare.
2.

A REFRAIN is a repeated line or group of lines in a poem or song.

3.

A STANZA is a formal division of lines in a poem, considered as a

unit. Often the stanzas in a poem are separated by spaces. Stanzas are
sometimes named according to the number of lines found in them.
a. 2 lines ---- couplet
b. 3 lines ---- tercet
c. 4 lines ---- quatrain
d. 5 lines ---- cinquain
e. 6 lines ---- sestet
f.

7 lines ---- heptastich

g.

8 lines ---- octave

4.

METER of a poem is its rhythmical pattern. This pattern is determined by

the number and types of stresses, or beats, in each line.


e. SOUND DEVICES
i.

ALLITERATION is the repetition of initial consonant sounds. Writers use


alliteration to give emphasis to words, to imitate sounds, and
to create musical effects.

There will come soft rains


and the smell of the ground
and swallows circling
with their shimmering sound;
ii.

ASSONANCE is the repetition of vowel sounds followed by different


consonants in two or more syllables.
1.

iii.

weak and weary in The Raven

CONSONANCE is the repetition in two or more words of final


consonants in stressed syllables.
1.

iv.

add-read

DIALECT is the form of a language spoken by people in a particular


region or group. Pronunciation, vocabulary, and sentence
structure are affected by dialect.

v.

ONOMATOPOEIA is the use of words that imitate sounds. Whirr, thud,


sizzle, buzz, and hiss are typical examples.

vi.

REPETITION is the use, more than once, of any element of language a


sound, a word, a phrase, a clause, or a sentence. Poets use
many kinds of repetition. Alliteration, assonance, rhyme,
and rhythm are repetitions of certain sounds and sound
patterns.

vii.

REFRAIN is a repeated line or group of lines.

viii.

RHYME is the repetition of sounds at the ends of words.


1.

End rhyme occurs when the rhyming words come at


the end of lines.

2.

Internal rhyme occurs when the rhyming words


appear in the same line.

ix.

RHYME SCHEME is a regular pattern of rhyming words in a


poem. The rhyme scheme of a poem is indicated by using
different letters of the alphabet for each new rhyme.

x.

RHYTHM is the pattern of beats, or stresses, in spoken or written


language. Some poems have a very specific pattern, or
meter, whereas prose and free verse use the natural rhythms
of everyday speech.
f.

i.

WAYS TO MEANING

LITERAL LANGUAGE uses words in their ordinary senses. It is the


opposite of figurative language.

ii.

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE is writing or speech not meant to be


interpreted literally.

1.

SIMILE uses like or as to make a comparison


a. Between two unlike ideas
b. Jim is as fast as Rick ---- not a simile
c. Jim runs like a deer ---- simile

2.

METAPHOR one thing is spoken of as though it were something else.


a. DOES NOT USE LIKE OR AS
b. Jim is a deer.

3.

IMAGERY is a word or phrase that appeals to one or more of the five

senses sight, hearing, touch, taste, or smell. Writers use images to re-create
sensory experiences in words.
4.

PARODY is a work done in imitation of another, usually in order to mock

it, but sometimes just in fun. The following lines are Lewis Carrolls parody of
the familiar childrens rhyme, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star:

Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!


How I wonder what youre at!
Up above the world you fly,
Like a teatray in the sky.
5.

PERSONIFICATION is a type or figurative language in which a non-

human subject is given human characteristics.

You might also like