ELEMENTS 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 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. weak and weary in The Raven iii. CONSONANCE is the repetition in two or more words of final consonants in stressed syllables. 1. add-read iv. 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. WAYS TO MEANING i. 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.

Basic Elements of Poetry What is Poetry? When we begin analyzing the basic elements of poetry, we should first know what poetry is all about in the first place. Poetry can be defined as 'literature in a metrical form' or 'a composition forming rhythmic lines'. In short, a poem is something that follows a particular flow of rhythm and meter. Compared to prose, where there is no such restriction, and the content of the piece flows according to story, a poem may or may not have a story, but definitely has a structured method of writing. Elements of Poetry There are several elements which make up a good poem. In brief, they are described below. Rhythm: This is the music made by the statements of the poem, which includes the syllables in the lines. The best method of understanding this is to read the poem aloud. Listen for the sounds and the music made when we hear the lines spoken aloud. How do the words resonate with each other? How do the words flow when they are linked with one another? Does sound right? Do the words fit with each other? These are the things you consider while studying the rhythm of the poem. Meter: This is the basic structural make-up of the poem. Do the syllables match with each other? Every line in the poem must adhere to this structure. A poem is made up of blocks of lines, which convey a single strand of thought. Within those blocks, a structure of syllables which follow the rhythm has to be included. This is the meter or the metrical form of poetry. Rhyme: A poem may or may not have a rhyme. When you write poetry that has rhyme, it means that the last words of the lines match with each other in some form. Either the last words of the first and second lines would rhyme with each other or the first and the third, second and the fourth and so on. Rhyme is basically similar sounding words like 'cat' and 'hat', 'close' and 'shows', 'house' and 'mouse' etc. Free verse poetry, though, does not follow this system. Alliteration: This is also used in several poems for sound effect. Several words in the sentence may begin with the same alphabet or syllable sound. For example, in the sentence "Many minute miniature moments," the sound of the alphabet 'M' is repeated in all the four words continuously. When you say those words aloud, the sound effect generated is called Alliteration. Simile: A simile is a method of comparison using the words 'like' or 'as'.

When, in a poem, something is said to be 'like' another it means that the poet is using Simile to convey his feelings about what (s)he is describing. For example, in the statement 'Her laughter was like a babbling brook', the poet is comparing the laughter of the girl to the sound made by a babbling brook. Note that 'babbling brook' is an example of Alliteration. Metaphor: A metaphor is a method of comparison where the words 'like' and 'as' are not used. To modify the earlier example, if the statement had been 'Her laughter, a babbling brook', then it would be the use of Metaphor. Theme: This is what the poem is all about. The theme of the poem is the central idea that the poet wants to convey. It can be a story, or a thought, or a description of something or someone - anything which is what the poem is all about. Symbolism: Often poems will convey ideas and thoughts using symbols. A symbol can stand for many things at one time and leads the reader out of a systematic and structured method of looking at things. Often a symbol used in the poem will be used to create such an effect. Conclusion These are the basic elements of poetry. They are an essential part of what any good poem is all about, structurally. Of course, it does not mean, that all poems must have all these elements. It depends entirely upon the poet, who has all these tools at his disposal, to use in order to convey his ideas effectively. What Are The Main Elements Of A Poem There are seven basic elements of poetry, which that comprise together to form an interesting poem. The main feature of all these seven units is to provide easy-to-read flow, synchronized expression and necessary meaning to a composition. Theme A poem is not written randomly. Several thoughts and expressions are synchronized together, to give a proper theme to the poem. In fact, the theme can be described as the soul of a poem. It is the actually what the poet wants to express through his words. It may either be a thought, a feeling, an observation, a story or an experience. Symbolism The expression in poetry is often not direct. Rather, it makes use of several symbolic and virtual substances and themes to express the deep hidden meaning behind the words. The use of symbolism gives a more reflective empathy to the poem. It is one of those basic elements of a poem that are conceived at the very beginning of the composition.

Meter Meter is the basic structure of a poem. It is conceived right after the theme and symbolism of poem have been finalized. This is point where a poem takes an entirely different structure from that of prose. Every line in a poem has to adhere to this basic structure. The entire poem is divided into sub-units and it is made sure that a single unit conveys a single strand of thought successfully. Rhythm For a smooth flow of expression, a musical symphony in the poem is compulsory. A dry and broken piece of literature can never ever be good poetry, despite having a good theme. However, it is not the rhyming between two words of consecutive lines, rather the resonation of words along with the sounds and the music produced, when the poem is read aloud. This musical link must not be missing in a poem. Other Elements Rhyme A rhyme may or may not be present in a poem. Free verse variety of poetry does not follow this system. However where present, the pattern is present in different forms, like aa, bb, cc (first line rhymes with the second, the third with fourth, and so on) and ab, ab (first line rhymes with third and the second with fourth). Rhyme has a very significant role in providing rhythm and flow to poem, which further helps in maintaining the reader's interest. Alliteration This element of poetry is also not compulsorily inculcated. However, most of the poets use it in order to give their poem a beautiful sound effect. In this, several words in a line may be beginning from the same word as for example say 'M', say 'musical melody of the mystic minstrels'. Alliteration is basically a way to adore the poetry. Simile Simile is a way to add interesting comparisons in the poem, not only to adorn the beauty of the composition, but also to make the lines more expressive and understandable. In simile, comparisons are made using like or as. For example her laughter was like a babbling brook. This is another important, but optional element of poetry. Metaphor Metaphor is one another way used to include interesting comparisons in a piece of poetry. Here, the comparisons are much more complex than the simple like or as of simile. For example while expressing himself as a vibrant and 'happy go lucky' personality, the poet may compare himself with a rainbow. A poet may or may not use this element in his/her poetry.