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What is Poetry?
A form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities with or without its
apparent meaning. It is derived from the Greek word poiesis, meaning "making" or "creating. It is often uses
particular forms and conventions to expand the literal meaning of the words, or to evoke emotional or sensual
responses.
What are the Origins of Poetry?
Many ancient works, from the Vedas to the Odyssey, appear to have been composed in poetic form to
aid memorization and oral transmission, in prehistoric and ancient societies.
The oldest surviving poem is the Epic of Gilgamesh, from the 3rd millennium BC in Sumer
(Mesopotamia, now Iraq), which was written in cuneiform script on clay tablets and, later, papyrus.
The oldest surviving poem is the Epic of Gilgamesh, from the 3rd millennium BC in Sumer
(Mesopotamia, now Iraq), which was written in cuneiform script on clay tablets and, later, papyrus.

What are the Genres of Poetry?


1. Narrative Poetry
-Tells a story
-May be the oldest genre of poetry
-Includes epics, ballads, idylls and lays
2. Epic Poetry
- It recounts, in a continuous narrative, the life and works of a heroic or mythological person or group
of persons.
3. Dramatic Poetry
- Is drama written in verse to be spoken or sung, and appears in varying and sometimes related forms
in many cultures.
- uses the discourse of the characters involved to tell a story or portray a situation.
4. Satirical Poetry
- A punch of an insult delivered in verse
- often written for political purposes.
- A notable example is that of the Roman poet Juvenal.
5. Lyric Poetry
- Portrays the poet's own feelings, state of mind, and perceptions.
- Derived from the word "lyre; implies that it is intended to be sung
- Includes sonnets, elegy, ballads, odes, villanelles and pastourelles

What are the basic Elements of Poetry?


1. Form
1A. Line is a unit of language into which a poem or play is divided, which operates on principles
which are distinct and not necessarily with grammatical structures, such as the sentence or clauses in
sentences although the word for a single poetic line is verse, that term now tends to be used to
signify poetic form more generally.
A distinct group of lines in verse is normally called a stanza.

2A. Stanza in poetry is defined as a smaller unit or group of lines or a paragraph in a poem. A
particular stanza has a specific meter, rhyme scheme, etc. based on the number of lines,
stanzas are names as:
Couplet (2 lines) Sestet (6 lines)
Tercet (3 lines) Septet (7 lines)
Quatrain (4 lines) Octave (8 lines)
Cinquain (5 lines)

2. Sound
a. Alliteration- This is also used in several poems for sound effect. Several words in the sentence
may begin with the same alphabet or syllable.
To the lay-person, these are called tongue-twisters.
Example: How much dew would a dewdrop drop if a dewdrop did drop dew?
Many minute miniature moments.
b. Onomatopoeia- Words that spell out sounds; words that sound like what they mean.
Ex. growl, hiss, pop, boom, crack, ptthhhbbb
Ding-dong, ding-dong; chug,chug,chug

c. Assonance -is the repetition of vowel sounds to create internal rhyming within phrases or
sentences, and together with alliteration and consonance.
Ex. The silken sad uncertain rustling or each purple curtain
And murmuring of innumerable bees.
On a proud round cloud in white high night.

d. Consonance- A literary device in which the same consonant sound is repeated two or more
times in short succession.
Ex. Thy gift, thy tables, are within ,my brain
Full characterd with lasting memory,
Which shall above that idle rank remain,
Beyond all date; even to eternity
Nor need I tallies thy dear love to score;
Therefore to give them from me was I bold,
To trust those tablets that receive thee more;
3. Rhyme- consists of identical (hard-rhyme) or similar (soft-rhyme) sounds placed at the ends of lines or
at predictable locations within lines (internal rhyme).
- The repetition of sounds
Ex. hat, cat, brat, fat, mat, sat
a. Rhyme Scheme- is defined as the pattern of rhyme.
The Germ by Ogden Nash
A mighty creature is the germ,
Though smaller than the pachyderm.
His customary dwelling place
Is deep within the human race.
His childish pride he often pleases
By giving people strange diseases.
Do you, my poppet, feel infirm?
You probably contain a germ.
Rhyme Scheme- aabbccaa
b. End Rhyme- A word at the end of one line rhymes with a word at the end of
another line
Ex. Hector the Collector
Collected bits of string.
Collected dolls with broken heads
And rusty bells that would not ring
c. Internal Rhyme- A word inside a line rhymes with another word on the same line.
Ex. Once upon a midnight dreary,
while I pondered weak and weary.
4. Rhythm- is the actual sound that results from a line of poetry.
The pattern of beats or stresses in a poem. Poets use patterns of stressed and
unstressed syllables to create a regular rhythm.
Ex. She was a child and I was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love
I and my Annabel Lee;
5. Meter- the number of feet in a line
- A pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.
- Meter occurs when the stressed and unstressed syllables of the words in a poem are
arranged in a repeating pattern.
- When poets write in meter, they count out the number of stressed (strong) syllables
and unstressed (weak) syllables for each line. They repeat the pattern throughout
the poem.
6. Imagery- appeals to the five senses.
Ex. Back, he spurred like a madman,
shouting curses to the sky,
With the white road smoking behind
him and his rapier brandished high.
7. Figures of Speech are a special kind of imagery.
- They create pictures by making comparisons.
- It is a rhetorical device that achieves special effect using word in distinctive ways.
a. Simile comparison between two fundamentally dissimilar things that have qualities in common using
as or like.
Ex. The old mans voice was as creaky as feet on the old worn steps.
The metal twisted like a ribbon.
b. Metaphor- an implied comparison between two unlike things that actually have something important in
common.
Ex. The lady is a delicate flower.
Men are dogs.
Her heart is stone.
c. Personification- a figure of speech in which inanimate object or abstraction is endowed with human qualities or
abilities inanimate ( non-life).
d. Hyperbole- an exaggerated statement for the purpose of emphasis.
Ex. I could give up my life just to win his trust back.
I will love you forever.
My house is a million miles away.
e. Irony the use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning. A statement or situation where the
meaning is contracted by the appearance or presentation of the idea.
Ex. Youre such a good friend , you never remember even my birthday.
Kinds of irony
1. Verbal Irony- A character says one thing but means the opposite
-Also called sarcasm or being sarcastic.
Examples
The locker room smells really good.
Awesome! Another homework packet!

2. Dramatic Irony - When the reader understands more about the events of a story than a character
- You know something that a character doesnt.
Example
Tims parents are proud of the A he got on the test, but we know he cheated.
Alex writes a love poem to Judy but we know that Judy loves Devin.

3. Situational Irony - When what actually happens is the opposite of what is expected.
- Something about the situation is completely unexpected.
Example
-General Sedgwicks last words were, They couldnt hit an elephant at this distance.
- Bill Gates uses an Apple computer.
Something that is ironic is unexpected.
If unexpected by a character, its dramatic.
If unexpected by everyone, its situational.
If its sarcasm, its verbal.
f. Anaphora- repetition of the same sound or phrase at the beginning of successive clause .
Ex. Nobody, Nobody but you.
g. Apostrophe- breaking off discourse to address some absent person or thing, some abstract quality, an inanimate
object or non-existent character.
Ex. Ambition, you have been a cruel master. I will serve you no more.
h. Oxymoron- a figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms appear side by side.
Ex. bitter- sweet pretty- ugly Xerox copy
i. Chiasmus- a verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first but with the
part reversed.
Ex. You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget.
If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail.
j. Euphemism- the substitution of an inoffensive term for one considered offensively explicit.
k. Alliteration - the repetition of an initial sound.
Ex. it is a world, wide, work, work of workers.
l. Assonance- identity or similarity in sound between internal vowels in neighboring words.
Ex. I was living home when my old folks were growing old.
I think that I shall never see.
A person lovely as a tree.
m. Onomatopoeia- the use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer.
Ex. I heard the buzzing of the bees and the hissing of the snakes.
n. Idiom- are phrases which people use in everyday language which do not make sense literally but we understand
what they mean .
Ex. Its raining cats and dogs.

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