Form
Forms of Poetry
Tone
Imagery
Figurative Language
Your Turn
What Are Elements of Poetry?
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A poet is like a sculptor.
A sculptor uses tools to shape wood, stone, or metal.
Form
A poet uses words to shape a poem.
Form
Read this poem aloud. How do the lengths of the lines influence the sound of the poem?
The shortlines giveemphasis to words like worm and stone.
Stay beautifulbut dont stay down underground too longDont turn into a moleor a wormor a rootor a stone
from “For Poets” by Al Young
Short lines may also cue readers to speed up.
2. Should I group the lines into stanzas?
Form
To help shape their writing, poets ask:
1. How long should the lines be?
3. Should I follow established forms or experiment with new forms?
The poet’s purpose is to give the words a pleasing shape on the page and to help convey meaning.
Form
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Quick Check
How does the shape of this experimental poem help you understand its meaning?
One endwipes outmistakes.
The other capturesideas, making surethat people get the
point.
My Favorite Pencil
Could you write a poem by listing four or five things found in your classroom?
Forms of Poetry
free verse that lists the poet’s thoughts or feelings on a subject.
You could if you were writing a catalog poem—
Forms of Poetry
A catalog poem is a list:
On the first day of school, I see shoes. My classmates wear big shoes, small shoes, smelly shoes—shoes built for running and moving.
I see desks. . . .
Other kinds of poems
• tell stories
• express feelings
• honor someone or some event
• remember someone
Forms of Poetry
Express feelingsformally
Tell a story
You will read many of these forms in this collection.
Mourn the loss of someone or something
Express thoughts and feelingsin free verse
Forms of Poetry
Quick CheckWhat is the form of this poem?
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, . . .The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing, . . .
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from “I Hear America Singing”by Walt Whitman
Tone reflects a poet’s attitude toward a subject.
Tone
Saddened
by his
loss?
In awe of his
courage?
Inspired by his persistence?
Amazed at medicaltechnology?
Imagine you are writing a poem about the man in this picture. What would be your tone, or attitude?
To determine a poem’s tone, ask:
Tone
A poet carefully chooses every word and detail to help you understand and share his or her attitude.
How do the
• words
• images
• sounds
make you feel?
cold?
curious?
spooked?
adventurous?
Tone
Quick Check
What is the toneof this passagefrom “The Highwayman”?
And still of a winter’s night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
A highwayman comes riding—
Riding—riding—
A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn door.
by Alfred Noyes
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You can think of a poet as an artist who uses words the way a painter uses paint.
Imagery
clouds like tufts of wool
the rock’s wrinkled face . . . a carpet of red sand
The poet’s words create images, or pictures, in the reader’s mind.
Imagery
The wind was a torrent of darknessamong the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon,tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlightover the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding. . . .by Alfred Noyes
Listen to this excerpt from “The Highwayman.” What images do you see?
Imagery
Is this how you imagined the scene?
Images in poetry focus on all of the senses.
Imagery
sight
sound
taste
touch
smell
He rode with a jeweled twinkle. . . .
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn yard.
They said no word to the landlord. They drank his ale instead.
He scarce could reach her hand. . . .
. . . his hair like moldy hay. . . .
Imagery
Find examples ofimages in this poem that appeal to different senses.
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Quick CheckBeclouded
The sky is low, the clouds are mean,
A traveling flake of snowAcross a barn or through a rutDebates if it will go.
A narrow wind complains all dayHow some one treated him;Nature, like us, is sometimes
caughtWithout her diadem.
by Emily Dickinson(edited by Thomas Wentworth
Higginson)
Poets also use figures of speech—language that helps make startling connections between dissimilar things.
Figurative Language
I like to see it lap the miles,And lick the valleys up,And stop to feed itself at tanks. . . .
by Emily Dickinson
What connections are made in the following lines from “The Railway Train”?
Figurative Language
A train is compared to a
horse.
A simile is a comparison of two unlike things using the word like, as, or resembles.
Figurative Language
There came a wind like a bugle. . . .
• How are these very different things alike?
• What meaning does the poet want us to make from this connection?
A metaphor compares two unlike things without using like, as, or resembles.
Figurative Language
Stars are great dropsOf golden dew
from “Harlem Night Song”by Langston Hughes
An extended metaphor is a comparison that continues through many lines or the entire poem.
Figurative Language
All the world's a stage,And all the men and women merely players;They have their exits and their entrances,And one man in his time plays many parts,His acts being seven ages.
by William Shakespeare
Figurative Language
Quick CheckWhat figure(s)of speechare used in these lines from a poem about a young horse?
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And we saw him, or thought we saw him, dim and gray,Like a shadow against the curtain of falling flakes.
from “The Runaway”by Robert Frost
Your Turn
Analyze Elements of Poetry
• What makes poetry different from prose?Include different elements as examples.
• Identify an element of poetry that you would like to understand better, and explain why.
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The End
