POETRY AND ITS ELEMENTS

Mr. Nicanor L. GuintoDept. of Languages, Literature and Humanities

College of Arts and Sciences

Southern Luzon State University

Narrative Poetry

poems that tell stories in verse form story may be sad or filled with adventure Kinds of Narrative Poetry

EpicMetrical TaleMetrical RomanceBallad

Narrative Poetry: Epic

long narrative that recounts the adventures of a warrior, a king or a hero in a dignified language

presented in a series of adventures told in episodes important to the history

of a nation or race opens in medias res setting is vast begins with an invocation to a muse

Narrative Poetry: Epic starts with a statement of the theme uses epithets includes long lists features long and formal speeches shows divine intervention “star” hero embodies the values of the

civilization Kinds of Epic

Folk EpicLiterary Epic

Narrative Poetry: Epic

Folk EpicBeowulf (England)Ramayana & Mahabharata (India)Kalevala (Finland)Song of Roland (France)Nibelungenlied (Germany)El Cid (Spain)Biag Ni Lam-Ang (Philippines)

Narrative Poetry: Epic

Literary EpicThe Iliad and Odyssey (Homer, Greece)Divine Comedy (Dante Alighieri, Italy)Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe,

USA)Aenid (Virgil, Rome)Jerusalem Delivered (Tasso)Paradise Lost (John Milton)

Narrative Poetry: Metrical Tale

poem of real or imaginary incident simple, straightforward story in verse

Narrative Poetry: Metrical Romance

long rambling love story in verse centers around the adventures of

knights and lords and their royal ladies during the age of chivalry

characterized by ideals of truth, courage, revenge and justice.

Narrative Poetry: Ballad

short simple narrative intended to be sung

characterized by its presentation of a dramatic or exciting episodes in simple narrative form

Kinds of BalladsFolk BalladLiterary BalladBroadside Ballad

Narrative Poetry: Ballad Ballad of a Mother's Heart by Jose La Villa Tierra

The night was dark,For the moon was young,And the Stars were asleep and rare,The clouds were thick,Yet Youth went out,To see his Maiden fair.

Dear one,he pleaded as he knelt before her feet in tears.My love is true,Why you have kept me waiting all this years?The maiden looked at him.Unmoved it seemed,And whispered low.

Narrative Poetry: Ballad Persistent Youth,

You have to prove by deeds,Your love is true."There's not a thingI would not do for you, Beloved" said he."Then, go." said she. "To your mother dear,And bring her heart to me.

Without another word,Youth left and went to his mother dear.He opened her breast and took her heart!But he did not shed a tear.

Then back to his Maiden fair,He run unmindful of the rain.But his feet slipped, And he fell down,And loud, he groaned with pain!

Narrative Poetry: Ballad Still in his hand he held the prize,

That would win his Maiden's hands.But he thought of his mother dear,So kind, so sweet, so fond.

And then,he heard a voice!Not from his lips,But all apart!

"Get up" it said."Were you hurt, Child?"It was his mother's heart

Dramatic Poetry predominant theatrical pieces since the ancient

Greeks until the 19th century presents one or more characters speaking

usually to another characters, but sometimes to themselves or directly to the reader

Kinds as to Presentation1. Dramatic verse2. Closet Drama

Kinds as to Topic1. Comedy2. Tragedy

Dramatic Poetry

Dramatic Verseplay composed in poetic formtradition can be traced back in the ancient

Greecemajority is composed as blank verse

Closet Dramadramatic verse written for the purpose of

being read than performedtrend started in England in 1800s

Dramatic Poetry

Comedyintended to give pleasure or evoke laughterdepicts the incongruities in man’s life

Tragedyintended to arouse pity and sympathy from

the readersdepicts about the downfall of the hero or the

main character

Elements of Poetry

Rhythmregular or random occurrence of sound in

poetry Foot

smallest repeated pattern of stressed and unstressed syllablessmallest unit of a meter

iambus = unstressed followed by a stressed syllable (UA)

trochee = stressed followed by unstressed syllable (AU)

Elements of Poetry○ anapest = two unstressed followed by a

stressed syllable (UUA)○ dactyl = one stressed followed by two

unstressed syllables (AUU)○ spondee = two long stressed syllables

Meterpatterned repetition of stressed and

unstressed syllables in poetry○ monometer = one foot in a line○ dimeter = two feet in a line

Elements of Poetry

○ trimeter = three feet in a line○ tetrameter = four feet in a line○ pentameter = five feet in a line○ hexameter = six feet in a line○ heptameter = seven feet in a line○ hexameter = eight feet in a line

Elements of Poetry

Rhymesimilarity or likeness of sounds existing

between two words○ Perfect rhyme

Masculine rhyme - a rhyme in which the stress is on the final syllable of the words. (rhyme, sublime)

Feminine rhyme - a rhyme in which the stress is on the penultimate (second from last) syllable of the words. (picky, tricky)

○ Sight Rhyme

Elements of Poetry

Stanzadivision of poetry named after the number of

lines it contain○ couplet○ tercet○ quatrain○ quintet○ sestet○ septet○ octave

Elements of Poetry

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark 

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

 

-Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare

 

Elements of PoetryOnce 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 visitor,' 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 borrowFrom my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore -For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore -Nameless here for evermore.

-The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe 

Elements of PoetryThe Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold

And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold

And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea

When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

 

Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green, That host with their banners at sunset were seen: Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown, That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.

 

-The Destruction of Sennacherib by Lord Byron

Elements of Poetry

THIS is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,

Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,

Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic,

Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.

-Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Figures of Speech

Alliteration—the same consonant sound is repeated noticeably at the beginning of words placed close together"World Wide Web“"Find four furry foxes"

Allusion—is a reference to a famous historical or literary figure or event." . . . a turn of phrase even Shakespeare

would appreciate." 

Figures of Speech

Apostrophe—direct address of an absent or dead person or personified thing."God help me!""Ambition, you're a cruel master!"

Irony—the use of words to mean the opposite of what is said.Sarcasm is a cutting, sneering or taunting

irony.○ "He's handsome if you like rodents."

Figures of SpeechHyperbole is an exaggeration not meant to

be taken literally.○ "I waited forever for him."○ “I destroyed that test!"○ "The world ended the day my father died."

 Understatement is the representation of

something as significantly less than it actually is.○ "That was some sprinkle." (in reference to the

four inches of rain which fell an hour before)

Figures of Speech

Metaphor—an implied and direct comparison between things, events, or actions which are fundamentally dissimilar.Metonymy is substituting a word--which is

suggested by it or which is closely associated with it--for another word.○ "She counted heads."○ "Malacañan denied the allegations." 

Figures of SpeechSynecdoche is the use of a part for the

whole or the whole for a part.○ "The pen is mightier than the sword" 

Personification represents a thing, quality, or idea as a person.○ "The book just begged to be read."○ “The ocean screamed its fury"○ "Fear lived with us during the Japanese

regime."

Figures of Speech Onomatopoeia uses words to imitate the sound

they represent"I heard the hiss of steam down in the access

tunnel.“"The clock in the living room cuckooed the hour.“"The clang of the cymbals echoed across the

square."

Parallelism (aka "Balance")is expressing two ideas of equal importance through similar phrasing. 

Figures of SpeechAntithesis is parallelism in grammatical pattern

but strong contrast in meaning. ○ "Give me liberty or give me death!"○ "That isn't the truth, it's a lie."○ "You seem so wise, yet how foolish you are."

Paradox is a statement that seems self-contradictory. The effect of this is to jolt the reader into paying attention. ○ "He who loses his life for My sake will save it."○ "One day is sometimes better than a whole year."

Figures of SpeechOxymoron is a paradoxical statement in

which two contradictory terms or words are brought together.○ “the deafening silence"○ "He was clearly misunderstood."○ "They were alone together."

Anaphora is the repetition of the same word or words at the beginning or successive clauses, verses, or sentences,○ "He came as conqueror. He came as ally. He came

as a stranger. He came as brother."

Figures of SpeechClimax: The arrangement of a series of

ideas or events in ascending order of importance, interest, or effectiveness. Stresses the relative importance of ideas or events.

 Anticlimax: the use of climax up to the end

of a series of thoughts and then the insertion of some unimportant idea in the last, most important position. Useful in humorous writing.

Figures of Speech

Simile—an explicit comparison between things, events, or actions which are fundamentally unlike. It typically involves the words "like" or "as." “His arguments withered like grapevines in

the fall.""He was cold as an arctic wind.""Crooked as a dog's hind leg.""Casual dress, like casual speech, tends to

be loose, relaxed and colorful"