Elements of Poetry

What do you know about poetry?

1. Speaker

a. The voice that communicates with the reader of a poem.

b. A poem’s speaker can be the voice of a person, an animal, or even a thing.

Example

Lie back, daughter, let your head

Be tipped back in the cup of my hand.from “First Lesson” by Philip Booth

Who is the speaker?

2. Lines and Stanzas

a. line- a row of words, which may or may not form a complete sentence.

b. Stanza- a group of lines forming a unit (poem paragraph)

Example

Drum on your drums,

batter on your banjoes,

Sob on the long cool winding saxophones.

Go to it, O jazzmen.From “Jazz Fantasia” by Carl Sandburg

Identify a line and a stanza.

3. Rhythm

Rhythm- the pattern of sound created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllable in a line. Rhythm can be regular or irregular.

Example

Once 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 someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door—

“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—

Only this and nothing more.”

From “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe

4. Rhyme

a. Internal rhyme- occurs within lines of poetry

b. End rhyme- occurs at the ends of lines

c. Rhyme scheme- the pattern of rhyme formed by the end rhyme

Example

Once 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 someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door—

“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—

Only this and nothing more.”

Find examples of end rhyme and internal rhyme and the rhyme

scheme.

5. Sound Devices

a. Alliteration- the repetition of consonant sounds

b. Onomatopoeia- the use of a word or phrase, such as swoosh or clank, that imitates or suggests the sound of what it describes

Example

Give an example of alliteration.

Give an example of onomatopoeia.

6. Imagery

a. Imagery- descriptive language used to represent objects, feelings, and thoughts.

b. It often appeals to the five senses- sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell.

Example

Black horse drive a mower through the weeds,

And there, a field rat, startled, squealing bleeds.

from “Reapers” by Jean Toomer

To what senses do these lines appeal?

7. Figures of Speech

a. Simile- uses the words like or as to compare two unlike things

Example: My love is like a red, red rose.

7. Figures of Speech

b. Metaphor- compares two or more different things by stating or implying that one thing is another

Example: “… I was not one for keeping

Rubbed in a cage a wing that would be free.”

•Extended metaphor – a metaphor that appears through out a poem

Dead metaphor

Metaphor so common that it is part of everyday speech

Examples: the woman is a beautiful flower or love a beautiful flower

7. Figures of Speech

c. Personification- giving human characteristics to an animal, object, or idea

Example:

The headlights of the car stared at Bill.

Apostrophe

Addressing/ speaking to an animal, object, or idea as if it were a human

Example: Death, why do you mock me?

Other Literary Elements

• Hyperbole – exaggeration to create an effectExamples: I was so surprised you could have knocked me over with a feather.

I would rather die than eat brussels sprouts.

Other Literary Elements

• Oxymoron – two or three words that combine opposite ideasExamples:

“sweet sorrow”“jumbo shrimp”

Other Literary Elements

• Paradox – holding contradictory ideas together in order to point to a deeper truthExamples:

“For it is in giving that we receive,In pardoning that we are pardoned,And in dying that we are born to eternal life.”

Saint Francis of Assisi

Types of Poetry

• Epic – a long narrative poem (tells a story) in which a hero has a great adventure

• Lyrical – expresses a speaker’s personal thoughts and feelings

• Narrative – tells a story

• Dramatic – the speaker is a character who gives a speech (like a monologue in a play)

Introduction to PoetryIntroduction to Poetry

By Billy CollinsBy Billy Collins

I ask them to take a poemI ask them to take a poem

and hold it to the lightand hold it to the light

like a color slidelike a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem I say drop a mouse into a poem

and watch him probe his way out.and watch him probe his way out.

or walk inside a poem’s roomor walk inside a poem’s room

and feel the walls for a light switch.and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to water skiI want them to water ski

across the surface of a poemacross the surface of a poem

waving at the author’s name on the waving at the author’s name on the shore.shore.

But all they want to do But all they want to do

is tie the poem to a chair with ropeis tie the poem to a chair with rope

and torture a confession out of it.and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hoseThey begin beating it with a hose

to find out what it really means.to find out what it really means.