Understanding Poetry: Elements, Forms, and Imagery Explained

1. Poetry

2. What is a poem? A poem is A fishing net stronger than what it catches The sound of nature In a capsule Like a seed Or more-like A mirror For man To look through To expose himself To blend as part of a whole Where one belongs

3. Poetry • Poetry is the art of expressing one’s thoughts in verse. • It uses few words to convey its message. It is meant to be read aloud. • Poetry arouses our emotions. • Poems use imagery or figures of speech to explain feelings or to create a mental picture or idea. • These suggest action or mood. Many poems have a specific rhyme scheme. Poems can rhyme or not rhyme. 

4. Elements

5. Elements • Line • A single line in a poem. • Often organized into stanzas. • 2 lines is a couplet. • 3 lines is a triplet or tercet. • 4 lines is a quatrain. • 5 lines is a quinrain or a cinquain. • 6 lines is a sestet. • 8 lines is a octet.

6. Elements • Line “To a Snowflake” 1 Hello little snowflake! 2 Where are all your friends? 3 Should I expect a lot of them 4 before the morning ends? 5 I love it when you come to me 6 and you all fall down together, 7 and I get dressed to visit you, 8 toasty warm in cold, cold weather The poem has 8 lines. The lines are organized into quatrains. 

7. Elements • Stanza • A group of lines. • Usually develops one idea. • Give poems structure. • Emphasize different ideas. • Beginning a new stanzas often signals the beginning of a new image, thought, or idea.

8. Elements • Stanza • Four Stanzas in Couplets 1 2 3 4 Each Stanza Signals a New Image “First and Last” by David McCord A tadpole hasn’t a pole at all, And he doesn’t live in a hole in the wall. You’ve got it wrong: a polecat’s not A cat on a pole. And I’ll tell you what: A bullfrog’s never a bull; and how Could a cowbird possibly be a cow? A kingbird, though, is a kind of king, And he chases a crow like anything.  Each stanza signals a new image

9. Elements • Rhyme and rhyme scheme • Words rhyme when they have the same sound. • Poems often use rhyme at the end of lines. • Rhyme scheme is a pattern of rhymes in a poem. • Poets use rhyme to add a musical sound to their poems.

10. Elements • Rhyme and rhyme scheme “Ten Minutes Till the Bus” by David L. Harrison Ten whole minutes Till the bus, Scads of time, What’s the fuss? Two to dress, One to flush, Two to eat, One to brush, That leaves four To catch the bus, Scads of time, What’s the fuss?

11. Elements • Rhyme and rhyme scheme • Ottava rima • Ottava rima is a rhyming scheme using a stanza of eight lines with an alternating a-b rhyming scheme for the first six lines followed by a closing couplet. • First used by Boccaccio, it was developed for heroic epics but has also been used for mock-heroic poetry. • Terza rima • Dante's Divine Comedy[58] is written in terza rima, where each stanza has three lines, with the first and third rhyming, and the second line rhyming with the first and third lines of the next stanza (thus, a-b-a / b-c-b / c-d-c, et cetera.) in a chain rhyme. • The terza rima provides a flowing, progressive sense to the poem, and used skilfully it can evoke a sense of motion, both forward and backward. Terza rima is appropriately used in lengthy poems in languages with rich rhyming structures (such as Italian, with its many common word endings).[59]

12. Elements • Rhythm • Pattern of beats or a series of stressed and unstressed syllables in poem. • Poets create rhythm by using words in which parts are emphasized or not emphasized.

13. Elements • Rhythm Windy Nights” By Robert Louis Stevenson Whenever the moon and stars are set, Whenever the wind is high, All night long in the dark and wet, A man goes riding by. Late in the night when the fires are out, Why does he gallop and gallop about? 

14. Elements • Rhythm Windy Nights” By Robert Louis Stevenson Whenever the moon and stars are set, Whenever the wind is high, All night long in the dark and wet, A man goes riding by. Late in the night when the firesare out, Why does he gallop and gallop about? 

15. Elements • Free Verse • Poetry written without a regular rhyme, rhythm, and form. • Sounds natural, just like everyday conversation. • Poets use free verse because it allows them to experiment with the shapes and sounds in their poetry. • No rhyme or regular rhythm 

16. Elements • Free Verse Blossoms” by Walter Dean Myers I never dreamt that tender blossoms would be brown Or precious angels could come down to live in the garden of my giving heart But here you are brown angel  

17. Elements • Imagery • Imagery Language that appeals to the 5 senses. • Are “word pictures”. • Helps the reader to experience familiar things in a fresh way using the senses. • Strong Image Sensory Words Uses Senses Sound Smell Taste Touch Sight

18. Elements • Imagery “There is a Thing” by Jack Prelutsky There is a thing beneath the stair with slimy face and oily hair that does not move or speak or sing or do another single thing but sit and wait beneath the stair with slimy face and oily hair.

19. Elements • Symbol • Something that stands for something more than just itself. Suggests another larger meaning. Example: the American flag is a symbol of freedom.

20. Elements • Symbol “The Farmer” By Carole Boston Weatherford A plot of weeds, An old grey mule. Hot sun and sweat On a bright Southern day. Strong, stern papa Under a straw hat, Plowing and planting His whole life away. His backbone is forged Of African Iron And red Georgia clay.  • The farmer is a symbol of the proud African culture and the South. “African Iron” and “red Georgia clay” describe the farmer, but link him to his African ancestors in Africa and his fellow southerners. 

21. Elements • Mood • Feeling that a poem creates in the reader. • Can be positive or negative. • Poet creates the mood with the length of sentences, the words chosen, punctuation, and the sounds of the words.

22. Elements • Mood “Poor” by Myra Livingston I heard of poor. It means hungry, no food. No shoes, no place to live, Nothing good. It means winter nights And being cold, It is lonely, alone. Feeling old. Poor is a tired face. Poor is thin. Poor is standing outside Looking in.  • Short words and lines create a serious mood. Words create a feeling of sadness. 

23. Elements • Tone • Attitude a writer takes toward the subject or audience of a poem.

24. Elements • Tone “The Crocodile” How doth the little crocodile Improve his shining tail, And pour the water of the Nile On every golden scale! How cheerfully he seems to grin, How neatly spreads his claws, And welcomes little fishes in With gently smiling jaws!  • The subject of the poem is crocodiles. The author’s attitude towards crocodiles is that they are dangerous

25. Elements • Figures of Speech • Hyperbole • Exaggeration • Describe something as larger or wildly different than it actually is. • Poets use exaggeration to create a mental picture and spark a reader’s imagination

26. Elements • Figures of Speech • Hyperbole “Beetles” by Monica Shannon Beetles must use polish, They look so new and shiny! Just like a freshly painted car, Except for being tiny. Poet stretches the truth about how beetles become shiny to make readers smile and to create greater interest in these insects.

27. Elements • Figures of Speech • Allusion • a figure of speech making casual reference to a famous historical or literary figure or event • "Like a modern Daniel, the brave little boy strode to the playground in order to face the school bully.

28. Elements • Figures of Speech • Simile • Comparison between 2 things, using the words like or as. • Poets use comparisons between things to make you think about them in a new way. • Used to surprise the reader and to create strong images.

29. Elements • Figures of Speech • Simile “The World” by Noel Berry The trees are like the hair of the world. The city is like the heart of the world. The wind is a flute player playing in the night. The cars beeping horns are like buttons beeping inside the earth. Each bird is like a single piccolo singing away and the grass, just like me, being buried under the snow. 

30. Elements • Figures of Speech • Metaphor • Direct comparison between 2 things. • Does NOT use the words like or as. • Poet describes a thing or person as if it actually were the other thing or person. • Creates a clear, memorable picture and tries to get you to see the original subject in a new way.

31. Elements • Figures of Speech • Metaphor “Dreams” by Langston Hughes Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams For when dreams go Life is a barren field Frozen with snow. 

32. Elements • Figures of Speech • Onomatopoeia • Use of words that sound like the noises they describe. • Poets choose words not just for what they mean, but what they sound like. • Poets use onomatopoeia to liven up their writing and add fun sounds to it.

33. Elements • Figures of Speech • Onomatopoeia “The Fourth” by Shel Silverstein Oh CRASH! my BASH! it’s BANG! the ZANG! Fourth WHOOSH! Of BAROOM! July WHEW!

34. Elements • Figures of Speech • Personification • Type of figure of speech that gives human qualities to animals, objects, or ideas. • Adds life to a poem and helps the reader view a familiar thing in a new way.

35. Elements • Figures of Speech • Personification “Snowy Benches” by Aileen Fisher Do parks get lonely in winter, perhaps, when benches have only snow on their laps? Parks have feelings and benches have laps. The poet asks whether the parks feel lonely in winter, like people sometimes do. 

36. Elements • Figures of Speech • Idiom  • An everyday saying that doesn’t exactly mean what the words say. • Poet’s use idioms because that’s the way people talk to each other. • Example: “easy as pie” means you are able to do something without difficulty

37. Elements • Figures of Speech “Last Night” by David L. Harrison Last night I knew the answers. Last night I had them pat. Last night I could have told you Every answer, just like that! Last night my brain was cooking. Last night I got them right. Last night I was a genius. So where were you last night! “I had them pat” - knowing something well. “My brain is cooking” - it was working fast and bubbling over with ideas. 

38. Elements • Sound • Alliteration: • The repetition of similar initial consonant sounds. The repetition of consonant sounds, particularly at the beginning of words. • Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers • Assonance • The repetition of similar stressed vowel sounds. The repetition of similar vowel sounds. Similarity of sounds; particularly, as distinguished from rhyme, the similarity of like vowels followed by unlike consonants. • I rose and told him of my woe

39. Elements • Sound • Consonance • The repetition of similar final consonant sounds. • Elision • The omission of an unstressed vowel or syllable to preserve the meter of a line of poetry. The running together of vowels in adjacent words, for the sake of eliminating a syllable. • "th'eternal, as happy'as I."

40. Quiz: Identify the elements found in this poem Line Stanza Rhyme/rhyming scheme Free verse or Traditional Form Imagery Symbol Mood Tone Figures of Speech Sound

41. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate.Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer's lease hath all too short a date.Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;But thy eternal summer shall not fadeNor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

42. Different traditions and genres of poetry tend to use different meters, ranging from the Shakespearian iambic pentameter and the Homeric dactylic hexameter to the Anapestic tetrameter used in many nursery rhymes. However, a number of variations to the established meter are common, both to provide emphasis or attention to a given foot or line and to avoid boring repetition. Poetic Feet and Metrical Patterns

43. Poetic Feet • Iamb • one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable; The iamb is the most common metrical foot in English poetry; unrhymed iambic pentameter, also called blank verse, is perhaps the most common form of metrical verse in English. A slumber did my spirit seal; I had no human fears: She seemed a thing that could not feel The touch of earthly years No motion has she now, no force; She neither hears or sees; Rolled round in earth's diurnal course, With rocks, and stones, and trees.

44. Poetic Feet • trochee • one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable; • a metrical foot used in formal poetry consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one. Should you ask me, whence these stories? Whence these legends and traditions, With the odours of the forest, With the dew and damp of meadows,

45. Poetic Feet • Dactyl • one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables • This is the / forest prim- / eval. The / murmuring / pines and the / hemlocks, • Picture yourself in a boat on a river withtangerine tree-ees and marmalade skii-ii-es.

46. Poetic Feet • Anapest • two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable • In classical quantitative meters it consists of two short syllables followed by a long one (as in a-na-paest); in accentual stress meters it consists of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable. • It may be seen as a reversed dactyl. The 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.

47. Poetic Feet • Spondee • two stressed syllables together • It is unrealistic to construct a whole, serious poem with spondees. Consequently, spondees mainly occur as variants within, say, an anapaestic structure. This is my son, mine own Telemachus To whom I leave the scepter and the isle, Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfill Thislabour, by slowprudence to makemild A rugged people, and through soft degrees Subdue them to the useful and the good.

48. Poetic Feet • Pyrrhic • two unstressed syllables together (rare, usually used to end dactylic hexameter) • a metrical foot used in formal poetry. It consists of two unaccented, short syllables • It is also known as a dibrach. Be near me when my light is low, When the blood creeps and the nerves prick And tingle; and the heart is sick, And all the wheels of Being slow. —from In Memoriam.

49. Poetic Feet • The number of metrical feet in a line are described in Greek terminology as follows: • dimeter – two feet • trimeter – three feet • tetrameter – four feet • pentameter – five feet • hexameter – six feet • heptameter – seven feet • octameter – eight feet

50. Common Metrical Patterns • Different traditions and genres of poetry tend to use different meters, (Shakespearian iambic pentameter, the Homeric dactylic hexameter, Anapestic tetrameter in many nursery rhymes) • Variation of these metrical patterns can also be made to provide emphasis or attention to a given foot or line and to avoid boring repetition. • Example of added variation: • the stress in a foot may be inverted • a caesura (or pause) may be added (sometimes in place of a foot or stress) • or the final foot in a line may be given a feminine ending to soften it or be replaced by a spondee to emphasize it and create a hard stop.