Elements of Poetry

Effecting sound, meaning and emotion Elements of Poetry

Element 1: Lines A single line in a poem Often organized into stanzas (paragraphs) 2 lines alone are a couplet “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, 7and I get dressed to visit you, 8 toasty warm in cold, cold weather.

Element 2: Rhyme and RhymeScheme • Words Rhyme when they have the same sound • Poems often use this at the end of lines • Rhyme scheme is the pattern of the rhyme • Rhyme adds a musical sound to the poem

Rhyme “Ten Minutes Till the Bus” 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?

Element 3: Rhythm • Pattern of beats, or stressed/unstressed syllables in a poem • Poets use words that some parts are emphasized and others are not

The yellow parts are the stressed parts “Windy Nights” 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 the fires are out, Why does he gallop and gallop about? / = Unstressed U = Stressed

Element 4: Free Verse • Not using regular rhythm or rhyme • Sounds natural, like a conversation “The Red Wheelbarrow” so much dependsupon a red wheelbarrow glazed with rainwater beside the whitechickens.

Element 5: Alliteration • Repeating the same consonant sound at the beginning of words, several times • Makes poetry musical and more interesting

“Surf” Lillian Morrison Waves Want to be wheels, They jump for it and fail fall flat like pole vaulters and sprawl arms outstretched foam fingers reaching.

Element 6: Imagery • Words that appeal to the 5 senses • Are “word pictures” Make you imagine • Helps the reader experience things in a fresh way. Helps reader identify/make a connection

Imagery “There is a Thing” 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

Element 7: Simile • Comparing two things that are not very similar using “like” or “as” • This makes you think about things in a new way • Used to surprise the reader

Red = Simile Blue = ?? “The World” 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 sing away and the grass, just like me, being buried under the snow.

Element 8: Metaphor • A direct comparison between two unlike things without using “Like” or “As” • The poet describes the thing as if it really were the comparison “He is a rock” “she was a snake” “The earth was a marble, easily shaken”

Elements of Poetry