STRUCTURE and POETRY

- An important method of analyzing a poem is to look at the stanza structure or style of a

poem. Generally speaking, structure has to do with the overall organization of lines and/or
the conventional patterns of sound. Again, many modern poems may not have any
identifiable structure (i.e. they are free verse), so don't panic if you can't find it!

STANZAS: Stanzas are a series of lines grouped together and separated by an empty line from other
stanzas. They are the equivalent of a paragraph in an essay. One way to identify a stanza is to count the
number of lines. Thus:
couplet (2 lines)
tercet (3 lines)
quatrain (4 lines)
cinquain (5 lines)
sestet (6 lines) (sometimes it's called a sexain)
septet (7 lines)
octave (8 lines)

FORM: A poem may or may not have a specific number of lines, rhyme scheme and/or metrical pattern,
but it can still be labeled according to its form or style. Here are the three most common types of poems
according to form:
1. Lyric Poetry: It is any poem with one speaker (not necessarily the poet) who expresses strong
thoughts and feelings. Most poems, especially modern ones, are lyric poems.
2. Narrative Poem: It is a poem that tells a story; its structure resembles the plot line of a story [i.e. the
introduction of conflict and characters, rising action, climax and the denouement].
3. Descriptive Poem: It is a poem that describes the world that surrounds the speaker. It uses elaborate
imagery and adjectives. While emotional, it is more "outward-focused" than lyric poetry, which is more
personal and introspective.

In a sense, almost all poems, whether they have consistent patterns of sound and/or structure,
or are free verse, are in one of the three categories above. Or, of course, they may be a combination of
2 or 3 of the above styles! Here are some more types of poems that are subtypes of the three styles
above:
Ode: It is usually a lyric poem of moderate length, with a serious subject, an elevated style, and an
elaborate stanza pattern.

SOUND PATTERNS
Three other elements of poetry are rhyme scheme, meter (ie. regular rhythm) and word sounds
(like alliteration). These are sometimes collectively called sound play because they take advantage of the
performative, spoken nature of poetry.

RHYME- Rhyme is the repetition of similar sounds. In poetry, the most common kind of rhyme is the end
rhyme, which occurs at the end of two or more lines. It is usually identified with lower case letters, and a
new letter is used to identify each new end sound. Take a look at the rhyme scheme for the following
poem :
I saw a fairy in the wood,
He was dressed all in green.
He drew his sword while I just stood,
And realized I'd been seen.

The rhyme scheme of the poem is abab.

Internal rhyme occurs in the middle of a line, as in these lines from Coleridge, "In mist or cloud, on mast
or shroud" or "Whiles all the night through fog-smoke white" ("The Ancient Mariner"). Remember that
most modern poems do not have rhyme.

NOTE: Rhyme (above) and rhythm (below) are two different concepts!

RHYTHM AND METER

Meter: the systematic regularity in rhythm; this systematic rhythm (or sound pattern) is usually
identified by examining the type of "foot" and the number of feet.

1. Poetic Foot: The traditional line of metered poetry contains a number of rhythmical units, which are
called feet. The feet in a line are distinguished as a recurring pattern of two or three syllables ("apple"
has 2 syllables, "banana" has 3 syllables, etc.). The pattern, or foot, is designated according to the
number of syllables contained, and the relationship in each foot between the strong and weak syllables.
Thus:

__ = a stressed (or strong, or LOUD) syllable

U = an unstressed (or weak, or quiet) syllable

In other words, any line of poetry with a systematic rhythm has a certain number of feet, and each foot
has two or three syllables with a constant beat pattern .

a. Iamb (Iambic) - weak syllable followed by strong syllable. [Note that the pattern is sometimes fairly
hard to maintain, as in the third foot.]

b. Trochee (Trochaic): strong syllable followed by a weak syllable.

c. Anapest (Anapestic): two weak syllables followed by a strong syllable.

e. g.
In her room at the prow of the house
Where light breaks, and the windows are tossed...

From "The Writer", by Richard Wilbur

d. Dactyl (Dactylic): a strong syllable followed by two weak syllables.

DD
Here's another (silly) example of dactylic rhythm.
DDDA was an / archer, who / shot at a / frog
DDDB was a / butcher, and / had a great / dog
DDDC was a / captain, all / covered with / lace
DDDD was a / drunkard, and / had a red / face.
e. Spondee (Spondaic): two strong syllables (not common as lines, but appears as a foot). A spondee
usually appears at the end of a line.
2. The Number of Feet: The second part of meter is the number of feet contained in a line.

Thus:
one foot=monometer
two feet=dimeter
three feet=trimeter
four feet=tetrameter
five feet=pentameter
six feet=hexameter (when hexameter is in iambic rhythm, it is called an alexandrine)

- Poems with an identifiable meter are therefore identified by the type of feet (e.g. iambic)
and the number of feet in a line (e.g. pentameter). The following line is iambic pentameter
because it (1) has five feet [pentameter], and (2) each foot has two syllables with the stress
on the second syllable [iambic].
3. Irregularity: Many metered poems in English avoid perfectly regular rhythm because it is
monotonous. Irregularities in rhythm add interest and emphasis to the lines. In this line:

The first foot substitutes a trochee for an iamb. Thus, the basic iambic pentameter is varied with the
opening trochee.
4. Blank Verse: Any poetry that does have a set metrical pattern (usually iambic pentameter), but does
not have rhyme, is blank verse. Shakespeare frequently used unrhymed iambic pentameter in his plays;
his works are an early example of blank verse.
5. Free Verse: Most modern poetry no longer follows strict rules of meter or rhyme, especially
throughout an entire poem. Free verse, frankly, has no rules about meter or rhyme whatsoever! [In
other words, blank verse has rhythm, but no rhyme, while free verse has neither rhythm nor rhyme.] So,
you may find it difficult to find regular iambic pentameter in a modern poem, though you might find it in
particular lines. Modern poets do like to throw in the occasional line or phrase of metered poetry,
particularly if they’re trying to create a certain effect. Free verse can also apply to a lack of a formal
verse structure.

WORD SOUNDS
Another type of sound play is the emphasis on individual sounds and words:

Alliteration: the repetition of initial sounds on the same line or stanza - Big bad Bob bounced bravely.
Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds (anywhere in the middle or end of a line or stanza) - Tilting at
windmills
Consonance: the repetition of consonant sounds (anywhere in the middle or end of a line or stanza) -
And all the air a solemn stillness holds. (T. Gray)
Onomatopoeia: words that sound like that which they describe - Boom! Crash! Pow! Quack! Moo!
Caress...
Repetition: the repetition of entire lines or phrases to emphasize key thematic ideas.
Parallel Stucture: a form of repetition where the order of verbs and nouns is repeated; it may involve
exact words, but it more importantly repeats sentence structure - "I came, I saw, I conquered".
MEANING and POETRY
- poetry is not always about hidden or indirect meanings (sometimes called meaning play).
Nevertheless, if often is a major part of poetry, so here some of the important things to
remember:
CONCRETENESS and PARTICULARITY
In general, poetry deals with particular things in concrete language, since our emotions most
readily respond to these things. From the poem's particular situation, the reader may then generalize;
the generalities arise by implication from the particular. In other words, a poem is most often concrete
and particular; the "message," if there is any, is general and abstract; it's implied by the images.

Images, in turn, suggest meanings beyond the mere identity of the specific object. Poetry "plays" with
meaning when it identifies resemblances or makes comparisons between things; common examples of
this "figurative" comparison include:

ticking of clock = mortality

hardness of steel = determination
white = peace or purity
Such terms as connotation, simile, metaphor, allegory, and symbol are aspects of this comparison. Such
expressions are generally called figurative or metaphorical language.

DENOTATION AND CONNOTATION

Word meanings are not only restricted to dictionary meanings. The full meaning of a word
includes both the dictionary definition and the special meanings and associations a word takes in a given
phrase or expression. For example, a tiger is a carnivorous animal of the cat family. This is the literal or
denotative meaning. But we have certain associations with the word: sinuous movement, jungle
violence, and aggression. These are the suggestive, figurative or connotative meanings.

FIGURATIVE/CONNOTATIVE DEVICES

Simile is the rhetorical term used to designate the most elementary form of resemblances: most similes
are introduced by "like" or "as." These comparisons are usually between dissimilar situations or objects
that have something in common, such as "My love is like a red, red rose."

A metaphor leaves out "like" or "as" and implies a direct comparison between objects or situations. "All
flesh is grass." For more on metaphor, click here.
Synecdoche is a form of metaphor, which in mentioning an important (and attached) part signifies the
whole (e.g. "hands" for labour).

Metonymy is similar to synecdoche; it's a form of metaphor allowing an object closely associated (but
unattached) with a object or situation to stand for the thing itself (e.g. the crown or throne for a king or
the bench for the judicial system).

A symbol is like a simile or metaphor with the first term left out. "My love is like a red, red rose" is a
simile. If,through persistent identification of the rose with the beloved woman, we may come to
associate the rose with her and her particular virtues. At this point, the rose would become a symbol.

Allegory can be defined as a one to one correspondence between a series of abstract ideas and a series
of images or pictures presented in the form of a story or a narrative. For example, George Orwell's
Animal Farm is an extended allegory that represents the Russian Revolution through a fable of a farm
and its rebellious animals.

Personification occurs when you treat abstractions or inanimate objects as human, that is, giving them
human attributes, powers, or feelings (e.g., "nature wept" or "the wind whispered many truths to me").

Irony takes many forms. Most basically, irony is a figure of speech in which actual intent is expressed
through words that carry the opposite meaning.

Paradox: usually a literal contradiction of terms or situations

Situational Irony: an unmailed letter
Dramatic Irony: audience has more information or greater perspective than the characters
Verbal Irony: saying one thing but meaning another
Overstatement (hyperbole)
Understatement (meiosis)
Sarcasm
Irony may be a positive or negative force. It is most valuable as a mode of perception that assists the
poet to see around and behind opposed attitudes, and to see the often conflicting interpretations that
come from our examination of life.

POETRY AS A LANGUAGE OF INDIRECTION

Thus, if we recognize that much of the essential quality of our experience is more complex than a simple
denotative statement can describe, then we must recognize the value of the poet's need to search for a
language agile enough to capture the complexity of that experience. Consider this four-line stanza:

O Western wind, when wilt thou blow

That the small rain down can rain?
Christ, that my love were in my arms,
And I in my bed again!

The center of the poem is the lover's desire to be reunited with his beloved (lines 3 and 4). But the full
meaning of the poem depends on the first two lines also. Obviously, the lover associates his grief with
the wind and rain, but the poet leaves to implication, to indirection, just how the lover's situation and
the wind and rain are related. We note that they are related in several ways: the need for experiencing
and manifesting love is an inherent need, like nature's need for rain; in a word, love, like the wind and
rain, is natural. Secondly, the lover is living in a kind of drought or arid state that can only be slaked by
the soothing presence of the beloved. Thirdly, the rising of the wind and the coming of the rain can
neither be controlled nor foretold exactly, and human affairs, like the lover's predicament, are subject to
the same sort of chance.

Undoubtedly, too, there are associations with specific words, like "Western" or "small rain" that the
reader is only half aware of but which nonetheless contribute to meaning. These associations or
connotations afford a few indirections that enrich the entire poem. For example, "small rain" at once
describes the kind of rain that the lover wants to fall and suggests the joy and peace of lover's tears, and
"small" alone might suggest the daintiness or femininity of the beloved.
Elegy: It is a lyric poem that mourns the dead. [It's not to be confused with a eulogy.]It has no set metric
or stanzaic pattern, but it usually begins by reminiscing about the dead person, then laments the reason
for the death, and then resolves the grief by concluding that death leads to immortality. It often uses
"apostrophe" (calling out to the dead person) as a literary technique. It can have a fairly formal style,
and sound similar to an ode.

Sonnet: It is a lyric poem consisting of 14 lines and, in the English version, is usually written in iambic
pentameter. There are two basic kinds of sonnets: the Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnet and the
Shakespearean (or Elizabethan/English) sonnet. The Italian/Petrarchan sonnet is named after Petrarch,
an Italian Renaissance poet. The Petrarchan sonnet consists of an octave (eight lines) and a sestet (six
lines). The Shakespearean sonnet consists of three quatrains (four lines each) and a concluding couplet
(two lines). The Petrarchan sonnet tends to divide the thought into two parts (argument and
conclusion); the Shakespearean, into four (the final couplet is the summary).

Ballad: It is a narrative poem that has a musical rhythm and can be sung. A ballad is usually organized
into quatrains or cinquains, has a simple rhythm structure, and tells the tales of ordinary people.

Epic: It is a long narrative poem in elevated style recounting the deeds of a legendary or historical hero.

Qualities of an Epic Poem:

narrative poem of great scope; dealing with the founding of a nation or some other heroic theme
requires a dignified theme requires an organic unity requires orderly progress of the action always has a
heroic figure or figures involves supernatural forces written in deliberately ceremonial style

Other types of poems include:

Haiku: It has an unrhymed verse form having three lines (a tercet) and usually 5,7,5 syllables,
respectively. It's usually considered a lyric poem.

Limerick: It has a very structured poem, usually humorous & composed of five lines (a cinquain), in an
aabba rhyming pattern; beat must be anapestic (weak, weak, strong) with 3 feet in lines 1, 2, & 5 and 2
feet in lines 3 & 4. It's usually a narrative poem based upon a short and often ribald anecdote.

John Donne (born January 22, 1572 – died March 31, 1631) shifted dramatically in his life: The early
Donne was the passionate lover and rebel of sense; the later Donne, a man consumed with his own
spiritual journey and search for truth.

Donne is known as the first and greatest of metaphysical poets—those of a genre in which “the most
heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together; nature and art are ransacked for illustrations,
comparisons, and allusions,” as essayist and critic Samuel Johnson put it.

Here, Donne has taken a Romantic form and transformed a transcendental struggle of life and death
into a quiet ending, one in which death “shall be no more.”

Where Johnson spied cumbersome force, Donne’s style dazzles with soft and calm brilliance, even in the
cascade of calumnies against the great “equalizer” Death. “Fate, chance, kings and desperate men” are
yoked together, not in bondage but in freedom, in their power to inflict and manipulate death at will.
The panorama of life and legacy has overcome death time and again, yet Donne expounds the expansive
exploitation of death in one verse.

It is the will of man that triumphs over the cessation of life, the will to believe in what cannot be seen, to
dismiss “poor death” as mere “pictures” compared to the substance of life infused with the Spirit.

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

No bragging rights for Death, according to the poet, who in the first two lines of his sonnet denounces in
apostrophe the end of life, “not proud,” “not so.”

“Mighty and dreadful,” two weighty terms, do not belong nor confer any majesty on death. “Thou are
not so.” A simple statement, a certain indictment, and the poet has dispensed with Death, who is
ponderous, no preposterous for the previous fears His presence has impressed on mankind.

For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow?

Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

In this neat conceit, Death himself is fooled, limited by the surface. “Thou think’st thou dost overthrow,”
the monarch of destruction is an impoverished exile, removed forever more from the room of imperious
prominence. “Poor death” is now the object of pity, the last enemy that will be thrown into the lake of
fire.

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.

The poet compares death not to a savage desecration, nor a fatal, final battle, but instead an extension
of any easy rest, one from which a man receives “much pleasure.” ”Rest and sleep” as “pictures,” the
poet condescendingly remarks, bring death into the secondary status of demeaning dimension. Men’s
bones receive a welcome respite, and their soul the final delivery from this earth. Death has nothing to
brag about, for death is put in comparison with rest, with sleep, with regenerative silence. Death does
not catch the prey of frail men, but instead sets men free, and without fail.

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well?
And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?

Here, death as deemed a slave, a unique trope, one, which the poet fashions with wit and wisdom.
“Fate” is far greater the force than the end of life which menaces many men. “Chance” is a game, a
mere trifle, a toy which men gamble with, whether ending their fortunes or their lives. “Kings” put evil
rebels, madmen, and threats to the state, to death. No one escapes the justice, the rule, the
righteousness of the king, who even in passing, his dynasty passes on: “The King is dead. Long live the
King!” is proclaimed from death to life, where the children of yesteryear become the rulers of today and
the progenitors of the future. Death, mere bystander, ushers in the transitions of power.
As for the company of death, the poet outlines simply “poison,” natural or otherwise, which can slay a
man in minutes or in hours. Poisons which have ended kings and queens, eradicated vermin and other
pestilences, even drugs which prosper and prolong life began as poisons which in improper doses kill,
and quickly.

Whether the vain ragings of craven men or glory on the battlefields, “war” covers a range of reigns and
rights, ponderings and possibilities. Death is not even a scavenger, but a frustrated element pushed to
the limit, expected to do the bidding of the common folk and the ruling elite, the final weapon which
man overcomes even in being overcome. In war, where men die for country, they live forever in the
memory of their countrymen, mocking Death who has aided their eternity.

“Sickness” is the necessary pause for men who cannot contain their passions, for the growing race of
human beings who run the race with no thought to running out. Sickness is the crucial agent that brings
a long and much-needed arrest to those who inflict harm on their bodies, who resist the bounds of
natural appetite. Sickness also is the final sign, the moments when a man who departs knows well that
his time is short, and so the stultifying stops of pains and coughs at least buy him time to say “good-
bye.”

“Poppy or charms can make us sleep as well.” “As well” communicates “in comparison” and “in
addition,” gaily sporting with the super-abounding grace of nature’s wonders, which man has contrived
to ease his pain and quicken his rest. “Poppy” is a joyful word, a colorful, childlike flower winding away
with careless wonder in the wind. “Charms,” whether magical or romantic, are bewitching and
bewailing, at least for the one who has fallen beneath their spell. Sometimes, the simple charm of a
smiling face suffices more, traced with the soft face of a poppy gladly handed to a loved one. And so,
Death is outdone once again!

One short sleep past, we wake eternally,

And death shall be no more, death, thou shalt die.

“Sleep” appears again, but not in conjunction with rest; instead, rest leads to life eternal, where man
will no longer need to rest, fashioned as he will be in a body that does not age, that will never flag or fail,
Donne decrees. Death is further impoverished, ruined, left desolate. Man in eternal life witnesses death
succumbing to himself. “Death shall be no more,” the poet proudly yet dulcetly declares, not even
bothering to speak to death. So certain, so final, so enriched with vigor, the poet then whispers, yet
loudly of the import of the paradox: “Death, thou shalt die.”

Death dies, or is Death dying? What a wicked end, the poet has mocked, derided, denounced, and
diminished death into a cruel joke, a maxim which maximizes the power of the man reborn, trusting in a
higher power to infuse him with eternal life, forever inoculating him from the subtleties of war, poison,
and sickness all. Fate is fated to disappear, chance has become certainty, kings of limited renown are
dethroned, and desperate men now hope. “Death, thou shalt die.” Death is now bereft of pride, like a
witless cowboy who has shot himself in the foot, powerless and wounded, and by his own stroke.

Donne indeed has done and dispensed with Death, and mortal man evermore may rejoice!
Summary of the poem, “Death, be not Proud”
Popularity: Also known as Holy Sonnet X, this sonnet was written by John Donne in 1633. John Donne
was a famous metaphysical poet. The popularity of this poem lies in its unique subject, as it was a
devotional as well as a warning to ‘personified’ death. Using the metaphor of death, the poet argues
that death is not permanent and it serves as an eternal pathway to life hereafter. He also has
demonstrated the Christian doctrine of resurrection and immortality of the soul, calling death as an
inferior
“Death, be not Proud” a representative Poem of Logic: Donne has presented death as a powerless
figure. He denies the authority of death with logical reasoning, saying the death does not kill people.
Instead, it liberates their souls and directs them to eternal life. He does not consider it man’s invincible
conqueror. Instead, he calls it a poor fellow without having free will. The arrival of death is also
compared with a short rest and sleep that recuperates a person for the upcoming journey. The poet’s
denial to the conventional approach of death gives the reader a new interpretation.

Major Themes “Death, be not Proud”: The major theme in the poem is powerlessness of death. The
poem comprises the poet’s emotions, mocking the position of death and arguing that death is unworthy
of fear or awe. According to him, death gives birth to our souls. Therefore, it should not consider itself
mighty, or superior as ‘death’ is not invincible. The poet also considers death an immense pleasure
similar to sleep and rest. For him, the drugs can also provide the same experience. The poem
foreshadows the realistic presentation of the death and also firmly believes in eternal life after death.
Literary devices are used to bring clarity, richness, and uniqueness to the text. Donne has used various
literary devices to allow readers to try to find more interpretations. The analysis of some of the literary
devices is given below.

Personification: Personification means to attribute human features to non-human things. Donne has
personified death throughout the poem, stating it should not be proud. Being proud is a human quality.
Hence, death is given a human quality of having feelings and emotions.
Metaphor: There are three metaphors in this poem. The first is used in the opening line “Death, be not
proud.” Here death is compared to a proud man. The second is used in the ninth line, “Thou art slave to
fate.” In the last line in an extended metaphor where death is compared to the non-existent or
unrealistic object.
Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of the same consonant sounds in the same lines of the poetry
such as the use of /th/ in “And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then” and /m/ sound in “Much
pleasure; then from thee much more must flow.”

Metonymy: Metonymy is a type of metaphor in which an object is used to describe something closely
related to it. In this poem, “poppy” and “charm” are used to produce gentle sleep or death.
Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of the vowel sounds in the same line of poetry such as the sound
of /a/ in “Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,” and the sound of /e/ in “And
soonest our best men with thee do go.”
Irony: Irony means a statement that may mean something different from, or the opposite of, what is
written. Irony often expresses something other than their literal intention, often in a humorous. For
example: “Death, thou shalt die.”
The literary analysis shows that Donne has made his poem appealing using diverse literary devices.
Analysis of the Poetic Devices in “Death, be not Proud”
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis
of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

Sonnet: A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem in which the same idea runs throughout the poem. In this
sonnet, John Donne has combined the Shakespearian and Petrarchan style. The division of the sonnet
reflects the Shakespearian structure, whereas the rhyme scheme shows the structure of Petrarchan
sonnet.
Rhyme Scheme: In first, second and third quatrains the poem follows the ABBA rhyme scheme, and in
couplet the rhyme scheme is AA.
Meter: Most of the verses of this poem are written in iambic pentameter in which unstressed syllable is
followed by a stressed syllable, as it is stated, “from rest,” “and ” However, the meter fluctuates, as the
poem progresses.
The analysis of these poetic devices shows this sonnet as a unique representative poem for mixing
Shakespearean and Petrarchan style in its structure and meter.

RHYME SCHEME
The rhyme scheme of the first stanza is typically ABBAABBA, and the rhyme scheme of the
second stanza is CDDCEE. In the poem, Donne is speaking directly to Death as though he is a person. As
you read the poem, try to figure out what Donne is telling Death. Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst
thou kill me.

Octet= a, b, b, a, a, b, b,a
sestet= c, d, d, c, e, f

Describe other elements that appear in the poem. Images and imagery (colorful language, figures of
speech)
Task 10: Conversing in Verse
Answer:

The purpose of the task is to help the student’s apply their knowledge about the elements of a poem. As
the title implies it is conversing in verse, understanding the given poem “Death, be not proud” by John
Donne. It was the best example for students to determine every corresponding element in the poem
given.

Figures of Speech:
Simile
Metaphor
Personification
Hyperbole
Symbolism
Irony

Figures of Speech used in the poem:

Metaphor -“Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men”
Personification - “Death, be not proud”
Simile -“Death be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and Dreadful”
Colourful Language used in the poem:

“And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well”

“Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery”
“And dost of poison, war, and sickness dwell”
The writer of the poem seems to be undermining death and saying that even if there is death there is
something before it that has the same effect to a person.

What is the message of the poem death, be not proud by John Donne?

Meaning ( Symbol)- Symbol Analysis

Death is a total poser in this poem, like a schoolyard bully who turns out not to be so tough,
after all. ... The speaker treats death like a person who is considered "mighty" and "dreadful," which is
personification
Alliteration - is a repetition of the same consonant sounds in a sequence of words, usually at the
beginning of a word or stressed syllable: “descending dew drops;” “luscious lemons.”
Alliteration is based on the sounds of letters, rather than the spelling of words; for example,
“keen” and “car” alliterate, but “car” and “cite” do not.
Assonance- is the repetition of similar internal vowel sounds in a sentence or a line of poetry, as
in “I rose and told him of my woe.”

Figurative language is a form of language use in which the writers and speakers mean
something other than the literal meaning of their words. Two figures of speech that are
particularly important for poetry are simile and metaphor. A simile involves a comparison
between unlike things using like or as. For instance, “My love is like a red, red rose.” A
metaphor is a comparison between essentially unlike things without a word such as like or as.
For example, “My love is a red, red rose.” Synecdoche is a type of metaphor in which part of
something is used to signify the whole, as when a gossip is called a “wagging tongue.”

Metonymy is a type of metaphor in which something closely associated with a subject is

substituted for it, such as saying the “silver screen” to mean motion pictures.
Imagery is the concrete representation of a sense impression, feeling, or idea that triggers our
imaginative ere-enactment of a sensory experience. Images may be visual (something seen),
aural (something heard), tactile (something felt), olfactory (something smelled), or gustatory
(something tasted). Imagery may also refer to a pattern of related details in a poem.

Rhyme is the repetition of identical or similar concluding syllables in different words, most
often at the ends of lines. Rhyme is predominantly a function of sound rather than spelling; thus,
words that end with the same vowel sounds rhyme, for instance, day, prey, bouquet, weigh, and
words with the same consonant ending rhyme, for instance vain, rein, lane. The rhyme scheme
of a poem, describes the pattern of end rhymes. Rhyme schemes are mapped out by noting
patterns of rhyme with small letters: the first rhyme sound is designated a, the second becomes
b, the third c, and so on.

Rhythm is the term used to refer to the recurrence of stressed and unstressed sounds in poetry.
Poets rely heavily on rhythm to express meaning and convey feeling. Caesura is a strong pause
within a line of poetry that contributes to the rhythm of the line. When a line has a pause at its
end, it is called an end-stopped line. Such pauses reflect normal speech patterns and are often
marked by punctuation. A line that ends without a pause and continues into the next line for its
meaning is called a run-on line or enjambment.

Stanza is a grouping of lines, set off by a space, which usually has a set pattern of meter and rhyme.

Tone conveys the speaker’s implied attitude toward the poem’s subject. Tone is an abstraction
we make from the details of a poem’s language: the use of meter and rhyme (or lack of them);
the inclusion of certain kinds of details and exclusion of other kinds; particular choices of words
and sentence pattern, or imagery and figurative language (diction). Another important element
of tone is the order of words in sentences, phrases, or clauses (syntax).
Elements of Poetry - and Description of Quality Characteristics
Elements of Poetry
POETRY- has an overall central theme or idea within each poem

Images - the mental pictures the poet creates through language

Diction - the selection of specific words
Form - the arrangement of words, lines, verses, rhymes, and other features.
Cadence - A rhythmic change in the inflection of sounds from words being spoken. Sometimes referred
to the flow of words.
Couplet - two lines of verse that rhyme at the end and are thought as one unit
Meter - A rhythm that continuously repeats a single basic pattern.
Rhyme - Words that end with similar sounds. Usually at the end of a line of the poem.
Rhyming - Two lines of a poem together with the same rhythm
Rhythm - A pattern created with sounds: hard - soft, long - short, bouncy, quiet - loud, weak - strong .
Stanza - A part of a poem with similar rhythm and rhyme that will usually repeat later in the poem.
Verse - A line of a poem, or a group of lines within a long poem.

Quality Characterisics

Imaginative
Creative
Descriptive and vivid language that often has an economical or condensed use of words chosen for their
sound and meaning
Meaning is enhanced by recalling memories of related experiences in the reader or listener
Provokes thought
Causes an emotional response: laughter, happy, sad …
Uses figurative language (personification, similes, metaphors)
Imagery where the reader/listener creates vivid mental images
Often has rhythm and rhyme
Often includes words and phrases that have a pattern made with rhythm and rhyme.
Story in verse
Can have physical and grammatical arrangement of words usually enhance the reader's overall
experience