POETRY

POETRY
 A type of literature that
uses the sounds, rhythms
and meanings of words
to describe the world in
imaginative ways, to
express ideas, feelings, or
tell a story in a specific
form (usually using lines
and stanzas).
LINES AND STANZAS

A word is dead
LINE - a group of When it is said,
words together on one Some say.
line of the poem

STANZA - a group of I say it just

lines arranged together
Begins to live
That day.
KINDS OF STANZAS
Couplet = a two line stanza
Triplet (Tercet) = a three line stanza
Quatrain = a four line stanza
Quintet = a five line stanza
Sestet (Sextet) = a six line stanza
Septet = a seven line stanza
Octave = an eight line stanza
SOUND EFFECTS
RHYTHM

The beat created by the

combination of stressed
and unstressed syllables
in a line or poem.
METER
A pattern of stressed and unstressed
syllables.
 Meter occurs when the stressed and unstressed
syllables of the words in a poem are arranged in a
repeating pattern.
 When poets write in meter, they count out the
number of stressed (strong) syllables and
unstressed (weak) syllables for each line. They
they repeat the pattern throughout the poem.
FOOT
FOOT - unit of meter. TYPES OF FEET
A foot can have two or The types of feet are
three syllables. determined by the
Usually consists of arrangement of
one stressed and one stressed and
or more unstressed unstressed syllables.
syllables.
TYPES OF FEET

Iambic - unstressed, stressed

Trochaic - stressed, unstressed
Anapestic - unstressed, unstressed, stressed
Dactylic - stressed, unstressed, unstressed
 Rhythm and Meter in English
Poetry
English poetry employs five basic rhythms
of varying stressed (/) and unstressed (x)
syllables. The meters are iambs, trochees,
spondees, anapests and dactyls. In this
document the stressed syllables are marked
in boldface type rather than the tradition al
"/" and "x."
Each unit of rhythm is called a "foot" of
poetry.
TYPES OF 2-SYLLABLE FEET
IAMB (unstressed, stressed – da-DUM):
Whenever I read poetry I cry

TROCHEE (stressed, unstressed – DUM-

da): Double double toil and trouble

SPONDEE (stressed, stressed – DUM-

DUM): Look out! Earthquake!
TYPES OF 3-SYLLABLE FEET
ANAPEST (unstressed, unstressed,
stressed – da-da-DUM): And the sound
of a voice that is still

DACTYL (stressed, unstressed,

unstressed – DUM-da-da): Poetry,
poetry, God, I hate poetry
Kinds of Metrical Lines
monometer = one foot on a line
dimeter = two feet on a line
trimeter = three feet on a line
tetrameter = four feet on a line
pentameter = five feet on a line
hexameter = six feet on a line
heptameter = seven feet on a line
octometer = eight feet on a line
Examples

• iambic pentameter (5 iambs, 10 syllables)

That time | of year | thou mayst | in me |
behold

• trochaic tetrameter (4 trochees, 8 syllables)

Tell me | not in | mournful | numbers
Examples

• anapestic trimeter (3 anapests, 9 syllables)

And the sound | of a voice | that is still

• dactylic hexameter (6 dactyls, 17 syllables;

a trochee replaces the last dactyl)
This is the | forest pri | meval, the |
murmuring | pine and the | hemlocks
RHYME
Words sound alike LAMP
because they share the STAMP
same ending vowel
and consonant sounds.
Share the short “a”
vowel sound
Share the combined
(A word always “mp” consonant sound
rhymes with itself.)
TRUE/PERFECT RHYME
A word at the end of one line rhymes with a
word at the end of another line

Hector the Collector

Collected bits of string.
Collected dolls with broken heads
And rusty bells that would not ring.
INTERNAL RHYME
A word inside a line rhymes with another
word on the same line.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I

pondered weak and weary.

From “The Raven”

by Edgar Allan Poe
NEAR RHYME
a.k.a imperfect ROSE
rhyme, close rhyme LOSE

The words share Different vowel

EITHER the same sounds (long “o” and
vowel or consonant “oo” sound)
sound BUT NOT Share the same
BOTH consonant sound
RHYME SCHEME
A rhyme scheme is a pattern of rhyme (usually
end rhyme, but not always).

Use the letters of the alphabet to represent sounds

to be able to visually “see” the pattern.
SAMPLE RHYME SCHEME
The Germ by Ogden Nash

A mighty creature is the germ, a

Though smaller than the pachyderm. a
His customary dwelling place b
Is deep within the human race.
b
His childish pride he often pleases
c
By giving people strange diseases.
c
Do you, my poppet, feel infirm?
You probably contain a germ. a
a
FREE VERSE POETRY
Unlike metered Free verse poetry is
poetry, free verse very conversational -
poetry does NOT have sounds like someone
any repeating patterns talking with you.
of stressed and
unstressed syllables. A more modern type
Does NOT have of poetry.
rhyme.
BLANK VERSE POETRY
from Julius Ceasar

Cowards die many times before

Written in lines of their deaths;
iambic pentameter, but The valiant never taste of death but
once.
does NOT use end
Of all the wonders that I yet have
rhyme. heard,
It seems to me most strange that
men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.