POETRY
experience or a specific emotional response through
- A way to share ideas, express emotions, and create
imagery
o Humans being are built to interact and speak
o One way is by engaging in conversations
(informal) and discussions (formal)
o Another is to write, poems keep readers
engaged, it is meant to be read and share
 Similar to diaries and journal (lifting
burdens, express emotions) but
choose carefully of words and
organization of thoughts to present
it better
- Needs to create vivid imagery (important creative
writing technique)
o Imagery
 Visually descriptive (lets listener
see what he sees to ensure they
can understand what the author is
trying to say) or figurative language
(figures of speech to emphasize,
symbolize, or compare), especially
in a literary work
 Exercising of imagination
- A form of literature that uses aesthetic (subjective)
and other rhythmic qualities of language
o Should be pleasing to the eye and ears
o Has beat, adds to experience of pleasure
o Always subjective to own preference and
taste
o In Philosophy, it deals with the nature of
beauty and taste
 has standards in assessing and
evaluating
o Covers both natural and artificial sources of
aesthetic experience and judgment
 May judge a poem according to its
depth or if it can give a certain
standard for technicalities used in
creating that poem
 Should be empirical and logical
- Conveys a thought and/or describe a scene, or tells a
story in a concentrated, lyrical arrangement of words
o Lyrical/Lyric
 Manner suggestive of a song
 Ready to be accompanied by music
- Evokes a concentrated imaginative awareness of
language
- Poetry Laureate – recognition for poets and poems
- Can involve prayers and magic spells
History of Poetry
 Thought to belong to ritual and early agricultural
societies
 Has been around for 4,000 years
 Early poem in Eurasia involved folk songs (Shijing,
China)
 Created for the need to retell oral epics such as
Sanskrit Vedas (India), Zoroastrian Gathas (Iran), and
Homeric Epics
Narrative Poetry
- Tells stories through verse, written in a measure
manner
- Same as written materials, has characters, plot, and
setting
- In most cases, it has only one speaker (narrator) who
relates the entire story from beginning to end
- Presents a series of events through action and
dialogue
- Most narrative poems feature a single speaker:
narrator
- Traditional forms of narrative poetry include epics,
ballads, and Arthurian romances
- Different from prose because prose uses simple
written language
Lyric Poetry
- A short, highly musical verse that conveys powerful
feeling
- May be accompanied by musical instruments
- May use rhyme, meter, or other literary devices to
create a song-like quality.
- A private expression of emotion by an individual
speaker.
- Lyric poetry is highly musical and can feature poetic
devices like rhyme and meter
Satirical Poetry
- Aimed at social dysfunction or obnoxious individuals,
or both
- While the essential ingredient of satire is ridicule,
seasoned with irony, sarcasm, parody and caricature,
 it comes in different strengths, ranging from virulent e. Anapest (DU-DU-dum)
abuse to gently mocking laughter. o 2 stressed, 1 unstressed
o Adds strength to poems
Dramatic Poetry
o Ex. COM-PRE-hend, SIG-NI-fy
- Also known as a dramatic poem. f. Pyrrhic (du-dum)
- The definition of this piece of literature can be quoted o 2 unstressed syllables, ending a poem
as, ‘a form of poetry where a story is narrated in the
form of a lyrical ballad.’
*a b c for two syllables

Prosody - the study of the elements of poetry.

*d e f for three syllables

Preliterate Oral traditions - songs and poems that chronicles  Meter

their life, share moral codes, remember and share laws o Basic rhythm structure of a line within a work
(codes). of poetry
o System of measurement
Caesura - pause (-) or break in a line.  Measures number of stressed and
unstressed syllables in a lne
Elements of Poetry
 Checks if that number is present in
 Rhythm (beat) all verses in the poem
o Patterned recurrence within a certain range o Metrical rhythm/Poetic meter – involves a
of regularity precise arrangement of stress and
o Consists of stressed and unstressed unstressed syllables into repeated patterns
o Number of stressed and unstressed syllables
syllables
 Every language have these in a line and a verse
 Have certain emphasis, distinction a. Iambic parameter
of syllables o Most common in English poetry
 Have to be very well-versed b. Dactylic hexameter
o Greek: rhythmos – measure motion o AKA Homeric hexameter and meter of epic
o Long and short pattern of stressed and o Heroic hexameter or meter of epics.
unstressed syllables in a verse o Example: Virgil - Aeneid, Homer - Iliad and
o Cares more of how are you going to say it Odyssey - Grandiose
and not the spelling c. Iambic tetrameter
o Important to understand what word is the o A line consisting of 4 iambic feet
author trying to enunciate d. Trochaic octameter
a. Iamb (du-DUM) o 8 trochaic metrical feet per line
o 1 unstressed, 1 stressed e. Trochaic tetrameter
o Favorite of most American poets because it o Line of 4 trochaic feet
is easier to write
Foot = 1 rhythm (iamb, dactyl, trochee etc) =
o Ex. des-CRIBE, in-CLUDE, re-TRACT
stressed and unstressed syllables. -> easier to
b. Trochee (DU-dum)
memorize, SIMPLE
o 1 stressed, 1 unstressed
o Ex. PIC-ture, FLO-wer 6 feet of Dactyl = 18 syllables
c. Spondee (DU DUM)
o 2 consecutive stressed syllables Trochee = ominous, dactylic etc.
o Ex. NINE-TEEN, HEART-BEAT Dactyl = cutesy, happy, blythe utterance etc.
d. Dactyl (DU-du-dum)
o 1 stressed, 2 unstressed  Line
o Ex. PO-et-ry, DI-fi-cult, MET-ri-cal
 o Expresses ideas, thoughts, or feelings in a
poem is separated into lines on a page, in a
process called LINEATION
 Natural occurrence in any writing
o Every line serves a purpose, connected and
related to each other
o Can be seen in all writing materials

 Verse / Stanza
o Division of ideas in a poem
o Stanza is more for song-like or lyrical poems
 Can be interchanged as they are
the same
o In prose, it is called a paragraph
o It is the way a poem is structured. (aka
STANZA)
 A verse with 2 lines - Couplet
(distich)
 A verse with 3 lines - Triplet (tercet)
 A verse with 4 lines - Quatrain
 so on… 7 lines - septet, 9 lines -
nonet

A VERSE is for:

1. Structure – framework
2. Pattern
3. Organization
4. Shift
 Rhyme Scheme
o Rhyming Scheme can change: line by line,
stanza by stanza, continuous.
o Patterns of sound that repeat at the end of
the line or the stanza.
o Poems that follow a rhyme scheme are
generally written in formal verse.

10 Rhyme Schemes

1. Alternate Ryhme - AB AB most common (4 lines)

2. Ballade - ABA BBC BC
3. Couple Rhyme - AA BB CC
4. Monorhyme - AAAA - Quatrain
5. Simple four-line rhyme - ABCB - Quatrain
6. Triplet - AAA
7. Terza Rima - ABA BCB CDC DED EE
8. Enclosed rhyme - ABBA
9. Limerick - AABBA
10. Villanelle - ABA