THE ELEMENTS of POETRY

Poetry, as man's inherited possession, is the expression of strong feeling and

thought which leads to a communion between the individual and his surroundings,
but most usually between a person and nature, the world, or the universe. Poetry is
the means of universalizing and perpetuating a thought, an idea, a feeling,
sensation, or internal experience.

FORM
Whenever we look at a poem, the first thing we will probably notice is its form. In
other words, poems have a given FORM. One poem will look very different from
another, and still another poem will look very distinct from the second one, and so
on. Each poet uses the "form" which will most effectively EXPRESS what he wants to
convey to other human beings.
Traditional poetry used to follow very strict forms. People who still follow these forms
nowadays are following the traditional manner and style. But nowadays we know
that there is a strong tendency to break from the traditional and to become even
very unorthodox, unconventional or even unusual. This kind of poetry is called FREE
VERSE. It is most often used in modern times and presents a multitude of
possibilities. The poet uses free form to make the poem fit the contents and to
express the mood or feeling of his work.

LINES
After looking at a poem and seeing that it has some sort of FORM, we often notice
that it also consists of LINES. These are the vehicle of the authors thoughts and
ideas. These are the building blocks with which to create a poem. The WORDS of
each line proceed as usual from left to right, but they curiously end where the poet
wants them to stop. Therefore, you may have some lines that are of equal length
and others which are not.
Besides the length and margining of the first word in each line, the PUNCTUATION at
the end of each is also a major tool for the poet. At times he will want us to make a
full stop, other times a gentle or slight pause, and even others perhaps a sudden
break, and so on. Ultimately, then, poetry creates sensations, moods, and images in
the reader's mind.

STANZAS
The lines in a poem are most often divided into sections looking as some sort of
paragraphing. These we call STANZAS. A stanza, therefore, is the grouping of the
lines, sort of like a paragraph.

RHYME
Rhyme is the SONIC imitation usually of end syllables of words. There are basically
two kinds of rhyme used in poetry. The first is the most typical and best known by
young people, END RHYME, in which the words at the end of a given line rhyme. The
second kind of rhyme is called INTERNAL RHYME. This kind of rhyming is different
from end rhyme in that the rhyming takes place somewhere within the line and not
at the end. But most of us find it more natural to use rhyming at the end and not in
the middle of our poem's lines. Still, the most widely read and enjoyed poetry
artfully combines these and other patterns and techniques for the creation of the
poems.
(Internal Rhyme):
It won't be LONG before my SONG ends the day,
And the FLOWERS near the TOWERS reach the sky.

PATTERN:
Rhyme contributes in creating a pattern when read appropriately. It creates a special
effect which results in being pleasant and motivating. Humans in general are
susceptible to patterns. As a matter of fact, we live with all sorts of patterns every
day of our lives. Our very lives are patterns themselves. The human mind itself has
an inherent (internal) patterning force and capacity which allows the individual to
perceive and create the patterns inherent in poems. And it is rhyme which is one of
the contributors to the pattern created in reading or writing a poem:
SQUEEZE ... TEASE;
    RUN ... FUN;
        DEMONSTRATE ... WHAT SHE ATE.
Another contributor to pattern is the number of syllables, as can be seen in the third
set of the examples given right above. DE-MONS-TRATE as imitated by WHAT-SHE-
ATE. Still another element which contributes to pattern is the accomodation and
distribution of the lines. The reader is thus led or even forced into following a given
pattern, and BEAT.

But the ultimate creator of pattern is the combination of the STRESSED SYLLABLES
IN ANY PARTICULAR LINE of a poem.

Rhythm and Meter

Rhythm and meter are the building blocks of poetry. Rhythm is the pattern of sound
created by the varying length and emphasis given to different syllables. The rise and
fall of spoken language is called its cadence.
Meter
Meter is the rhythmic pattern created in a line of verse. There are four basic kinds of
meter:
Accentual (strong-stress) meter: The number of stressed syllables in a line is fixed,
but the number of total syllables is not. This kind of meter is common in Anglo-
Saxon poetry, such as Beowulf. Gerard Manley Hopkins developed a form of
accentual meter called sprung rhythm, which had considerable influence on 20th-
century poetry.
Syllabic meter: The number of total syllables in a line is fixed, but the number of
stressed syllables is not. This kind of meter is relatively rare in English poetry.
Accentual-syllabic meter: Both the number of stressed syllables and the number of
total syllables is fixed. Accentual-syllabic meter has been the most common kind of
meter in English poetry since Chaucer in the late Middle Ages.
Quantitative meter: The duration of sound of each syllable, rather than its stress,
determines the meter. Quantitative meter is common in Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, and
Arabic but not in English.

The Foot
The foot is the basic rhythmic unit into which a line of verse can be divided. When
reciting verse, there usually is a slight pause between feet. When this pause is
especially pronounced, it is called a caesura. The process of analyzing the number
and type of feet in a line is called scansion.
These are the most common types of feet in English poetry.
 Iamb: An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable: “to day ”
 Trochee: A stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable: “ car ry”
 Dactyl: A stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables: “ diff icult”
 Anapest: Two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable: “it is time ”
 Spondee: Two successive syllables with strong stresses: “stop, thief”
 Pyrrhic: Two successive syllables with light stresses: “up to”

Most English poetry has four or five feet in a line, but it is not uncommon to see as
few as one or as many as eight.
 Monometer: One foot
 Dimeter: Two feet
 Trimeter: Three feet
 Tetrameter: Four feet
 Pentameter: Five feet
 Hexameter: Six feet
 Heptameter: Seven feet
 Octameter: Eight feet

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
1. 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."
2. 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.
3. Synecdoche is a form of metaphor, which in mentioning an important (and
attached) part signifies the whole (e.g. "hands" for labour).
4. 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).
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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").
8. 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.
o Paradox: usually a literal contradiction of terms or situations
o Situational Irony: an unmailed letter
o Dramatic Irony: audience has more information or greater perspective
than the characters
o 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.