POETRY

EL EMENTS OF POETRY
Poetry has always been one of the best means of
expressing thoughts and feelings. The sweetness, melody
and smoothness that we feel while going through poetry,
cannot be found in any other form of literature. It exhibits a
special kind of empathy that directly touches the heart and
soul of people, mainly those who can understand the deep
thought veiled behind simple lines. A good poem always
comprises of certain basic elements, which help it in
achieving higher degrees of perfection in expression. In
case you are interested in reading or writing poetry,
familiarity with these basic elements will help you develop
a better understanding of this melodious form of literature.
POETRY
• It is written with rhythm and is organized in
lines and groups lines called stanzas.

• It is highly imaginative and written in

condensed language, stylized syntax, and
figures of speech not found in ordinary
communication.
ELEMENTS OF POETRY
• 1. Theme
• 2. Symbolism
• 3. Meter
• 4. Rhythm
• 5. Rhyme
• 6. Voice
• 7. Imagery
 THEME
• can be described as the soul of a
poem.
• what the poet wants to express
through his words.
• may either be a thought, a feeling, an
observation, a story or an
experience.
 SYMBOLISM
• The expression in poetry is often not direct.
Rather, it makes use of several symbolic and
virtual substances and themes to express the
deep hidden meaning behind the words.
• The use of symbolism gives a more reflective
empathy to the poem. It is one of those basic
elements of a poem that are conceived at the
very beginning of the composition.
 METER
• Meter is the basic structure of a poem. It is
conceived right after the theme and symbolism
of poem have been finalized. This is point
where a poem takes an entirely different
structure from that of prose. Every line in a
poem has to adhere to this basic structure. The
entire poem is divided into sub-units and it is
made sure that a single unit conveys a single
strand of thought successfully.
 RHYTHM
• For a smooth flow of expression, a musical
symphony in the poem is compulsory.
• A dry and broken piece of literature can never
ever be good poetry, despite having a good
theme. However, it is not the rhyming between
two words of consecutive lines, rather the
resonation of words along with the sounds
and the music produced, when the poem is
read aloud. This musical link must not be
missing in a poem.
 RHYME
• A rhyme may or may not be present in a poem. Free verse
variety of poetry does not follow this system. However where
present, the pattern is present in different forms, like aa, bb, cc
(first line rhymes with the second, the third with fourth, and so
on) and ab, ab (first line rhymes with third and the second with
fourth). Rhyme has a very significant role in providing rhythm
and flow to poem, which further helps in maintaining the
reader's interest.
• One effect of rhyming is to add emphasis to particular words,
especially the last in any pair or longer string of rhyming words
 VOICE
• As a literary term, tone refers to the writer's attitude
towards the subject of a literary work as indicated in
the work itself. One way to think about tone in poetry
is to consider the speaker's literal "tone of voice": just
as with tone of voice, a poem's tone may indicate an
attitude of joy, sadness, solemnity, silliness, frustration,
anger, puzzlement, etc.
• we may know that the speaking voice is actually the
poet's, but in the great majority of poems we cannot
assume that speaker and poet are the same individual,
and quite often the speaker is clearly not the poet
himself or herself.
IMAGERY
• As applied to poetry, imagery is the use of words to
convey vivid, concrete sensory experiences. The
word "image" suggests most obviously a visual
image, a picture, but imagery also includes vivid
sensory experiences of smell, sound, touch, and
taste as well. Imagery goes beyond mere description
to communicate an experience or feeling so vividly
that it encourages the creation of images in the
mind of the reader and readers experiences for
themselves the specific sensations that the poet
intends.