Poetry

Poetry
• Poetry is generally considered
to be the oldest of the arts.
• Long before our forefathers
learned to write, they sang
and recited lines of verse.
Some of the
Best
Definitions of
Poetry
 Gemino Abad
“A poem is a meaningful
organization of words.”
 T.S. Eliot
“The fusion of two poles of
mind; emotion and
thought.”
 Manuel Viray
“Poetry is the union of
thoughts and feelings.”
 Percy B. Shelley
• It is the record of the best
and happiest moments of
the happiest and best
minds.”
 Jaime G. Ong
Poetry is the “essence” of
the creative imagination of
man.”
Elements of
Poetry
 Elements of Poetry
• Sense
• Sound
• Structure
• Speaker
• Sensory/Poetic Images
 1. Sense
a. Denotative and
connotative meaning of
words, images and
symbols.
 1. Sense
b. Images and sense
impressions – sight, sound,
smell, taste, touch, motion
and emotion.
 2. Sound
It is the order of recurrent
alteration of strong and
weak elements in the flow
of the sound and silence
 2. Sound
It can be the stress,
duration, or number of
syllables per line, fixed
metrical pattern, or a verse
form.
 2. Sound
A foot usually contains
one stressed syllable and
at least one unstressed
syllable.
 The Standard Types
Of Feet in English Poetry 
• Iamb: Combination of unstressed
and stressed syllable – (daDUM)
• Trochee: Combination of stressed
and unstressed syllables –
(DUMda)
• Spondee: Combination of two
stressed syllables – (DUMDUM)
• Anapest: Combination of two
unstressed and a stressed syllable –
(dadaDUM)
• Dactyl: Combination of stressed and
two unstressed syllables – (DUMdada)
• Amphibrach: Combination of
unstressed, stressed and unstressed
syllable – (daDUMda)
• Pyrrhic: Combination of two
unstressed syllables – (dada)
 2. Sound
rhyme scheme – formal
arrangement of rhymes in a
stanza or the whole poem.
 3. Structure
• refers to (1) arrangement
of words, and lines to fit
together
 3. Structure
a. word order – natural and
unnatural arrangement of
words.
 3. Structure
b. ellipsis – omitting some
words for economy and
effect.
 3. Structure
c. punctuation –
abundance or lack of
punctuation marks.
 3. Structure
d. shape – contextual and
visual designs: jumps,
omission of spaces,
capitalization, lower case.
 4. Speaker
The voice that talks to the
reader. In some poems, the
speaker has a clear identity,
using I and me. In other
poems, the speaker remains
in the background.
5. Sensory/Poetic Images
By using sensory/poetic
images or words and
phrases that appeal to the
five senses, a poet
recreates an experience.
 The Road Not Taken
BY ROBERT FROST
Two roads diverged in a
yellow wood,
And sorry I could not
travel both
And be one traveler,
long I stood
And looked down one
as far as I could
To where it bent in the
undergrowth;
Then took the other, as
just as fair,
And having perhaps the
better claim,
Because it was grassy and
wanted wear;
Though as for that the
passing there
Had worn them really
about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden
black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to
way,
I doubted if I should ever come
back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and
I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the
difference.