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Elements of
Poetry
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ELEMENTS OF POETRY

 Elements of poetry can be defined as a set of instruments used

to create a poem.

 Many of these were created thousands of years ago and have

been linked to ancient story-tellings.

 They help bring imagery and emotion to poetry, stories, and

dramas.
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STANZA

• A unit of lines grouped together.

• Similar to a paragraph in prose.

• A Stanza consists of two or more lines of poetry that together form

one of the divisions of a poem.

• The stanzas of a poem are usually of the same length and follow
the same pattern of meter and rhyme and are used like paragraphs
in a story.
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Different types of stanzas:

• Couplets- stanzas of only two lines which usually rhyme.

 Tercets - stanzas of three lines. The three lines may or may not have the
same end rhyme. If all three lines rhyme, this type of tercet is called a
triplet.

 Quatrain- stanzas of four lines which can be written in any rhyme scheme.

“Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring Your Winter garment of
Repentance fling:

The Bird of Time has but a little way To flutter—

and the Bird is on the Wing.”

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Rhyme Scheme

• The pattern in which end rhyme occurs.

• Rhymes are types of poems which have the the repetition of the
same or similar sounds at the end of two or more words most often at
the ends of lines.

• This technique makes the poem easy to remember and is therefore

often used in Nursery Rhymes.

“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the King's horses, And all the King's men Couldn't put Humpty
together again!”
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Rhythm

 The pattern of beats or stresses in a poem.

 • Poets use patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables to

create a regular rhythm.

“She was a child and I was a child, In this kingdom by the

sea; But we loved with a love that was more than love – I and
my Annabel Lee;
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Rhyme

• The repetition of the same or similar sounds, usually in stressed

syllables at the ends of lines, but sometimes within a line.

“There are strange things done in the midnight sun By

the men who moil for gold”
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Alliteration

• The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words.

“Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers.”

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Onomatopoeia

• Words that are used to represent particular sounds.

“Crash Boom Bang Zip”

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Imagery

• Representation of the five senses: sight, taste, touch, sound, and

smell. • Creates mental images about a poem’s subject

• Visual imagery: visual descriptions so vivid they seem to come to

life in the reader's mind's when they are read, as in the description
of a very old fish in Elizabeth Bishop's poem titled "The Fish": Here
and there his brown skin hung in strips like ancient wall-paper, and
its pattern of darker brown was like wall-paper: shapes like full-
blown roses strained and lost through age
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Imagery

 • Auditory imagery: descriptions of sound so vivid the reader

seems almost to hear them while reading the poem. For
example, Alexander Pope contrasts the gentle sounds of a
whispering wind and a soft-running stream with the harsher
sound of waves crashing on the shore in "Sound and Sense":
The sound must seem an echo to the sense: Soft is the strain
when Zephyr gently bows, And the smooth stream in smoother
numbers flow; But when the loud surges lash the sounding
shore, The hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent roar.
(365-69)
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Imagery

• Images of smell (olfactory imagery): descriptions of smells so

vivid they seem almost to stimulate the reader's own sense of smell
while reading, as in the poem, "Root Cellar," by Theodore Roethke:
And what a congress of stinks!— Roots ripe as old bait, Pulpy
stems, rank, silo-rich, Leaf-mold, manure, lime, piled against
slippery planks. Nothing would give up life: Even the dirt kept
breathing a small breath. (5- 11)
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Imagery

• Tactile or "physical" imagery: descriptions conveying a strong,

vivid sense of touch or physical sensation that the reader can
almost feel himself or herself while reading.
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Figures of Speech

• They are a special kind of imagery.

• They create pictures by making comparisons.

 Simile • A comparison using like or as. Talk of your cold! through

the parka’s fold it stabbed like a driven nail.

 Metaphor • Describes one thing as if it were another. The moon

was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.

 Personification • Gives human characteristics to something non-

human. …and the stars o’erhead were dancing heel and toe…
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Tone or Mood

 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.
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Refrain

• The repetition of one or more phrases or lines at certain intervals,

usually at the end of each stanza. • Similar to the chorus in a song.
• The word 'Refrain' derives from the Old French word refraindre
meaning to repeat.
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Repetition

• A word or phrase repeated within a line or stanza.

• Sometimes, repetition reinforces or even substitutes for meter

(the beat), the other chief controlling factor of poetry.
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Theme

• The theme of the poem talks about the central idea, the thought
behind what the poet wants to convey. A theme can be anything
from a description about a person or thing, a thought or even a
story. In short a theme stands for whatever the poem is about.
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Symbolism

• A poem often conveys feelings, thoughts and ideas using

symbols, this technique is known as symbolism. • poetry has
developed over hundreds of years, certain symbolic meanings
have attached themselves to such things as colors, places, times,
and animals. • You cannot merely plug these meanings into a poem
and expect to understand the poem completely. Your own
knowledge, associations, and experience are what will lead you to
a deep and personal connection to any poem.
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Examples

• Sleep is often related to death.

• Dreams are linked to the future or fate.

• Seasons often represent ages: spring--youth, summer-- prime of life, autumn--middle age, winter--old
age or death.

• Water is sometimes linked to the idea of birth or purification.

• Colors are often linked to emotions: red--anger, blue-- happiness, green--jealousy. They are also used
to represent states of being: black--death or evil, white--purity or innocence, green--growth.

• Forests are often places of testing or challenge.

• Light--as the sun, the moon, stars, candles--often symbolizes good, hope, freedom.

• Darkness is associated with evil, magic or the unknown.

• The moon has several associations. It is sometimes a feminine symbol, sometimes associated with
madness, sometimes with resurrection.
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Thank you!