POETRY

Lesson 1
 OBJECTIVE

Identifying the elements of

poetry
 POETRY
 It is the oldest of the arts.
 The earliest literature of the
ancient peoples, such as the
Egyptians and Sumerians.
• “A poem is fundamentally a
thought or a feeling expressed in
rhythmic and colorful language.”
• Poetry appeals to our
imagination.
• The poetic imagination is a part
of our natural heritage.
 ELEMENTS

• Sense creates the poem.

• Poetry is a compact
language.
• Rhythm is the rise and
fall in the stress of
syllable.
 ELEMENTS
• Rhyme refers to
similarity of the sound
of words.
• Meter is the regular
pattern of accented and
unaccented syllables.
• Figurative language is
important in poetry.
 ELEMENTS

• Symbol refers to any use

of an object, person, or
place that represents
something beyond itself.
• Tone refers to the poet's
"implied attitude toward
its subject.
 ELEMENTS
• Mood is the feeling
created by the poet for
the reader.
• Stanzas are a series of
lines grouped together
and separated by an
empty line from other
stanzas.
 ELEMENTS
• couplet (2 lines)
• tercet (3 lines)
• quatrain (4 lines)
• cinquain (5 lines)
• sestet (6 lines) 
• septet (7 lines)
• octave (8 lines) 
 SOUND PATTERNS
• Alliteration: the repetition
of initial sounds on the same
line or stanza - Big bad Bob
bounced bravely.

• Assonance: the repetition of

vowel sounds (anywhere in
the middle or end of a line
or stanza) - Tilting at
windmills
 SOUND PATTERNS
• Consonance: the repetition of
consonant sounds (anywhere in
the middle or end of a line or
stanza) - And all the air a solemn
stillness holds. (T. Gray)

• Onomatopoeia: words that

sound like that which they
describe - Boom! Crash! Pow!
Quack! Moo! Caress...
 SOUND PATTERNS

• Repetition: the repetition of

entire lines or phrases to
emphasize key thematic
ideas.
 ELEMENTS
• Imagery is a device used
by the poet for readers to
create an image in their
imagination.
• Rhyme scheme is defined
as the pattern of rhyme.
• It is denoted by alphabets
like; abab; abba, etc.
 ELEMENTS
• A line is a unit of
language into which a
poem or play is divided.
• Exaggeration is a way of
over-emphasizing
something, either making
it better or worse than it
really is.
• FreeELEMENTS
verse is a literary
device that can be
defined as poetry that
is free from limitations
of regular meter or
rhythm, and does not
rhyme with fixed
forms.
 ELEMENTS
• Style in poetry
involves the method
which a poet uses to
convey meaning, tone,
and emotion in his/her
poem.
 PSALM 1

Blessed is the one

who does not walk in
step with the wicked
or stand in the way that
sinners take
or sit in the company of
mockers,
 PSALM 1

but whose delight is in the

law of the Lord,
and who meditates on
his law day and night.
 PSALM 1
That person is like a tree
planted by streams of
water,
which yields its fruit in
season
and whose leaf does not
wither—
whatever they do
prospers.
 PSALM 1

Not so the wicked!

They are like chaff
that the wind blows
away.
 PSALM 1

Therefore the wicked will

not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the
assembly of the righteous.
 PSALM 1
For the Lord watches over
the way of the righteous,
but the way of the
wicked leads to
destruction.
 STRATEGIES OF
READING A POEM
• 1. Pause or stop to the punctuation
in the poem. Read according
• to thought units. If at the end of
the line, there is no punctuation
mark continue reading without
pausing or stopping.
• 2. Know the "persona" in the
poem.
• 3. Poetry is full of imagery. Savor
the images, take time to think
• about their appeal to the senses.
You will surely enjoy the poem
more.
• 4. Restate the ideas in the poem in
your own words
ACTIVIT
Y

The Life
Removed
Page 300-301
 VOCABULARY
• Uproar- state of
commotion, excitement,
or violent disturbance

• Sample Sentence: The

town was in an uproar
over the proposal to build
a jail.
 VOCABULARY
• Yore - time past and
especially long past

• Sample Sentence: The

yore of her childhood
years still hunts her at the
moment.
 VOCABULARY
• Con - to study or examine
closely

• Sample Sentence: Lorie

likes having con on the
world's most hideous
secrets.
 VOCABULARY
• Aloof -removed or distant
either physically
• Sample Sentence: They tried
to keep aloof from the
politics of the day.
• Vexed- debated or discussed
at length
• Sample Sentence: She was
feeling somewhat vexed over
the RH Bill.
 VOCABULARY
• Solace- to give comfort to
in grief or misfortune ;
CONSOLE; to make
cheerful

• Sample Sentence: I solaced

myself with a book while I
waited for the bus.
 VOCABULARY

• Tempestuous- of, relating to,

or resembling
• Sample Sentence: in terms of
social change, the 1960s are
generally considered the most
tempestuous decade in recent
American history.
 VOCABULARY
• Unpremeditated-
characterized by not fully
conscious willful intent and a
measure of forethought and
planning.
• Sample Sentence: She has
unpremeditated preparations
for her speech that is why she
lost the contest.
 VOCABULARY
• Contemplative- marked by
or given to contemplation;
specifically : of or relating to
a religious order devoted to
prayer and penance
• Sample Sentence: She joined
a contemplative order of
nuns.
 VOCABULARY

• Throng- a crowding together

of many persons
• Sample Sentence: He grabbed
a megaphone and addressed
the vast throng.
 VOCABULARY
• Insatiable- incapable of
being satisfied
• Sample Sentence: Her desire
for knowledge was insatiable.

• Bay- reddish brown

• Sample Sentence: The bay
dress suits her body perfectly.
How tranquil is the life
Of him who, shunning the vain
world's uproar,
May follow, free from strife,
The hidden path, of yore
Chosen by the few who conned
true wisdom's lore!
For he, with thoughts aloof,
By proud men's great estate is
not oppressed.
Nor marvels at the roof
Of gold, built to attest
The Moor's skill, that on jasper
pillars rests.
He heeds not though fame raise
His name afar on wings of
rumour flung,
He cares not for the praise
Of cunning flatterer's tongue,
Nor for what truth sincere
would leave unsung.
What boots it my content
That the vain voice of fame
should favour me,
If in its service spent
I find myself to be
Vexed by dull care and
gnawing misery?
O hill, O stream, O field,
O solitary refuge of delight,
Since my bark now must yield
To storm, your solace bright
I seek and flee this sea's
tempestuous might.
Sleep broken by no fear
Be mine, and a day clear,
serene, and free,
Shunning the look severe,
Lofty exceedingly,
Of him whom gold exalts or
ancestry.
Me may the birds awake
With their sweet,
unpremeditated song,
And those dark cares forsake
That e'er to him belong
Who lives not in his
independence strong!
I to myself would live,
To enjoy the blessings that to
Heaven I owe,
Alone, contemplative,
And freely love forgo,
Nor hope, fear, hatred, jealousy
e'er know.
And while in misery
Others are pledged to fierce
ambition's throng,
Afire insatiably
For power that stays not long,
May I in pleasant shade recite
my song;
Yea, lying in the shade,
My brow with bay and ivy
immortal crowned,
My ear attentive made
To the soft, tuneful sound
Of zither touched by fingers'
skill profound.
IDENTIFYING AND
APPRECIATING THE
DIFFERENT KINDS
OF POETRY
1. 1. Lyric poetry.
2. It is a short poem, usually
melodious, which expresses
feelings or emotions. Many
lyrics are about death or love.
Other lyrics are emotional
responses to the beauty or the
elemental faces of nature.
 Example
• “The Eagle” by Alfred Lord
Tennyson,
• “The Bells” by Edgar Allan
Poe,
• “I Wandered Lonely as a
Cloud” by William
Wordsworth.
Sonnet is different from all other
lyrics because of its precisely
defined form.
A sonnet must have fourteen
lines; the lines must be iambic
pentameter; and the lines must
rhyme in a fixed pattern.
TWO MAIN KINDS OF
LYRICS
Ode- is a formal poem having a
complex stanza pattern, and it is
addresses to an objector an idea.

Elegy- is a poem mourning

someone’s death. An elegy is
solemn and dignified.
2. Narrative Poetry.

It presents an idea, paints a

picture, or expresses an emotion.
 Example
•  “Casey at the Bat” by Earnest
Lawrence Thayer
• “The Raven” by 
Edgar Allan Poe, 
 SPRING AND
FALL: TO A
YOUNG CHILD
By Gerard Manley
Hopkins
 Márgarét, áre you gríeving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leáves like the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for,
can you?
Ah! ás the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By and by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood
leafmeal lie;
And yet you wíll weep and know
And yet you wíll weep and know
why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sórrow’s spríngs áre the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind,
expressed
What heart heard of, ghost
guessed:
It ís the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.
A Silken Tent
By Robert Frost
She is as in a field a silken tent
At midday when the sunny summer
breeze
Has dried the dew and all its ropes
relent,
So that in guys it gently sways at ease,
And its supporting central cedar pole,
That is its pinnacle to heavenward
Seems to owe naught to any single
cord,
But strictly held by none, is loosely
bound
By countless silken ties of love and
thought
To every thing on earth the compass
round,
And only by one's going slightly taut
In the capriciousness of summer air
Is of the slightest bondage made
aware.
Ode to Winter
By Thomas Campbell
When first the fiery mantled Sun
His heavenly race began to run,
Round the earth and ocean blue
His children four the Seasons flew:—
First, in green apparel dancing,
The young Spring smiled with angel-grace;
Rosy Summer next advancing,
Rush'd into her sire's embrace—
Her bright-hair'd sire, who bade her keep
For ever nearest to his smiles,
On Calpe's olive-shaded steep
Or India's citron-cover'd isles.
More remote and buxom-brown,
The Queen of vintage bow'd before his throne;
A rich pomegranate gemm'd her crown,
A ripe sheaf bound her zone.
 Elegy for Jane
By Theodore Roethke
I remember the neckcurls, limp and damp as
tendrils;
And her quick look, a sidelong pickerel smile;
And how, once startled into talk, the light
syllables leaped for her,
And she balanced in the delight of her thought,

A wren, happy, tail into the wind,

Her song trembling the twigs and small
branches.
The shade sang with her;
The leaves, their whispers turned to kissing,
And the mould sang in the bleached valleys
under the rose.
Oh, when she was sad, she cast herself down into such a
pure depth,
Even a father could not find her:
Scraping her cheek against straw,
Stirring the clearest water.

My sparrow, you are not here,

Waiting like a fern, making a spiney shadow.
The sides of wet stones cannot console me,
Nor the moss, wound with the last light.

If only I could nudge you from this sleep,

My maimed darling, my skittery pigeon.
Over this damp grave I speak the words of my love:
I, with no rights in this matter,
Neither father nor lover.
Get Up and Bar
the Door
Anonymous
 It fell about the Martinmas time,
And a gay time it was then,
When our goodwife got puddings to
make,
And she ’s boild them in the pan.

The wind sae cauld blew south and

north,
And blew into the floor;
Quoth our goodman to our goodwife,
“Gae out and bar the door.”
 “My hand is in my hussyfskap,
Goodman, as ye may see;
An it shoud nae be barrd this hundred
year,
It ’s no be barrd for me.”

They made a paction tween them twa,

They made it firm and sure,
That the first word whaeer shoud
speak,
Shoud rise and bar the door.
Then by there came two gentlemen,
At twelve o clock at night,
And they could neither see house nor
hall,
Nor coal nor candle-light.

“Now whether is this a rich man’s

house,
Or whether is it a poor?”
But neer a word wad ane o them speak,
For barring of the door.
And first they ate the white puddings,
And then they ate the black;
Tho muckle thought the goodwife to
herself,
Yet neer a word she spake.

Then said the one unto the other,

“Here, man, take ye my knife;
Do ye take off the auld man’s beard,
And I ’ll kiss the goodwife.”
“But there ’s nae water in the house,
And what shall we do than?”
What ails thee at the pudding-broo,
That boils into the pan?”

O up then started our goodman,

An angry man was he:
“Will ye kiss my wife before my een,
And scad me wi pudding-bree?”
 Then up and started our
goodwife,
Gied three skips on the floor:
“Goodman, you’ve spoken the
foremost word,
Get up and bar the door.”
Sense in a Poem
 What it is trying to say?
 How this is said?

 Poetry is a form of
communication
Important things to consider:
 Subject matter
 Form
To get the meaning of a poem,
follow these suggestions:

1. Look up the meaning of every

unfamiliar word.
"My heart is fraught with woe”

"My heart is full of sorrow.“

Fraught - causing or characterized

by emotional distress or tension
2. Look for key words that may
help you get the meaning of the
lines.

“Drink to me only with thine

eyes.“
"Look into my eyes with love."
3. If, after closely reading the
rest of the poem in this way,
you still don't understand the
poem, perhaps the words are
not in their natural order.
“Her beauty the world
demanded.“

"Her beauty demanded the

attention of the world"
4. You might not understand a
line because some words are not
expressed but only implied. In
prose this sentence construction is
called elision.
Worries and cares a purseful
person?“

"Does a purseful person have

worries and cares?" Then the
meaning becomes clear
5. You may not understand a
poem because it contains an
allusion.

allusion - an implied or indirect

reference
"He had the patience of Job.“

In English literature the common

source of allusions are the Bible,
mythology (especially Greek and
Roman), history, the plays of
Shakespeare, and the works of
other famous writers.
6. The easiest way to get the
substance of a poem is to
paraphrase it. To paraphrase a
poem, restate the sense of the
poem in simple prose.

Another way is to write a short

summary of the poem.
William Cullen Bryant: Whither,
midst falling dew, While glow
the heavens with the last steps
of day, Far through their rosy
depths, dost thou pursue Thy
solitary way?
A paraphrase: Where, while the
dew is falling and the sky is red
with the sunset, are you going all
by yourself?

Summary: Where does

your lonely way lead you at
nightfall?
RHYTHM
IN
POETRY
 Rhythm
means a rise and fall in the
stress of the syllable.
Pattern

implies a certain complexity

To be fully satisfying, the
recurrence of sound and beat
in a poem should have variety
and even complexity; yet all
the time it has its identity in a
series of sounds.
Rhythm as a form of sound
pattern is the basis of a poem,
and this pattern produces the
haunting melody so
characteristic of poetry
 THE USE
OF SOUND
IN
POETRY
1. Rhyme. One of the sound
devices used often in poetry is
rhyme.
The old nursery rhyme-Hickory,
dickory, dock, The
mouse ran up the clock-has
rhyming words at the end of the
lines. Many times rhyme occurs
within the line. This is called
internal rhyme.
For the moon never beams,
without bringing me dreams And
the stars never rise, but I feel the
bright eyes Of the beautiful
Annabel Lee; Of the beautiful
Annabel Lee.

-Edgar Allan Poe, "Annabel Lee

i.e., occurring in the last syllable, as in
red-bed, remain-abstain; feminine or
double, i.e., occurring in the final two
syllables, as in dreaming gleaming. In
a triple rhyme, the last three syllables
rhyme, as in ability-tranquility. Note
that sound, not spelling, determines
rhyme:
cough rhymes with off, but not
through.
2. Alliteration.

Alliteration is the repetition of the

same consonant sounds, usually of
the initial consonant, in words that
immediately follow each other.
The river Weser, deep and wide,
Washes its wall on the southern
side;

--Robert Browning, "The Pied

Piper of Hamelin"
3. Assonance. It is the repetition
of vowel sounds.

My why should you lie I rely on

your eyes' so shy
4. Onomatopoeia.
It is the use of words whose
sounds suggest their meanings.
When a poet wants the words of
the poems to sound like what
being described, he/she chooses
the words for their sound.
A solitude made more intense
By dreary-voiced elements,
The shrieking of the mindless
wind, The moaning tree-boughs
swaying blind,
And on the glass the unmeaning
beat Of ghostly finger tips of
sleet. --John Greenleaf Whittier,
"Snow-Bound: A Winter Idyl"
5. Repetition.
The repetition of a single word or
a brief phrase also contributes to
the sound and impact of a poem.

O quick quick quick, quick hear

the song-sparrow,
6. Refrain. A refrain is the
repetition of a line or of several
lines at regular intervals
throughout a poem. A refrain
brings the reader pleasure, for as
the mind and ears grow
accustomed to the repetition, they
are prepared for it when it comes,
and are gratified by an
expectation fulfilled.
All in green went my love riding
on a great horse of gold
into the silver dawn.
four lean hounds crouched low and
smiling
the merry deer ran before.
Fleeter be they than dappled dreams
the swift sweet deer
the red rare deer.
Four red roebuck at a white water
the cruel bugle sang before.
Horn at hip went my love riding
riding the echo down
into the silver dawn.
four lean hounds crouched low and smiling
the level meadows ran before.
Softer be they than slippered sleep the lean lithe
deer
the fleet flown deer.
Four fleet does at a gold valley the famished
arrow sang before.
-ee. cummings, "All in Green Went My Love
Riding
 PROJECT
EXERCISE 6
Page 313-315
 O LOVELY
FISHERMAID
EN
Heinrich Heine
 Heinrich
He is one of theHeine
most
remarkable lyric poets of
Germany, and his poems are
among the most fascinating in
European literature.
 O LOVELY
FISHERMAID
EN
Heinrich Heine
Oh lovely fishermaiden,
Come, bring your boat to land;
And we will sit together
And whisper, hand in hand.

Oh rest upon my bosom,

And fear no harm from me.
You give your body daily,
Unfearing to the sea. . . .
My heart is like the ocean
With storm and ebb and flow —
And many a pearly treasure
Burns in the depths below.
 TONE
COLOR IN
A POEM
A poem is said to be only one-
fifth sense and four-fifths
music.
The dominant tone of a poem
is produced by vowel and
consonant values and is
enhanced by a combination of
accented and unaccented
syllables.
The sound of the wind
murmuring among the leaves
is pleasant; that of a leaking
faucet is unpleasant, and the
whining of a dog is irritating.
Words have character
depending on the interweaving
of meaning, rhythm, and vowel
and consonant values.
"She held the flowers"

"She cradled the flowers."

The unpleasant sounds are the
short, abrupt, vowel sounds
and these are suited for
expressing unpleasant
subjects.
Among the beautiful consonant
sounds are I, m, n, r, v, s, t;
these are the liquid melting
sounds.
The rather unpleasant
consonant sounds ore k, b, h,
g. j, z.
Combinations are pleasing: sh,
ms, ns, rs, os. Others have a
reverberating quality like oh
and ah, which have a tender,
breathless quality.
1. hot 7. kickback
2. murmur 8. rose
3. shell 9. gag
4. creak 10.flow
5. moonlight
6. sweet
IDENTIFYING
THE FIGURES
OF SPEECH
1. A simile is a comparison of
two persons or things that are
un like in most respects. The
simile uses like or as to signal
the comparison.
Example:

Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.

--Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "The

Rime of the Ancient Mariner
2. A metaphor is an implied
comparison between two persons
or things that are unlike in most
respects. It does not use like or as.
Example:

From the cool cisterns of the

midnight air My spirit drank
repose, The fountain of perpetual
peace flows there, From those
deep cisterns flows.

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,

"Hymn to the Night
3. Metonymy is the use of one
word for another that suggests it.
Example:

Sceptre and Crown Must tumble

down, And in the dust be equal
made, With the poor crooked
scythe and spade.

James Shirley, "Death the

Leveller
4. Personification is the transfer
of human characteristics to
inanimate objects or abstract
qualities.
Example:

I heard the trailing garments of

the Night Sweep through her
marble halls! I saw her sable
skirts all fringed with light From
the celestial walls!
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
"Hymn to the Night
5. Hyperbole is a statement
greatly exaggerated for an
aesthetic purpose.
He clasps the crag with crooked
hands; Close to the sun in lonely
lands, Ringed with azure world,
he stands.

-Alfred Lord Tennyson, "The

Eagle"
6. A paradox is a statement that
appears to be contradictory. It
pairs two direct opposites as if
both could be true.
Example:

Parting is all we know of heaven

And all we need of hell.

--Emily Dickinson,
"My Life Closed Twice Before Its
Close”
7. Oxymoron is a specific kind of
paradox. Most often the term is
applied to successive words,
usually an adjective and a noun,
that are contradictory.
Example:

Yes, I'm in love, I feel it now, And

Celia has undone me; And yet I'll
swear I can't tell how The
pleasing plague stole on me.

-William Whitehead, "The Je Ne

Sais Quoi"
8. In allusion, a passing
reference is made to an
important historical or literary
figure or event.
I will not cease from Mental
Fight, Nor shall my Sword in my
hand: Till we have built
Jerusalem, In England's green &
pleasant Land
-William Blake, "And Did Those
Feet"