Writing Poetry

“Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and

words that burn.” ~Thomas Gray

“Poetry is when an emotion has

found its thought and the thought
has found words.” ~Robert Frost
What is poetry? Who knows?
Not a rose, but the scent of a rose;
Not the sky, but the light in the sky;
Not the fly, but the gleam of the fly;
Not the sea, but the sound of the sea;
Not myself, but what makes me
See, hear, and feel something that prose
Cannot: and what it is, who knows?

By Eleanor Farjeon
Poetry (ancient Greek: ποιεω
(poieo) = I create) is an art form in
which human language is used for
its aesthetic qualities in addition to,
or instead of, its notional and
semantic content. It consists largely
of oral or literary works in which
language is used in a manner that is
felt by its user and audience to
differ from ordinary prose.
 The Human Brain
• Divided into 2 parts
• Each half has its
own function

Left Brain:
Right Brain:
Logic
Creativity
Reality
Emotions
 The left hemisphere controls the right side of
the body, and the right hemisphere controls
the left side.
To clarify . . .

When you
are looking
at big puffy
clouds . . .
Your right brain
tells you, “Hey!
That one looks
like a bunny.”

While your left brain tells you . . .

It’s a cloud,
So, which half do you use when
studying poetry?
Here are a few hints:
 Poetry requires creativity
 Poetry requires emotion
 Poetry requires an artistic quality
 Poetry requires logic
For the Left Brain:

Recognizing certain
devices used within a
poem will give the left
brain something to
concentrate on.
POETIC FORM
 FORM - the  A word is dead
appearance of the  When it is
words on the page
said,
 LINE - a group of  Some say.
words together on one
line of the poem  I say it just

 STANZA - a group of  Begins to live

lines arranged together  That day.
 - Emily Dickinson
Rhyme
Rhythm and Meter
Form
Imagery
Elements
RHYMES
Rhyme is the repetition of
similar sounds.
 LAMP
 STAMP

 Share the short “a” vowel sound

 Share the combined “mp” consonant
sound
SAMPLE RHYME SCHEME
 A mighty creature is the germ, A
 Though smaller than the pachyderm. A
 His customary dwelling place B
 Is deep within the human race. B
 His childish pride he often pleases C
 By giving people strange diseases. C
 Do you, my poppet, feel infirm? A
 You probably contain a germ. A

 -“The Germ” by Ogden Nash

END RHYME
 A word at the end of one line rhymes with a
word at the end of another line

We piled, with care our nightly stack A

Of wood against the chimney-back A
The oaken log, green, huge, and thick, B
And on its top the stout back-stick. B
- “The Hearth Fire” by John Greenleaf Whittier
ALTERNATE RHYME
Dust of Snow
by Robert Frost
The way a crow
A
Shook down on me
B
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree A
Has given my heart B
A change of mood C
And save some part D
Of a day I had rued. C
D
INTERNAL RHYME
 A word inside a line rhymes with another
word on the same line.

 Ah, distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak December

 - “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe

NEAR RHYME
 Also known as imperfect or “close
enough” rhyme. The words share EITHER
the same vowel or consonant sound BUT
NOT BOTH
 ROSE
 LOSE

 Different vowel sounds (long “o” and “oo”

sound)

RHYTHM
In poetry, rhythm is expressed
through stressed and
unstressed syllables. Take
the word, poetry, for
example. The first syllable is
stressed, and the last two
are unstressed, as in PO-e-
try.
Rhythm
Rhythm is the flow of the
beat in a poem.
Gives poetry a musical
feel.
Can be fast or slow,
depending on mood and
subject of poem.
You can measure rhythm
in meter, by counting the
beats in each line.
Meter
the systematic regularity in
rhythm; this systematic rhythm
(or sound pattern) is usually
identified by examining
the type of "foot" and
the number of feet.
Poetic Foot: The traditional line of metered poetry
contains a number of rhythmical units, which are
called feet.

The feet in a line are distinguished as a recurring pattern

of two or three syllables ("apple" has 2 syllables,
"banana" has 3 syllables, etc.). The pattern, or foot, is
designated according to the number of syllables contained,
and the relationship in each foot between the strong and
weak syllables.

__ = a stressed (or strong, or LOUD) syllable

U = an unstressed (or weak, or quiet) syllable
a.     Iamb (Iambic) - weak syllable followed by
strong syllable. [Note that the pattern is sometimes fairly
hard to maintain, as in the third foot.]
b.     Trochee (Trochaic): strong
syllable followed by a weak syllable.
c.     Anapest (Anapestic): two weak syllables
followed by a strong syllable.
e.g.
In her room at the prow of the house
Where light breaks, and the windows are tossed... 

From "The Writer", by Richard Wilbur

d.     Dactyl (Dactylic): a strong syllable followed
by two weak syllables.
Here's another (silly) example of dactylic
rhythm.
DDDA was an / archer, who / shot at a / frog
DDDB was a / butcher, and / had a great / dog
DDDC was a / captain, all / covered with / lace
DDDD was a / drunkard, and / had a
red / face.
e.     Spondee (Spondaic): two
strong syllables (not common as
lines, but appears as a foot). A
spondee usually appears at the
end of a line. 
The Number of Feet: The second part of meter
is the number of feet contained in a line.

Thus:
one foot=monometer
two feet=dimeter
three feet=trimeter
four feet=tetrameter
five feet=pentameter
six feet=hexameter (when hexameter is in
iambic rhythm, it is called an alexandrine)
Forms
 1. NARRATIVE POETRY

Epic Metrical Ballad Metrical

Romance Tale

Folk Literary
 2. LYRIC POETRY

Ode Elegy Song Simple Sonnet

Lyrics

Shakespearia Italian
n
Sonnet 130
(a) My Mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
(b) Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
(a) If snow be white, why then her breasts are
Quatrain
dun;
(b) If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her
head.

(c) I have seen roses damasked, red and white, Quatrain

(d) But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
(c) And in some perfumes is there more delight
(d) There in the breath that from my mistress
reeks.
Quatrain
(e) I love to hear her speak; yet well I know
(f) That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
(e) I grant I never saw a goddess go;
(f) My mistress, when she walks, treads on the
ground Couplet
(g) Any yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
(g) As any she belied with false compare
  'The New Colossus' by Emma Lazarus

'Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, (a)

With conquering limbs astride from land to land; (b)
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand (b)
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame (a)
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name (a)
Octave
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand (b)
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
(b)
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. (a)
'Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!' cries she (c)
With silent lips. 'Give me your tired, your poor, (d)
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, (c) Sestet
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. (d)
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, (c)
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!' (d)
 3. DRAMATIC POETRY

Poetic Plays Dramatic

Comedy Monologue
Tragedy

Farce

Historical Plays
Melodrama
Other types
of Poetry
CONCRETE POEMS
 Also called Shape poem

 Words are arranged to create a picture that

relates to the content of the poem
CONCRETE POEMS
CONCRETE POEMS
ACROSTIC POEMS
 The first letter of each line forms a word or
phrase (vertically). An acrostic poem can
describe the subject or even tell a brief story
about it.

After an extensive winter

Pretty tulips
Rise from the once
Icy ground bringing fresh signs of
Life.
-”April” by Anonymous
FREE VERSE POEMS
 Does NOT have any repeating patterns of
stressed and unstressed syllables
 Does NOT have rhyme
 Very conversational - sounds like someone
talking with you
I am NOT Me
Serendipity
 
I am not me
Cloaked in the shadow of the white paint
Suppressed by the innocence bombarded in the walls
Confined in the box of society’s expectations
Imprisoned in the persona that was never me.
I am not me
I am a mask concealing the ugly truth
… the pain
… the frustrations
… the regrets.
I am not me
I am a useless vizard
… deceiving
… dying
… fading.
OTHER FORMS
OF POETRY
COUPLET
 A poem of only two lines
 Both lines have an end rhyme and the same
meter
 Often found at the end of a sonnet

Whether or not we find what we are seeking

is idle, biologically speaking.
-at the end of a sonnet by Edna St. Vincent Millay
HAIKU
 Japanese style poem written in three lines
 Focuses traditionally on nature
 Lines respectively are 5 syllables, 7
syllables, and 5 syllables

Whitecaps on the bay:

A broken signboard banging
In the April wind.
-untitled haiku by Richard Wright
 Haikus By Paul McCann 

Fog Rain

On the mountain top Tip-tap goes the rain.

The fog fell down thick As it hits the window pane
and fast I can hear the rain.
It was like pea soup.
 
Hail The theme of these three
poems is weather in late
They fell in showers. autumn or early winter.
Like diamonds upon the
ground
Big hailstones were
found.
QUATRAIN
 Stanza or short poem containing four lines
 Lines 2 and 4 must rhyme, while lines 1 and
3 may or may not rhyme
 Variations in rhyming patterns (abab, abcb)

O, my luve's like a red, red rose, A

That's newly sprung in June: B
O, my luve's like the melodie C
That's sweetly played in tune. B
-from “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns
CINQUAIN
 Stanza or short poem containing five
lines
 1 word, 2 words, 3 words, 4 words, 1
word
 Patterns and syllables are changing!
CINQUAIN cont’
Cinquain Pattern #1
Line1: One word
Line2: Two words
Line 3: Three words Dinosaurs
Line 4: Four words Lived once,
Long ago, but
Line 5: One word
Only dust and dreams
Remain
-by Cindy Barden
CINQUAIN cont’
Cinquain Pattern #2
Line1: A noun
Line2: Two adjectives
Line 3: Three -ing
words Mules
Stubborn, unmoving
Line 4: A phrase
Braying, kicking,
Line 5: Another word resisting
for the noun Not wanting to listen
People
CINQUAIN cont’
Cinquain Pattern #3
Line1: Two syllables
Line2: Four syllables
Line 3: Six syllables
Baseball
Line 4: Eight syllables Bat cracks against
Line 5: Two syllables The pitch, sending it out
Over the back fence, I did it!
Homerun
-by Cindy Barden
LIMERICK
 A limerick is a poem of five lines
 The first, second, and fifth lines have three
rhythmic beats and rhyme with one
another.
 The third and fourth lines have two beats
and rhyme with one another.
 They are always light-hearted, humorous
poems.
LIMERICK

What is a limerick, Mother?

It's a form of verse, said Brother A
In which lines one and two A
B
Rhyme with five when it's through
B
And three and four rhyme with each other.A

- untitled and author unknown

Limerick About a Bee
I wish that my room had a floor,
I don’t care so much for a door.
But this walking around
Without touching the ground
Is getting to be quite a bore.
Another Limerick

There once was a very small mouse

Who lived in a very small house,
The ocean’s spray
Washed it away,
All that was left was her blouse!
The class Limerick:
There once was a _____ from _____.
All the while she/he hoped ________.
So she/he ____________________,
And ________________________,
That _________ from ___________.
PERSONA POEMS
 a poem written in the 1st person point of view
 writer imagines s/he is an animal, an object, a
famous person - anything s/he is not

I still remember the sun on my bones.

I ate pomegranates and barley cakes.
I wore a necklace of purple stones.
And sometimes I saw a crocodile
Slither silently into the Nile.
-from “The Mummy’s Smile” by Shelby K. Irons
IMAGERY
 Language that provides a sensory experience
using sight, sound, smell, touch, taste

Imagery means to use 

figurative language to represent
objects, actions and ideas in
such a way that it appeals to our
physical senses.
•It was dark and dim in the forest. – The words “dark”
and “dim” are visual images.
• The children were screaming and shouting in the fields. –
“Screaming” and “shouting” appeal to our sense of hearing
or auditory sense.

• The girl ran her hands on a soft satin fabric. – The idea of
“soft” in this example appeals to our sense of touch or tactile
sense.

• He whiffed the aroma of brewed coffee. – “whiff” and

“aroma” evoke our sense of smell or olfactory sense.

• The fresh and juicy orange is very cold and sweet. – “ juicy”
and “sweet” when associated with oranges have an effect on
our sense of taste or gustatory sense.
OTHER TYPES OF
POETIC DEVICES
REFRAIN
 A sound, word, phrase or line repeated
regularly in a poem, usually at the end of
each stanza or verse, such as the chorus in a
song.lived a lady by the North Sea shore,
There
Lay the bent to the bonny broom
Two daughters were the babes she bore.
Fa la la la la la la la.
As one grew bright as is the sun,
Lay the bent to the bonny broom
So coal black grew the other one.
Fa la la la la la la la.
-”The Cruel Sister” by Francis J. Child
MOOD

Mood is the overall

emotion created by a
work of literature.
Look at these two
different moods:
1)        Winter Garden
Stark naked flower stalks
Stand shivering in the wind.
The cheerless sun hides its
black light
Behind bleak, angry clouds,
While trees vainly try
To catch their escaping leaves.
Carpets of grass turn brown,
Blending morosely with the
dreary day.
Winter seems the death of life
forever.
2) Spring Garden
Stunningly dressed flower stalks
Stand shimmering in the breeze.
The cheerful sun hides playfully
Behind white, fluffy, cotton-ball
clouds,
While trees whisper secrets
To their rustling leaves.
Carpets of grass greenly glow
Blending joyfully with the day.
Spring brings life to death.
CONNOTATION vs
DENOTATION
 Connotation: an emotional or social
association with a word, giving meaning
beyond the literal definition
 Denotation: the specific, literal image, idea,
concept, or object that a word or phrase
refers to
Word Denotation
Connotation
a star ball of light/gas in the sky a wish
a family group of related individuals love, trust, closeness
a dog four legged mammal friend, protector, pet
SYMBOLISM
 The use of a word or object which
represents a deeper meaning than the words
themselves
 It can be a material object or a written sign
used to represent something invisible.
Examples:
Dark or black images in poems are often used to
symbolize death.

Light or white images are often used to symbolize life.

SYMBOLISM

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.
-from “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost