Lesson 1.

Conventions, Elements, and

Techniques of Poetry

Creative Nonfiction
General Academic Strand | Humanities and Social Sciences
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Both poetry and creative
nonfiction use creative
imagery to create new and
deeper meanings with the
words that they use.

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 ● Identify dominant literary conventions of a
Learning
Competencies
particular genre.

● Analyze and interpret the theme and techniques

used in a particular text (HUMSS_CNF11/12-1b-d-
4).

● Create samples of the different literary elements

based on one’s experience [e.g., metaphor to
describe an emotion] (HUMSS_CNF11/12-1b-d-4).

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Learning
Objectives

● Describe the major conventions, elements,

and techniques of poetry.

● Compare and contrast with conventions,

elements, and techniques of fiction.

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 A Brief Look at Poetry
Let’s
Begin
1. Read the poem, “The Desolate Field” in the
study guide.
2. Recall the elements of poetry and identify
them in the poem.
3. Analyze the poem and find its theme and any
imagery it used.

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 1. What elements of poetry were you
Let’s able to identify?
Begin

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 2. What imagery and figurative language
Let’s did the poem use?
Begin

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 3. How did the poem use its imagery
Let’s and figurative language to develop
Begin
the overall theme?

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Essential
Question

How does familiarity with the elements and

conventions of poetry help in writing creative
nonfiction?

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 Structure of Poetry

● Poems structurally look nothing like works of fiction

and creative nonfiction.
● They are usually much shorter and are organized
differently from prose works.

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 Structure of Poetry
The Stanza

● Poems are typically written with stanzas.

● A stanza is a series of poetic lines that are grouped
together.
● These stanzas can then come in different lengths.

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 Structures of Poetry
Types of Poetry

● Poetry can also come in many different forms and

types.
● Lyric poetry focuses on the thoughts and emotions of
the poet or the persona.
● Narrative poetry focuses on storytelling.
● Descriptive poetry uses rich imagery in order to
describe the world around the poet or persona.
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 Structures of Poetry
Structural Types of Poetry

● Poems can also follow specific structural types.

● These structural types usually follow different rules and
conventions on the following:
○ length of the poem
○ number of lines per stanza
○ number of syllables per line
○ the rhyme scheme of the overall poem
○ the specific topic of the poem
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 Elements of Poetry

● Rhythm is how the syllables in

a line of poetry are stressed
and unstressed.
● Meter is the specific syllabic
patterns in the rhythm of a
line of poetry.

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 Elements of Poetry

● Rhyme is made when two words in close proximity of

each other have similar sounds.
● A rhyme scheme is the larger pattern of rhyming in a
poem.

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 Elements of Poetry

● Poets also use other sound patterns like assonance,

consonance, and alliteration.
● Assonance is when vowel sounds are repeated, usually
two or more times in short succession.
● Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in
the same way as assonance.
● Alliteration is the repetition of starting consonant
sounds in consecutive or nearby words.

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Check Your
Progress

Why do you think rhyme and rhythm are

important elements in poetry but are not as
important in fiction and creative nonfiction?

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 Elements of Poetry

● Voice refers to the speaker and the tone of the poem.

● Speaker is simply the narrator of the poem.
● Take note that the speaker of the poem is not always
the poet. A persona may be used.
● Tone is the speaker’s implied attitude toward its
subject.

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Writing
Tip It is important to keep the tone consistent in
any literary work. Always be mindful of the
tone you want to express in your writing and
establish it early so that it can help you choose
your words and imagery.

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 Elements of Poetry

● Diction refers to word choice.

● It is closely tied to imagery
and figures of speech.
● Word choices create images,
which are what we perceive
with our senses or
understand with our minds.

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 Elements of Poetry

● Symbolism and allegory is the widespread or extended

use of metaphor.
● When we use a single metaphor to frame an entire
poem or even story, we have begun using allegory.
● If the poet uses a metaphor that has often been used
in a particular way then that is symbolism.

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Allegory and Symbolism

● When we use a single

metaphor to frame an entire
poem or even story, we have
begun using allegory.
● If the poet uses a metaphor
that has often been used in a
particular way then that is
symbolism.
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 Comparison with Fiction and Creative Nonfiction

Poetry Fiction/Creative
Nonfiction

Lines of poetry are divided by Sentences are put together in

stanzas. These lines often paragraphs. Paragraphs have
have the same main idea. different main ideas but all
support a main theme.

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 Comparison with Fiction and Creative Nonfiction

Poetry Fiction/Creative
Nonfiction

Poetry can come in different There are also different types,

types, like lyric poetry or like the short story or the
narrative poetry. novel for fiction and the
memoir or the autobiography
for creative nonfiction.

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 Comparison with Fiction and Creative Nonfiction
Poetry
While there is such a thing as
free form poetry, poems may
be written with specific
structures that dictate
rhyming, number of syllables,
number of lines per stanza,
and more.
Fiction/Creative
Nonfiction
Some types of fiction and
creative nonfiction dictate
word count, formality of
language, topic, and more,
but is not as concerned with
structure as poetry.
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 Comparison with Fiction and Creative Nonfiction

Poetry Fiction/Creative
Nonfiction

The speaker of the poem, Prose pieces can have many

often referred to as the narrators, from characters
persona, is not necessarily speaking in first person, the
the poet him or herself. author him or herself, to an
unspecified third person.

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 Comparison with Fiction and Creative Nonfiction
Poetry
Tone in poetry is established
by the choice of words and
imagery used in a poem.
Fiction/Creative
Nonfiction
Fiction and creative
nonfiction are also concerned
with tone as it shows what
the author feels about the
topic he or she is discussing,
and it is also established by
vocabulary and imagery.
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 Comparison with Fiction and Creative Nonfiction
Poetry
Poetry makes heavy use of
imagery and figures of
speech to support the theme
of the poem and to help
establish tone.
Fiction/Creative
Nonfiction
Prose texts can also make use
of imagery and figures of
speech, for example in
descriptions, character
dialogue, or in establishing
theme.
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 Comparison with Fiction and Creative Nonfiction
Poetry
Many poems are written
around a particular
symbolism or allegory, and it
can be an effective way of
maintaining the theme.
Fiction/Creative
Nonfiction
Prose texts can also have
symbolisms and allegories,
usually to establish the
theme, to foreshadow events
or plot points, or to set the
mood, among others.
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 True or False. Write true if the statement is correct.
Otherwise, rewrite the underlined word to make it
Try This!
true.

1. The speaker of a poem is always the

author.

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 True or False. Write true if the statement is correct.
Otherwise, rewrite the underlined word to make it
Try This!
true.

2. Word choice helps establish a poem’s tone.

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 True or False. Write true if the statement is correct.
Otherwise, rewrite the underlined word to make it
Try This!
true.

3. A stanza consists of poetic lines.

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 True or False. Write true if the statement is correct.
Otherwise, rewrite the underlined word to make it
Try This!
true.

4. Figures of speech are avoided in poetry.

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 True or False. Write true if the statement is correct.
Otherwise, rewrite the underlined word to make it
Try This!
true.

5. Rhyme and rhythm matter more in poetry

than in fiction.

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Wrap- ● Poems are divided into stanzas or groups of
Up
lines. The number of lines can vary. It has many
types, like lyric poetry and descriptive poetry,
and even structural types, like haiku or elegy.

● Rhythm is how the syllables are stressed and

unstressed, while meter refers to specific
syllabic patterns in the rhythm of a line of
poetry.
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Wrap-
● A rhyme scheme in poetry is a long pattern of
Up rhyming found in poems.

● Speaker is the persona narrating the poem,

and he or she sets the tone.

● Imagery, figures of speech, symbolism, and

allegory are used to help set the tone and
establish a theme.

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Challenge Choose one of the prompts below and write
Yourself
poems that demonstrate what is being asked.

1. Write a freeform descriptive poem that

makes use of one literal object that can be
used to symbolize many other things or
meanings.

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 Choose one of the prompts below and write poems
Challenge that demonstrate what is being asked.
Yourself
2. Write a freeform narrative poem that makes use
of at least one each of assonance, consonance,
and alliteration.
3. Write a lyric poem that follows the Shakespearean
structure as described in the discover section. For
the purpose of this activity, the lines need not be
written in iambic pentameter.

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Bibliography

“Elements of Poetry.” Literacy Ideas. Accessed April 6, 2021. https://www.literacyideas.com/elements-of-poetry.

Elements: Poetry. Accessed March 5, 2021. https://org.coloradomesa.edu/~blaga/Theory/poetry_elements.html.

Jacksonville, Florida State College at. “Elements of Poetry.” Lumen. Accessed April 6, 2021.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-fscj-literatureforhumanities/chapter/elements-of-poetry/.

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Bibliography

Lesson 3: Elements of Fiction. Lumen. Accessed March 5, 2021.

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-distanceminnesota-creativewriting/chapter/lesson-3-elements-of-a-fict
ion/
.

2.2: Elements of Creative Nonfiction. Humanities LibreTexts. Libretexts, July 1, 2020.

https://human.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Literature_and_Literacy/Writing_and_Critical_Thinking_Through_Liter
ature_(Ringo_and_Kashyap)/02%3A_About_Creative_Nonfiction/2.02%3A_Elements_of_Creative_Nonfiction
.

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