2. Poetry is a literary form
that combines the
precise meanings of
words with their
emotional associations,
sounds, and rhythms in
order to paint a picture
in the reader‟s mind. It
can tell a story, express
feelings and thoughts,
or describe things.
Furthermore poetry is a
genre that is very
different from prose
and drama.
Wordsworth defined
poetry as "the
spontaneous overflow
of powerful feelings"
3. The „paragraph‟ in a
poem is called a stanza
or a verse. Poetry does
not necessarily have to
have ordered/regular
standards.
Poetry is evocative. It
typically evokes in the
reader an intense
emotion: joy, sorrow,
anger and love
Predominant use of
imagery which appeals
to the senses - of sight,
hearing, touch, taste
and smell. You might
be interested in the
terminology of the
different imagery.
They are as follows:
Visual imagery – sense
of sight
e.g. It was as strange
as an ocean without
water
4. Poems contain figurative
language (e.g. simile,
metaphor, personification,
hyperbole, etc.)
Poems may include
rhythm (the regular
recurrence of stressed and
unstressed beats)
Poems may contain rhyme
Poems contain sound
devices (e.g. assonance,
alliteration, consonance to
support the content of a
poem
5. The term poetic form
indicates the way that
a poem is structured
by recurrent patterns
of rhythms and
words.
We must look at
stanzas (meter, line
length and rhyme)
and verse (blank or
free
6. Blank Verse:
Unrhymed iambic
pentameter (5 feet/line)
Blank means that the
poetry is not rhymed.
Iambic pentameter
refers to the fact that
each line contains five
iambs, or metrical feet,
consisting of a stressed
syllable followed by an
unstressed syllable.
Free Verse :
Also called open form
verse
Yet it still keeps line
divisions deliberate
which separates it from
prose.
7. Iambic Pentameter
has :
Iambic Pentameter
hasThe rhythm in
each line sounds like:
ba-BUM / ba-BUM /
ba-BUM / ba-BUM /
ba-BUM
8. A couplet has a pair of
rhymed lines of the
same length and
meter.
It can also embody
rhymed pairs of lines
in Iambic Pentameter
are termed heroic
couplets.
9. Is a group of three lines,
usually sharing the same
rhyme.
Whenas in silks my Julia
goes,
Then, then, methinks, how
sweetly flows,
The liquefaction of her
clothes.
(“Upon Julia‟s Clothes” by
Robert Herrick)
The line length may be the
same or it may vary
10. Consists of four lines
and is the most
common stanza form
in English poetry.
May use a variety of
meter and rhyme
schemes. The most
frequent rhyme
scheme is that in
which the second and
forth line rhyme
(abcb)
http://tinyurl.com/6o7tvhw
11. Is a word, a phrase, or
a group of lines
repeated at intervals
in a poem.
It is a common feature
of folk ballads and of
Elizabethan songs
Is a Lyric poem,
written in a single
stanza that usually
consists of fourteen
lines of iambic
pentameter.
12. Italian sonnet:
Named after Petrarch,
an Italian poet who
introduced the form
in the early fourteenth
century.
Divided into an
opening octave- a
group of eight lines,
and a concluding
sestet-a six line unit.
The rhyme scheme is
usually fixed. The
opening octave is
abba abba, but that of
the sestet may vary
(ced ced, or cdc cdc,
or cdc dcd.
14. Nicknamed after it‟s
most famous
practitioner.
Features three
quatrains and a final
couplet.
Rhyme scheme
usually goes abab
cdcd efef gg.
http://tinyurl.com/cq33s3s
15. The elements in prose and poetry are similar.
The table below illustrate the terminology used
where the elements are concerned.
PROSE/DRAMA POETRY
Plot Subject matter
Theme Subject matter
Characterization Very rarely
Point of view Voice/persona
Tone Tone
Mood Mood
16. Poems can be
interpreted at two
levels:
- Literal level -the
basic, original
meaning of a poem
Figurative level – the
deeper, imaginative
meaning of a poem
17. Theme
Represents the main
subject or idea of a
poem.
A poem can have
more than one theme
because different
people would
interpret the same
poem in various ways
Style and Language
Refer to how the poet
uses the language to
convey his or her
ideas. This would
affect the tone, mood
and meaning of a
poem
18. Mood
Refers to the feeling a poem creates for the
readers
Tone
Reflects the poet‟s attitude towards the subject
of the poem.
19. Literary devices are common structures used in
writing. These devices can be either literary
elements or literary techniques. Literary
elements are found in almost every story and
can be used to analyse and interpret (e.g.
protagonist, setting, plot, theme). Literary
techniques, on the other hand, constructions in
the text, usually to express artistic meaning
through the use of language (e.g. metaphor,
hyperbole).
20. Alliteration – is the
repetition of the initial
consonant sounds in
words close together.
Furthermore it can also
be defined as when lots
of words in a poem
start with the same
letter it is called
alliteration.
The implications or
the effect it has on
advancing the poets
argument is that This
gives the line a special
beat like a rhythm.
Thus reiterating his
main points in a
particular stanza.
21. Poets use metaphors to
compare two apparently
unlike things without
using the words like, as,
than, or resembles.
Examples:
“The sky is a patchwork
quilt”
“Thomas is a bear on the
football field”
“She cried a sea of tears”
“'Cause it's a bittersweet
symphony, this life
Examples:
“The sky is a patchwork
quilt”
“Thomas is a bear on the
football field”
22. A simile is a direct
comparison between
two unlike things using
the words like or as.
Examples:
“The sky is like a
patchwork quilt”
“She sang like a bird”
“You are as tough as
leather”
“He runs like the wind”
The poet creates a
picture by comparing
two things using the
words „like‟ or „as.
Example:
“As snug as a gun”
23. This happens when the
poet intentionally gives
human qualities to non-
human objects or
things.
I wandered lonely as a
cloud‟ – The cloud is
described as if it is a
person wandering
around
„.
24. When a word imitates the sound it is
describing it is called onomatopoeia.
Example:
“Snap, Crackle, and Pop”
The three creepy gnomes on Rice Krispies
boxes
25. - Involves our senses, e.g: visual, smell and
sound.
- Draws the reader into an experience by
stimulating their senses which contributes to
the mood of the poem.
It is intended to show rather than just tell
26. The repetition of a vowel sound in two or
more words in the line of a poem.
Examples:
- their soaky clothes torn
and approached the stove.
I know/ this rose is only/ an ink-and-paper
rose/ but see how it grows and goes/ on
growing.
27. – Is the repetition of identical consonant sounds
preceded by different vowel sounds.
Example: “live and love”
-Home
-Same
-Lime
28. Is the repetition of identical or similar sounds in
stressed syllables. A pattern of end rhymes is
called a rhyme scheme. Therefore rhyme falls
under the category of sound effects.
A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyming lines in
a rhyming poem or in lyrics for music. It is usually
referred to by using letters to indicate which lines
rhyme.
For example, “abab” indicates a four-line stanza in
which the first and third lines rhyme, as do the
second and fourth.
29. Perfect rhyme: Refers
to the immediately
recognizable norm:
true/blue,
mountain/fountain.
Imperfect rhyme: Refers
to rhymes that are
close but not exact:
lap/shape,
glorious/nefarious
Eye rhyme: This refers
to rhymes based on
similarity of spelling
rather than sound.
Often these are highly
conventional, and
reflect historical
changes in
pronunciation:
love/move/prove,
why/envy
30. Assonant rhyme:
Rhyming with similar
vowels, different
consonants: dip/limp,
man/prank
Consonant rhyme:
Rhyming with similar
consonants, different
vowels: limp/lump,
bit/bet.
Internal rhyme, or
middle rhyme, is
rhyme which occurs
in a single line of
verse. Internal rhyme
occurs in the middle
of a line.
- Examples:
"In mist or cloud, on
mast or shroud"
from “The Rhyme of
the Ancient Mariner”
by Samuel Taylor
Coleridge
32. Is the return of a word, phrase, stanza form, or
effect in any form of literature.
Examples:
Back off from this poem
It has drawn in your feet
Back off from this poem
It has drawn in your legs
Back off from this poem
It is a greedy mirror
33. Along the years poetry just like any other art
form has evolved from medieval times poetry
to the renaissance and the Victorian poets and
has reached a modern contemporary. Poetry
has taken different attributes and forms and
has incorporated slang and rap thus these next
slides shall discuss the different elements it
has.
34. Self-consciousness,
experimentation
New techniques such
as the Stream of
Consciousness
Fragmentation in
structuring literary
works
Lack of a single
authoritative
viewpoint
Could be replaced by
unreliable narrator or
multiple points of
view.
35. Also known as 'open
form' or 'vers libre'
Lineated but not
organised by meter or
any other strict
patterning device
Most free verse has
irregular line lengths
and lacks rhyme
Remember: don't
confuse free verse with
blank verse! Blank
verse is unrhyming
iambic pentameter.
It can help to think of
broad different
categories of free verse:
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http://www.slideshare.net/Briandoolan/the-language-of-poetry
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http://www.slideshare.net/FenwaySoxSSC/poetic-forms
Megarrison. (2011). slideshare. Retrieved 03 19, 2013, from slideshare:
http://www.slideshare.net/megarrison/poetry-elements
aw, S. (2011). slideshare. Retrieved 03 19, 2013, from slideshare:
http://www.slideshare.net/SarahLaw/modernism-and-free-verse
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http://www.slideshare.net/cktan84/what-is-poetry-6890333
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