An Introduction to Poetry
A poem begins as a lump in the throat,
a sense of wrong, a home sickness, a love
sickness. It is a reaching out toward
expression; an effort to find fulfillment.
A complete poem is one where an emotion
has found its thought and thought has
found the words.
Robert Frost
• If you asked six people what a poem is,
you’d get six different answers. Poetry is
as varied as people’s reactions to it, but
all poetry has this much in common: it is
arranged in relatively short line length,
and it says a lot in a few words.
• Poetry has been around almost longer
than any other form of writing.
• Poetry is one of the oldest art forms in
the world. It seems that as soon as
people learned to communicate verbally,
they wanted to recite or write poems.
•The words that come to form poems
convey our strongest emotions and our
most significant experiences. Poetry is
not only a powerful reflection of the
world around us, but it is both
immediate and real.
•You’re probably aware that
you listen to poetry every day
in the form of song lyrics.
Not all lyrics have poetic
qualities, but many do. The
ones that are most like
poetry are probably the ones
easiest to memorize.
• Poems reflect vivid
images of who we are as
individuals and of our
surroundings. While the
images may be crystal clear,
their true or real
significance is often just
suggested.
• It is the reader’s
responsibility to reflect
upon one’s own experiences
and live to better
understand what the poet is
trying to create.
• With each interpretation
shared, comes further
understanding.
As Larry Liffiton and
John McAllister have
pointed out: “…a poem
is itself an experience. It
must be entered into,
lived, and made our
own.”
• Poetry is a
communication
to make the reader
more aware of
something or someone
the poet assumes to be
of importance or
possesses unusual
features or
characteristics.
• A poem must be read several times
to fully appreciate the experience
the poet’s words have to offer. It
can never hurt to read a poem out
loud, to hear each word, sound and
moment come alive off the page.
Liffiton and McAllister write:
There is no formula to understanding
poetry.You must simply get involved with
it. Talk about poetry. Try writing some
poetry. Above all else, find some poems
you really like and live with them for a
while, for poetry requires its own
reflection.Give the poems time to speak
to your experience. Listen to the way
they speak and discover what they say
about being alive in this world.
• The memory of certain poems has sustained
people during difficult times. Prisoners of war,
when released, said they kept their sanity by
spending whole days recalling poems they had
learned years before. Thus, poetry is perhaps
more powerful because it is often more personal
than other forms of literature.
• Poetry has a place in our daily society.
Ultimately, poetry communicates what the heart
wants to say, what the society needs to hear.
Perhaps this is why the Nobel Prize for
Literature is often given to poets in countries
where the heart has been silenced.
• People are often afraid of
poetry, finding its language or
symbols difficult to
understand.
• Poetry can work its magic by
helping you hear not only your
own heart, but also the world
itself and the many songs it
sings.
• Simply put, poetry is a shared
experience between the poet
and the reader.
Figurative
Language
• One of the great strengths of poetry is
that it helps readers see things in a new
way.
• Figurative language is one such literary
device that aids a writer in the delivery
of his or her poem.
• Figurative language suggests more than
it states. Figurative comparisons show
relationships between things that are
unlike in nature.
• Comparing a book to a child or
an author to a parent is an
example of figurative language,
or the use of language that goes
beyond the words’ literal
meanings.
• Poets use figurative language to
give freshness and strength to
the images they present. The
devices for achieving figurative
language are called figures of
speech. The most common ones
are simile, metaphor, hyperbole
and personification.
• A simile is a comparison of two
things using like or as. Similes
create word pictures or images.
• Examples: Her lovely hair
cascaded down like a flowing
waterfall.
"My love is LIKE a red, red rose."
"He was AS cold AS ice."
"The water is like the sun."
• "The water is like the sun" is an example of
simile because water and the sun have little in
common, and yet they're being compared to one
another.
Here is another example, comparing falling rain to the rising of the
sun.
"The rain falls like the sun,
rising upon the mountains.”
SENSES
Sadness is as happy as laughter.
You might cry because it hurts.
You might laugh because it hurts.
But I know one thing,
laughter is laughter and sadness
is sadness.
They can show the
same things like
hurting and gladness.
• The term metaphor is an implied comparison. A metaphor is a
comparison between two unlike things. It does not use the word like or
as.
• Metaphors can be an effective way to create vivid impressions
because it requires readers to participate in making the comparison by mentally
associating one image with another.
Examples:
The sea is a wilderness of waves, a desert of water.
Your insincere apology just added fuel to the fire.
After the argument, Dave was smoldering for days.
No man is an island.
Her face was pale as the moon.
The pen is mightier than the sword.
The teacher descended upon the exams, sank his talons into their
pages, ripped the answers to shreds, and then, perching in his chair,
began to digest.
Metaphor by Eva Merriam
Morning is
a new sheet of paper
for you to write on
Whatever you want to say,
all day,
until night
folds it up
and files it away
The bright words and the dark words
are gone
until dawn
and a new day
to write on
• Hyperbole, or exaggeration, is the obvious stretching of
the truth to emphasize strong feeling or create a humorous
effect.
• Often we stretch the truth in our everyday speech to make a
point or to inject a little humour. When you say you’re
starving just before lunchtime, you don’t really mean it.You
might be hungry, but starving is an exaggeration.
An Example: This rug is so beautiful that it will make you
believe in magic carpets again.
Here's another example: "I had so much homework,
I needed a pickup truck to carry all my books
home!"
Hyperbole is supposed to evoke a ridiculous
picture in your mind, ... and in the process,
make the point effectively.
(You must have had a lot of homework!)
My teacher is so old…
•“They've already nailed the coffin shut".
Michelle S., fromWoodbridge,Virginia, USA
•“She remembers the tragedy when the
dinosaurs died!" Alex
•“We looked up the word 'ancient', and there
was a full definition with her name and a big
picture of her smiling..." Mallory, from Dexter,
Missouri
•“She knows how to speak cave-man language!"
Meg, ShepaugValley School, Roxbury USA
• "My history teacher's so old, he lived through
everything we've learned about ancient Greece"
Ryan
• "I think of you a million times a day" Vern Sal
• "Saskatchewan is so flat, you can see your dog run
away for four days!" Jenna
• "It was so cold, even the polar bears were wearing
jackets." Elizabeth
• "Our library is so old, its book pages are numbered
with roman numerals ... written by the Romans!"
BobbyW.
• "That boy's eyes are so big, they look like they're
going to jump out and grab you! Ashley Clarke
• "My best friend is so forgetful, I sometimes have to
remind her what her name is!" Katie Holmes
• Personification is a figure of speech in which poets give
an animal, object, or idea human qualities, such as the
ability to love, sing, cry, feel, talk and make decisions.
• In personification, the non-human is identified with the human or
given human characteristics.
Examples:
The river dozed in the afternoon sun.
The New Zealand dollar
had a quiet month.
Life dealt him a
heavy blow.
More examples of
personification
• 1. The wind sang her mournful song through the falling leaves.
• 2. The microwave timer told me it was time to turn my TV
dinner.
• 3. The video camera observed the whole scene.
• 4. The strawberries seemed to sing, "Eat me first!"
• 5. The rain kissed my cheeks as it fell.
• 6. The daffodils nodded their yellow heads at the walkers.
• 7. The water beckoned invitingly to the hot swimmers.
• 8. The snow whispered as it fell to the ground during the early
morning hours.
• 9. The china danced on the shelves during the earthquake.
• 10. The car engine coughed and sputtered when it started during
the blizzard.
Symbolism
• A symbol is something that represents something else, either
by association or by resemblance. It can be a material object
or a written sign used to represent something invisible.
• Language itself is a system of spoken or written symbols by
which we communicate. Every word is a symbol; the five
letters that form the word 'chair' represent a sound as well as
a physical object.
• In writing, symbolism is the use of a word, a phrase, or a
description, which represents a deeper meaning than the
words themselves. This kind of extension of meaning can
transform the written word into a very powerful
instrument.
• In literature, symbolism is used to provide meaning to the writing
beyond what is actually being described. The plot and action that
take place in a story can be thought of as one level, while the
symbolism of certain things in the writing act on another level to
enhance the story.
• Symbolism can take place by having the theme of a story
represented on a physical level. A simple example might be the
occurrence of a storm at a critical point, when there is conflict or
high emotions. Similarly a transition from day to night, or spring
to winter, could symbolize a move from goodness to evil, or hope
to despair. A river in a scene could represent the flow of life, from
birth to death. Flowers can symbolize youth or beauty.
• Not everything in a story is necessarily symbolic. A garden
landscape is just a garden ... until it is contrasted with a bustling
city, at which point the garden could symbolize tranquility, peace,
or escape.
• As English poetry has developed over hundreds of years, certain
symbolic meanings have attached themselves to such things as
colors, places, times, and animals.
• A list of these common symbols and their meanings follows.
• Your own knowledge, associations, and experience are what will
lead you to a deep and personal connection to any poem.
• 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.
• 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.
Imagery
• Most figures of speech create a picture in your mind.
These pictures created or suggested by the poet are
called images. To participate fully in the world of poetry,
we must understand how the poet uses image to convey
more than what is actually said or literally meant.
• We speak of the pictures evoked in a poem as imagery.
Imagery refers to the pictures which we perceive with
our mind's eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin and through
which we experience the duplicate world created by
poetic language.
• Imagery evokes the meaning and truth of human
experiences.
• Although most of the image-evoking words in
any language appeal to sight (visual images),
there are also images of touch, sound, taste and
smell.
A poet is using words more consciously than
any other kind of writer. Aiming to stir readers'
imaginations, poets exploit the power of words
to evoke thoughts, feelings, reflections in ways
that are sometimes very direct, sometimes very
indirect. A poet always picks and chooses words
that are just right. Most finished poems are very
deliberate products, not something casually
tossed off half drunk at 3a.m., but something
lovingly studied and toiled over.
There's a TV ad
which says, "Image
is nothing. Thirst is
everything." Poetry
is completely
opposite: image is
everything.
-- Vince Gotera
A Stanza
• STANZA: A group of lines which are set off and
form a division in a poem and are sometimes
linked with other stanzas by rhyme.