Poetry…
and how to enjoy it.
Poetry is…
 Words arranged in a rhythmic pattern with
regular accents (like beats in music)
 Words carefully selected for sound, accent,
and meaning
 Words that express imaginatively ideas and
emotions
I’ve come to
the end of
my rope.
In conversation…
L-O-V-E is a
many-splendored
thing.
In songs…
In speeches…
A nation
conceived in
liberty…
A Poet is…
NON-POET
 A person more
endowed with
imagination who
tries to express an
idea with words that
give it form and
beauty
POET
I see a dark
hand is tearing
the vault of
night…
What do I
see? A big
tree. And it’s
getting dark!
looking at the same thing…
A Quote
“Poetry lifts the veil from hidden
beauty. It makes familiar
objects be as if they were not
familiar and creates anew the
universe.”
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Underlying Structures
 Each poem has:
1. RHYTHM
2. MELODY
3. IMAGERY
4. FORM
Rhythm (Metric Pattern)
 The accents of the syllables in the words fall at

1.
2.
3.
4.
regular intervals, like the beat of music.
The four most-used metric patterns are:
IAMBIC aka de DUMM; EX: a WAY to PAY
TROCHAIC aka DUMM de; EX: COMing
ANAPESTIC aka de de DUMM; EX: can non ADE
DACTYLIC aka DUMM de de; EX: VIC tor ies
Rhythm
 The beat of poetry feet is called METER.
 The number of feet in a line of poetry is
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
expressed as follows:
Monometer
Dimeter
Trimeter
Tetrameter
Pentameter
Hexameter
Scansion
 Marking lines to show feet or meter is called
scansion.
de
DUMM
de
DUMM
de
DUMM
The stag / at eve / had drunk
/ his fill
de
DUMM
This is a foot.
This line is iambic
tetrameter.
Like music, each poem has
Melody (Sound Devices)
 The principal sound device in poetry is

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
rhyme.
Some rhyming terms include:
Single rhyme (love/dove)
Double rhyme (napping/tapping)
Triple rhyme (mournfully/scornfully)
Imperfect rhyme—two words look alike but
don’t sound alike (love/Jove)
Internal rhyme—the rhyme occurs inside a
line (Let’s beat the heat)
Other Sound Effects
 Assonance—resemblance of sound in words
or syllables, such as “O harp and altar, of the
fury fused.”
 Onomatopoeia—where words sound like
meanings, such as drip, whisper, hiss, hoot,
meow, murmur, etc.
 Alliteration—words beginning with same
consonant sound, such as In a summer
season, where soft was sun.
Imagery
 Includes figures of speech representing
sense experience.
 Most imagery uses either comparison or
exaggeration.
Comparison
 Simile is two unlike things compared using “like”
and “as,” such as “The man paced like a hungry
lion.”
 Metaphor is two unlike things directly compared
(without using “like” and “as”), such as “The river
is a snake which coils on itself.”
 Personification is giving human qualities to
things, such as “The trees danced in the breeze.”
 Literary allusions are referring metaphorically
to persons, places, and things from history or
previous literature.
Exaggeration
 Hyperbole is saying more than is true, such
as “He worked his fingers to the bone.”
 Understatement is saying less than is true,
such as “Losing his job meant he could sleep
late.”
 Irony is saying opposite to what is true, such
as “War is kind.”
 Antithesis is using contrasts for effect, such
as “It was the best of times, it was the worst
of times.”
Form
 What does a poem look like?
 A long poem usually consists of a number of
lines grouped into sets of lines called
stanzas.
 Rhyme schemes are indicated by the use of
letters: abba abba
Special Stanzas
 Rhymed couplet is two lines with identical
rhymes. A heroic couplet is two lines of
iambic pentameter with identical rhymes.
 Quatrain is four lines with any rhyme scheme
and any length and meter.
 Sonnet is a complete poem of 14 lines of
iambic pentameter.
 Blank verse is usually iambic pentameter but
no rhyme, i.e. William Shakespeare.
 Free verse is no regular rhythmic pattern or
use of rhyme.
Types of Poems
NARRATIVE
1. Epic—a long poem
about a hero, i.e.
Odyssey or Beowulf
2. Ballad—a very short
story, i.e. Coleridge’s
“Rime of the Ancient
Mariner” or folk music
3. Fable—a short story
(usually about animals)
with a moral.
1.
2.
3.
4.
LYRIC
Ode—in praise or
memory of someone
Elegy—a lament or in
memory of someone
Epigram—a satirical
poem ending with a
witticism
Sonnet—a popular
form of lyric poetry
having 14 lines