Elements of Poetry:
Devices, Structure
and Forms
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HISTORY
Epic poetry
• Characteristics: usually found in preliterate
societies, this style of poetry was typically
passed down through oral traditions, until
someone eventually wrote them down- this is
why we can read them today. These poems
usually take the form of a long narrative, which
means it is usually a very long story told in the
first person (“I did this” instead of “he or she did
that”). These poems were written a long time
ago- The Odyssey, for example, is t thought to
have been written anywhere between 8 and 7
B.C.
• The Odyssey by Homer
Elizabethan Poetry
• Most of our ideas about how poetry
should be written come from this era.
Elizabethan poetry was written in
through the17th and 19th
centuries.This poetry has a heavy
emphasis on many rules regarding
rhythm, rhyme, meter.
• Major themes of this poetry are:
discovery of the self, political
turbulence, and originality (later in the
era)
• For examples of this poetry, please
see: William Shakespeare, William
Wordsworth
T.S. Eliot
• 1888-1965
• Was extremely studious- he studied in Harvard AND the
Sorbonne in Paris!
• Pioneer of “high modernism” (a.k.a. hard-to-understand
poetry)
• His poetry usually has a depressing tone.
• Liked to use Italian, Greek, Russian, French, and German in
his poems- because he spoke nearly all of them! Fragment from “The Love Song of J. Alfred
Prufrock”
Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherised upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants and oyster shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question…
Oh, do not ask, ‘What is it?’
Let us go and make our visit.
E.E. Cummings
• 1894-1962
• Liked to play with the
use of punctuation
and to make new
words.
• Studied at Harvard
[in- Just]
in Justspring
when the world is mudluscious the little
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William Shakespeare
•
•
•
•
•
1564-1616
Regarded as the best writer in the
English language
Master of the sonnet
Was a poet and playwright- he wrote
37 plays and 134 sonnets.
The most-quoted author in the English
language!
Sonnet 138
by William Shakespeare
When my love swears that she is made of truth
I do believe her, though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutor'd youth,
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young.
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false speaking tongue:
On both side thus is simple truth supress'd:
And wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And wherefore says not I that I am old?
O! love's best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love loves not to have years told:
Therefore I lie with her and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flatter'd be.
Let’s start with some
basics…
po·et·ry (n)
writing chosen and arranged to create a
certain emotional response through meaning,
sound, and rhythm
prose (n)
everything else! ordinary language that
people use when they speak or write
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Lines
May be short or long.
Are NOT necessarily complete
sentences or even complete thoughts!
The arrangement of lines, spacing,
and whether or not the lines rhyme in
some manner, can define the FORM
of a poem.
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Stanza
A group of lines whose rhyme scheme
is usually followed throughout the
poem.
A division in poetry like a paragraph in
prose.
Common stanza patterns include
couplets, triplets, quatrains, etc.
Free-verse poems follow no rules
regarding where to divide stanzas.
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And now several
forms
of poetry…
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Couplet
Two lines that rhyme.
A complete idea is usually
expressed in a couplet, or in a long
poem made up of many couplets.
Couplets may be humorous or
serious.
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Couplet continued…
Example:
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored and sorrows end.
Shakespeare
Chocolate candy is sweet and yummy
It goes down smoothly in my tummy!
Unknown
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Narrative Poems
Tell a story. It is a story told in verse, by
a speaker or narrator.
There is a plot … something happens;
because of this, something else happens.
Can be true or fictional.
Poems vary in treatment of character
and setting.
Forms of narrative poetry include:
●
●
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ballad
epic
Narrative Poems: Ballad
A narrative, rhyming poem or song.
Characterized by short stanzas and
simple words, usually telling a heroic
and/or tragic story (although some are
humorous).
Can be long.
Usually rich with imagery
Originated from folk songs that told
exciting or dramatic stories.
(emotionally charged visual images).
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Ballad continued…
Example from John Henry, a traditional American ballad in ten stanzas.
When John Henry was a tiny little baby
Sitting on his mama’s knee,
He picked up a hammer and a little piece of steel
Saying, “Hammer’s going to be the death of me, Lord, Lord,
Hammer’s going to be the death of me.”
John Henry was a man just six feet high.
Nearly two feet and a half across his chest.
He’d hammer with a nine-pound hammer all day
And never get tired and want to rest. Lord, Lord,
And never get tired and want to rest.
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Ballad continued…
Example from The Unquiet Grave. (an old ballad that would have been sung to an
eerily catchy tune)
The wind doth blow today, my love,
And a few small drops of rain.
I never had but one true-love,
In cold grave she was lain.
I’ll do as much for my true-love
As any young man may.
I’ll sit and mourn all at her grave
For a twelvemonth and a day.
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Narrative Poems: Epic
Very long narrative (story) poem that
tells of the adventures of a hero.
Purpose is to help the reader
understand the past and be inspired
to choose good over evil.
Usually focuses on the heroism of one
person who is a symbol of strength,
virtue, and courage in the face of
conflict.
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Narrative Poems: Epic continued
Some are VERY long – for example,
The Odyssey by Homer, (written as 12
books) has over 6,213 lines in the first
half alone!
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Lyric Poetry
Always expresses some emotion.
Poems are shorter than epic poems.
Tend to express the personal feelings
of one speaker (often the poet).
Give you a feeling that they could be
sung.
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Lyric Poetry continued…
Originally Greek poets sang or recited
poems accompanied by music played
on a lyre (a stringed instrument like a small harp).
In the Renaissance, poems were
accompanied by a lute (like a guitar).
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Lyric Poetry: Sonnet
Most sonnets are in a fixed form of 14
lines of 10 syllables, usually written in
iambic pentameter.
The theme of the poem is summed up
in the last two lines.
Can be about any subject, but usually
are about love and/or philosophy.
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Lyric Poetry: Sonnet continued…
Example from Sonnet 18 by Shakespeare:
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
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Lyric Poetry: Ode
A tribute to someone or something.
Often uses exalted language in praise
or celebration.
Can be serious or humorous.
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Lyric Poetry: Ode continued…
Example from Ode to Pablo's Tennis Shoes by Gary Soto
They wait under Pablo's bed,
Rain-beaten, sun-beaten,
A scuff of green
At their tips
From when he fell
In the school yard.
He fell leaping for a football
That sailed his way.
But Pablo fell and got up,
Green on his shoes,
With the football
Out of reach.
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Now it's night.
Pablo is in bed listening
To his mother laughing
to the Mexican novelas on
TV.
His shoes, twin pets
That snuggle his toes,
Are under the bed.
Elegy
to express grief or mourning for someone
who has died
somber, serious, ending on a peaceful
note
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Elegy for Anne Frank
Elegy example…
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by Jessica Smith
You blossomed and grew
between the quiet gray walls
of your attic home.
A sidewalk-surrounded flower
pushed up through the cracks,
petals straining for
the light, but your
roots held you down.
In the dim light of your room
you made family trees,
the continuing lives
comforting you in ways
your mother could not.
While concentration camps
built bonfires with the
bones of your neighbors,
you dreamed of the sun and
the love you’d find when the doors
of your prison were unlocked.
When I took your short life from your diary,
I could feel your heartbeat
pulse with my own,
and every breath you took
went into my own lungs,
every desire you felt,
I felt, too.
Your life was held by four silent years,
surrounding you as the four walls did.
And before the last bomb fell,
destroying the last of your love and light,
you died.
And I am thankful.
Limerick
A FUNNY 5-line poem, written with one
couplet (two lines of poetry that rhyme) and one triplet (three lines of poetry
that rhyme).
Always follows the same pattern.
The rhyme scheme (pattern) is – a a b b a.
The last line contains the “punchline” or “heart
of the joke”.
Often contain hyperbole, onomatopoeia,
idioms, and other figurative language.
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Limerick continued…
You will soon hear the distinctive beat pattern
of all limericks.
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eg: “A fly and a flea in a flue
Were caught, so what could they do?
Said the fly, “Let us flee.”
“Let us fly,” said the flea.
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.”
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Can you id
entify the
rhyme pa
ttern?
Limerick continued…
By Edward Lear, who made limericks very popular.
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Limerick continued…
eg. Before we even said grace
He sat and filled up his face
He gorged on salami
Ate all the pastrami
Then exploded with nary a trace.
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There was a large bear in a tree
Who was in pursuit of a bee
The bee was no dummy
He gave the bear money
So the bear let the honeybee free.
Free Verse
Is just that – free!
Lines of poetry written without rules; no
regular beat or rhyme.
Unrhymed poetry.
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Haiku
A Japanese form of poetry; one line of five
syllables; one line of seven syllables; and a
final line of five syllables.
Fragments (not usually complete sentences)
About everyday things; written in the present
tense.
Much is left unsaid.
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Haiku continued…
Examples:
Little sparrow child
plays in the road. “Oh, watch out!
Watch out! Horse tramps by!”
ery!
imag
Soft, summer twilight,
suddenly a sound; Frog leaps
in the old pond – Splash!
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oeia
!
List Poem continued…
Example: Things a Pigeon Knows
What does a pigeon know?
Who throws cracker crumbs the
Eaves and ledges,
thickest,
Rafter edges,
How thin cats are often
Gutter streams,
quickest.
Steel beams,
Tennis courts. Trees in parks.
Cars and busses,
The highest steeple.
A bridge, with its delightful
Swarms
trusses,
of people.
Sidewalks,
Culverts,
Popcorn vendors,
- Patricia Hubbell
Taxis and their yellow
fenders.
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Another Concrete Poem
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Poetry Devices
⚫ Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds,
generally at the beginning of words.
⚫ Example: Sally sells sea-shells by the sea shore.
⚫ Consonance: The repetition of consonant sounds within
or at the end of words that do not rhyme or are preceded by
different vowel sounds.
⚫ Example: The clock struck twelve, and he was tickled with
excitement as the ball dropped.
Poetry Devices (cont.)
⚫ Assonance: The repetition of same or
similar vowel sounds in words that are close
together.
⚫ Example: So long lives this, and this gives life
to thee.
Do you like blue?
Poetry Devices (cont.)
⚫ Onomatopoeia: The use of a word or phrase that
imitates or suggests the sound of what it describes.
⚫ Examples: Hiss, crack, swish, murmur, mew, buzz.
⚫ Apostrophe: A literary device in which a speaker
addresses an inanimate object, an idea, or an absent
person.
⚫ Example: Oh, mother, where would I be without your
guidance!
Poetry Devices (cont.)
⚫ Repetition: The recurrence of sounds, words, phrases,
lines or stanzas in a poem.
⚫ Writers use repetition to emphasize an important
point, to expand on an idea, to create rhythm, and to
increase the unity of the work.
⚫ Example: The repeated chorus of a song emphasizes the
message of that song.
Poetry Devices: 3 Types of Rhyme
⚫ End Rhyme: The rhyming of words at the end of a line.
⚫ Example: They could not excuse the sin.
That was committed by his kin.
⚫ Internal Rhyme: Rhyme that occurs within a single line of
poetry.
⚫ Example: No, baby, no, you may not go.”
⚫ Slant Rhyme: Two words sound similar, but do not have a
perfect rhyme.
⚫ Example: The words jackal and buckle.
Literary Devices:
Interesting when you read, useful when you write!
ONOMATOPOEIA
is a word that imitates the sound
it represents.
Examples:
crunch
zap
tick-tock
whoosh
PERSONIFICATION
is when a writer gives human
qualities to animals or objects.
Examples:
My car drank the gasoline in one gulp.
The cat laughed.
The newspaper headline glared at me.
ALLITERATION
is the repetition of the same
consonant sound in words occurring
near one another.
Examples:
Peter Piper picked a peck of
pickled peppers.
Sally sells seashells by the
seashore.
SYMBOLISM
is using an object or action that
means something more than its literal
meaning.
Examples:
Pink - the fight against breast cancer
The Statue of Liberty - freedom
PARADOX
reveals something true which at first
seems contradictory.
Examples:
He was a brave coward.
When you win all the time, you lose.
HYPERBOLE
is an obvious exaggeration or
overstatement.
Examples:
I’m so hungry I could eat a horse!
SIMILE
is an expression comparing one thing to
another using the words “like” or “as”.
Examples:
He ran like a cat, lightly and
quietly.
Her blue mood passed as quickly
as an afternoon rain shower.
METAPHOR
is a comparison of two unlike things
without using the words “like” or “as”.
Examples:
He was a statue, waiting to hear the
news.
She was a mother hen, trying to take
care of everyone around her.
ALLUSION
is a casual reference to a famous
historical or literary figure or event.
Examples:
If it doesn’t stop raining, I’m going
to build an ark.
My sister has so many pets I’m
going to call myself Old McDonald.
IMAGERY
is when a writer invokes the five
senses.
Examples:
The smell reminded him of rotting
tomatoes.
The fence was uneven, like baby teeth
growing awkwardly in. (also a
simile!)
IDIOM
is an expression with a meaning different
from the literal meaning of the words.
Examples:
I got cold feet before my speech =
I was scared
my boss gave me the green light =
my boss said yes
draw the curtains =
close the curtains
put the lights out =
turn off the lights
OXYMORON
two opposite terms.
Examples:
a peaceful war
a generous cheapskate
dark sunshine
Summary
Poetic Forms
Ballad
◼ Ballads, one of the earliest forms of literature, are
narrative songs.
◼ Traditionally passed down orally from generation
to generation, they are divided into two major
types: Folk Ballads which are meant to be sung
and Literary Ballads which are meant to be
printed and read.
◼ Major themes found in ballads include love,
especially unrequited love, revenge, courage,
and death.
Ballad
◼ Ballads are usually tragic in tone and emphasize
the story rather than the setting or characters.
◼ Dialogue, refrains, and repetitions are common
elements in ballads.
◼ The ballad stanza is a quatrain with the second
and fourth lines rhyming.
◼ Musical ballads may or may not follow this
pattern, but most tell a story about a person, and
the story is often a touching one.
Haiku and Tanka
◼ The Haiku form of Japanese poetry has 3
unrhymed lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables with a total
of 17 syllables. Originally the poems referred to
one of the seasons of the year, but now they are
written on topics.
◼ The Tanka is similar, except has 5 lines of
5,7,5,7,and 7 syllables, with a total of 31 syllables.
Limerick
◼ A Limerick is a poem(often
humorous) with five lines and a
sing-song rhythm .
◼ Each Limerick has the following
typical rhyme pattern: a a b b a.
Shakespearean Sonnet
◼ The Shakespearean sonnet is a fourteen line poem.
◼ The format of a Shakespearean sonnet consists of three
quatrains (a four line stanza of verse) and ending in a
couplet (a two line stanza of verse).
◼ The rhyme scheme is as follows: abab cdcd efef gg.
◼ The first three quatrains of the poem set up a conflict
or situation for the poem which is usually resolved or
explained in the final couplet.
◼ The sonnet is written in Iambic Pentameter which is a
line of meter consisting of 5 stressed and 5 unstressed
syllables.
Concrete Poetry
◼ Concrete Poetry is also known as Poetic
Pictogram.
◼ Concrete poetry is poetry that is arranged in lines
that form a shape or make a picture about the
subject.
◼ It is also sometimes called a shape poem.
Lyric Poetry
◼ Lyric Poetry is short poetry is short poetry usually
expressing on emotion.
◼ Sonnets, elegies, odes, and songs are all
examples of Lyric Poetry.
◼ Elegy: a poem lamenting the death of a person
or a situation.
◼ Ode: Form a Lyric Poetry characterized by giving
praise or showing appreciation for a person,
place, thing, or idea.
Free Verse
◼ Free Verse : Also called Verse Libre.
◼ Free verse is poetry without standard meter or
rhyme, but rhythmical arrangement of lines for
effect.
Figures of Speech
Figures of Speech
◼ Figures of Speech: Use of arrangement of words
for specific effects.
◼ Denotation: The dictionary definition of a word.
◼ Connotation: This refers to the overtones
associated with a word, including emotions,
memories, ideas, and imaginative responses.
◼ Imagery: Language that appeals to the senses.
An image communicates a sight, sound, smell,
taste, or touch sensation.
Metaphor and Simile
◼ Metaphor: An implied comparison
between things basically not alike, but
not using comparison words such as like
or as.
◼ Simile: A comparison between things
basically not alike , and using the word
like or as.
Personification/Symbolism
◼ Personification : is a kind of metaphor in which
human characteristics are given to non-human
things(creature/idea/object).
◼ Symbol: A symbol is an object, person, place, or
action that has a meaning of its own but also
stands for something beyond itself such as a
quality, concept, or value.
◼ Symbolism: means using a person, object,
situation, setting, or action to stand for something
different or more than what it is.
Alliteration/Assonance/Hyperbole
◼ Alliteration: Repetition of beginning
consonant sounds in words(big, black
bear).
◼ Assonance: The repetition of vowel
sounds within words(road/toad).
◼ Hyperbole: An overstatement or
exaggeration(I died laughing).
Paradox/Irony
◼ Paradox: Using words and phrases that
seem contradictory, but are actually
true(love and hate are intertwined).
◼ Irony: Involves a discrepancy, whether
between intention and words(verbal
irony)or between expectation and
reality(irony of situation).