CREATIVE
WRITING
POETRY
B
WHAT IS POETRY?
2
Poetry has remained a vital part of art
and culture. Like other forms of
literature, poetry is made to express
thoughts and emotions in a creative and
imaginative way but poetry is
concentrated in lyrical arrangement of
words.
LEARNING
OBJECTIVES
1
Identify the various elements, techniques, and
literary devices in poetry
2
Explore innovative techniques in writing poetry
3
Use selected elements of poetry in short exercises
STRUCTURE OF
POETRY
One significant way to analyse poems is by
looking into the stanza structure
and the form of the poem.
A
B
Generally speaking, structure refers to the
overall organization of lines and/or the
conventional patterns of sound. However,
various modern poems may not have particular
structure.
A. STANZA
Stanzas refer to series of lines grouped
together and separated by a space
from other stanzas. They correspond to a
paragraph
in
an
essay.
Identifying
the
A
stanza is done by counting the number of
lines.
B
Identifying the stanza is done by counting the number of
lines.
MONOSTICH (1 LINE)
COUPLET (2 LINES)
TERCET (3 LINES)
QUATRAIN (4 LINES)
A
CINQUAIN
(5 LINES)
SESTET (6 LINES)
SEPTET (7 LINES)
B
OCTAVE (8 LINES)
B.
FORM
In many cases, a poem may not have specific
lines or stanza, and metrical
pattern, however, it can still be labelled
according to its form or style. Here, we will
discuss the
three
most
common
types
of
A
poetry according to form are: lyric,
descriptive and narrative. We will also include
other popular types of poetry.
B
1.
LYRIC POETRY
It is any poem with one speaker (not
necessarily the poet) who
expresses strong thoughts and feelings. Most
poems, especially modern ones,
are lyric poems. Below are some types of
A
B
lyric poetry:
a. ode
b. elegy
c. sonnet
d. haiku
A. ODE
An ode is a lyric poem that praises an individual, an
idea or an event. The length is usually moderate, the
subject is serious, the style is elevated and
the stanza pattern is elaborate.
A
In Ancient Greece, odes were originally accompanied
by music. In fact, the word “ode” comes from the
Greek word aeidein, which means to sing or to dance.
B
A. ODE
“Ode to the West Wind” by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Scatter, as from an unextinguish’d hearth
A
Ashes and sparks,
my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawaken’d earth
The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If WinterBcomes, can Spring be far behind?
Let's Play >>>
SEOPHARTOP
B
APOSTROPHE
B
B. ELEGY
An elegy is written with a purpose to “mourn the
dead”. It usually begins by reminiscing about the dead
person, then weeps for the reason of
death, and then resolves the grief by concluding that
deathA leads to immortality.
It has no set stanza or metrical pattern. It often uses
"apostrophe" as a literary technique.
B
B. ELEGY
Excerpt from Walt Whitman’s “O Captain, My Captain,”
(written following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln)
O Captain! My Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores acrowding;
A
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head;
It isB some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.
C. SONNET
It is a lyric poem consisting of 14 lines and, in the
English version,
is usually written in iambic pentameter. The two basic
kinds of sonnets are:
A
Italian/Petrarchan Sonnet
Shakespearean Sonnet
B
ITALIAN SONNET
When I consider how my light is spent,
A
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
B
And that one talent which is death to hide
B
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent A
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
A
My true account, lest He returning chide;
B
“Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?” B
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
A
That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need
C
A or His own gifts. Who best
Either man’s work
D
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state E
Is kingly: thousands at His bidding speed,
C
And post o’er land and ocean without rest; D
B
They also serve
who only stand and wait.” E
- When I Consider How My Light is Spent” by John
Milton
SHAKESPEAREAN SONNET
Shakespearean sonnet consists of three quatrains
(four lines each) and a concluding couplet (two lines).
The final couplet is the summary. The rhyming pattern
is ABAB-CDCD-EFEF-GG.
A
B
Let me not to the marriage of true minds A
Admit impediments. Love is not love B
W0hich alters when it alteration finds, A
Or bends with the remover to remove. B
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark C
That looks on tempests and is never shaken; D
It is the star to every wand'ring bark, C
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. D
Love's not Time'sAfool, though rosy lips and cheeks E
EWithin his bending sickle's compass come; F
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, E
But bears it out even to the edge of doom. F
B
If this be error and upon me prov'd, G
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd. G
An old silent pond
A frog jumps into the pondSplash! Silence again.
“The Old Pond” by Matsuo Basho
A
B
D. HAIKU
This refers to a Japanese lyric poem that has an
unrhymed verse form having three lines (a tercet) and
usually 5,7,5 syllables, respectively.
A
B
Let's Play >>>
VIRNARTEA
B
NARRATIVE
B
2. NARRATIVE POETRY
It is a poem that tells a story; its structure
resembles the plot line of a story [i.e. the
introduction of conflict and characters,
rising action, climax and the denouement.
A
The most
common types Bof narrative
poetry are ballad and epic.
A. BALLAD
It is a narrative poem that has a musical rhythm and
can be sung.
A ballad is usually organized into quatrains or
A
cinquains,
has a simple rhythm
structure, and tells the tales of ordinary people.
B
A. BALLAD
Excerpt from “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden Athere lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
B
B. EPIC
It is a long narrative poem in elevated style
recounting the deeds of a
legendary or historical hero. Examples of epic include
Iliad by Homer, Beowulf,
The
Divine
Comedy
by
Dante
A
Alighieri, Metamorphoses by Ovid and
many more.
B
Beowulf
700 - 1000 AD
C. METRICAL TALES
A Metrical Tale is a type of poem which follows a
narrative format; featuring characters, a plot, setting
and a theme. This kind of compositions conveys
practical, apparent and straightforward storylines of
either real or fictional
event.
The
topics
vary
from
A
romance, the quest for adventure, love, and various
phases of life.
B
C. METRICAL TALES
A
B
3. DRAMATIC POETRY
a poem where the speaker is someone other
than the poet themselves.
A Dramatic poem often includes characters
and dialogue. A Dramatic Monologue
is often from a fictional character’s point
A
of view. B
a. Dramatic Monologue
b. Soliloquy
A. DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE
is a literary device that is used when a character
reveals his or her innermost thoughts and feelings,
those that are hidden
throughout the course of the story line, through a
Apoem or a speech.
B
A. DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE
A
B
B. SOLILOQUY
is the act of speaking while alone, especially when
used as a theatrical device that allows a
character’s thoughts and ideas to be
conveyed to the audience.