ELA-2 POETRY
MR. THOMAS
Basic Elements of Poetry:
What are the devices or specific elements that gives poetry its
distinctive identity in the vast realm of Literature?
Poetry is often described as 'literature in metrical form' or 'compositions forming
rhythmic lines'.
It has a set of specific features that differentiate it from other forms of literature
very clearly. It is not necessary that all the elements are always employed in every
poem that is penned.
However, the presence of at least two of these elements is noted in most poems.
For example, a lot of poets choose to write blank verses which are poems that
lack rhyme. However, a blank verse does have a set rhythm and meter pattern
that is followed.
A free verse will neither have rhyme or rhythm, but these verses are usually
opulent, (FULL OF) in other elements like metaphors, symbols and spectacular
word images.
So, poetry writing offers a lot of scope for experimentation when it comes to
choosing literary elements or devices as per the needs of the poet.
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Elements of Poetry
Stanza
A stanza is to a poem what a paragraph is to a piece of prosaic writing - a fixed
number of lines of verse forming a single unit of a poem. A poem is usually
composed of multiple stanzas that are separated from each other an empty line in
between. Usually, all stanzas are made up of equal number of lines in a single
poem. However, there are many examples of poems where this approach has
been majorly deviated from. A poem may have a combination stanzas that have
varying number of lines.
Based on the number of lines present in a stanza, they are assigned different
names. They are:
A couplet is a stanza that has only 2 lines.
A tercet is composed of 3 lines.
A quatrain consists of 4 lines.
A cinquain has 5 lines.
A sestet comprises 6 lines.
A sonnet is an entire poem with exactly 14 lines.
Examples:
A Couplet
True wit is nature to advantage dress'd;
What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd.
- From Alexander Pope's "An Essay on Criticism"
A Tercet
furu ike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto
- Haiku by Matsuo Bashō, roughly translating to:
An old silent pond...
A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! Silence again.
A Quatrain
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,
The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
- From Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country
Churchyard"
A Cinquain
Listen...
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break from the trees
And fall.
- From Crapsey's "November Night"
A Sestat
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there 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.
- From Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee"
A Sonnet
When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide,
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide;
"Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?"
I fondly ask; but Patience to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait."
- John Milton's "On His Blindness"
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Rhyme and Rhyme Scheme
Rhyming in poetry is one convention that makes this form of literature
recognizably different from prose and drama. Even in this age when free verses
are quite popular, rhyme is what renders it poetic. A very unique quality of rhyme
in poetry is that it has the ability to provide a systematic flow to a bundle of
thoughts that may seem absolutely chaotic if put together otherwise. It
smoothens out the rough edges and abrupt protrusions. This element can be
simplistically defined as the similarity in the sounds of two or more lines. In
poetry, this is generally achieved by using similar sounding words at the end of
lines.
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Examples:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.
Here, 'wall' and 'fall' sound alike by virtue of the similitude in their
vowel sounds and so does 'men' and 'again'. Only the initial
consonant sound differs. It would be interesting to note at this point
that words like 'wall' and 'fall' that rhyme without an effort are
called true rhymes; slant rhymes are those words that do rhyme but
with a little effort and some poetic licenses being granted. 'Men' and
'again' is a good instance of slant rhyme usage.
But the function of rhyme extends beyond giving poetry its identity.
Rhyme helps give structure to all the themes that a poet wishes to
cover in a particular peace. When two lines, which may or may not
be consecutive to each other, rhyme, it mostly indicates some sort of
a cohesive thematic bond between them.
TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
In these lines from Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken", the
highlights words clearly rhyme with one another. If you skip the
second line, and go on to read the first, third and the fourth lines
one after the other, they will make complete sense to you. This is
simply because the poet deviated from the basic point a tad with the
second line right after what he said in the first. The second line is
parenthetical in nature, almost like an aside. The word 'both' does
not rhyme with either 'wood', 'stood' or 'could', at least not very
obviously. Here the rhyme scheme was devised in a manner where
the reader is enabled to establish the direct link between certain
lines of expression and trace the continuity. The deviation was very
intentional. Now, this is often the case but not always. In this very
stanza itself, you will see that 'both' rhymes with 'undergrowth', but
there isn't a direct link between these two lines.
That brings us to just another purpose of rhyme. When you have
the repetition of a sound at least twice in a poem, it serves the
purpose of clubbing a certain thought expressed in a single stanza
together so that the poet can move on to a different but related line
of thought in the next stanza. So, when Frost rhymed the second line
with the fifth one in this stanza, his purpose of portraying this verse
as a unified whole was served. He would then move on from what he
saw in the first stanza to what he did and why in the second - a clear
albeit small departure from the first point.
Both the functions stated above stand true for rhyme deviations
opted for in the various stanzas of a single poem as well. That is
where the rhyme scheme comes in. Take the first two stanzas from
Robert Browning's "The Last Ride Together".
I said--Then, dearest, since 'tis so, (a)
Since now at length my fate I know, (a)
Since nothing all my love avails, (b)
Since all, my life seemed meant for, fails, (b)
Since this was written and needs must be-- (c)
My whole heart rises up to bless (d)
Your name in pride and thankfulness! (d)
Take back the hope you gave--I claim (e)
Only a memory of the same, (e)
--And this beside, if you will not blame, (e)
Your leave for one more last ride with me. (c)
My mistress bent that brow of hers; (f)
Those deep dark eyes where pride demurs (f)
When pity would be softening through, (g)
Fixed me a breathing-while or two (g)
With life or death in the balance: right! (h)
The blood replenished me again; (i)
My last thought was at least not vain: (i)
I and my mistress, side by side (j)
Shall be together, breathe and ride, (j)
So, one day more am I deified. (j)
Who knows but the world may end tonight? (h)
The rhyme scheme follows the same pattern in both the stanzas, the
fifth and the eleventh lines rhyming. But, see the alphabets next to
each line - aabbcddeeec and ffgghiijjjh. The frequency and order of
the occurrence of alphabets match in both the stanzas, but the
alphabets in the two stanzas do not match!
Lastly, there are cases when rhyming words exist in a single line
itself. In such a case, it's called middle or internal rhyme. For
instance, take these line from "Don't Fence Me In" written by Cole
Porter:
Just turn me loose let me straddle my old saddle,
Underneath the western skies,
On my cayuse let me wander over yonder,
'Til I see the mountains rise.
Once you know the scheme a poet has chosen to use, you'll be able to
analyze and comprehend why he has used the scheme he has.
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Rhythm and Meter
The primary thing to keep in mind here is that 'rhyme' and 'rhythm' are not the
same at all. Rhythm is basically the pattern in which a poet chooses to sequence
the stressed and unstressed syllables in every line of a poem, for the creation of
oral patterns. The three factors that help determine the rhythm in a poem are:
The total number of syllables present in each line.
The total count of accented (stressed) syllables in each line.
The tally of recurring patterns of two or three syllables - stressed and unstressed clubbed in every line.
Each recurring pattern is individually called a foot. And a number of feet, on
identification, can tell us the systematic rhythm or the meter that a poem follows.
In poetry, a stressed syllable is tagged with a "/" and an unstressed one is marked
with a "U".
There are various types of foot and they are named accordingly.
One foot: Monometer
Two feet: Dimeter
Three feet: Trimeter
Four feet: Tetrameter
Five feet: Pentameter
Six feet: Hexameter
And there are five different types of constant beat patterns that the feet can
occur in:
Iamb (Iambic) - One weak syllable followed by one accented syllable.
Trochee (Trochaic) - One accented syllable followed by one weak syllable.
Anapæst (Anapæstic) - Two weak syllables followed by one accented syllable.
Dactyl (Dactylic) - One accented syllable followed by two weak syllables.
Spondee (Spondaic) - Two consecutive accented syllables. This can usually be
found at the end of a line.
Examples:
The upper-cased portions are indicative of the stressed or
prominently lifted syllables.
An Iambic Pentameter
Nor FRIENDS | nor FOES, | to ME | welCOME | you ARE:
Things PAST | redRESS | are NOW | with ME | past CARE.
- From William Shakespeare's "Richard II" (Act II, Scene 3)
A Trochaic Tetrameter
SHOULD you | ASK me, | WHENCE these | STORies?
WHENCE these | LEGends | AND tra | Ditions,
WITH the | ODours | OF the | FORest,
WITH the | DEW and | DAMP of | MEAdows,
- From Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The Song of Hiawatha"
Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of a particular consonant or a vowel sound in the
initial stressed syllables of a series of words or phrases in close succession.
Examples:
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping... From Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven"
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet. - From Robert
Frost's "Acquainted with the Night
Fly o'er waste fens and windy fields. - From Alfred Tennyson's "Sir
Galahad"
Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheaved His vastness - From
John Milton's "Paradise Lost: The Seventh Book"
For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky. - From Samuel
Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere"
This element is not used in every poem. But, when used, it is basically employed
because lines with alliteration roll of the tongue in a manner that accentuates the
beauty of the thought expressed. It adds to the rhythm of the poetry in ways very
pleasing for the reading.
Simile
Simply put, a simile is a direct comparison drawn between two concepts, objects,
or people using a verb like 'resembles' or connectives such as 'like', 'as' or 'than'.
Examples:
O my Luve's like a red, red rose
That's newly sprung in June;
O my Luve's like the melodie
That's sweetly play'd in tune.
In "My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns, the poet
uses two similes in the very first stanza itself. First, he compares his
love for his beloved to a freshly blossomed red rose to express how
perfect it is, untainted in any way. Second, he compares his feelings
to a soulful melody that is played to perfection. In both cases, the
poet has tried to stress on how the inherent purity and beauty of his
love renders it perfect.
Another very good example of a poem with profuse usage of similes
is Christina Georgina Rossetti's "A Birthday".
MY heart is like a singing bird
Whose nest is in a water'd shoot;
My heart is like an apple-tree
Whose boughs are bent with thick-set fruit;
My heart is like a rainbow shell
That paddles in a halcyon sea;
My heart is gladder than all these,
Because my love is come to me.
Metaphor
Metaphor is an indirect parallel drawn between two completely unrelated things.
It is a comparison, yes, but metaphors do not use the connectives 'like', 'as' and
'than'. A metaphor usually has more layers and depth than a simile which in the
resemblance is usually more linear. Any metaphor can also have multiple
interpretations depending on how complicated the poet chooses to make it.
Example:
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,
In Emily Dickinson's poem "Hope", the poetess describes hope in
the form of a bird. Like a bird sings at times whether it is happy and
sad, similarly, hope springs eternal in the mind of man. Like a
dismal bird chooses to vent its grief through a wordless tune, hope
soothes always soothes the battered, morbid soul of a grieving man
in order to replenish ebbing vitality. One may not know where is
hope springs from, just like the unknown words to the tune a bird
sings, but its present is always felt by man in times of happiness and
sorrow.
Imagery
The figurative painting of a vivid picture in the mind of a reader with words is
imagery. This element is most exploited in descriptive poem where the poet has
the scope to use ornate adjectives, lofty language and an exquisitely elaborate
canvas to give wings to his imagination. Of course, this scope is primarily offered
by the dynamic nature of a descriptive poem.
Example:
In Samuel Coleridge's deft description the gardens in Xanadu in his
poem "Kubla Khan: or, A Vision in a Dream" is an appropriate
instance of imagery usage.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And here were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
Since imagery can be used to appeal to each of the five human
senses, there are five different kinds of it that has been used by poets
over the ages. They are:
Visual (see)
Auditory(hear)
picture
flash
bright
sharp
clear
see
light
dark
large
blue
scream
shout
listen
tone
whisper
ring
utter
nasal
squeal
quiet
Kinesthetic
(touch)
feel
warm
grasp
sharp
peaceful
cold
rugged
joyful
fuzzy
hard
Olfactory(smell)
pungent
fragrant
sweet
dank
rich aroma
stinky
musty
rotten
odor
essence
Gustatory
(taste)
sweet
sour
salty
bitter
fresh
juicy
bland
burnt
zesty
tangy
Symbolism
The presentation of a tangible object that actually represents an abstract or
intangible concept or idea is symbolism. A symbol can be presented to the
readers in the form of a character, an object strategically placed in the narrative,
a word or phrase, or even a place. A symbol is mostly subtle in nature or at least
never blatantly explained. Symbols are mostly multi-layered in nature and can be
interpreted differently by different people. Over the years, owing to repeated
usage, some objects have acquired one particular value that is usually associated
with them, like the apple is usually seen as a symbol of seduction and sensuality
(the forbidden fruit association), the loss and regrowth of leaves in a tree has
come to be seen as the circle of life, the raven is indicative of imminent death and
so on. However, none of these associations must be considered to be absolute or
taken for granted by a reader as the presentation of these very objects can
change massively depending on the context of poems.
Example:
Ah Sun-flower! weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the Sun:
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the travellers journey is done.
Here, William Blake uses sunflowers to represent human beings
who yearn to escape to a higher spiritual plane but are unable to do
so for they are shackled by a material existence, just like the flowers
which can only look up to the sun expectantly but are deeply rooted
to the earth in this lifetime. This, however, is only one of the
interpretations of this particular poem.
‘SANDBAG’- POEMS
“Sand Bags”- Personal attributes or perceptions that hold us down or hold us back
from who we can be- just as sandbags to water.
- After studying the basics of Poetry & the ‘Profiles in Courage’ short stories,
including Maya Angelou and her writing, “I know Why the Caged Bird Sings,”
students are asked to identify 3 personal ‘sandbags’ and we will create an original
poem!
- Next, what is your greatest, largest, most glaring personal and private sandbag.
- Can you think of any physical representation (symbolism) of that sandbag? (I.e.the caged bird)
- using general poetry guidelines and several of the devices in this packet; start to
write lines describing how the sandbag itself ‘goes with’ the physical
representation of itThe goal: when your original lines are read by others, they may also know how
you feel and even identify with your feelings by reading and sharing similar
experiences and similar sandbags through your Poetry.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------EXAMPLES OF QUICK WRITE (from other 9th grade students- yes, you can do this
too! ):
Sandbag: Being Ignored
Being ignored is like a piece of furniture in a room and is like a flower waiting to bloom, people
walk by without saying hi and continue walking by leaving you with a sigh. Sometimes I feel like
a feel like a flower waiting to bloom because the people I once talked to can not see that i am in
the room.
Sandbag: Lost in decisions/confused
Poem:
Lost and confused the puppy walked around
looking for answers, all the way
hoping someone will come along and give a hand
until they guide the way.
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- EXAMPLES OF NEXT STEP- DEVELOPMENT OF FULL POETIC WORK
Water
The supplement of life for me, the flower
Without it, I wither to nothing
Water is given to others
But for some reason
None is given to me
The flower is weird
Fat
Ugly
And a waste of space
I droop
I believe these remarks
Hope is running out
Water is never given
And hatred is accepted
It is my demise
Clunker of a Mind
Up the hill and down again
From stuttering starts to screeching halts
A clunker flies down the road
If the fuel line bursts the crud seeps out
The gears glue up and the car breaks down
It will not work ‘till completely clean
This car, when overworked, is useless
This car might start, but the engine is shot
On some roads it will drive like a dream
On others, it nearly falls apart
If the fuel line bursts the crud seeps out
The gears glue up and the car breaks down
It will not work ‘till completely clean
This car, when overworked, is useless
In need of constant mechanic checks
In the wrong hands this car is a certain wreck
Wrong gas, wrong roads, even gears shift too fast
The car will undoubtedly crash
If the fuel line bursts the crud seeps out
The gears glue up and the car breaks down
It will not work ‘till completely clean
This car, when overworked, is useless
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The Broken Glass
Once Again I’ve broken the glass that many have come to rely on
They eat from it
Drink from it
Seek pleasure in it
They took pride in that beautiful glass
But now that it -No longer is
My heart is broken
Just like the glass
Many once relied on
I'm a bird ready to fly
Watching the other birds high in the sky I'm the bird who
waits for the breeze To take me higher than the trees I, the
bird, sit and think why can't that be me?
For instead I'm the bird that not many see My wings are
glued to the nest So I can't be my best Why can't I just be
like the rest?
I'm a bird ready to fly
Watching the other birds high in the sky
A cardboard box
Beaten up, falling apart
On the side of the road
Been torn apart by bad weather,
And others
No one knows what's inside
They walk by and stare
Assuming it's full of junk
But what if it's not?
No one is brave enough
Or cares enough
To look past the damaged exterior
And see what's underneath
EGG
such a thin
and weak thing
it is. It has no idea
when it will break and
spill all its confidence. It feels
that days go by like seconds until
breakfast comes and the shell is broken
and all its confidence is cooked up and used
for somebody else. But the egg feels that it can
still keep all its confidence for itself even when
that shell is broken. It doesn't want its precious
feelings to be used for someone else but for
the egg's own goods and for a brighter
future until all its confidence has
matured to a chick hatching
from the egg and growing
up to lay another egg
and protect it
waiting for that one day
when the egg hatches and follows
the examples set by its elders and travel
a brighter road instead of being eaten by strangers.
The Rock
Small and still
He’s sitting there very still
As everyone bounces around
Not looking at what is on the ground
He moves but no one notices
He doesn't speak as you pass
Just lets you flow by like the last
Nobody seems to care
He’s tossed like a beanbag in the air
They sit and stare
But the rock will return
Yet again to see if anyone notices
He doesn’t need to say anymore
Because he’s silent and still
Just like rolling hills
The disappears over the years.
Marionette Puppet
Black lines of velvety ribbon pull
Me backwards;
My puppet master taunts me with the thought of free will
I can stumble, but you won’t let me fall
You are in control of my life,
My movements, my words,
But only for now…
At least until I can find a way
To break free
Soon, I will be…
Free to live my own life,
Free to make my own decisions,
And free to fail,
But then to learn to get up again.
You will no longer choose the path I take,
I will stand proud alone
These chains I break
No longer will I move for you
I look down at my legs.
There are two
Two to move and two to run.
No longer will you define my fun.
No longer will you hold my strings.
I will show you I am capable of these things!
Just wait, and you will see,
Eventually, I will be free.
NOW, IT’S YOUR TURN…… IN THE SPACES BELOW, LIST ANY ‘SANDBAGS’
THAT YOU THINK YOU HAVE. REMEMBER, THESE ARE SOMETIMES VERY
PERSONAL OR NON-PHYSICAL THINGS THAT YOU BELIEVE ‘HOLD YOU
DOWN’ OR ‘HOLD YOU BACK’ LIKE SANDBAGS DO.
YOU MAY ALSO USE A STRENGTH OR POSITIVE QUALITY ABOUT
YOURSELF TO SCULPT YOUR ORIGINAL POEM. LIST STRONG QUALITIES OR
SANDBAGS BELOW.
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NEXT, AS IN THE EXAMPLES LISTED ABOVE, WHAT IS A SYMBOL OR
POSSIBLE SYMBOLS OF YOUR STRENGTH OR SANDBAG?
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FINALLY, USING EXAMPLES LIKE THE ONES IN THIS PACKET OR PERHAPS A
SONG THAT YOU ENJOY- WRITE LINES THAT TELL US A STORY ABOUT
YOUR SYMBOLS AND YOUR STRENGTH OR SANDBAG.