Visser ’t Hooft Lyceum Leiden
English Department
Introduction
to
Poetry
1
Robert Laytham
Visser ’t Hooft Lyceum Leiden
English Department
Poetry
0. One of the key features which make poetry different from prose is the fact that poetry is
written or composed to be read aloud. Poets spend a lot of time choosing words which
carry meaning and which sound pleasant or interesting. This feature is called euphony
(sounding pleasant). Although we mainly read poems to ourselves in private, you must
remember that a poem is usually composed to be recited (read aloud to an audience). The
basic meaning of poetry is something which is composed to entertain.
1. In some languages there are many repeats of the same sound which makes rhyming at the
end of lines uninteresting. Bearing in mind that the aim of poetry is to convey meaning
using beautiful sounds, these languages often rely on rhythm instead of rhyme. Anglo
Saxon poetry, as we saw in Beowulf, did not use line-end rhyme but used a system of two
strong stresses in each half-line and on these stresses there was alliteration, a sound
feature. This gave Anglo Saxon (and other Germanic poetry) a strong, regular beat,
emphasized by alliteration.
2. Japanese is a language with many short syllables (lettergrepen) which often sound very
similar. Rather than rhyming, Japanese poetry developed to use a system of counting
syllables rather than using rhyme or stresses, like Anglo Saxon.
Look at this short Haiku poem, based on a Japanese model. The Haiku poem follows a
pattern of 3 lines with a set number of syllables per line. Analyse the poem and work out
its syllable pattern. Write the syllable count at the end of each line of the poem.
As the wind does blow
Across the trees, I see the
Buds blooming in May.
3. A poem similar in form is the Japanese Tanka. Analyse this Tanka poem and explain how it
is different from the Haiku in terms of its structure.
To live is to break
One's heart for the sake of love;
A couple of doves,
Beaks touching on their way,
Are stepping out in the sun.
4. Many poems in Modern English make use of meter to achieve a rhythmical feature in the
finished work. In English, four main meters are used , based on a sequence or pattern of
stressed and unstressed syllables. Identifying the stressed and unstressed syllables is
called scansion. The names of the patterns help you remember the sequence:
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Robert Laytham
Visser ’t Hooft Lyceum Leiden
English Department
Pattern 1
Pattern 2
Pattern 3
Name
iamb
trochee
dactylus
Pattern 4
anapaest
Stress Pattern
unstressed, stressed
stressed, unstressed
stressed, unstressed,
unstressed
unstressed, unstressed,
stressed
Short-hand
V/
/ V
/ VV
Rhythm
i AMB (di DAH)
TRO kay (DAH di)
DAC ti lus (DAH di di)
VV/
a na PEST (di di DAH)
Each repeat of the pattern of stresses is called a foot. Each line can contain several
repeats of the same pattern and these repeats are called feet. The position in the chart
shows how common each sequence is in English – the iamb is the most common and the
anapaest the least common.
Scan this line of a poem and mark above it the stressed and unstressed syllables with the
marks / (stressed) and V (unstressed). At the end of the line write down how many feet
(repeats) of the pattern there are:
The boy stood on the burning deck
Whence all but he had fled;
The flame that lit the battle's wreck
Shone round him o'er the dead.
(Casabianca by Felicia Dorothea Hemans
1826)
5. Often a poem will have the same number of feet in each line throughout its length. The
most common meter in Modern English is the iamb. A line with 4 iambic feet is called
iambic tetrameter, a line with 5 iambic feet is called iambic pentameter and a line with 6
iambic feet is called iambic hexameter. Scan this line of a poem and work out whether it
is iambic tetrameter, pentameter or hexameter.
Write your answer underneath the line:
The tadpoles watched the wrinkled frog inflate his cheeks.
6. Work out the meter of the beginning of this poem by William Blake. The poem was used
to provide the words of a very famous church hymn called Jerusalem. The poem discusses
the legend that Jesus came to England with Joseph of Arimathea after the Resurrection.
Say what meter it is and how many feet the line contains (e.g. dactylic pentameter). Use
the chart above to help you. You need to identify the pattern of stresses.
And was the Holy Lamb of God
On England’s pleasant pastures seen?
3
Robert Laytham
Visser ’t Hooft Lyceum Leiden
English Department
7. Many poems use line-end rhymes to reinforce a sense of musicality (remember:
EUPHONY). The pattern of rhymes is annotated using letters of the alphabet: ABAB CDCD
EFEF GG, with a new letter used each time a new rhyme is introduced. The pattern given
above is the rhyming pattern for a Shakespearean Sonnet. The Italian or Petrachan
Sonnet has a different rhyming scheme. Look at this Petrachan Sonnet by John Milton and
work out its rhyming scheme. You do not need to understand the poem – just look for the
rhymes at the ends of the lines and mark them with letters:
How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,
Stolen on his wing my three and twentieth year!
My hasting days fly on with full career,
But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th. (pronounced shooth)
Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth,
That I to manhood am arrived so near,
And inward ripeness doth much less appear,
That some more timely-happy spirits indu'th. (pronounced indooth)
Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow,
It shall be still in strictest measure even
To that same lot, however mean or high,
Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven.
All is, if I have grace to use it so,
As ever in my great Task-master's eye.
8. The sonnet-form is an interesting one and has been used by many poets, including a
number of the Great War poets. Both the Shakespearean and Petrachan forms comprise
14 lines. Apart from the difference in rhyming scheme between the two forms, they are
very similar. Both are divided into two parts:
8 lines (called the octave)
6 lines (called the sextet)
Usually the octave contains a problem and the sextet a solution to the problem, or a
change of mood, usually sad to happy or resolved. This change is called the volta (jump in
Italian). Many of the Great War poets used the sonnet form. Some of them even used a
double or even triple-sonnet form so that they could tell more of a story (a narrative)
than they could tell in 14 lines. Strictly speaking, a sonnet should also have 10 syllables in
a line, arranged in 5 iambic feet:
V/ V/ V/ V/ V/
Some of these sonnets are not “perfect” in their rhyming scheme or the number of
syllables and feet. The poet might have chosen to break the rules for a special effect:
V /
V
/ V / / V / V /V / V /
The man was standing still: Lo! He saw an angel shining bright.
4
Robert Laytham
Visser ’t Hooft Lyceum Leiden
English Department
Here you can see that the regular iambic rhythm is disturbed by 2 strong stresses
together. This is called a spondee (pronounced spon day) and it can be used to emphasize
the importance of the words.
OR simply the poet could not stick to the rhyme and still tell the story!
In some ways, the breaking of the rules helps to emphasize the chaos that the Great War
was causing in their lives. Sometimes spellings are changed to make sure that there are
the right number of syllables in a line – even becomes e’en, stepped becomes stept etc.
When there is a good reason to break the rules, this is called poetic licence – which means
a poet can do whatever he likes in order to achieve an artistically sound work!
Finally, sometimes the poet just made a mistake. Some of them had only just left school –
they were not trained poets. Wilfred Owen was an untrained poet and he sought help
from Siegfried Sassoon, an older man who was already a published author before the start
of the Great War. Owen met Sassoon when they were both in the same hospital
recovering from injury. Sassoon recognized Owen’s talent and set about teaching him
some of the techniques he went on to use in his later works.
9. The sound of the words used in a poem is a very important feature. For this reason, poets
frequently use devices (special effects) like onomatopoeia where the word sounds like
the thing it describes: Bang!, Crash! The bees buzzed around the flowers, consonance
(repeat of same-sounding consonant sounds) and assonance (repeat of same-sounding
vowel sounds). Consonance and assonance are both forms of alliteration. Consonance and
assonance were the basis of Germanic poetry, as we saw in Beowulf.
Identify the device used in each of these extracts. Underline the letters, sounds or words
which show the device you have found and write the device’s name at the side of the
extract:
Tyger, tyger burning bright,
In the forest of the night;
What immortal hand or eye
Could name thy fearful symmetry?
(William Blake)
(the symmetry refers to the pattern on the tiger’s skin. The word does not seem to rhyme
with eye – it’s called a half-rhyme. Sometimes, though, the pronunciation of a word has
changes since the poem was written – it did once rhyme but not any more.)
Upon an island hard to reach,
the East Beast sits upon his beach.
Upon the west beach sits the West Beast.
Each beach beast thinks he's the best beast.
Which beast is best?...Well, I thought at first
that the East was best and the West was worst.
Then I looked again from the west to the east
and I liked the beast on the east beach least. (Dr Seuss)
5
Robert Laytham
Visser ’t Hooft Lyceum Leiden
English Department
Bow-wow, says the dog,
Mew, mew says the cat,
Grunt, grunt, goes the hog,
And squeak goes the rat.
Tu, whu, says the owl,
Quack, quack, says the duck,
And what the cuckoo says you know. (Mother Goose, a collection for
children)
10. In order to make their words more powerful or meaningful, poets use a number of other
techniques (or poetical devices). They may exaggerate or make something sound bigger or
better than it really was. This exaggeration is called hyperbole (pronounced hi per bow
lee):
That was a really great party (when really it was OK but nothing special)
The opposite of hyperbole is litotes (pronounced lie toe teas) which means that you
understate something. Hyperbole and litotes can both be used to create irony.
Another poetical device is the simile (pronounced si mi lee). A simile compares one thing
to another and uses the word like or as:
He was as sly as a fox.
He sat there on the sofa like a self-satisfied toad.
A more powerful comparison can be made using a metaphor:
He was a sly fox, cunning and deceitful.
That self-satisfied toad just sat there on the sofa.
By removing the words like or as, the comparison is made more powerful because you are
saying that one thing IS another and not just like another.
Another poetical device frequently used is personification which means that you speak
about an inanimate object as if it were alive:
The North Wind decided to change his course and head to warmer places.
Justice demanded that the man be executed.
One final thing to mention here is pathetic fallacy which means that non-sentient things
(things incapable of feeling emotion) are spoken of as if they could show emotion. It is
used to exaggerate the emotions of the protagonist or actor in the narration:
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Robert Laytham
Visser ’t Hooft Lyceum Leiden
English Department
As she walked through the forest, the trees bowed down their heads and wept with
sorrow: the lady’s husband was never coming back.
11. A paraphrase is like a short summary, stating the meaning of something in a short form,
often using simpler words. A paraphrase of a poem would give a brief account of what the
poem is about. Read this short Great War poem and write a paraphrase of it. What is its
message?
His headstrong thoughts that once in eager strife
Leapt sure from eye to brain and back to eye,
Weaving unconscious tapestries of life,
Are now thrust inward, dungeoned from the sky.
And he who has watched his world and loved it all,
Starless and old and blind, a sight for pity,
With feeble steps and fingers on the wall,
Gropes with his staff along the rumbling city.
(Siegfried Sassoon)
12. Work out the rhyming scheme of the Sassoon poem and label the ends of the lines.
13. Analyse the poem by Rupert Brooke (last page). Work out the meter and rhyming
scheme. Mark on the text as with the other poems above.
14. Identify any devices (alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia, metaphor, simile, hyperbole,
litotes).
15. The structure of the Brooke poem is an example of a form mentioned above. Can you
identify it? (Hint: look at the rhyming scheme and number of lines)
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Robert Laytham
Visser ’t Hooft Lyceum Leiden
English Department
16. Write a short paraphrase of the poem – what do you think it is about?
17. To whom is the poem addressed?
18. Can you find where the volta occurs AND what is the change between the two parts.
19. Is the volta in the right place according to the rules? Why did the poet decide to do this?
Give YOUR opinion, backed up by what you have learned above.
20. Quote three things which have religious overtones in this poem.
Somewhile before the dawn I rose, and stept
Softly along the dim way to your room,
And found you sleeping in the quiet gloom,
And holiness about you as you slept.
I knelt there; till your waking fingers crept
About my head, and held it. I had rest
Unhoped this side of Heaven, beneath your breast.
I knelt a long time, still; nor even wept.
It was great wrong you did me; and for gain
Of that poor moment's kindliness, and ease,
And sleepy mother-comfort! Child, you know
8
Robert Laytham
Visser ’t Hooft Lyceum Leiden
English Department
How easily love leaps out to dreams like these,
Who has seen them true. And love that's wakened so
Takes all too long to lay asleep again.
(Rupert Brooke)
9
Robert Laytham