What is poetry?
A guide for Literature
students:
how to read and write about
poetry
A poet’s definition
 Remember Langston Hughes said:
 “What is poetry?
It is the human soul, squeezed like a
lemon or lime, drop by drop, into
atomic words.”
Definition of poetry
 Poetry is condensed (shortened,
compact) figurative language that
says something critical or important
 Comes from oral/musical tradition.
Meant to be read aloud
 Language that feels good to the ear
Review: figurative language
 Language expanded beyond literal
meaning; compares unlike things
 Examples are metaphor and simile
 Metaphor = comparison between
unlike things = “my heart was a
sinking rock”
 Simile = unlike things are compared
using like or as - “hair as soft as
grass”
The three Rs of poetry
 Rhythm = the arrangement of sounds
(stressed/unstressed syllables) in writing
 Rhyme = a word that has the same
sound (ending or middle) as another
Joy/boy Trot/sod or walk/milk (slant
rhyme)
 Repetition = a repeated pattern of
sounds, words or phrases in a poem -- for
emphasis
Two kinds of sound
repetition
 Alliteration = the repetition of consonant
sounds at the beginning of words
“I have stood still and stopped the sound of
feet.” Robert Frost
 Assonance = the repetition of vowel
sounds followed by different consonant
sounds
 “Strips of tinfoil winking like people…” Sylvia
Plath
A few more poetry terms
 Imagery = words that appeal to the
senses (sight, smell, touch, taste,
hearing) when describing something
 Personification = giving human traits
to a non-human subject. The wind
sighed through the trees.
Types of rhyme in poetry
 End rhyme - rhyme that happens at
the end of lines of poetry like in
couplets
 Internal rhyme - when words rhyme
inside a line of poetry, not at end.
 Slant rhyme = two words share a
consonant or vowel sound
heart/port/chart = Emily Dickinson
Review of Shakespeare’s
poetry
 Iambic pentameter = 10 syllable/line(5
iambs = stressed/unstressed pairs)
 “For saints have hands that pilgrim’s hands do touch.”
 Sonnet = poetic form of 14 lines w/every
other line end rhyming + couplet at end
 Couplet = Two lines of verse, usually in the
same meter and joined by rhyme,
forming a unit.
Format of poetry
 Stanza = Paragraph of poetry or lines that
go together in terms of ideas/content
(Italian for “room”)
 Line = One line of poetry on page. Rule
of thumb = a line is one breath. Also,
based on content -- what ideas go
together.
 **Free verse = a style of poetry that does
not adhere to a specific rhythm or rhyme
pattern
How to critique or
understand poetry: What is
it about?
 Use clues from poet about what poem is
about. What kinds of words are used,
what images, setting, etc?
 What does the poem make you think of?
 Use examples of words, phrases from
poem to say, “I think the poem is about
freedom because of the bird flying away
in the second stanza/third line.” Provide
quote, too.
How does the poet write
the poem -- form
 Describe the poem. Are there
stanzas, lines of a certain length,
and if so, are they the same
throughout?
 Use the 3 Rs of poetry. Is there a
certain rhythm, any rhyme, any
repetition? Give examples of these.
How does the poet write
the poem -- technique
 How does the poet use figurative
language? Can you find
metaphors, or similes? Tell what the
examples are, and where.
 Can you find examples of imagery?
 Explain other poetic techniques if
you find them such as
personification, alliteration, and
assonance.
Why does poet write
poem?
 You can also comment on why you
think the poet wrote the poem. Why
is the topic important? Any clues?
 Look for big themes -- growing up,
growing old, falling in love, leaving
home, war, fear of dying…Where
are the clues (words, phrases) to
prove?
Practice critiquing poems!
 Write about how the poet wrote the
poem
 Then, comment on what the poem
might be about
 Finally, write about why you think the
poet wrote the poem. Use
examples!
Pick a poem to write about
 Harlem 2 by Langston Hughes
 We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks
 # 269 (Wild Nights) by Emily
Dickinson
Quick facts about Emily
Dickinson
 Born in Amherst, MA in 1830. Died in
1885 in house she grew up in. Lived
w/ sister/brother. Simple/secluded
life.
 Never published poems in her
lifetime
 Read widely, wrote letters, did not
travel much. Strong religious
background.
 Only went to one year of college
What is Dickinson known
for?
 Innovator, wrote poems with brief
phrases questioning life and death
 Regarded as one of America’s
greatest poets. Wrote over 1800
poems
 Known for her use of the dash, and
slant rhymes, and numbers for titles
of poems.