What Makes English Poetic?
Objectives:
•Identify the different structural devices that make
English poetic
•Identify different stylistic devices such as imagery and
figurative language
•Plan and perform an individual oral commentary
Poetry is all around us…
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Advertisements
T-shirts
Brochures
Slogans
Movies
And the list goes on!
So….what makes English
poetic then?
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We will answer that question by
analyzing how literary devices appeal
to our
1. Aural Sense
2. Visual Sense
Break it down…
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Aural Sense:
– Refers to the sense of hearing
• Visual Sense
– Refers to the sense of sight
Aural Sense: Vocabulary
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Alliteration: is the repetition of a consonant at the beginning of two or
more words or stressed syllables
Assonance: is the repetition of vowel sound in the middle of two or
more words, such as the ‘ow’ sound in loud mouth.
Consonance: is the repetition of a consonant sound in the middle or at
the end of words, such as the “L” sound in fall and swell.
Onomatopoeia: refers to the use of words that sound like what they
name or describe.
Rhythm: in poetry is created through patterns of stressed and
unstressed syllables.
Metric Foot: is a group of stressed and/or unstressed syllables that
form the basic unit of rhythm in a poem
Scansion: is the process of finding patterns of unstressed and stressed
syllables in lines of poetry
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Verse: is a line of poetry
Enjambement: in poetry is the style of continuing a sentence from one
line to the next without a pause
Metre: is the rhythmic structure of a verse of poetry
Free verse: describes poetry that has neither rhyme nor consistent
metre
Blank verse: describes poetry that has a consistent metre but no
rhyming scheme.
Half rhyme: describes lines of poetry that have words that sound similar
but do not entirely rhyme
Ballad: is a form of rhyming verse, usually following a pattern of abcb,
that tells a narrative and can be set to music
Sonnet: is a 14 line poem in iambic pentameter, containing three
quatrains and a heroic couplet
Heroic couplet: is 2 lines of rhyming verse, usually at the end of a
sonnet, which tend to be ‘closed’ (there is no enjambement between
the liens) and self-contained.
Aural Sense: Sound and
Structure
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To answer the question What makes English poetic? We need to explore the English
language at difference levels. In order to understand English, you will have to look at it in
detail, just as a biologist needs to look at the smallest details of an organism under a
microscope. The process starts by looking at the letters in words, and then we can ‘zoom
out’ bit by bit to other levels: syllables, sentences, and eventually, whole poems.
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After studying the devices of poetry, you will begin to identify and appreciate style and form
more readily. This awareness should enhance rather than hinder your enjoyment of poetic
language. You may read a poem and recognize in it examples of alliteration, rhyming
schemes and patterns of syllables, but try not to let these distract you from the purpose of
poetry, which is to appeal to your sense and convey a sentiment.
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One way poetry appeals to our senses is through sound. Listening to poems being read out
loud is an excellent way to experience poetry. Read the following poem Bright star by John
Keats and ask yourself the simple question How do I experience this poem?
Bright star, Joh n Keats,
1819
Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou artNot in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching with eternal lids apart
Like nature’s patient, sleepless eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moonsNo-yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast,
To feel forever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever-or else swoon to death
*Eremite: a hermit or recluse, someone living in isolation devoting themselves to their religious beliefs
**Ablution: washing, here with the sense of a sacred ritual
Reflect
1. How do you experience this poem
after your first reading of it?
2. Listen to the poem being read out
loud. How does the sound of the poem
affect your senses?
3. What sentiments do you think Keats is
conveying to the reader through this
poem?
Identify!
• Look back through Keat’s poem again
and list out examples of:
– Alliteration
– Assonance
– Consonance
Syllables & Feet
• Language has natural RHYTHM, which is created by stressing
or not stressing the syllables of words. Rappers are very
conscious of where stresses naturally fall in words, as their use
of language has to fit in with a beat.
• Try Identifying the rhythm of stresses in the first two words of
Bright Star
– Bright star
– (place stressor symbols above)
Breaking it down further
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The first two syllables are BOTH stressed! They also have a natural
tendency to go together and comprise what we call a METRIC FOOT.
A Metric Foot can consist of one or more words and begin or end in the
middle of a word.
Feet are the patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables that make
poetry sound rythmical.
Here are the 5 kinds of feet often used by poets
Name
Pattern
Examples
Iamb
Unstressed, stressed
Would I
Trochee
stressed, unstressed
Pillow’d
Spondee
stressed, stressed
Still, still
Anapest
Unstressed, unstressed
stressed
(rip)ening breast
Dactyl
Stressed, unstressed
unstressed
eremite
Do NOW
• Take a look at the poem Bright star
• Write out the poem with double spacing between the
lines
• Indicate the stressed and unstressed syllables in the
poem
• Use the following marks:
– Unstressed
– Stressed
Verse & Metre
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Analyzing the poem ‘Bright star’ for its rhythmic patterns of stressed and
unstressed syllables has introduced you to a process known as scansion.
You have looked at poetic language at the level of letter and syllable.
Now your view will widen to include th elines of poetry, also known as verses.
VERSES ARE NOT SENTENCES. Many times, verses of poetry neither
begin at the beginning of a sentence nor end at the end of a sentence.
When a sentence carries on at the end of one verse into the next without a
pause at the end of the line, it is called enjambement.
• Example:
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i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) I am never without it (anywhere
i go you may go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
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If poets experiment with syntax (the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.)
so that verses are not necessarily sentences, what then is the
organizing principle of verses? The answer is METRE (the rhythmic
structure of poetic verse).
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After clustering syllables into feet, you need to see if there are patterns
of feet.
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In the first line of ‘Bright star’ there are five iambs in the verse (although
the first is, as you have seen, a spondee). Notice how words can be
split across different feet as in the case of the word stedfast.
This is Iambic pentameter
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1
2
3
4
5
Bright star
Would I
Were sted
Fast as
Thou art
# of
Feet
Name of
Metre
Examples (all iambic)
5
pentameter
I of snow I upon I the moun I tains and I the moors I
4
tetrameter
I amaz I ing grace I how sweet I the sound I
3
trimeter
I that saves I a wretch I like me I
2
dimeter
I be gone I be gone I
Rhyme & Stanza
• What is a poem? People often think of
poetry as rhyming verse, perhaps
because we tend to remember poems
that rhyme, but not all poetry has to
rhyme. In fact, many poems do not.
Look at these opening lines from the
poem ‘out, out’ by Robert Frost
“Out, out” --Robert Frost
The buzz-saw snarled and rattled in the yard
And made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood,
Sweet scented stuff when the breeze drew across it.
And from there those that lifted eyes could count
Five mountain ranges one behind the other
Under the sunset far into Vermont.
Breaking it down…
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The final words of the lines to not rhyme
There are TWO types of poems that do not rhyme:
– Free Verse
• No metre or pattern of syllables
– Blank Verse
• Does have metre
• The Frost poem does not rhyme, but each line has ten syllables
– It is a pentameter with blank verse
• Some of the words such as COUNT and VERMONT almost
rhyme…this is called HALF RHYME.
Let’s apply this Rhyme theory to “Bright star”
Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou artNot in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching with eternal lids apart
Like nature’s patient, sleepless eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moorsNo-yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast,
To feel forever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever-or else swoon to death
A
B
A
B
C
D
C
D
E
F
E
F
G
G
• Through rhyme, John Keats creates a mood that is pensive, soft
and sweet. We can establish that he uses iambic pentameter
throughout the entire poem. There is also a rhyming pattern
from verse to verse. When looking at it closely, a pattern
emerges.
• Thanks to the rhyming scheme we begin to see clusters of
verses. There are three verse clusters that follow a similar
pattern: ABAB CDCD EFEF. Clusters such as these are called
stanzas, and stanzas to poetry are what paragraphs are to
prose-these each usually contain a single idea.
• We use a series of Latin=based words to refer to stanzas,
depending on the number of verses (lines) they contain. (see
next slide)
Stanzas:
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2 verses= couplet
3 verses=tercet
4 verses=quatrain
5 verses=cinquain
6 verses=sestet
7 verses=septet
8 verses=octave
• Even-numbered stanzas are the most common
• Poets cluster verses into stanzas for the same reason that
novelist use paragraphs: TO SEPARATE IDEAS
• In Keat’s poem, we can follow the evolution of his ideas by
analyzing the progression of the stanzas:
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The first stanza (a quatrain) expresses the narrator’s desire to be as unchanging and
as alert as a star. He starts to explain what he means by this by saying he does not
want the loneliness of a star, or the isolation of a hermit
The second quatrain continues with the narrator’s explanation of what he does not
want. This quatrain extends the image of the isolation and separateness of the star. He
refers again to religion, to the tide washing the shore and the purity of snow in isolated
places.
In the third quatrain the narrator explains why he wants to be like a star-to be
unchanging in the sense of never leaving the woman he loves. We now understand
why has rejected the isolation and asceticism of the religious hermit because cutting
himself off from the world would be incompatible with being in love. He wants to
capture forever the moment of sleeping beside his mistress and feeling her breathing.
In the last two lines (the final couplet) he clarifies further where he always wants to be.
He wants to be always with the woman he loves, hearing her breathing. If he cannot
always be with her, he would rather die.
Do NOW
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Read the poem b Elizabeth Barret Browning on the next slide.
Write the poem down leaving a space in between each line.
At the end of each verse, write a letter to depict a rhyming scheme.
What kind of stanzas did the poet use?
What is the main idea of each stanza?
Comment on the metre of the poem. What patterns do you see in the
verses?
• Comment on the use of enjambement. Why do you think the poet
used this device?
• Make sure to mark the stressed and unstressed syllables.
How do I love thee? Elizabeth Barret Browning, 1850
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways,
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
Types of Poems
• Sometimes people want to express their deeper feelings, especially on
occasions marking important events in people’s lives, such as when a
baby is born, when two people get married, or when someone important to
them dies. Poetry is a text type which focuses quickly on the essence of
what someone feels and wants to express, without the need for lots of
context or a logical sequencing of events such as you would find in a story.
When people communicate for everyday purposes, they do not have the
time to craft their words into exquisite phrases—everyday speech is more
ordinary. In poems, however, the language is more obviously crafted and
the message is therefore more deeply felt. Poetry is also a traditional form
of text, having evolved from oral storytelling in the days when few people
could read and the printing press had not been invented. For example, the
type of poem known as a BALLAD came about in medieval times as a
form for singing short tales and stories. The form and tradition has evolved,
shaping the roots of jazz, folk, and rock music today.
• The texts discussed so far in this chapter “Bright star” and “How do I
love thee?” are examples of another type of poem known as the
SONNET.
• The sonnet came to England from the Italian sonetto, a traditional short
song to a lover. There are different types of the sonnet.
• If you are studying poetry for Part 4, you need to be sure of the sorts of
poem that you are dealing with. Ask yourself why a particular form is
effective for expressing certain ideas.
• In order to understand the relationship between FORM and MEANING,
it is important to see how a poet uses a certain type of poem to express
a certain sentiment.
Genre
Sub Genre
Purpose
Metre
Form
Lyrical
Poetry
(Song-like)
English Sonnet
Expression of deep
sentiment
Iambic pentameter
Abab cdcd efef,
gg
Italian sonnet
Expression of love
Iambic pentameter
Abba, cddc,
efgefg
Ode
Glorify an event or
person
Free verse, though
often iambic
Abab, cdecde
Villanelle
Usually pastoral
(depicting a rural
theme)
Often iambic
pentamenter
A1ba2, aba1,
aba2, aba1,
aba2, aba1a2
Limerick
Humor
Anapaestic trimeter (a)
and dimeter (b)
aabba
Ballard
Diverse
Iambic
Tetrameter (a,c)
And trimester (b)
abcd
Epic
To tell long stories
about heroes and
great achievements
Free verse, and blank
verse
Narrative
Poetry (Storytelling)
Do NOW
• To end this unit, you are going to look
at a well-known poem by the Welsh
poet Dylan Thomas. As you read the
poem out loud, ask how the metre,
verse and rhyming scheme all
contribute to the sentiments that the
poet is expressing.
Do not go gentle into that good night, Dylan Thomas, 1953
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know that dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes cold blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Imagery and Figurative Language
• In the last unit, you saw how sound and structure act as keys to help
unlock the meaning of poetry and that by studying the form of a poem you
can open up new ways of understanding the content. As you continue to
uncover the deeper meaning of poems, you will need more of these keys.
Since poetry appeals to the senses, in this unit you will be exploring the
use of IMAGERY to evoke sensory experiences. Imagery, in literature, is
descriptive language that can conjure up sights, sounds, smells, feelings,
and tastes.
• Notice the difference here from the last unit, which was about the
SOUNDS we hear. When we refer to sounds in this unit we mean the
auditory impressions that a poem can evoke. Because poetry has the
ability to stir our sense in this way, it can transport us to another world.
• Poetry often challenges our understanding of the way the world works
through the use of FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE.
Key Terms:
• Imagery: is the use of descriptive language to evoke sensory experience.
• Figurative language: is the language that is not intended to be taken
literally but uses references to one thing to express ideas about
something else.
• Personification: is a type of metaphor where human qualities are given to
an animal, object or concept.
• Apostrophe: is a device that allows the poet, or the narrator of the poem,
to directly address something inanimate or someone dead or absent.
• Metonymy: descries references to things or concepts not by name but by
something closely associated with them.
• Synecdoche: is referring to an entire thing or concept by referring to one
of its parts
• Metaphor: comparing two unlike things without using the words ‘like’ or
‘as’
• Simile: comparing two unlike things using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’
Do NOW
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Read “The ballard of a landlord” by Langston Hughes
– Complete a scansion
– Identify metre/feet
– Find rhyme scheme
– Types of stanzas
– Meaning behind stanzas
– Genre/Subgenre/purpose/metre/form (use chart)
– Identify:
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Imagery
Figurative language