poetrybasics. what is poetry anyway? it is words arranged in a rhythmic pattern with regular accents...
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What is Poetry Anyway?
• It is words arranged in a Rhythmic pattern with regular Accents (like beats in music)
• It is words carefully selected for sound, accent and meaning to express imaginatively ideas and emotions
“Imagination is not the talent of some,but the health of everyone.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Everyone Uses Poetry…
• In conversation – “I’ve come to the end of my rope”
• In Songs – “Love is a many splendored thing”• In Speeches – “I am Canadian”
A Poet…
Example
Non Poet PoetI see a big tree and I see a it’s getting dark. Dark hand
is tearing the vault
of night
Is a person who tries to express an idea with words that give it form and beauty.
Every Poem Has…
• Rhythm• Melody• Imagery• Form/Structure
“Poetry lifts the veil from hidden beauty. It makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar and creates anew the universe.” ~Percy Bysshe Shelley
Rhythm
• In a poem, rhythm is called a metric pattern (except in free ferse)
• The accents of the syllables in the words fall at regular intervals, like the beats of music.
• Example –
- / - /The stag / at eve/
de dum de dum
Four Most Used Metric PatternsNumber of Syllables per “Foot”
Technical Name Accented = / “Dumm”Unaccented = - “De”
Such As…
2 Iambic - /De Dumm
- / a way I will
2 Trochaic / -Dumm De
/ -Com ing Do it
3 Anapestic - - /De De Dumm
- - /Can non adeLet us in
3 Dactylic / - -Dumm De De
/ - -Vic to riesTwo of them
Less Used Metric PatternsSpondee = / / Dumm Dumm
Pyrraic = - - De De
Tribach = - - - De De De
Amphibrach = - / - De Dumm De
Amphimacer = / - / Dumm De Dumm
Note – Sometimes a pause (Caesura) may take the place of an Unaccented Syllable
The Beat of Poetry Feet is Called….Meter
- / - /Had drunk / his fill
this is a “foot”
Note: If meter should vary within a line, it is called “Inversion”
The Number of Feet in a Line is Expressed…
Number of Feet Name
1 Monometer
2 Dimeter
3 Trimeter
4 Tetrameter
5 Pentameter
6 Hexameter
7 Heptameter
8 Octameter
9 Nonameter
Except Free Verse
There is no metrical Pattern in free verse as It is based on naturalSpeech cadences
Like Music, Every Poem has Melody
• Melody in a poem is the use of sound devices• Primary sound device is Rhyme• Single Rhyme - love, dove• Double Rhyme - napping, tapping• Triple Rhyme - mournfully, scornfully
Note: Sometimes too many rhymes detract from a poem and make it sound too Jingly.
Other Rhyming Terms
• “Imperfect” Rhyme – two words look alike, but do not sound alike such as “Love” and “Jove”
• “Internal” Rhyme – the rhyme occurs inside a line such as “Let’s beat the heat”
• “Masculine” Rhyme – the last syllable is accented such as “rake” and “stake”
• “Feminine” Rhyme – more than one syllable is rhymed and not on the last syllable such as “weather” and “heather
Other Sound Effects Poets Use…• Assonance - resemblance of sound in words or
syllables such as “O harp and alter, of the fury fused”• Onomatopoeia – where words sound like meanings
such as drip, whisper, hiss, hoot, meow, murmur• Alliteration – words beginning with the same
consonant sound such as “In a summer season, where soft was sun”
Poems Also Have ImageryImagery by Comparison
• Simile - two unlike things compared using “like” and/or “as” such as “The man paced like a hungry lion.”
• Metaphor – two unlike things directly compared such as “The river is a snake which coils on itself.”
• Personification – giving human qualities to things such as “The trees danced in the breeze.”
• Apostrophe - addressing some abstract object such as “O world! Tell me thy pain.”
• Literary Allusions – referring metaphorically to persons, places, and to other literature
Imagery by Exaggeration
• Hyperbole – saying more than is true such as“ he wore his fingers to the bone.”• Understatement – saying less than is true such as “Losing his
job meant he could sleep late.”• Irony – saying the opposite to what is true or expected such
as “War is kind.”• Antithesis – using contrasts for effect such as “Deserts are
dry; oceans are wet.:• Synechdoche – using parts for the whole such as “All hands
on deck.”• Metonymy – substitution of one word for another such as
“The pot’s boiling.” “Lend me your ears.”
•Never mix metaphors, such as “He threw in the sponge before he hit the jackpot.”•Avoid comparisons that are too obvious or far-fetched.
Every Poem Has Form/Structure
Star,If you are
A love compassionate,You will walk with us this year
We face a glacial distance who are hereHuddl’d
At your feet.
Dr. William Burford, “A Christmas Tree” from the book Man Now (Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1954)
Note how a poet can arrange the poem so
you will read it as he/she wants you to, and get its sound and
rhythm
Note each line starts
with a Capital Letter
END-STOP Line –completes a
thought
Run-on line – not end of sentence or
thought
Long lines often indicate distance
or direction; short lines indicate
brevity or speed.
What is “Poetic License”?
• It means that a poet is allowed to break rules of spelling to make his rhyme or his meter more perfect.
• Such as – soft – hope oft’ – ope’
Other Special Effects
• Caesura – a natural pause in or at the end of a line.
• Catalexis – an unstressed syllable omitted from the beginning of an iambic or anapestic line, or from the end of a trochaic or dactylic line
• Hypermeter – adding an unstressed syllable at the beginning of a trochaic or end of an iambic line
Rhyme Schemes
• Rhyme schemes are indicated by the use of letters such as abba, abba
Sound aTen = b Men bRound a
Stanzas• A long poem usually consists of a number of lines grouped into sets of lines called Stanzas
# of Lines What It’s Called What It Is
2 Rhymed Couplet Two lines with identical rhymes
2 Heroic Couplet two iambic pentameter lines with identical rhymes
3 Tercet, Triplet Three lines – any rhyme scheme or meter
4 Quatrain Four lines – any rhyme scheme (abab, abba, abcb) and any length and meter
4 Ballad Quatrain Rhyme scheme is abcb. The first and third lines are iambic pentameter, the second and fourth lines are iambic trimeter
5 Quintet, Cinquain Five lines – rare form
6 Sestet Six lines (often three sets of couplets)
7 Prime Royal Seven line Iambic Pentameter; Rhyme scheme abab, abcc
8 Octave Eight line stanza
8 Octava Rima Eight lines iambic pentameter, rhyme scheme abab, abcc
9 Spenserian Stanza Eight lines iambic pentameter, one line iambic hexameter, rhyme scheme ababbcbcc
14 Sonnet One form – three quatrains plus couplet, rhyme scheme ababcdcdefefggAnother form – eight lines rhyming (abba, abba), then six lines rhyming (cdecde or cdcdee)
Stanzas Continued…
• Blank Verse – usually iambic pentameter but no rhyme …see any Shakespearian play
• Free Verse - no regular rhythmic patter or use of rhyme ….see Walt Whitman
Types of Poems
Narrative – tells a story- A long poem about a hero such as Dante’s
“Divine Comedy” or Milton’s “Paradise Lost”- Or a long poem about a group of people such as
Homer’s “Odyssey” and “Beowulf”
Types of Poems Continued
Ballad – a very short story such as Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and much folk (and rock) music ancient and contemporary such as “American Pie” by Don McLean
Types of Poems Continued
Fable – a short story usually about animals with a moral such as those by Aesop
Groups of Poems - Lyric
• Ode – in praise or memory of someone• Elegy - a lament in memory of someone• Epitaph – A short elegy to inscribe on a
monument• Epigram – a satirical poem ending with a
witticism• Pastoral - a poem dealing with country life• Sonnet – a popular form of lyric poetry having
14 lines
Other Groups of Poems
• Didactic – for purposes of instruction/teaching such as Horace’s “Art of Poetry”
• Satirical – to attack folly via ridicule • Dramatic – telling a story through the
speeches of characters • Parody – imitations of an author’s
characteristic style for humour• Humorous – dialect, limerick, jingle
Poets and Poetry Have Their Own StylesSometimes these styles are called schools or movements
•Classical – poetry that is very formal in treatment such as poems by John Milton•Romantic – imaginative poetry dealing with nature, love etc. but in strict metrical patterns such as poems by John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley•Realistic – a candid representation of every day life such as poems by Walt Whitman•Psychological – realistic poetry concerned with man’s inner thoughts such as poems by Robert Frost and T.S. Eliot•Abstract – poems that are highly symbolic, the poet’s interpretation and extremely personal
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