Two Faces One TearHow would you describe the painting? What is unusual about what you see?

Elements of Poetry

Form

Forms of Poetry

Tone

Imagery

Figurative Language

Your Turn

Aim: What Are Elements of Poetry?

Feature Menu: Notes Sections (5)

A poet is like a sculptor.

A sculptor uses tools to shape wood, stone, or metal.

Form (Section 1)

A poet uses words to shape a poem.

Form

Read this poem aloud. How do the lengths of the lines influence the sound of the poem?

The shortlines giveemphasis to words like worm and stone.

Stay beautifulbut dont stay down underground too longDont turn into a moleor a wormor a rootor a stone

from “For Poets” by Al Young

Short lines may also cue readers to speed up.

2. Should I group the lines into stanzas?

Form

To help shape their writing, poets ask:

1. How long should the lines be?

3. Should I follow established forms or experiment with new forms?

The poet’s purpose is to give the words a pleasing shape on the page and to help convey meaning.

Form

A stanza is a group of lines that forms a single unit in a poem.

This poem has two stanzas.

1

2

This is my letter to the world, That never wrote to me, -- The simple news that Nature told, With tender majesty.

Her message is committed To hands I cannot see; For love of her, sweet countrymen, Judge tenderly of me!

“Letter to the World”by Emily Dickinson

(edited by Thomas Wentworth Higginson)

Form

This pattern may determine the poem’s

• rhythm

• rhyme scheme

• number of lines

• number of stanzas

Established forms follow a traditional pattern set by other poets who lived long ago.

Could you write a poem by listing four or five things found in your classroom?

Forms of Poetry (Section 2)

free verse that lists the poet’s thoughts or feelings on a subject.

You could if you were writing a catalog poem—

Forms of Poetry

A catalog poem is a list:

On the first day of school, I see shoes. My classmates wear big shoes, small shoes, smelly shoes—shoes built for running and moving.

I see desks. . . .

Other kinds of poems

• tell stories

• express feelings

• honor someone or some event

• remember someone

Forms of Poetry

Express feelingsformally

Tell a story

You will read many of these forms in this collection.

Mourn the loss of someone or something

Express thoughts and feelingsin free verse

Forms of Poetry

Quick CheckWhat is the form of this poem?

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, . . .The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing, . . .

[End of Section]

from “I Hear America Singing”by Walt Whitman

Forms of Poetry

Quick CheckWhat is the form of this poem?

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, . . .The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing, . . .

from “I Hear America Singing”by Walt Whitman

This is a catalog poem. The poet lists many different singers.

Tone reflects a poet’s attitude toward a subject.

Tone (Section 3)

Saddened

by his

loss?

In awe of his

courage?

Inspired by his persistence?

Amazed at medicaltechnology?

Imagine you are writing a poem about the man in this picture. What would be your tone, or attitude?

To determine a poem’s tone, ask:

Tone

A poet carefully chooses every word and detail to help you understand and share his or her attitude.

How do the

• words

• images

• sounds

make you feel?

cold?

curious?

spooked?

adventurous?

Tone

Quick Check

What is the toneof this passagefrom “The Highwayman”?

And still of a winter’s night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,

When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,

When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,

A highwayman comes riding—

Riding—riding—

A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn door.

by Alfred Noyes

[End of Section]

Tone

Quick CheckAnd still of a winter’s night, they say,

when the wind is in the trees,

When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,

When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,

A highwayman comes riding—

Riding—riding—

A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn door.

by Alfred Noyes

The spooky,mysterious, tone is created by words like ghostly anddetails like the dark, cold night.

You can think of a poet as an artist who uses words the way a painter uses paint.

Imagery (Section 4)

clouds like tufts of wool

the rock’s wrinkled face . . . a carpet of red sand

The poet’s words create images, or pictures, in the reader’s mind.

Imagery

The wind was a torrent of darknessamong the gusty trees,

The moon was a ghostly galleon,tossed upon cloudy seas,

The road was a ribbon of moonlightover the purple moor,

And the highwayman came riding. . . .by Alfred Noyes

Listen to this excerpt from “The Highwayman.” What images do you see?

Imagery

Is this how you imagined the scene?

Images in poetry focus on all of the senses.

Imagery

sight

sound

taste

touch

smell

He rode with a jeweled twinkle. . . .

Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn yard.

They said no word to the landlord. They drank his ale instead.

He scarce could reach her hand. . . .

. . . his hair like moldy hay. . . .

Imagery

Find examples ofimages in this poem that appeal to different senses.

[End of Section]

Quick CheckBeclouded

The sky is low, the clouds are mean,

A traveling flake of snowAcross a barn or through a rutDebates if it will go.

A narrow wind complains all dayHow some one treated him;Nature, like us, is sometimes

caughtWithout her diadem.

by Emily Dickinson(edited by Thomas Wentworth

Higginson)

Imagery

Quick Check

Images that appeal to the senses include

Sight: hanging clouds, a blowing snowflake, a barn, a crown

Sound: wind blowing

Beclouded

The sky is low, the clouds are mean,

A traveling flake of snowAcross a barn or through a rutDebates if it will go.

A narrow wind complains all dayHow some one treated him;Nature, like us, is sometimes

caughtWithout her diadem.

by Emily Dickinson(edited by Thomas Wentworth

Higginson)

Poets also use figures of speech—language that helps make startling connections between dissimilar things.

Figurative Language (Section 5)

I like to see it lap the miles,And lick the valleys up,And stop to feed itself at tanks. . . .

by Emily Dickinson

What connections are made in the following lines from “The Railway Train”?

Figurative Language

A train is compared to a

horse.

A simile is a comparison of two unlike things using the word like, as, or resembles.

Figurative Language

There came a wind like a bugle. . . .

• How are these very different things alike?

• What meaning does the poet want us to make from this connection?

A metaphor compares two unlike things without using like, as, or resembles.

Figurative Language

Stars are great dropsOf golden dew

from “Harlem Night Song”by Langston Hughes

An extended metaphor is a comparison that continues through many lines or the entire poem.

Figurative Language

All the world's a stage,And all the men and women merely players;They have their exits and their entrances,And one man in his time plays many parts,His acts being seven ages.

by William Shakespeare

Figurative Language

Quick CheckWhat figure(s)of speechare used in these lines from a poem about a young horse?

[End of Section]

And we saw him, or thought we saw him, dim and gray,Like a shadow against the curtain of falling flakes.

from “The Runaway”by Robert Frost

Figurative Language

Like a shadow is a simile. It uses like to compare the colt and a shadow.Curtain is a metaphor. It compares snow to a curtain, without using like, as, or resembles.

And we saw him, or thought we saw him, dim and gray,Like a shadow against the curtain of falling flakes.

from “The Runaway”by Robert Frost

Quick CheckWhat figure(s)of speechare used in these lines from a poem about a young horse?

Your Turn

Analyze Elements of Poetry

• What element of poetry would you like to understand better? Why?

[End of Section]

The End