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Elements of Poetry
I. POETRY ASSUMPTIONS
Readers of poetry often bring with them many related assumptions: That a poem is to be read for its "message," That this message is "hidden" in the poem, The message is to be found by treating the words as symbols which naturally do not mean what they say but stand for something else, You have to decipher every single word to appreciate and enjoy the poem. There are no easy ways to dispel these biases. Poetry is difficult because very often its language is indirect. But so is experience - those things we think, feel, and do. The lazy reader wants to be told things and usually avoids poetry because it demands commitment and energy. Moreover, much of what poetry has to offer is not in the form of hidden meanings. Many poets like to "play" with the sound of language or offer an emotional insight by describing what they see in highly descriptive language. In fact, there can many different ways to enjoy poetry; this reflects the many different styles and objectives of poets themselves. Finally, if you are the type to give up when something is unclear, just relax! Like we just said, there can be many different approaches to examining poetry; often these approaches (like looking for certain poetic devices or examining the meaning of a specific phrase) do not require a complete and exhaustive analysis of a poem. So, enjoy what you do understand! FIRST APPROACHES Read the poem (many students neglect this step). Identify the speaker and the situation. Feel free to read it more than once! Read the sentences literally. Use your prose reading skills to clarify what the poem is about. Read each line separately, noting unusual words and associations. Look up words you are unsure of and struggle with word associations that may not seem logical to you. Note any changes in the form of the poem that might signal a shift in point of view. Study the structure of the poem, including its rhyme and rhythm (if any). Re-read the poem slowly, thinking about what message and emotion the poem communicates to you.

II. STRUCTURE
An important method of analysing a poem is to look at the stanza structure or style of a poem. Generally speaking, structure has to do with the overall organization of lines and/or the conventional patterns of sound. Again, many modern poems may not have any identifiable structure (i.e. they are free verse), so don't panic if you can't find it!

STANZAS: Stanzas are a series of lines grouped together and separated by an

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empty line from other stanzas. They are the equivalent of a paragraph in an essay. One way to identify a stanza is to count the number of lines. Thus: couplet (2 lines) sestet (6 lines) (sometimes it's tercet (3 lines) called a sexain) quatrain (4 lines) septet (7 lines) cinquain (5 lines) octave (8 lines)

III. FORM
A poem may or may not have a specific number of lines, rhyme scheme and/or metrical pattern, but it can still be labelled according to its form or style. Here are the three most common types of poems according to form: I. II. III. Lyric Poetry: It is any poem with one speaker (not necessarily the poet) who expresses strong thoughts and feelings. Most poems, especially modern ones, are lyric poems. Narrative Poem: It is a poem that tells a story; its structure resembles the plot line of a story [i.e. the introduction of conflict and characters, rising action, climax and the denouement]. Descriptive Poem: It is a poem that describes the world that surrounds the speaker. It uses elaborate imagery and adjectives. While emotional, it is more "outward-focused" than lyric poetry, which is more personal and introspective.

In a sense, almost all poems, whether they have consistent patterns of sound and/or structure, or are free verse, are in one of the three categories above. Or, of course, they may be a combination of 2 or 3 of the above styles! Here are some more types of poems that are subtypes of the three styles above:

Ode: It is usually a lyric poem of moderate length, with a serious subject, an elevated
style, and an elaborate stanza pattern. In today's common usage, often in jokes, an ode is a song or poem of tribute. As you might guess, "ode" means something more specific in poetic terminology, but the informal uses of the word do retain some of the general associations of the form. Odes tend to be lyric poems, spoken by a single voice. They tend to address serious, public themes with dignified language. Beyond those general characteristics, odes vary widely, but the following will explain some of the ode's traditional forms and practices.

The Pindaric Ode: Named for the ancient Greek lyric poet Pindar, the Pindaric
ode retains some traces of the Ode's roots as a part of ancient Greek drama. In the Greek context, a chorus performed an ode by moving first on one

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direction to sing the strophe, which involved varying metrical patterns and dance steps, then in another direction to sing the antistrophe, which reversed the steps, and one or more epodes, in which the chorus stood still. The Pindaric ode translates the strophe and antistrophe into its verse form. In a Pindaric ode, the strophes and antistrophes share the same verse form, but the opposing movements of the Greek chorus become two positions that the narrator explores, with the epode or epodes using a different verse form and often finding some kind of resolution of the strophe and antistrophe. You can look for these characteristics in one an eighteenth-century example, Thomas Gray's "The Progress of Poesy."

The Horiatian Ode: The Horatian ode is named for the Latin lyric poet Horace.
Unlike the Pindaric ode, the Horatian uses only one stanza type. Often, a poet invents a stanza form using complex variations of rhyme and meter for the purpose of a Horatian ode. Horatian odes tend to be more personal and solemn than Pindaric odes. For an example, see Wordsworth's Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood.

The Irregular Ode: Some poems, generally written after 1900, identify
themselves as odes but do not reflect the formal characteristics of Pindaric or Horatian odes. Such irregular odes are odes only in that they share the seriousness and imaginative qualities of traditional odes.

Elegy: It is a lyric poem that mourns the dead. [It's not to be confused with a eulogy.]It
has no set metric or stanzaic pattern, but it usually begins by reminiscing about the dead person, then laments the reason for the death, and then resolves the grief by concluding that death leads to immortality. It often uses "apostrophe" (calling out to the dead person) as a literary technique. It can have a fairly formal style, and sound similar to an ode. Good-hearted people deserve to be remembered in special words. You must have come across beautiful words as a tribute to the deceased, sometimes as an elegy, at others, a simple eulogy. There is, however a subtle difference. An elegy is a lamenting poem, couplet or a song written in the memory of a deceased person. If used in a musical context, it refers to a composition that has a melancholy tone to it. An elegy has a tone of remorse for the loss of a person. A eulogy is a tribute in the form of an essay or short prose, written in praise of the dead. A eulogy has a tone of respect and accolades as to how good the person was while s/he lived.

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Comparison between an Elegy and an Eulogy
Elegy Tone Melancholic: Expressing remorse or regret for a loss. Written any time after the death of someone close or prominent; could be right after death or years later. 1514, from M. French elegie; Latin elegia; Greek elegeia. ode "an elegaic song," from elegeia, fem. of elegeios "elegaic," from elegos "poem or song of lament," perhaps from a Phrygian word. The poetess in Lucy wanted to write an elegy for her dear grandmother, whom she missed so much. A lamenting poem or couplet to honor the deceased. Poetry Greek & Latin Eulogy Reminiscing: Expressing praise and respect to a person; remembering how they were while they lived. Generally written soon after someone's death, usually suring the funeral. Eulogy is mostly written for a late family member, friend or someone of acquaintance. Mid-15c., from Greek eulogia "praise," from eu- "well" + -logia "speaking," from logos "discourse, word;" legein "speak." Eu legein meant "speak well of." The expressive eulogy by Laura revealed the soft, caring side of the person her seemingly stern father really was. An essay or a piece of writing, written to honor the dead. Prose Classic Greek

Timing

Etymology:

Usage Definition Literary Form Origin

An Elegy written by Thomas Gray: The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea, The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me. Eulogy written for comedian Bob Hope by U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein: On the desk of the Oval Office, President Truman kept under glass the one-word telegram Bob sent him following his dramatic upset of Tom Dewey. It read: "unpack." When another President - Abraham Lincoln died in the house across the street from Ford's Theater, his Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, standing at Lincoln's side, said "Now he belongs to the ages." The same is equally true of Bob Hope. He is not America's - he is the world's. He belongs not to our age, but to all ages. And yet, even though he belongs to all time and to all peoples, he is our own, for he was quintessentially American. - U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein Aug. 27, 2003

Sonnet: It is a lyric poem consisting of 14 lines and, in the English version, is usually
written in iambic pentameter. There are two basic kinds of sonnets: the Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnet and the Shakespearean (or Elizabethan/English) sonnet. The Italian/Petrarchan sonnet is named after Petrarch, an Italian Renaissance poet. The Petrarchan sonnet consists of an octave (eight lines) and a sestet (six lines). The

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Shakespearean sonnet consists of three quatrains (four lines each) and a concluding couplet (two lines). The Petrarchan sonnet tends to divide the thought into two parts (argument and conclusion); the Shakespearean, into four (the final couplet is the summary). Much of the nature of sonnets arises from one simple characteristic of their form: sonnets are short. Sonnets therefore develop a single, self-contained topic, often as a first-person expression of the speaker's emotions. When a poet chooses to write a sonnet, he or she participates in a tradition of writers who have spent centuries exploring the limits and possibilities that a fourteen-line form creates. Every word and beat of a sonnet, even more than those of other traditional verse, carries a heavy burden of tradition and association, calling to mind an Italian tradition identified with Petrarch, an English tradition identified largely with Shakespeare and Milton, and generations of later sonneteers who have revised and adapted the sonnet tradition. In its most conventional form, a sonnet in English contains fourteen lines of iambic pentameter--a meter whose typical lines have five feet of two syllables each, with the second syllable stressed in each foot. Poets and critics tend to group sonnets into the two major categories mentioned above: Petrarchan and Shakespearean (also called Italian and English, respectively). The following explain those categories.

The Petrarchan (or Italian) Sonnet: The sonnet form developed first in Italian
poetry; at one time, the term "Italian Sonnet" would have been redundant. One variant of the Italian form, one used by Petrarch and Dante, came to be recognized as the form we now call Petrarchan or Italian. (I will hereafter use "Petrarchan.") The Petrarchan sonnet's defining characteristic is a strong division between the first eight lines of the sonnet and the last six. The first eight lines, the octave, establish the subject of the poem in a certain way, and the next six, the sestet, counter the octave by shifting the perspective of the poem in some way. The place where the poem turns from the octave to the sestet is therefore called the volta, which is Italian for "turn." The rhyme scheme of the most traditional Petrarchan sonnet consists of two sets of four lines rhymed abba (each of these is called an Italian quatrain), followed by rhymes of cdecde in the sestet. While the rhymes of the octave are relatively stable in Petrarchan sonnets, poets tend to vary the rhymes of the sestet, using many different combinations of the c, d, and e rhymes to round out the poem. Because Petrarch's sonnets often expressed a male speaker's desire for a woman, the Petrarchan sonnet form carries associations with that mode of address. Perhaps predictably, many later writers have used the Petrarchan form in ways that subvert the content inherited from Petrarch. For example, take this sonnet, number 22, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's book Sonnets from the Portuguese:

When our two souls stand up erect and strong, Face to face, silent, drawing nigh and nigher, Until the lengthening wings break into fire At either curved point, -- what bitter wrong Can the earth do to us, that we should not long Be here contented? Think. In mounting higher, The angels would press on us, and aspire To drop some golden orb of perfect song Into our deep, dear silence. Let us stay Rather on earth, Beloved, -- where the unfit Contrarious moods of men recoil away And isolate pure spirits, and permit A place to stand and love in for a day, With darkness and the death-hour rounding it.

Note the ways in which Barrett Browning's sonnet uses and departs from the Petrarchan tradition.

The Shakespearean (or English) Sonnet: The English language, with its wide
variety of word endings and vowel sounds, does not produce musical, effortless rhymes as easily as Italian does. A density of rhyme that works in Italian poetry can therefore sound strained in English. As a result, English variants of Italian poetic forms will tend to increase the poet's flexibility in rhyme; the English version of the sonnet, for instance, features seven rhymes rather than five, thus requiring less repetition of the poem's rhyming sounds. Conventional Shakespearean sonnets are easy to spot. Once you see a poem of fourteen lines--by now, "sonnet!" should leap into your head at that point--you can look at the last two lines to see if they rhyme. If they do, you are almost certainly beholding the closing couplet of a Shakespearean sonnet. That couplet closes the Shakespearean sonnet with a bang, replacing or supplementing the Italian volta with a break between the first twelve lines (divided into three quatrains) and the final two, which give a brief summarizing or retrospective statement. The Shakespearean sonnet's rhyme scheme reads abab cdcd efef gg; the volta comes after the twelfth line. As a clever reader, you have probably deduced by now that this sonnet form is associated with Shakespeare. You can see the form in action through this, one of the most famous of Shakespeare's sonnets (number 130):

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My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips' red: If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damask'd, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound. I grant I never saw a goddess go: My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground. And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare.

(In the final line, note the archaic use of the pronoun "she," which functions as a synonym for "woman.")

Ballad: It is a narrative poem that has a musical rhythm and can be sung. A ballad is
usually organized into quatrains or cinquains, has a simple rhythm structure, and tells the tales of ordinary people. Ballads have strong associations with childhood: much children's poetry comes in ballad form, and English poets traditionally associated ballads with their national childhood as well. Ballads emphasize strong rhythms, repetition of key phrases, and rhymes; if you hear a traditional ballad, you will know that you are hearing a poem. Ballads are meant to be song-like and to remind readers of oral poetry--of parents singing to children, for instance, or of ancient poets reciting their verse to a live audience. Ballads do not have the same formal consistency as some other poetic forms, but one can look for certain characteristics that identify a ballad, including these: Simple language. Some ballads, especially older traditional ballads, were composed for audiences of non-specialist hearers or (later) readers. Therefore, they feature language that people can understand without specialist training or repeated readings. When later poets choose to write ballads, regardless of their intended audience, the choice of the ballad form generally implies a similar emphasis on simple language. Sometimes poets write ballads specifically to react against poetry they see as overly intellectual or obscure. Stories. Ballads tend to be narrative poems, poems that tell stories, as opposed to lyric poems, which emphasize the emotions of the speaker. Ballad stanzas. The traditional ballad stanza consists of four lines, rhymed abcb (or sometimes abab--the key is that the second and fourth lines rhyme). The first and third lines have four stresses, while the second and

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fourth have three. Here is a stanza from "Sir Patrick Spens," a medieval ballad:
'I saw the new moon late yestreen Wi' the auld moon in her arm; And if we gang to sea, master, I fear we'll come to harm.'

Repetition. A ballad often has a refrain, a repeated section that divides segments of the story. Many ballads also employ incremental repetition, in which a phrase recurs with minor differences as the story progresses. For a classic example of incremental repetition, see the first two lines of each stanza in "Lord Randal." Dialogue. As you might expect in a narrative genre, ballads often incorporate multiple characters into their stories. Often, since changes of voice were communicated orally, written transcriptions of oral ballads give little or no indication that the speaker has changed. Writers of literary ballads, the later poems that imitate oral ballads, sometimes play with this convention. Third-person objective narration. Ballad narrators usually do not speak in the first person (unless speaking as a character in the story), and they often do not comment on their reactions to the emotional content of the ballad.

Epic: It is a long narrative poem in elevated style recounting the deeds of a

legendary or historical hero. o Qualities of an Epic Poem: narrative poem of great scope; dealing with the founding of a nation or some other heroic theme requires a dignified theme requires an organic unity requires orderly progress of the action always has a heroic figure or figures involves supernatural forces written in deliberately ceremonial style The phrase "heroic couplets" itself can tell us a lot about the associations of this verse form. First, it consists of couplets, pairs of rhymed lines (of iambic pentameter) that give a sense of balance between the two lines and often within each line as well. That the couplets are "heroic" signals, in the words of Jack Lynch, their "use in epic poetry in English, especially Dryden's translation of Virgil (1697) and Pope's translation of Homer (1715-26)."

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Due primarily to the abilities and influence of Dryden and Pope, the eighteenth century is now understood to be the time of the heroic couplet's dominance of English poetry, after which the more experimental Romantic poets abandoned heroic verse for more flexible, modern forms. Though exceptions to that rule abound, it is nonetheless difficult to dispute J. Paul Hunter's point that "in the century and a half between Jonson and Churchill (from the 1630s to the 1780s) the couplet covered the British and American literary landscapes like the dew and dominated poetry like a tyrant." Part of the couplet's attraction for writers in English has been a sense that the couplets were the form of the greatest work of the proverbial "father of English poetry": Chaucer. Take the famous opening of the General Prologue to the Canterbury, for example:
Whan that aprill with his shoures soote The droghte of march hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in swich licour Of which vertu engendred is the flour;

Note that none of these lines contain any punctuation except at the end. As a rule, Chaucer's couplets create a smooth, flowing effect that lets the rhythm of the pentameter lines carry through long sentences without many dramatic stops, or caesurae, in the middle of lines. In the heyday of the couplet, Alexander Pope became the form's acknowledged master and most dogged practitioner; nearly all of Pope's poetry consists of heroic couplets. Pope's couplets tend to be balanced and regular, even by the standards of the couplet form. When you find a caesura in Pope's verse, it will most often come in the middle of a line, after the fourth, fifth, or sixth syllable. Using ostentatious rhymes, heavy end-stopping, and inverted sentence structures, Pope's couplets create humorous parallels and contrasts between high and low subjects, often reserving a witty rhyme for the couplet's close. Much of Pope's verse engages in satirical mockery of human folly, as illustrated by this passage describing Belinda's "toilet" (dressing and makeup table, that is) in The Rape of the Lock:
And now, unveil'd, the toilet stands display'd, Each silver vase in mystic order laid. First, rob'd in white, the nymph intent adores With head uncover'd, the cosmetic pow'rs. A heav'nly image in the glass appears, To that she bends, to that her eyes she rears; Th' inferior priestess, at her altar's side, Trembling, begins the sacred rites of pride. Unnumber'd treasures ope at once, and here The various off'rings of the world appear; From each she nicely culls with curious toil,

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And decks the goddess with the glitt'ring spoil. This casket India's glowing gems unlocks, And all Arabia breathes from yonder box. The tortoise here and elephant unite, Transform'd to combs, the speckled and the white. Here files of pins extend their shining rows, Puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billet-doux. Now awful beauty puts on all its arms; The fair each moment rises in her charms, Repairs her smiles, awakens ev'ry grace, And calls forth all the wonders of her face; Sees by degrees a purer blush arise, And keener lightnings quicken in her eyes.

As you look at the passage above, consider ways in which Pope parallels serious and trivial subjects within the couplet structure to create humor. In some ways, the Romantic period (which began in the late 1700s in Britain and continued well into the nineteenth century in Britain, Europe, and the United States) saw the downfall of the couplet as writers turned to more flexible and variable forms. Certainly, the most canonical Romantic poets rarely employed couplets. Though John Keats did write rhymed couplets, even he rebelled against the conventions of Pope's writing by using open couplets, which do not adhere to the strictly balanced structure of heroic couplets. Some poets of the Romantic period did use heroic couplets, generally to adopt a satirical tone about public events (as in Anna Ltitia Barbauld's Eighteen Hundred and Eleven) or to address a particularly conservative audience--I found researching Romantic-era prize poems that every Oxford prize poem through at least 1834 was written in heroic couplets. The best couplets written during and after the Romantic period do, however, tend to use open couplets. Here is a famous example from the nineteenth century, Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess":
That's my last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive. I call That piece a wonder, now: Fr Pandolfs hands Worked busily a day, and there she stands. Willt please you sit and look at her? I said Fr Pandolf by design, for never read Strangers like you that pictured countenance, The depth and passion of its earnest glance, But to myself they turned (since none puts by The curtain I have drawn for you, but I) And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst, How such a glance came there; so, not the first Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, twas not Her husbands presence only, called that spot

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Of joy into the Duchess cheek: perhaps Fr Pandolf chanced to say Her mantle laps Over my ladys wrist too much, or Paint Must never hope to reproduce the faint Half-flush that dies along her throat: such stuff Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough For calling up that spot of joy. She had A hearthow shall I say?too soon made glad, Too easily impressed; she liked whateer She looked on, and her looks went everywhere. Sir, twas all one! My favour at her breast, The dropping of the daylight in the West, The bough of cherries some officious fool Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule She rode with round the terraceall and each Would draw from her alike the approving speech, Or blush, at least. She thanked men,good! but thanked SomehowI know not howas if she ranked My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name With anybodys gift. Whod stoop to blame This sort of trifling? Even had you skill In speech(which I have not)to make your will Quite clear to such an one, and say, Just this Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss, Or there exceed the markand if she let Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse, Een then would be some stooping; and I choose Never to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt, Wheneer I passed her; but who passed without Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands As if alive. Willt please you rise? Well meet The company below, then. I repeat, The Count your masters known munificence Is ample warrant that no just pretence Of mine for dowry will be disallowed; Though his fair daughters self, as I avowed At starting, is my object. Nay, well go Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though, Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity, Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!

Many readers do not notice Browning's subtle couplets when first reading or hearing this poem. Consider the ways in which Browning's couplet form departs from Pope's in its use of enjambment, caesura, and parallelism. What does it mean for your reading

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of the poem that the Duke, who claims not to have "skill / in speech," creates these subtle couplets as he addresses the Count's envoy?

Haiku: It has an unrhymed verse form having three lines (a tercet) and usually
5,7,5 syllables, respectively. It's usually considered a lyric poem. A traditional Japanese haiku is a three-line poem with seventeen syllables, written in a 5/7/5 syllable count. Often focusing on images from nature, haiku emphasizes simplicity, intensity, and directness of expression. Haiku began in thirteenth-century Japan as the opening phrase of renga, an oral poem, generally 100 stanzas long, which was also composed syllabically. The much shorter haiku broke away from renga in the sixteenth-century, and was mastered a century later by Matsuo Basho, who wrote this classic haiku:
Kanji Romaji

Romaji

Traduccion

fu-ru-i-ke ya (5) ka-wa-zu to-bi-ko-mu (7) mi-zu no o-to (5)

An old pond! A frog jumps in-the sound of water.

Among the greatest traditional haiku poets are Basho, Yosa Buson, Kobayashi Issa, and Masaoka Shiki. Modern poets interested in the form include Robert Hass, Paul Muldoon, and Anselm Hollo, whose poem "5 & 7 & 5" includes the following stanza:
round lumps of cells grow up to love porridge later become The Supremes

Haiku was traditionally written in the present tense and focused on associations between images. There was a pause at the end of the first or second line, and a "season word," or kigo, specified the time of year. As the form has evolved, many of these rules--including the 5/7/5 practice-have been routinely broken. However, the philosophy of haiku has been preserved: the focus on a brief moment in time; a use of provocative, colourful images; an ability to be read in one breath; and a sense of sudden enlightenment and illumination. This philosophy influenced poet Ezra Pound, who noted the power of haiku's brevity and juxtaposed images. He wrote, "The image itself is speech. The image is the

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word beyond formulated language." The influence of haiku on Pound is most evident in his poem "In a Station of the Metro," which began as a thirty-line poem, but was eventually pared down to two:
The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.

Limerick: It has a very structured poem, usually humorous & composed of five lines (a
cinquain), in anaabba rhyming pattern; beat must be anapestic (weak, weak, strong) with 3 feet in lines 1, 2, & 5 and 2 feet in lines 3 & 4. It's usually a narrative poem based upon a short and often ribald anecdote. A limerick is a poem of a nonsense or humorous theme consisting of five structured lines. The poem has a regular rhythm and rhyme pattern and lends itself to puns and plays on words. The rhyming pattern of the limerick is (a a b b a). This means that lines 1, 2, and 5 rhyme together and lines 3 and 4 rhyme together. Each line in the limerick has a specified number of syllables. Lines 1, 2, and 5 may have anywhere from 7 to 9 syllables. Lines 3 and 4 may have anywhere from 4 to 6 syllables. Each line in the limerick also has a specified number of accented syllables. In lines 1, 2, and 5 there are three accented syllables. In lines 3 and 4 there are two accented syllables. The following is a diagram of the limerick form: Line 1 - 7-9 beats/syllables with 3 stresses/accented syllables Line 2 - 7-9 beats/syllables with 3 stresses/accented syllables Line 3 - 4-6 beats/syllables with 2 stresses/accented syllables Line 4 - 4-6 beats/syllables with 2 stresses/accented syllables Line 5 - 7-9 beats/syllables with 3 stresses/accented syllables The following is an example of a limerick. Use the example to talk about the different parts of a limerick.
There was a Faith Healer of Deal, Who said, "Although pain isn't real, If I sit on a pin, And it punctures my skin, I dislike what I fancy I feel."

IV. SOUND PATTERNS

Three other elements of poetry are rhyme scheme, meter (ie. regular rhythm) and word sounds (like alliteration). These are sometimes collectively called sound play because they take advantage of the performative, spoken nature of poetry.

14 RHYME: Rhyme is the repetition of similar sounds. In poetry, the most common kind of
rhyme is the end rhyme, which occurs at the end of two or more lines. It is usually identified with lower case letters, and a new letter is used to identify each new end sound. Take a look at the rhyme scheme for the following poem :
I saw a fairy in the wood, He was dressed all in green. He drew his sword while I just stood, And realized I'd been seen.

The rhyme scheme of the poem is abab. Internal rhyme occurs in the middle of a line, as in these lines from Coleridge, "In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud" or "Whiles all the night through fog-smoke white" ("The Ancient Mariner"). Remember that most modern poems do not have rhyme. NOTE: Rhyme (above) and rhythm (below) are two totally different concepts!

RHYTHM AND METER

I. METER: the systematic regularity in rhythm; this systematic rhythm (or sound pattern) is usually identified by examining the type of "foot" and the number of feet. 1. Poetic Foot: The traditional line of metered poetry contains a number of rhythmical units, which are called feet. The feet in a line are distinguished as a recurring pattern of two or three syllables ("apple" has 2 syllables, "banana" has 3 syllables, etc.). The pattern, or foot, is designated according to the number of syllables contained, and the relationship in each foot between the strong and weak syllables. Thus: __ = a stressed (or strong, or LOUD) syllable U = an unstressed (or weak, or quiet) syllable In other words, any line of poetry with a systematic rhythm has a certain number of feet, and each foot has two or three syllables with a constant beat pattern. a. Iamb (Iambic) - weak syllable followed by strong syllable. [Note that the pattern is sometimes fairly hard to maintain, as in the third foot.]

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b. Trochee (Trochaic) - strong syllable followed by a weak syllable.

c. Anapest (Anapestic) - two weak syllables followed by a strong syllable.

e.g.
In her room at the prow of the house Where light breaks, and the windows are tossed...
From "The Writer", by Richard Wilbur

d. Dactyl (Dactylic) - a strong syllable followed by two weak syllables.

Here's another (silly) example of dactylic rhythm.

A B C D was was was was an / archer, who / shot at a / frog a / butcher, and / had a great / dog a / captain, all / covered with / lace a / drunkard, and / had a red / face.

e. Spondee (Spondaic): two strong syllables (not common as lines, but appears as a foot). A spondee usually appears at the end of a line.

II. THE NUMBER OF FEET: The second part of meter is the number of feet contained in a line. Thus: one foot = monometer two feet = dimeter three feet = trimester four feet = tetrameter five feet = pentameter six feet = hexameter (when hexameter is in iambic rhythm, it is called an alexandrine)

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Poems with an identifiable meter are therefore identified by the type of feet (e.g. iambic) and the number of feet in a line (e.g. pentameter). The following line is iambic pentameter because it (1) has five feet [pentameter], and (2) each foot has two syllables with the stress on the second syllable [iambic].
That time | of year | thou mayst | in me | behold

Thus, you will hear meter identified as iambic pentameter, trochaic tetrameter, and so on. III. IRREGULARITY: Many metered poems in English avoid perfectly regular rhythm because it is monotonous. Irregularities in rhythm add interest and emphasis to the lines. In this line:

The first foot substitutes a trochee for an iamb. Thus, the basic iambic pentameter is varied with the opening trochee. IV. BLANK VERSE: Any poetry that does have a set metrical pattern (usually iambic pentameter), but does not have rhyme, is blank verse. Shakespeare frequently used unrhymed iambic pentameter in his plays; his works are an early example of blank verse.

V. FREE VERSE: Most modern poetry no longer follows strict rules of meter or rhyme,
especially throughout an entire poem. Free verse, frankly, has no rules about meter or rhyme whatsoever! [In other words, blank verse has rhythm, but no rhyme, while free verse has neither rhythm nor rhyme.] So, you may find it difficult to find regular iambic pentameter in a modern poem, though you might find it in particular lines. Modern poets do like to throw in the occasional line or phrase of metered poetry, particularly if theyre trying to create a certain effect. Free verse can also apply to a lack of a formal verse structure.

How do I know if a poem has meter? How do I determine the meter? To maintain a consistent meter, a poet has to choose words that fit. For example, if a poet wants to write iambic poetry, s/he has to choose words that have a naturally iambic rhythm. Words like betray and persuade will work in an iambic poem because

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they are naturally iambic. They sound silly any other way. However, candle and muscle will work best in a trochaic poem, because their natural emphasis is on the first syllable. (However, a poet can use trochaic words if s/he places a one syllable word in front of them. This often leads to poetic feet ending in the middle of words after one syllable - rather than the end.) It's not surprising that most modern poetry is not metered, because it is very restrictive and demanding. Determining meter is usually a process of elimination. Start reading everything in iambic by emphasizing every second syllable. 80 to 90% of metered poetry is iambic. If it sounds silly or strange, because many of the poem's words do not sound natural, then try trochaic, anapaestic or dactylic rhythms. If none of these sounds natural, then you probably do not have metered poetry at all (i.e. it's free verse). If there are some lines that sound metered, but some that don't, the poem has an irregular rhythm. VI. WORD SOUNDS Another type of sound play is the emphasis on individual sounds and words: Alliteration: the repetition of initial sounds on the same line or stanza - Big bad Bob bounced bravely. Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds (anywhere in the middle or end of a line or stanza) - Tilting at windmills Consonance: the repetition of consonant sounds (anywhere in the middle or end of a line or stanza) - And all the air a solemn stillness holds. (T. Gray) Onomatopoeia: words that sound like that which they describe - Boom! Crash! Pow! Quack! Moo!Caress... Repetition: the repetition of entire lines or phrases to emphasize key thematic ideas. Parallel Stucture: a form of repetition where the order of verbs and nouns is repeated; it may involve exact words, but it more importantly repeats sentence structure - "I came, I saw, I conquered".

V. MEANING and POETRY

We said earlier that poetry is not always about hidden or indirect meanings (sometimes called meaning play). Nevertheless, it often is a major part of poetry, so here are some of the important things to remember: I. CONCRETENESS and PARTICULARITY In general, poetry deals with particular things in concrete language, since our emotions most readily respond to these things. From the poem's particular situation, the reader may then generalize; the generalities arise by implication from the particular.

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In other words, a poem is most often concrete and particular; the "message," if there is any, is general and abstract; it's implied by the images. Images, in turn, suggest meanings beyond the mere identity of the specific object. Poetry "plays" with meaning when it identifies resemblances or makes comparisons between things; common examples of this "figurative" comparison include:

ticking of clock = mortality hardness of steel = determination white = peace or purity

Such terms as connotation, simile, metaphor, allegory, and symbol are aspects of this comparison. Such expressions are generally called figurative or metaphorical language. II. DENOTATION AND CONNOTATION Word meanings are not only restricted to dictionary meanings. The full meaning of a word includes both the dictionary definition and the special meanings and associations a word takes in a given phrase or expression. For example, a tiger is a carnivorous animal of the cat family. This is the literal or denotative meaning. But we have certain associations with the word: sinuous movement, jungle violence, and aggression. These are the suggestive, figurative or connotative meanings. III. FIGURATIVE/CONNOTATIVE DEVICES 1. Simile is the rhetorical term used to designate the most elementary form of resemblances: most similes are introduced by "like" or "as." These comparisons are usually between dissimilar situations or objects that have something in common, such as "My love is like a red, red rose." 2. A metaphor leaves out "like" or "as" and implies a direct comparison between objects or situations. "All flesh is grass." 3. Synecdoche is a form of metaphor, which in mentioning an important (and attached) part signifies the whole (e.g. "hands" for labour). 4. Metonymy is similar to synecdoche; it's a form of metaphor allowing an object closely associated (butunattached) with an object or situation to stand for the thing itself (e.g. the crown or throne for a king or the bench for the judicial system). 5. A symbol is like a simile or metaphor with the first term left out. "My love is like a red, red rose" is a simile. If, through persistent identification of the rose with the beloved woman, we may come to associate the rose with her and her particular virtues. At this point, the rose would become a symbol. 6. Allegory can be defined as a one to one correspondence between a series of abstract ideas and a series of images or pictures presented in the form of a

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story or a narrative. For example, George Orwell's Animal Farm is an extended allegory that represents the Russian Revolution through a fable of a farm and its rebellious animals. 7. Personification occurs when you treat abstractions or inanimate objects as human, that is, giving them human attributes, powers, or feelings (e.g., "nature wept" or "the wind whispered many truths to me"). 8. Irony takes many forms. Most basically, irony is a figure of speech in which actual intent is expressed through words that carry the opposite meaning. o Paradox: usually a literal contradiction of terms or situations o Situational Irony: an unmailed letter o Dramatic Irony: audience has more information or greater perspective than the characters o Verbal Irony: saying one thing but meaning another Overstatement (hyperbole) Understatement (meiosis) Sarcasm Irony may be a positive or negative force. It is most valuable as a mode of perception that assists the poet to see around and behind opposed attitudes, and to see the often conflicting interpretations that come from our examination of life. IV. POETRY AS A LANGUAGE OF INDIRECTION Thus, if we recognize that much of the essential quality of our experience is more complex than a simple denotative statement can describe, then we must recognize the value of the poet's need to search for a language agile enough to capture the complexity of that experience. Consider this four-line stanza:
O Western wind, when wilt thou blow That the small rain down can rain? Christ, that my love were in my arms, And I in my bed again!

The centre of the poem is the lover's desire to be reunited with his beloved (lines 3 and 4). But the full meaning of the poem depends on the first two lines also. Obviously, the lover associates his grief with the wind and rain, but the poet leaves to implication, to indirection, just how the lover's situation and the wind and rain are related. We note that they are related in several ways: the need for experiencing and manifesting love is an inherent need, like nature's need for rain; in a word, love, like the wind and rain, is natural. Secondly, the lover is living in a kind of drought or arid state that can only be slaked by the soothing presence of the beloved. Thirdly, the rising of the wind and the coming of the rain can neither be controlled nor foretold exactly, and human affairs, like the lover's predicament, are subject to the same sort of chance. Undoubtedly, too, there are associations with specific words, like "Western" or "small rain" that the reader is only half aware of but which nonetheless contribute to

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meaning. These associations or connotations afford a few indirections that enrich the entire poem. For example, "small rain" at once describes the kind of rain that the lover wants to fall and suggests the joy and peace of lover's tears, and "small" alone might suggest the daintiness or femininity of the beloved.

Sources:
http://learn.lexiconic.net/elementsofpoetry.htm http://learn.lexiconic.net/poetry.htm http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5782 (Last time accessed: January 19th, 2014)