EXPERIMENTAL TEXTS,

TECHNIQUES, AND
LITERARY DEVICES
 OBJECTIVES:
• Explore innovative techniques in writing
poetry; and
• Write a short poem, applying the various
elements, techniques and literary devices.
 EDWARD ESTLIN
“E.E.” CUMMINGS

• One of the best “love” poets of all

time
• Innovated poetry through
experimentation on poetic forms
and language which created a
distinct personal style
• Fond of revising grammatical and
linguistic rules to suit his own
purposes
in Just –
e e cummings
 [IN JUST-]
BY E. E. CUMMINGS

in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman
 [IN JUST-]
BY E. E. CUMMINGS

whistles far and wee

and eddieandbill come

running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring
 [IN JUST-]
BY E. E. CUMMINGS

he queer
old balloonman whistles
far and wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

 [IN JUST-]
BY E. E. CUMMINGS
it's
spring
and

the

goat-footed

balloonMan whistles
far
and
wee
 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. How do you describe the structure of the poem?

2. What is the effect of the word spaces in the poem?
3. What is the theme and message of the poem?
TECHNIQUES IN WRITING POETRY
 1. IMAGERY
•The use of figurative language that
appeals to the reader’s physical
senses.
 A. VISUAL (SIGHT)

Dark and dim forest, I saw

A lady as white
As the moon’s light, start above.
 B. AUDITORY (HEARING)

Silence shuttered by a scream

Deafening droplets
Of dew, fell in water
 C. OLFACTORY (SMELL)

Sweet scent of morning flowers,

Bees were attracted.
Aroma has hunted them.
 D. TACTILE (TOUCH)

The early breeze of summer

Touched gently on my
Skin, for a while, I forgot.
 E. GUSTATORY (TASTE)

Children tasted the bitter

Fruit of their labor
Sour, how sour life has become
 EXERCISE:
Write a haiku, using imageries of each of the sense below:
1. Visual
2. Auditory
3. Olfactory
4. Tactile
5. gustatory
 2. REPETITION
• Is the use of the same keyword or phrase
throughout the poem
• Enhances the ideas or themes that the poet
wishes to convey
 EXAMPLE:

Because I do not hope to turn again

Because I do not hope
Because I do not hope to turn
(“Ask-Wednesday”,T.S. Eliot)
 EXAMPLE:

Water, water, every where,

And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
“Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (Coleridge, 1798)
 3. REFRAIN
• Happens when lines are repeated at the end
of a stanza
• Emphasizes significance of the idea in the
entire poem
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,

In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee—
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
“Annabel Lee”, Edgar Allan Poe
 4. SYMBOLISM

•The use of a word or image that

signifies something else other than
what it literally represented
 EXAMPLE:

Ah Sun-flower! weary of time,

Who countest the steps of the Sun:
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the travellers journey is done.
 5. ALLUSION

•Is a brief or indirect reference to

another piece of literature or
history
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
 EXERCISE:

•Write a free-verse poem with

symbolisms and allusions.
 VISUAL POETRY
•A poem which heavily banks on its equally creative
shape or form falls under much broader discipline
•“concrete poetry”
•Can be achieved through typography
 TYPOGRAPHY

• A type of art that involves the creative arrangement of texts

• Gives poetry ability to take on even the equally relevant
and perhaps more visually exciting poetic sketchbooks,
artist’s books, mixed-media forms, posters and colored
manuscript pages.
 1. ALTAR POETRY

•Type of visual poetry that

expresses poems in the shape of
an altar.
 2. SHAPE POETRY

•A type of poetry arranged to

achieve geometric shapes.
 3. ACROSTIC POETRY

• This is a variation of concrete poetry where

the first letter of each stanza spells out a
title of the poem or any significant word,
such as a name
 GENRE-CROSSING TEXTS
• Forms of poetry which transcend the physical
limitations that define a traditional poem.
 1. PROSE POETRY
• A text that is written in prose but claims to be a poem
• A poem written in paragraph rather than in verse, but
contains other attributes such as rhythm and
metaphors, and focuses on images rather than on
narrative, plot, and characters
 1. PROSE POETRY
• A text that is written in prose but claims to be a poem
• A poem written in paragraph rather than in verse, but
contains other attributes such as rhythm and
metaphors, and focuses on images rather than on
narrative, plot, and characters
 BE DRUNK
BY CHARLES BAUDELAIRE
 2. PERFORMANCE POETRY

• When a poem prefers the stage instead of a typical

page in its creative presentation
• Banks on the actual stage performance of the poet
rather than poetry’s written form or even its recital.
 TASK:

1. Using digital media, create a visually appealing

typography. Prepare a printout and present it in class
2. Write down your own performance poetry piece.
Rehearse and perform it in front of class. (Max. 3
minutes)