Poetic Devices
I have been one acquainted with the night.
I have walked out in rain - and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.
I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,
But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.
- Robert Frost
A POET IS LIMITED in the materials he can use in creating his works: all he has are words to express his ideas and feelings. These words need to be precisely right on several levels at once:
Fortunately, the English language contains a wide range of words from which to choose for almost every thought, and there are also numerous plans or methods of arrangement of these words, called poetic devices, which can assist the writer in developing cogent expressions pleasing to his readers.
Even though most poetry today is read silently, it must still carry with it the feeling of being spoken aloud, and the reader should practice “hearing” it in order to catch all of the artfulness with which the poet has created his work.
I have walked out in rain - and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.
I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed by the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet
When far away an interrupted cry
Came over houses from another street,
But not to call me back or say good-bye;
And further still at an unearthly height,
One luminary clock against the sky
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I have been one acquainted with the night.
- Robert Frost
A POET IS LIMITED in the materials he can use in creating his works: all he has are words to express his ideas and feelings. These words need to be precisely right on several levels at once:
- right to the listener even as they delight his ear
- they must have a meaning which might have been unanticipated, but seems to be the perfectly right one
- they must be arranged in a relationship and placed on the page in ways that are at once easy to follow and assist the reader in understanding
- they must probe the depths of human thought, emotion, and empathy, while appearing simple, self-contained, and unpretentious
Fortunately, the English language contains a wide range of words from which to choose for almost every thought, and there are also numerous plans or methods of arrangement of these words, called poetic devices, which can assist the writer in developing cogent expressions pleasing to his readers.
Even though most poetry today is read silently, it must still carry with it the feeling of being spoken aloud, and the reader should practice “hearing” it in order to catch all of the artfulness with which the poet has created his work.
Glossary of Poetic DevicesBelow is a detailed glossary of the terms you will need to understand to do well; to the right is the PowerPoint used initially to introduce you to those terms. The PowerPoint offers some of the terms in a concise definition, but the glossary will offer more detailed clarification. Beneath the PowerPoint is a Quick Reference guide from which to study and use when reading.
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The SOUNDS of words
Words or portions of words can be clustered or juxtaposed to achieve specific kinds of effects when we hear them. The sounds that result can strike us as clever and pleasing, even soothing. Others we dislike and strive to avoid. These various deliberate arrangements of words have been identified.
Alliteration occurs when words begin with the same sound. This serves as a way to link a poem together, adding to its cohesiveness as a whole. Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" gives an excellent example. Poe uses alliteration from the very beginning, describing the speaker "weak and weary" looking over "quaint and curious" books. As the action picks up, so does the alliteration ("While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping"), drawing the words and sounds together while drawing the reader into the story of the poem.
Alliteration not only brings the whole of the poem together, but often pulls words and phrases together, emphasizing them. In "The Raven," the narrator is "weak and weary," while his love Lenore is "rare and radiant" and the raven itself "ghastly grim". The time of year, December, is "distinctly" remembered and closely connected with "dying". When darkness is introduced, the intensity increases, aided by alliteration in the lines:
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
The hard sound of d repeating acts like a drum, or like the knocking that wakes the narrator from his reveries. It rings ominous, a tone that continues throughout the poem. The repetition of the word "tapping" also invokes the actual sound. Though "tap" may be more accurately classified as onomatopoeia, its repetition here qualifies it as alliteration also, enhancing the pull which draws the reader into the world of the poem.
Assonance, closely related to alliteration, is the repetition of sounds, particularly vowels, in the middle of words. This can also be used to draw parts and ideas of a poem together. Alfred, Lord Tennyson uses assonance effectively in his famed poem "The Lady of Shalott."
On either side of the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And through the field the road runs by
To many-towered Camelot;
Do not confuse assonance with rhyme, however. Rhyme is reserved for the ends of the words. In the above stanza, it's true that lie, rye, sky and by all rhyme. Yet they are also linked to "either" and "side" by the long "i" sound, which is assonance. Basically, some assonance is rhyme, but not all rhyme is assonance.
In "The Lady of Shalott," Tennyson uses assonance throughout the first line, then continues the chain of sound with rhyme, uniting the stanza as a whole. The last word, "Camelot," breaks the flow, and therefore stands out from the rest of the words. This signifies importance. The reader stops, must ponder the word "Camelot" and all that it implies, much in the way that a "many-towered" castle must have caused travelers to pause and notice it among rolling fields and lowlier buildings.
Other instances of assonance serve to pair descriptions to nouns. The Lady lives on a "silent isle", where she looks down upon the world, on the "reaper weary," "surly village-churls", "damsels glad", "knights [that] come riding", etc. Though descriptions can certainly be effective without assonance, it helps with the cohesiveness of the poem. It is particularly pleasing when read aloud.
Thus we see that assonance and alliteration not only serve to emphasize words, lines and stanzas that go together, but also those that stand apart. By noting where a poet has used these devices, the reader can discern themes and meanings within the poem. Likewise, poets who wish to emphasize certain aspects or descriptions can successfully employ these terms.
Consonance: The repetition of the same consonant sounds at the end of stressed syllables, but with different vowel sounds, within or at the end of a line, such as "bad and sod", (d's) or "when furnaces burn", (n's). Tip: Consonance begins with a consonant and it governs consonants. Examples:Nothing Gold Can Stay: dawn goes down (n's) (alliteration and consonance)Mowing: sound beside the wood (d's);Tree at my Window: could be profound (d's); Mine with inner (n's) Note: here the stressed consonant sound (n) is inside the word. Although the vowel is the same as spelled, it is a different sound. The rule applies.Looking for a Sunset Bird in Winter: died of cold (d's), thought....alight, sweet and swift (t's) and moreThe Vantage Point: : slope where the cattle keep, (p's);
Repetition: The purposeful re-use of words and phrases for an effect. Sometimes, especially with longer phrases that contain a different key word each time, this is called parallelism. It has been a central part of poetry in many cultures. Many of the Psalms use this device as one of their unifying elements.
Example: I was glad; so very, very glad.
Example: Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward... ... Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them Volley’d and thunder’d...
Rhyme: The repetition of the accented vowel sound and all succeeding sounds, as in old - cold, make - wake, feign - rain. What is important in Rhyme is the pattern of rhymes and the pairing of them against the meaning. Frost delights in pairing words that rhyme in an uncommon context and that have not been commonly used in poetry. He wouldn't waste his time rhyming life/wife. His rhymes still surprise the reader for both their sound quality and their associations.
Frost used many variations of rhyme patterns. His most brilliant is "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," in which he rhymes 3 out of the 4 lines in each stanza and then interlocks the unrhymed word as the primary rhyme in the next stanza. In spite of this technical mastery, the poem is very fluid and effortless. You will almost never see a forced rhyme in Frost's poetry.
Rhymes are diagramed to show the pattern, such as aaba which describes the first stanza of Stopping by Woods: know - though- here - snow. Certain verse forms have prescribed rhyme patterns such as sonnets. Again, Frost followed the rules and broke the rules. He showed his technical ability but took freedom with his materials. Frost liked using couplets - two lines of rhyming verse. He believed they were symbolic of life, of things having two aspects of reality: good and bad, light and dark, etc. He often used the form of Heroic Couplets - a poem consisting of a series of couplets with the thought complete in each of the two lines (usually ended by punctuation)
Rhymes are said to be masculine and feminine depending on where the accent falls, thus:
Frost made whole poems with rhyme patterns of alternating feminine and masculine endings, as in "Reluctance." Note how he indents to set off the endings: Ah, when to the heart of man Was it ever less than a treason To go with the drift of things, To yield with a grace to reason, And bow and accept the end Of a love or a season?
The extra syllable at the end of the feminine ending is considered "extra-metrical" and is not counted for metric purposes. Thus the above stanza is written in trimeter - 3 accents per line. The feminine ending creates a particular sound when used as a pattern.
Examples: Nothing Gold Can Stay: gold/hold, flower/hour etc - poem written in couplets
Stopping by Woods: See above - interlocking rhyme
The Tuft of Flowers: written in Heroic Couplets - see above
Devotion: two couplets written with feminine endings
The Runaway: The rhyming scheme of this poem is always noted in essays There are 6 lines : aba cbc (fall-colt-wall head-bolt-fled) (note: colt-bolt) then 7 lines : abc c abc then 8 lines : aa b cc b dd
Rhythm: Although the general public is seldom directly conscious of it, nearly everyone responds on some level to the organization of speech rhythms (verbal stresses) into a regular pattern of accented syllables separated by unaccented syllables. Rhythm helps to distinguish poetry from prose.
Example: i THOUGHT i SAW a PUDdyCAT.
Such patterns are sometimes referred to as meter. Meter is the organization of voice patterns, in terms of both the arrangement of stresses and their frequency of repetition per line of verse.
Poetry is organized by the division of each line into “feet,” metric units which each consist of a particular arrangement of strong and weak stresses. The most common metric unit is the iambic, in which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed one (as in the words reverse and compose).
Scansion is the conscious measure of the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry.
There are five basic rhythms:
Meter is measured by the number of feet in a line. Feet are named by Greek prefix number words attached to “meter.” A line with five feet is called pentameter; thus, a line of five iambs is known as “iambic pentameter” (the most common metrical form in English poetry, and the one favored by Shakespeare).
The most common line lengths are:
Naturally, there is a degree of variation from line to line, as a rigid adherence to the meter results in unnatural or monotonous language. A skillful poet manipulates breaks in the prevailing rhythm of a poem for particular effects.
the MEANINGs of words
Figurative language - A form of language use in which writers and speakers convey something other than the literal meaning of their words. Most words convey several meanings or shades of meaning at the same time. It is the poet’s job to find words which, when used in relation to other words in the poem, will carry the precise intention of thought. Often, some of the more significant words may carry several layers or “depths” of meaning at once. The ways in which the meanings of words are used can be identified.
Connotation: The emotional, psychological or social overtones of a word; its implications and associations apart from its literal meaning. Often, this is what distinguishes the precisely correct word from one that is merely acceptable.
Contrast: Closely arranged things with strikingly different characteristics. Example: He was dark, sinister, and cruel; she was radiant, pleasant, and kind.
Denotation: The dictionary definition of a word; its literal meaning apart from any associations or connotations. Students must exercise caution when beginning to use a thesaurus, since often the words that are clustered together may share a denotative meaning, but not a connotative one, and the substitution of a word can sometimes destroy the mood, and even the meaning, of a poem.
Hyperbole: An outrageous exaggeration used for effect.
Example: He weighs a ton.
Metaphor: A direct comparison between two unlike things, stating that one is the other or does the action of the other.
Example: He’s a zero.
Example: Her fingers danced across the keyboard.
Extended Metaphor - A metaphor which is drawn out beyond the usual word or phrase to extend throughout a stanza or an entire poem, usually by using multiple comparisons between the unlike objects or ideas.
Personification: Attributing human characteristics to an inanimate object, animal, or abstract idea.
Example: The days crept by slowly, sorrowfully.
Simile: A direct comparison of two unlike things using “like” or “as.”
Example: He’s as dumb as an ox.
Example: Her eyes are like comets.
Symbol: An ordinary object, event, animal, or person to which we have attached extraordinary meaning and significance – a flag to represent a country, a lion to represent courage, a wall to symbolize separation.
Example: A small cross by the dangerous curve on the road reminded all of Johnny’s death.
ARRANGING the words
Words follow each other in a sequence determined by the poet. In order to discuss the arrangements that result, certain terms have been applied to various aspects of that arrangement process. Although in some ways these sequences seem small and mechanical, in another sense they help to determine the nature of the poem.
Verse: The verse is fundamental to the perception of poetry, marking an important visual distinction from prose. Poetry is arranged into a series of units that do not necessarily correspond to sentences, but rather to a series of metrical feet. Generally, but not always, the verse is printed as one single line on the page. If it occupies more than one line, its remainder is usually indented to indicate that it is a continuation.
There is a natural tendency when reading poetry to pause at the end of a line, but the careful reader will follow the punctuation to find where natural pauses should occur.
Stanza: A division of a poem created by arranging the lines into a unit, often repeated in the same pattern of meter and rhyme throughout the poem; a unit of poetic lines (a “paragraph” within the poem). Blank lines separate the stanzas within a poem. A stanza is a group of verses.
Stanzas in modern poetry, such as free verse, often do not have lines that are all of the same length and meter, nor even the same number of lines in each stanza. Stanzas created by such irregular line groupings are often dictated by meaning, as in paragraphs of prose.
Stanza Forms: The names given to describe the number of lines in a stanzaic unit, such as: couplet (2), tercet (3), quatrain (4), quintet (5), sestet (6), septet (7), and octave (8).
Rhyme Scheme: The pattern established by the arrangement of rhymes in a stanza or poem, generally described by using letters of the alphabet to denote the recurrence of rhyming lines, such as the ababbcc of the Rhyme Royal stanza form.
Capital letters in the alphabetic rhyme scheme are used for the repeating lines of a refrain; the letters x and y indicate unrhymed lines.
In quatrains, the popular rhyme scheme of abab is called alternate rhyme or cross rhyme. The abba scheme is called envelope rhyme, and another one frequently used is xaxa
Form: The arrangement or method used to convey the content, such as free verse, ballad, haiku, etc. In other words, it applies to details within the composition of a text, but is probably used most often in reference to the structural characteristics of a work as it compares to (or differs from) established modes of conventionalized arrangements.
Fixed Form: A poem which follows a set pattern of meter, rhyme scheme, stanza form, and refrain (if there is one), is called a fixed form. Most poets feel a need for familiarity and practice with established forms as essential to learning the craft, but having explored the techniques and constraints of each, they go on to experiment and extend their imaginative creativity in new directions. A partial listing includes:
the IMAGES of words
A poet uses words more consciously than any other writer. Although poetry often deals with deep human emotions or philosophical thought, people generally don’t respond very strongly to abstract words, even the words describing such emotions and thoughts. The poet, then, must embed within his work those words which do carry strong visual and sensory impact, words which are fresh and spontaneous but vividly descriptive. He must carefully pick and choose words that are just right. It is better to show the reader than to merely tell him.
Imagery: The use of vivid language to generate ideas and/or evoke mental images, not only of the sensory sense, but of emotion as well. While most commonly used in reference to figurative language, imagery can apply to any component of a poem that evoke sensory experience and emotional response, and also applies to the concrete things so brought to mind.
Poetry works it magic by the way it uses words to evoke “images” that carry depths of meaning. The poet’s carefully described impressions of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch can be transferred to the thoughtful reader through imaginative use and combinations of diction. In addition to its more tangible initial impact, effective imagery has the potential to tap the inner wisdom of the reader to arouse meditative and inspirational responses.
Related images are often clustered or scattered throughout a work, thus serving to create a particular mood or tone. Images of disease, corruption, and death, for example, are recurrent patterns shaping our perceptions of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Sensory:
Examples: Love Teodora Benescu
Love is red
It tasted like sweet poison
And smells like flowers
It looks like a red rose
It sounds like a ballad
It makes me feel like a pure white fluff
• Sight: Smoke mysteriously puffed out from the clown’s ears.
• Sound: Tom placed his ear tightly against the wall; he could hear a faint but distinct thump thump thump.
• Touch: The burlap wall covering scraped against the little boy’s cheek.
• Taste: A salty tear ran across onto her lips.
• Smell: Cinnamon! That’s what wafted into his nostrils.
Tone, Mood: The means by which a poet reveals attitudes and feelings, in the style of language or expression of thought used to develop the subject. Certain tones include not only irony and satire, but may be loving, condescending, bitter, pitying, fanciful, solemn, and a host of other emotions and attitudes. Tone can also refer to the overall mood of the poem itself, in the sense of a pervading atmosphere intended to influence the readers’ emotional response and foster expectations of the conclusion.
Another use of tone is in reference to pitch or to the demeanor of a speaker as interpreted through inflections of the voice; in poetry, this is conveyed through the use of connotation, diction, figures of speech, rhythm and other elements of poetic construction.
Words or portions of words can be clustered or juxtaposed to achieve specific kinds of effects when we hear them. The sounds that result can strike us as clever and pleasing, even soothing. Others we dislike and strive to avoid. These various deliberate arrangements of words have been identified.
Alliteration occurs when words begin with the same sound. This serves as a way to link a poem together, adding to its cohesiveness as a whole. Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" gives an excellent example. Poe uses alliteration from the very beginning, describing the speaker "weak and weary" looking over "quaint and curious" books. As the action picks up, so does the alliteration ("While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping"), drawing the words and sounds together while drawing the reader into the story of the poem.
Alliteration not only brings the whole of the poem together, but often pulls words and phrases together, emphasizing them. In "The Raven," the narrator is "weak and weary," while his love Lenore is "rare and radiant" and the raven itself "ghastly grim". The time of year, December, is "distinctly" remembered and closely connected with "dying". When darkness is introduced, the intensity increases, aided by alliteration in the lines:
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
The hard sound of d repeating acts like a drum, or like the knocking that wakes the narrator from his reveries. It rings ominous, a tone that continues throughout the poem. The repetition of the word "tapping" also invokes the actual sound. Though "tap" may be more accurately classified as onomatopoeia, its repetition here qualifies it as alliteration also, enhancing the pull which draws the reader into the world of the poem.
Assonance, closely related to alliteration, is the repetition of sounds, particularly vowels, in the middle of words. This can also be used to draw parts and ideas of a poem together. Alfred, Lord Tennyson uses assonance effectively in his famed poem "The Lady of Shalott."
On either side of the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And through the field the road runs by
To many-towered Camelot;
Do not confuse assonance with rhyme, however. Rhyme is reserved for the ends of the words. In the above stanza, it's true that lie, rye, sky and by all rhyme. Yet they are also linked to "either" and "side" by the long "i" sound, which is assonance. Basically, some assonance is rhyme, but not all rhyme is assonance.
In "The Lady of Shalott," Tennyson uses assonance throughout the first line, then continues the chain of sound with rhyme, uniting the stanza as a whole. The last word, "Camelot," breaks the flow, and therefore stands out from the rest of the words. This signifies importance. The reader stops, must ponder the word "Camelot" and all that it implies, much in the way that a "many-towered" castle must have caused travelers to pause and notice it among rolling fields and lowlier buildings.
Other instances of assonance serve to pair descriptions to nouns. The Lady lives on a "silent isle", where she looks down upon the world, on the "reaper weary," "surly village-churls", "damsels glad", "knights [that] come riding", etc. Though descriptions can certainly be effective without assonance, it helps with the cohesiveness of the poem. It is particularly pleasing when read aloud.
Thus we see that assonance and alliteration not only serve to emphasize words, lines and stanzas that go together, but also those that stand apart. By noting where a poet has used these devices, the reader can discern themes and meanings within the poem. Likewise, poets who wish to emphasize certain aspects or descriptions can successfully employ these terms.
Consonance: The repetition of the same consonant sounds at the end of stressed syllables, but with different vowel sounds, within or at the end of a line, such as "bad and sod", (d's) or "when furnaces burn", (n's). Tip: Consonance begins with a consonant and it governs consonants. Examples:Nothing Gold Can Stay: dawn goes down (n's) (alliteration and consonance)Mowing: sound beside the wood (d's);Tree at my Window: could be profound (d's); Mine with inner (n's) Note: here the stressed consonant sound (n) is inside the word. Although the vowel is the same as spelled, it is a different sound. The rule applies.Looking for a Sunset Bird in Winter: died of cold (d's), thought....alight, sweet and swift (t's) and moreThe Vantage Point: : slope where the cattle keep, (p's);
Repetition: The purposeful re-use of words and phrases for an effect. Sometimes, especially with longer phrases that contain a different key word each time, this is called parallelism. It has been a central part of poetry in many cultures. Many of the Psalms use this device as one of their unifying elements.
Example: I was glad; so very, very glad.
Example: Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward... ... Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them Volley’d and thunder’d...
Rhyme: The repetition of the accented vowel sound and all succeeding sounds, as in old - cold, make - wake, feign - rain. What is important in Rhyme is the pattern of rhymes and the pairing of them against the meaning. Frost delights in pairing words that rhyme in an uncommon context and that have not been commonly used in poetry. He wouldn't waste his time rhyming life/wife. His rhymes still surprise the reader for both their sound quality and their associations.
Frost used many variations of rhyme patterns. His most brilliant is "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," in which he rhymes 3 out of the 4 lines in each stanza and then interlocks the unrhymed word as the primary rhyme in the next stanza. In spite of this technical mastery, the poem is very fluid and effortless. You will almost never see a forced rhyme in Frost's poetry.
Rhymes are diagramed to show the pattern, such as aaba which describes the first stanza of Stopping by Woods: know - though- here - snow. Certain verse forms have prescribed rhyme patterns such as sonnets. Again, Frost followed the rules and broke the rules. He showed his technical ability but took freedom with his materials. Frost liked using couplets - two lines of rhyming verse. He believed they were symbolic of life, of things having two aspects of reality: good and bad, light and dark, etc. He often used the form of Heroic Couplets - a poem consisting of a series of couplets with the thought complete in each of the two lines (usually ended by punctuation)
Rhymes are said to be masculine and feminine depending on where the accent falls, thus:
- Masculine endings:snow having only 1 syllable is accented making it masculinebe-low is accented on the last syllable making it masculine
- Feminine ending:sea-son is accented on the second to last syllable making it feminine To rhyme a word like sea-son you need a word like reason, or treason.
Frost made whole poems with rhyme patterns of alternating feminine and masculine endings, as in "Reluctance." Note how he indents to set off the endings: Ah, when to the heart of man Was it ever less than a treason To go with the drift of things, To yield with a grace to reason, And bow and accept the end Of a love or a season?
The extra syllable at the end of the feminine ending is considered "extra-metrical" and is not counted for metric purposes. Thus the above stanza is written in trimeter - 3 accents per line. The feminine ending creates a particular sound when used as a pattern.
Examples: Nothing Gold Can Stay: gold/hold, flower/hour etc - poem written in couplets
Stopping by Woods: See above - interlocking rhyme
The Tuft of Flowers: written in Heroic Couplets - see above
Devotion: two couplets written with feminine endings
The Runaway: The rhyming scheme of this poem is always noted in essays There are 6 lines : aba cbc (fall-colt-wall head-bolt-fled) (note: colt-bolt) then 7 lines : abc c abc then 8 lines : aa b cc b dd
Rhythm: Although the general public is seldom directly conscious of it, nearly everyone responds on some level to the organization of speech rhythms (verbal stresses) into a regular pattern of accented syllables separated by unaccented syllables. Rhythm helps to distinguish poetry from prose.
Example: i THOUGHT i SAW a PUDdyCAT.
Such patterns are sometimes referred to as meter. Meter is the organization of voice patterns, in terms of both the arrangement of stresses and their frequency of repetition per line of verse.
Poetry is organized by the division of each line into “feet,” metric units which each consist of a particular arrangement of strong and weak stresses. The most common metric unit is the iambic, in which an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed one (as in the words reverse and compose).
Scansion is the conscious measure of the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry.
- Stressed syllables are labeled with an accent mark: /
- Unstressed syllables are labeled with a dash: –
- Metrical feet may be two or three syllables in length, and are divided by slashes: |
There are five basic rhythms:
- –/ Iamb/Iambic
- /– Trochee/Trochaic
- ––/ Anapest/Anapestic
- /–– Dactyl/Dactylic
- // Spondee/Spondaic
Meter is measured by the number of feet in a line. Feet are named by Greek prefix number words attached to “meter.” A line with five feet is called pentameter; thus, a line of five iambs is known as “iambic pentameter” (the most common metrical form in English poetry, and the one favored by Shakespeare).
The most common line lengths are:
- monometer: one foot
- dimeter: two feet
- trimeter: three feet
- tetrameter: four feet
- pentameter: five feet
- hexameter: six feet
- heptameter: seven feet
- octameter: eight feet
Naturally, there is a degree of variation from line to line, as a rigid adherence to the meter results in unnatural or monotonous language. A skillful poet manipulates breaks in the prevailing rhythm of a poem for particular effects.
the MEANINGs of words
Figurative language - A form of language use in which writers and speakers convey something other than the literal meaning of their words. Most words convey several meanings or shades of meaning at the same time. It is the poet’s job to find words which, when used in relation to other words in the poem, will carry the precise intention of thought. Often, some of the more significant words may carry several layers or “depths” of meaning at once. The ways in which the meanings of words are used can be identified.
Connotation: The emotional, psychological or social overtones of a word; its implications and associations apart from its literal meaning. Often, this is what distinguishes the precisely correct word from one that is merely acceptable.
Contrast: Closely arranged things with strikingly different characteristics. Example: He was dark, sinister, and cruel; she was radiant, pleasant, and kind.
Denotation: The dictionary definition of a word; its literal meaning apart from any associations or connotations. Students must exercise caution when beginning to use a thesaurus, since often the words that are clustered together may share a denotative meaning, but not a connotative one, and the substitution of a word can sometimes destroy the mood, and even the meaning, of a poem.
Hyperbole: An outrageous exaggeration used for effect.
Example: He weighs a ton.
Metaphor: A direct comparison between two unlike things, stating that one is the other or does the action of the other.
Example: He’s a zero.
Example: Her fingers danced across the keyboard.
Extended Metaphor - A metaphor which is drawn out beyond the usual word or phrase to extend throughout a stanza or an entire poem, usually by using multiple comparisons between the unlike objects or ideas.
Personification: Attributing human characteristics to an inanimate object, animal, or abstract idea.
Example: The days crept by slowly, sorrowfully.
Simile: A direct comparison of two unlike things using “like” or “as.”
Example: He’s as dumb as an ox.
Example: Her eyes are like comets.
Symbol: An ordinary object, event, animal, or person to which we have attached extraordinary meaning and significance – a flag to represent a country, a lion to represent courage, a wall to symbolize separation.
Example: A small cross by the dangerous curve on the road reminded all of Johnny’s death.
ARRANGING the words
Words follow each other in a sequence determined by the poet. In order to discuss the arrangements that result, certain terms have been applied to various aspects of that arrangement process. Although in some ways these sequences seem small and mechanical, in another sense they help to determine the nature of the poem.
Verse: The verse is fundamental to the perception of poetry, marking an important visual distinction from prose. Poetry is arranged into a series of units that do not necessarily correspond to sentences, but rather to a series of metrical feet. Generally, but not always, the verse is printed as one single line on the page. If it occupies more than one line, its remainder is usually indented to indicate that it is a continuation.
There is a natural tendency when reading poetry to pause at the end of a line, but the careful reader will follow the punctuation to find where natural pauses should occur.
Stanza: A division of a poem created by arranging the lines into a unit, often repeated in the same pattern of meter and rhyme throughout the poem; a unit of poetic lines (a “paragraph” within the poem). Blank lines separate the stanzas within a poem. A stanza is a group of verses.
Stanzas in modern poetry, such as free verse, often do not have lines that are all of the same length and meter, nor even the same number of lines in each stanza. Stanzas created by such irregular line groupings are often dictated by meaning, as in paragraphs of prose.
Stanza Forms: The names given to describe the number of lines in a stanzaic unit, such as: couplet (2), tercet (3), quatrain (4), quintet (5), sestet (6), septet (7), and octave (8).
Rhyme Scheme: The pattern established by the arrangement of rhymes in a stanza or poem, generally described by using letters of the alphabet to denote the recurrence of rhyming lines, such as the ababbcc of the Rhyme Royal stanza form.
Capital letters in the alphabetic rhyme scheme are used for the repeating lines of a refrain; the letters x and y indicate unrhymed lines.
In quatrains, the popular rhyme scheme of abab is called alternate rhyme or cross rhyme. The abba scheme is called envelope rhyme, and another one frequently used is xaxa
Form: The arrangement or method used to convey the content, such as free verse, ballad, haiku, etc. In other words, it applies to details within the composition of a text, but is probably used most often in reference to the structural characteristics of a work as it compares to (or differs from) established modes of conventionalized arrangements.
- Open: poetic form free from regularity and consistency in elements such as rhyme, line length, and metrical form
- Closed: poetic form subject to a fixed structure and pattern
- Free Verse: lines with no prescribed pattern or structure; the poet determines the variables as seems appropriate for each poem
- Couplet: a pair of lines, usually rhymed; this is the shortest stanza
- Heroic Couplet: a pair of rhymed lines in iambic pentameter (traditional heroic epic form)
- Quatrain: a four-line stanza, or a grouping of four lines of verse
Fixed Form: A poem which follows a set pattern of meter, rhyme scheme, stanza form, and refrain (if there is one), is called a fixed form. Most poets feel a need for familiarity and practice with established forms as essential to learning the craft, but having explored the techniques and constraints of each, they go on to experiment and extend their imaginative creativity in new directions. A partial listing includes:
- Ballad: a narrative poem written as a series of quatrains in which lines of iambic tetrameter alternate with iambic trimeter with an xaxa, xbxb rhyme scheme with frequent use of repetition and often including a refrain. The “story” of a ballad can be a wide range of subjects but frequently deals with folklore or popular legends. They are written in a straight-forward manner, seldom with detail, but always with graphic simplicity and force. Most ballads are suitable for singing:
- Haiku: a Japanese form of poetry consisting of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. The elusive flavor of the form, however, lies more in its touch and tone than in its syllabic structure. Deeply imbedded in Japanese culture and strongly influenced by Zen Buddhism, haiku are very brief descriptions of nature that convey some implicit insight or essence of a moment. Traditionally, they contain either a direct or oblique reference to a season
- Lyric poem - A type of poem characterized by brevity, compression, and the expression of feeling.
- Sonnet: a fourteen line poem in iambic pentameter with a prescribed rhyme scheme; its subject was traditionally love. Three variations are found frequently in English, although others are occasionally seen.
the IMAGES of words
A poet uses words more consciously than any other writer. Although poetry often deals with deep human emotions or philosophical thought, people generally don’t respond very strongly to abstract words, even the words describing such emotions and thoughts. The poet, then, must embed within his work those words which do carry strong visual and sensory impact, words which are fresh and spontaneous but vividly descriptive. He must carefully pick and choose words that are just right. It is better to show the reader than to merely tell him.
Imagery: The use of vivid language to generate ideas and/or evoke mental images, not only of the sensory sense, but of emotion as well. While most commonly used in reference to figurative language, imagery can apply to any component of a poem that evoke sensory experience and emotional response, and also applies to the concrete things so brought to mind.
Poetry works it magic by the way it uses words to evoke “images” that carry depths of meaning. The poet’s carefully described impressions of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch can be transferred to the thoughtful reader through imaginative use and combinations of diction. In addition to its more tangible initial impact, effective imagery has the potential to tap the inner wisdom of the reader to arouse meditative and inspirational responses.
Related images are often clustered or scattered throughout a work, thus serving to create a particular mood or tone. Images of disease, corruption, and death, for example, are recurrent patterns shaping our perceptions of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Sensory:
Examples: Love Teodora Benescu
Love is red
It tasted like sweet poison
And smells like flowers
It looks like a red rose
It sounds like a ballad
It makes me feel like a pure white fluff
• Sight: Smoke mysteriously puffed out from the clown’s ears.
• Sound: Tom placed his ear tightly against the wall; he could hear a faint but distinct thump thump thump.
• Touch: The burlap wall covering scraped against the little boy’s cheek.
• Taste: A salty tear ran across onto her lips.
• Smell: Cinnamon! That’s what wafted into his nostrils.
Tone, Mood: The means by which a poet reveals attitudes and feelings, in the style of language or expression of thought used to develop the subject. Certain tones include not only irony and satire, but may be loving, condescending, bitter, pitying, fanciful, solemn, and a host of other emotions and attitudes. Tone can also refer to the overall mood of the poem itself, in the sense of a pervading atmosphere intended to influence the readers’ emotional response and foster expectations of the conclusion.
Another use of tone is in reference to pitch or to the demeanor of a speaker as interpreted through inflections of the voice; in poetry, this is conveyed through the use of connotation, diction, figures of speech, rhythm and other elements of poetic construction.