Elements of Poetry

Elements of Poetry
Elements of Poetry
•What is poetry?
•Poetry is not prose. Prose is the ordinary language
people use in speaking or writing.
•Poetry is a form of literary expression that captures
intense experiences or creative perceptions of the
world in a musical language.
•Basically, if prose is like talking, poetry is like singing.
•By looking at the set up of a poem, you can see the
difference between prose and poetry.
Distinguishing Characteristics of Poetry
• Unlike prose which has a narrator, poetry
has a speaker.
– A speaker, or voice, talks to the reader. The
speaker is not necessarily the poet. It can also be
a fictional person, an animal or even a thing
Example
But believe me, son.
I want to be what I used to be
when I was like you.
from “Once Upon a Time” by Gabriel Okara
Distinguishing Characteristics of Poetry
• Poetry is also formatted differently from
prose.
– A line is a word or row of words that may or
may not form a complete sentence.
– A stanza is a group of lines forming a unit. The
stanzas in a poem are separated by a space.
Example
Open it.
Go ahead, it won’t bite.

Well…maybe a little.
from “The First Book” by Rita Dove
Figures of Speech
• A figure of speech is a word or expression that is
not meant to be read literally.
• A simile is a figure of speech using a word such as

like or as to compare seemingly unlike things.
Example
Does it stink like rotten meat?
from “Harlem” by Langston Hughes
Figures of Speech
• A metaphor also compares seemingly unlike
things, but does not use like or as.
Example
the moon is a white sliver
from “I Am Singing Now” by Luci Tapahonso
• Personification attributes human like

characteristics to an animal, object, or idea.
Example
A Spider sewed at Night
from “A Spider sewed at Night” by Emily Dickinson
Figures of Speech
• Hyperbole – a figure of speech in which
great exaggeration is used for emphasis or
humorous effect.
Example
“You’ve asked me a million times!”
• Imagery is descriptive language that applies

to the senses – sight, sound, touch, taste, or
smell. Some images appeal to more than one
sense.
Sound Devices
• Alliteration is the repetition of consonant
sounds at the beginning of words.
• Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds
within a line of poetry.
• Onomatopoeia is the use of a word or phrase,
such as “hiss” or “buzz” that imitates or
suggests the sound of what it describes.
Example of Sound Devices
“In the steamer is the trout
seasoned with slivers of ginger”
from “Eating Together” by Li-Young Lee
And the stars never rise but I

see the bright eyes
from “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe
Rhyme
• Rhyme is the repetition of the same stressed vowel
sound and any succeeding sounds in two or more
words.
• Internal rhyme occurs within a line of poetry.
• End rhyme occurs at the end of lines.
• Rhyme scheme is the pattern of end rhymes that
may be designated by assigning a different letter of
the alphabet to each new rhyme
Example
“All mine!" Yertle cried. "Oh, the things I now rule! A
I'm king of a cow! And I'm king of a mule! A
I'm king of a house! And what's more, beyond that, B
I'm king of a blueberry bush and cat! B
I'm Yertle the Turtle! Oh, marvelous me! C
For I am the ruler of all that I see!” C
from “Yertle the Turtle”
by Dr. Seuss
“Penelope” by Dorothy Parker
A
In the pathway of the sun,
In the footsteps of the breeze, B
Where the world and sky are one, A

He shall ride the silver seas, B
He shall cut the glittering wave. C
I shall sit at home, and rock; D
Rise, to heed a neighbor’s knock; D
Brew my tea, and snip my thread; E
Bleach the linen for my bed.
E
They will call him brave.
C
Rhythm and Meter
• Rhythm is the pattern of sound created by the
arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables
in a line. Rhythm can be regular or irregular.
• Meter is a regular pattern of stressed and
unstressed syllables which sets the overall
rhythm of certain poems. Typically, stressed
syllables are marked with / and unstressed
syllables are marked with  .
• In order to measure how many syllables are per
line, they are measured in feet. A foot consists
of a certain number of syllables forming part of a
line of verse.
Iambic Pentameter
• The most common type of meter is called
iambic pentameter
• An iamb is a foot consisting of an initial
unstressed syllable followed by a stressed
syllable. For example, return, displace, to
love, my heart.
• A pentameter is a line of verse containing 5
metrical feet.
Significance of Iambic Pentameter
• Iambic Pentameter is significant to the study
of poetry because
– 1. It is the closest to our everyday speech
– 2. In addition, it mimics the sound of heart beat; a
sound common to all human beings.
– 3. Finally, one of the most influential writers of
our times uses iambic pentameter in all that he
writes – William Shakespeare.
Example #1
Examples
And death is better, as the millions
know,
Than dandruff, night-starvation, or B.O
from “Letter to Lord Byron” by W.H.

Auden#2
Example
When you are old and grey and full of sleep
And nodding by the fire, take down this book.
W.B. Yeats
Connotation and Denotation
Connotation - the emotional and imaginative
association surrounding a word.
Denotation - the strict dictionary meaning of a

word.
Example: You may live in a beautiful house,

but we live in a warm home.
Elements of Poetry
When we explore the connotation and
denotation of a poem, we are looking at the
poet’s diction.
Diction – the choice of words by an author or

poet.
Many times, a poet’s diction can help unlock the

tone or mood of the poem.
Elements of Poetry: Tone and Mood
Although many times we use the words mood and tone
interchangeably, they do not necessarily mean the same
thing.
Mood – the feeling or atmosphere that a poet creates.
Mood can suggest an emotion (ex. “excited”) or the quality
of a setting (ex. “calm”, “somber”) In a poem, mood can be
established through word choice, line length, rhythm, etc.
Tone – a reflection of the poet’s attitude toward the subject
of a poem. Tone can be serious, sarcastic, humorous, etc.

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Elements of Poetry

Go ahead, it won’t bite.

• A simile is a figure of speech using a word such as

• Personification attributes human like

• Imagery is descriptive language that applies

And the stars never rise but I

Where the world and sky are one, A

Than dandruff, night-starvation, or B.O

from “Letter to Lord Byron” by W.H.

And nodding by the fire, take down this book.

Denotation - the strict dictionary meaning of a

Example: You may live in a beautiful house,

Diction – the choice of words by an author or

Many times, a poet’s diction can help unlock the

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