Poetry

Poetry has always been one of the best means of expressing thoughts and feelings.
The sweetness, melody and smoothness that we feel while going through poetry cannot
be found in any other form of literature. It exhibits a special kind of empathy that directly
touches the heart and soul of people, mainly those who can understand the deep thought
veiled behind simple lines. A good poem always comprises of certain basic elements,
which help it in achieving higher degrees of perfection in expression.
Elements of Poetry:
1) Theme
A poem is not written randomly. Several thoughts and expressions are synchronized
together, to give a proper theme to the poem. In fact, the theme can be described as the
soul of a poem. It is the actually what the poet wants to express through his words. It may
either be a thought, a feeling, an observation, a story or an experience.
2) The Speaker
The poem’s speaker is the person who is addressing the reader. Sometimes, the
speaker is the poet, who addresses the reader directly or another person. The poet reveals
the identity of the speaker in various ways. Choice of words, focus of attention and
attitudes will indicate the age, perspective and identity of the speaker. Sometimes, the
poet creates a speaker that is non-human or even an inanimate object.
3) Setting
The setting is the time and place in which the event takes place. The definition of
setting can also include social statuses, weather, historical period, and details about
immediate surroundings. Settings can be real or fictional, or a combination of both real
and fictional elements. The setting can help to establish the mood of a poem, the feeling
which the text is meant to inspire in the reader. This will help us to actually understand
the meaning and content of the poem itself.
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4) Content

Content is the subject of the poem. It answers the question “what?” What is the poem
all about? What happens in the poem?

5) Figures of Speech
Figures of speech are linguistic devices for making an utterance effective. By using
these devices, a writer or a speaker transcends the commonness and flatness of day-to-
day prosaic utterances and acquires uniqueness, freshness and vigour.
a) Simile
A figure of speech in which the similarity between two dissimilar objects has been
explicitly stated with the help of like or as.
(i) “My love is like a red, red rose”
(ii) “I wandered lonely as a cloud”
(iii) The night is as black as ink.
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b) Metaphor
A figure of speech in which a similarity between two dissimilar objects has been
suggested but not clearly stated with the help of as or like.
(i) “Life’s but a walking shadow”
(ii) Friendship is a sheltering tree.
(iii) A camel is the ship of the desert.
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c) Conceit
A figure of speech in which two vastly different objects are likened together with the
help of similes or metaphors. Conceit develops a comparison which is exceedingly
unlikely but is, nonetheless, intellectually imaginative. A comparison turns into a conceit

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when the writer tries to make us admit a similarity between two things of whose
unlikeness we are strongly conscious. For this reason, conceits are often surprising.
For example, in the following stanza from “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,”
John Donne compares two lovers’ souls to a draftsman’s compass:
“If they be two, they are two so
As stiff twin compasses are two,
Thy soul the fixed foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if the other do.”
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d) Personification
A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or abstraction is endowed with
human qualities or abilities. This can sometimes be used to invoke an emotional response
to something by making it more personable, friendly and relatable.
(i) “Little sorrows sit and weep”
(ii) The sun smiled down on her.
(iii) The picture in that magazine shouted for attention.
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e) Hyperbole
A deliberate use of exaggeration for the sake of emphasis.
(i) “I could kill you forty times a day.”
(ii) “I’ve told you that a million times already.”
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f) Apostrophe
Originally, a direct address to a judge. In literature, the term is used for an address to an
absent person or a personified idea or object.
(i) “Milton! Thou shouldst be living at this hour”

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 (ii) “You heavens, give me that patience, patience I need”
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g) Metonymy
Using the name of a related object for the name of the thing meant.
(i) I have been reading Shakespeare.
(ii) We have always remained loyal to the crown.
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h) Synecdoche
Using the name of a part for the name of the whole or vice versa.
(i) John got wheels this summer.
(ii) Two heads are better than one.
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i) Irony
A figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is
different from the actual meaning of the words. There are three types of irony:
1) Verbal irony is a statement in which the meaning that a speaker employs is sharply
different from the meaning that is ostensibly expressed.
(i) “Oh great! Now you have broken my new camera”
(ii) His friend’s hand was as soft as a rock.
(iii) The desert was as cool as a bed of burning coals.
2) Situational irony describes a sharp discrepancy between the expected result and
the actual result in a certain situation.
i) A fire station burns down
ii) A pilot with a fear of heights
iii) Robbery at a police station

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 3) Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows more than a character in a story.
The character’s words and actions have an extra significance that the character is
ignorant of.
i) In Romeo and Juliet, the audience knows that Juliet has faked her death, yet Romeo
believes she is truly dead and proceeds to commit suicide.
ii) In King Lear, the audience knows from the beginning that Lear’s loyal daughter is
Cordelia, but Lear does not see this.

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j) Paradox
An expression that appears contradictory but is not really so.
(i) This is the beginning of the end.
(ii) He who praises everybody praises nobody.
(iii) You can save money by spending it.
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k) Allusion
A reference within a literary work to a historical, literary or biblical character, place or
Event.
(i) “I am not Prince Hamlet”
(ii) Your backyard is a Garden of Eden.
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l) Symbol
A Symbol refers to the use of an object or symbol to represent or indicate something
else.
For example: The symbolism of a red rose (love)
The symbolism of a white flag (peace)

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m) Imagery
When we hear the word imagery, we usually associate it with some form of visual
representation in our minds. We think about pictures and images. Imagery, in a literary
text, is an author's use of vivid and descriptive language to add depth to his/her work. It
appeals to human senses to deepen the reader's understanding of the work. Powerful
forms of imagery engage all of the senses. There are seven major types of imagery:
i) Visual imagery pertains to graphics, visual scenes, pictures or the sense of sight.
ii) Auditory imagery pertains to sounds, noises, music or the sense of hearing. (This
kind of imagery may come in the form of onomatopoeia).
iii) Olfactory imagery pertains to odors, scents or the sense of smell.
iv) Gustatory imagery pertains to flavors or the sense of taste.
v) Tactile imagery pertains to physical textures or the sense of touch.
vi) Kinesthetic imagery pertains to movements.
vii) Organic imagery/subjective imagery pertains to internal bodily sensations
including hunger, thirst, fatigue, pain, etc.
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n) Contrast
A structural device which occurs when we find two opposite pictures side by side. It is
used to make a thing or idea appear clearly and vividly. Contrast can be found in the
poem Break, Break, Break, where a comparison is made between life and death.
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o) Repetition
Repetition is common in ordinary speech, in songs and in poetry. It is used for
for emphasis, to express emotions and merely to give pleasure to the ear.
i) Over park, over pale

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 Through flood, through fire
ii) Work—work—work
Till the brain begins to swim;
Work—work—work
Till the eyes are heavy and dim

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p) Inversion
A structural device and a literary technique in which the normal order of words is
reversed, in order to achieve a particular effect of emphasis or meter.
i) To the store, I will go
ii) Shocked, I was
iii) Tomorrow will come the decision
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q) Alliteration (a sound device)
Repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of two or more words.
i) Sally sells sea shells by the seashore.
ii) Be back soon, Barry! Bye-bye!
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r) Assonance (a sound device)
Assonance refers to the repetition of a vowel sound in a line of text or poetry.
i) Let the cat out of the bag.
ii) Honesty is the best policy.
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s) Consonance (a sound device)
Repetition of a sequence of consonants but with a change in the intervening stressed
vowels. For example, live- love, feel-fill, reader-rider, etc.
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t) Onomatopoeia
A sound device in which the words echo the sound they represent. For example, knock,
hiss, mew, click, etc.

6) Tone

The tone of a poem is the feeling that the poet creates, and that the reader senses
through the poet’s choice of words, rhythm, rhyme, style and structure. Poems may
express many moods– humorous, sarcastic, joyous, angry, solemn, happy, sad, etc.

7) Structure
Structure refers to a poem’s pattern of organization, or its form. Basically, the actual
shape and form of poems can vary from poem to poem. In poetry, you will encounter two
forms: structured and free verse. Structured poetry has predictable patterns of rhyme,
rhythm, line-length and stanza construction. One example is the sonnet. In free verse, the
poet experiments with the form of the poem. The rhythm, number of syllables per line
and stanza construction do not follow a pattern.

*Rhythm
Rhythm is the measured flow of words and phrases in verse. Regular rhythm in verse
is called meter. Irregular rhythm is free verse. Rhythm gives a poem its sound, and makes
it musical.

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*Meter
Meter, the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse, is 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.
a) Types of Foot
A foot is a combination of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry. There
are many different types of foot, but some are more popular than others.

Foot type Style Stress pattern Examples

Iamb Iambic Unstressed + Stressed relax, unfair, goodbye

Trochee Trochaic Stressed + Unstressed hoping, darkness

Spondee Spondaic Stressed + Stressed well-loved, big deal

Unstressed + Unstressed +
Anapest Anapestic incomplete, on the way
Stressed

Stressed + Unstressed +
Dactyl Dactylic criminal, wonderful
Unstressed

b) Number of Feet

Monometer: a line with 1 foot

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Pentameter: a line with 5 feet
Hexameter: a line with 6 feet
Heptameter: a line with 7 feet
Octameter: a line with 8 feet
If a line of poetry has 5 feet, and those 5 feet are all iambs, you have a line of poetry that
is called iambic pentameter. This is the most common metric pattern in formal poetry.
For example: That time | of year | thou mayst | in me | behold

*Rhyme
A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (or the same sound) in two or more words,
most often in the final syllables of lines in poems and songs.
A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It
is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with
the same letter all rhyme with each other. An example of the "abab" rhyming scheme,
from "To Anthea, who may Command him Anything", by Robert Herrick:
Bid me to weep, and I will weep a
While I have eyes to see b
And having none, yet I will keep a
A heart to weep for thee b

*Diction
Diction refers to the poet’s choice of words. The poet chooses each word carefully so
that both its meaning and sound contribute to the tone and feeling of the poem. The poet
must consider a word's denotation( the literal meaning of a word; the dictionary
definition) and it’s connotation (the emotions, thoughts and ideas associated with and
evoked by the word). For example, the denotation of the word “Gray” is the color of any
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shade between the colors of black and white, and its connotation is gloom, sadness and
old age. Denotation and connotation gives poetry greater depth and deeper meaning.
* Stanzas
An important method of analyzing 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).
Stanzas are a series of lines grouped together and separated by an 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)
 tercet (3 lines)
 quatrain (4 lines)
 cinquain (5 lines)
 sestet (6 lines) (sometimes it's called a sexain)
 septet (7 lines)
 octave (8 lines)

*Free Verse

Free verse is an open form of poetry that does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme

or any other musical pattern.

*Blank Verse

Blank verse refers to unrhymed poetry. It consists of unrhymed iambic pentameters.

*Heroic Couplets

Heroic couplets are rhyming pairs of verse in iambic pentameter.

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