Poetry
is a literary form which expresses an individual’s emotions and ideas.
To capture and convey the human experience
To inspire change
To celebrate beauty
To explore the human psyche
Elements Of Poetry
Stanza- grouping of lines or the succession of lines arranged together according to substance.
Types of Stanza
• Couplet- two lines
• Tercet- three lines
• Terza Rima- three stanzas of three lines
• Quatrain -four lines
• Sestet- six lines
• Octet- Eight Lines
• Cinquain – five lines
• Septet- seven lines
FORM- pertains to the style of the poem or how the poem is structured.
Classical poetry shows metrical pattern, has specific number of lines, and has rhyme scheme.
Contemporary poetry is different since it does not have meter, rhyme, nor pattern, hence it is often called free or
blank verse
RHYTHM- This refers to the tempo or beat created through the stressed and unstressed syllables presented in the lines.
It differs from rhyme through its pattern which is illustrated by sounds repeated regularly.
RHYME-is the repetition of similar sounds.
Kinds of Rhyme
End Rhyme
Internal Rhyme
End rhyme, as the term suggests, refers to words with similar sounds that appear at the end of the lines. It is often
used in children's rhymes, which helps young readers appreciate poetry
Internal rhyme is a kind of rhyme found in the middle of the lines or a rhyme within the lines.
METER- This is the pattern of sounds or the organized arrangement of sounds. This is shown by the kind of foot and the
feet number.
Specific types of foot are iambic, trochaic, dactylic or anapestic. The number of feet may be monometer (one foot),
dimeter (two meter), trimester (three feet), tetrameter (four feet), pentameter (five feet) or hexameter (six feet).
Two ways to identify meter:
1. Syllables Count
2. Stress and Unstressed Syllables Count.
Accentual Meter- each line has fixed number of stresses, but varies the total number of syllables.
Syllabic Meter- each line has fixed number of syllables, but varies in the total number of stresses.
Accentual- Syllabic Meter- each line has the same number of stressed and non-stressed syllables in a fixed
order.
Free verse- lines have irregular patterns of stresses and syllables.
Three Elements of Poetry
Structure- Overall organization of the lines of the poem/ and or the conventional patterns of sound.
Meter- Systematic regularity in rhythm.
Rhyme- Repetition of similar sounds in a poem, the most common of which is the end rhyme.
Structure of the Poem
A. The Poetic Line
In establishing the structure of a poem, a poet must think of the length of lines of how each lines ends.
The first and third lines may have the same length, while the second and fourth lines may be the same.
B. Line Types
A reader pauses when there is a period at the end of the line. A reader continues reading when the lines are written in a
continuing manner.
C. Stanzas
lines that go together form a stanza
Line Break- is where a line of poetry ends.
Meter- Poetry meter is defined by the Poetry Foundations as “the rhythmical pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables
verse.” adds color to the poem, and has rhythm indicated through the accented and unaccented syllables. It pays to have a
clear concept of meter in poetry because it allows the reader to discover what goes on in the mind of a poet, and how
words, phrases, and lines are grouped together to illustrate the poet’s idea.
Types of Foot
1. Trochaic Foot or Trochee
This is a type of foot which is a succession of accented and unaccented syllables, or an unaccented syllable
following an accented syllable.
2. Anapestic Foot or Anapest
It consists of two unaccented or unstressed syllables followed by one accented or stressed syllable. This metrical
foot produces a strong kind of rhyme brought forth by the succession of two short syllables and a long syllable
which is often found in classical verses.
3. Dactylic Foot or Dactyl
It consists of a stressed or an accented syllable which is followed by two unstressed or unaccented syllables. In
classical verse form, it is a succession of one long syllable and two short syllables.
4. Iamb or Iambic Foot
It is a type of foot consisting of a short syllable which is followed by a long syllable, or an unstressed syllable which
is followed by a stressed syllable.
Number of Feet
Monometer is a verse line having a single metrical foot.
Dimeter consists of a line showing double metrical feet.
Trimeter is a line having three metrical feet.
Tetrameter refers to a line showing metrical feet.
Pentameter shows a line with five metrical feet.
Hexameter, also called Alexandrine, has six metrical feet in a line.
Heptameter is a line consisting of seven metrical feet.
Rhyme show musicality in a verse which offers a melodic pattern.
Rhymes are also used to give more substance to the lines of a verse.
Rhyme scheme is achieved by placing rhyming words at the end of a line. It gives the reader a pattern of end lines
that rhyme.
