Reading and Writing Poetry Example of a Tercet

"furu ike ya
Poetry kawazu tobikomu
• Poetry is not prose. Prose is the ordinary language people use in speaking or writing. mizu no oto" - Haiku by Matsuo Bashō
• Poetry is a form of literary expression that captures intense experiences or creative
perceptions of the world in a musical language. roughly translating to:
• 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 "An old silent pond...
poetry. A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! Silence again."
Poetry is often described as 'literature in metrical form' or 'compositions forming rhythmic
lines'. It has a set of specific features that differentiate it from other forms of literature. It is not Example of a Quatrain
necessary that all the elements should be employed in every poem that is penned. However, "The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
the presence of at least two of these elements are noted in most poems. For example, a lot of The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,
poets choose to write "blank verses" which are poems that lack rhyme. The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me." - From Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a
However, a blank verse does have a set rhythm and meter pattern that is followed. Now, a Country Churchyard"
"free verse" will neither have rhyme or rhythm, but these verses are usually opulent in other
elements like metaphors, symbols and spectacular word images. So, poetry writing offers a Example of a Cinquain
lot of scope for experimentation when it comes to choosing literary elements or devices as per "Listen...
the needs of the poet. With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
IMPORTANT METHOD OF ANALYZING A POEM The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break from the trees
And fall." - From Adelaide Crapsey's "November Night"
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 Example of a Sestet
count the number of lines. Thus: "It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
• Couplet (2 lines) That a maiden there lived whom you may know
• Tercet (3 lines) By the name of ANNABEL LEE;
• Quatrain (4 lines) And this maiden she lived with no other thought
• Cinquain (5 lines) Than to love and be loved by me." - From Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee"
• Sestet (6 lines)
Rhyme and Rhyme Scheme
• Septet (7 lines)
• Octave (8 lines) Rhyming in poetry is one convention that makes this form of literature recognizably different
• Sonnet (14 lines) from prose and drama. Even in this age when free verses are quite popular, rhyme in poesy is
what makes it poetic. One of the unique qualities of rhyme in poetry is that it has the ability to
provide a systematic flow to a bundle of thoughts that may seem absolutely chaotic if put
Example of a Couplet together otherwise.
"True wit is nature to advantage dress'd;
What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd."
- From Alexander Pope's "An Essay on Criticism"
A rhyme smoothens out the rough edges and abrupt protrusions. This element can be
simplistically defined from the similarity in the sounds of two or more lines. In poetry, this is Each recurring pattern is individually called a foot. And a number of feet, on identification, can
generally achieved by using similar sounding words at the end of lines. tell us the systematic rhythm or the meter that a poem follows.

Example: In poetry, a stressed syllable is tagged with a "I" and an unstressed one is marked with a "U".
"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. There are various types of foot and they are named accordingly.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again." One foot: Monometer
Two feet: Dimeter
The function of a rhyme extends beyond giving poetry its identity. It helps give structure to all Three feet: Trimeter
the themes that a poet wishes to cover in a particular piece. When 2 lines, which may or may Four feet: Tetrameter
not be consecutive to each other, rhyme, it mostly indicates a cohesive thematic bond Five feet: Pentameter
between them. Six feet: Hexameter

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And there are five different types of constant beat patterns that the feet can occur in:
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood Iamb (Iambic) - One weak syllable followed by one accented syllable.
And looked down one as far as I could Trochee (Trochaic) - One accented syllable followed by one weak syllable.
To where it bent in the undergrowth;" Anapest (Anapestic) - Two weak syllables followed by one accented syllable.
There are cases when rhyming words exist in a single line itself. In such a case, it's called Dactyl (Dactylic) - One accented syllable followed by two weak syllables.
middle or internal rhyme. For instance, take these lines from "Don't Fence Me In" written by Spondee (Spondaic) - Two consecutive accented syllables. This can usually be found at the
Cole Porter: end of a line.
(The upper-cased portions are indicative of the stressed or prominently lifted syllables)
"Just turn me loose let me straddle my old saddle,
Underneath the western skies, An Iambic Pentameter
On my cayuse let me wander over yonder, "Nor FRIENDS | nor FOES, | to ME | welCOME | you ARE:
'Til I see the mountains rise." Things PAST | redRESS | are NOW | with ME | past CARE." - From William Shakespeare's
"Richard II" (Act II, Scene 3)
Rhyme scheme- the arrangement of rhymes in a stanza or a poem.
A Trochaic Tetrameter
Rhythm and Meter "SHOULD you | ASK me, | WHENCE these | STORies?
WHENCE these | LEGends | AND tra | Ditions,
Rhythm is basically the pattern in which a poet chooses to sequence the stressed and WITH the | ODours | OF the | FORest,
unstressed syllables in every line of a poem, for the creation of oral patterns. WITH the | DEW and | DAMP of | MEAdows," - From Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The
Song of Hiawatha"
The three factors that help to determine the rhythm in a poem are:
~ The total number of syllables present in each line. An Anapestic Hexameter
~ The total count of accented (stressed) syllables in each line. "The imMOR | tal deSIRE | of imMOR | tals we SAW | in their FAC | es and SIGHED." - From
~ The tally of recurring patterns of two or three syllables - stressed and unstressed - clubbed W. B. Yeats's "The Wanderings of Oisin"
in every line.
A Dactylic or Heroic Hexameter Song is a lyric poem which is set to music. All songs have a strong beat created largely through
"THIS is the | FORest prim- | Eval. The | MURmuring | PINES and the | HEM locks" - From the 3R’s: rhythm, rhyme, and repetition.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Evangeline"
DRAMATIC Poetry presents one or more characters speaking, usually to other characters but
A Spondee sometimes to themselves or directly to the reader.
"Arma vir | Umque can | O, TroI | aE quI | prImus ab | OrIs"
dactyl |dactyl | spondee|spondee|dactyl | spondee - From Vergil's "Aeneid" Kinds:

Dramatic Monologue is a literary device that is used when a character reveals his or her
TYPES OF POETRY innermost thoughts and feelings, those that are hidden though out the course of story line
through a poem or speech.
NARRATIVE Poetry. A narrative poem tells a story, but it does it with poetic flair. Here are
some elements of narrative poetry that are important: characters, setting, conflict and plot. Soliloquy is the act of speaking while alone, especially when used as a theatrical device that
allows a character’s thoughts and ideas to be conveyed to the audience.
Kinds:
Other Forms of Poetry
Epic is a long unified narrative poem, recounting in dignified language the adventures of a
warrior, a king, or a god, the whole embodying the religious and philosophical beliefs, the moral Emotion Poem is used to describe various emotions, good or bad, using descriptive language.
code, customs, traditions, manners, attitudes, sciences, folklore, and culture of the people or
country from which it came. Free Verse poems do not follow any rules. Their creation is completely in the hands of the
author. Rhyming, syllable count, punctuation, number of lines, number of stanzas, and line
Metrical Romance recounts the quest undertaken by a single knight in order to gain a lady’s formation can be done however the author wants in order to convey the idea.
favor.
Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry that follows a specific syllable pattern (5-7-5). It is made up
Metrical Tale is a simple, straight forward story in verse. of 3 lines, consisting of 17 syllables in total. Haikus are usually about a specific part of nature.

Ballad is a kind of poem or song that tells a story (such as a story about a famous person from Tanka is another form of Japanese poetry that follows a syllable format. This poem is composed
history). of five lines. Lines 1 and 3 have 5 syllables. Lines 2,4 and 5 contain 7 syllables.

LYRIC Poetry is generally considered the most intense genre of poetry because this form A cold wind blows in
usually revolves around the emotions, perceptions, and state of mind of the poet. They were With a blanket of silence
originally meant to be to set to music, accompanied by a musical instrument called the lyre. Straining to listen
For those first few drops of rain
Kinds: The storm begins in earnest. - by Dendrobia

Ode is a dignifies and elaborately structured lyric poem praising and glorifying an individual, Empty old woman.
commemorating an event or describing nature intellectually rather than emotionally. Grandchildren laughing outside.
The rose is withered
Elegy is a lyric poem that expresses sorrow or lamentation, usually for one who had died. One by one the petals fall
One by one the buds open
Sonnet is a short poem with fourteen lines, usually written in iambic pentameter
Accrostic is a poem where certain letters in each line spell out a word or phrase. Typically, the like a red apple
first letters of each line are used to spell the emssage, but they appear anywhere. A poem each day I so long for you
where the first letter of each line and the last letter of each line spell out words is called a double to depart from me
acrostic.
Dalit is another type of short Filipino poem, composed of four lines with eight syllables in each
Elizabeth it is in vain you say line. It was very popular during the Spanish period, and the friars used dalit to promote
“Love no”- thou sayest it in so sweet away: Catholicism.
In vain those words from thee or L.E.L.
Zantippet’s talents had enfoced so well: bakit sa banyagang dila why in a foreign tongue
Ah! If that language from thy heart arise, bow ng bow, tula ng tula you often bow, verse after verse
Breathe it less gently forth- and veil thine eyes ngunit sa sariling wika but script of your own lips
Endymion, recollect, when Luna tried isang kahig, isang tuka you live hand to mouth
To cure his love- was cured of all beside-
His folly- pride- and passion- for he died. - Edgar Allan Poe FREE VERSE
 Free verse poems do not fallow the rules, and have no rhyme or rhythm; but they are
Philippines’ short forms of poetry, such as tanaga, diona and dalit, which were considered still an artistic expression.
dying art forms.  They are sometimes thought to be a modern form of poetry; but the free verse types
of poem have been around for hundreds of years.
The Tagalog tanaga, which dates back to 1500, has been referred to as the Philippine  Robert Frost commented that writing free verse was like “playing tennis without a net”
equivalent of the Japanese haiku, but this is totally wrong. Tanaga is a poem composed of four The line break
lines with each line having seven syllables, written in aaaa or aabb, abba, or abab rhyming  A line break is the place where a line of poetry end, unguided by traditional punctuation
pattern. Tanaga have no titles. conventions.
 Line breaks are important in poetry because they so often introduce ambiguity and
Below is an example of a tanaga. affect meaning.
 Poets use line breaks to lead readers into multiple understandings and surprising
bango ay todo bigay ideas, as well as to control the flow at which day encounter ideas and images.
rosas siyang donselya Enjambment
tinik na kapamilya  Derived from the French word enjambment, means to step over, or straddle
hindi man lang mapugay something.
 Enjambment is continuing a line after the line breaks. Whereas many poems and lines
living life at full pelt with the natural pause at the end of a phrase or with punctuation as end-stopped lines.
she is a rose so pure  Enjambment ends a line in the middle of a phrase, allowing it to continue onto the next
yet her own prickles line as an enjambed line.
she just overlooks

Diona is a pre-Hispanic rhyming poem of three lines with seven syllables in each line
expressing a complete thought. THE ELEMENTS OF POETRY

isang mapulang apol The basic elements of poetry include the speaker, content, theme, shape and form, mood or
sa’yo lagi kong ungol tone, imagery, diction, figurative language and sound-effect devices.
na ayaw kong pumatol
SPEAKER is the person who is addressing the reader. Sometimes, the speaker is the poet, b. Prose Poetry
who addresses the reader directly or another person.
Introduction to Prose Poetry (https://study.com/academy/lesson/prose-poems-definition-famous-examples.html)
CONTENT is the subject of the poem. It answers the question “what?” A prose poem, also known as prose poetry, is an example of a hybrid genre of writing. Prose
poems occur when someone writes prose using poetry techniques.
THEME is the meaning of the poem- the main idea that the poet is trying to communicate. Prose Poems Defined
Before we can understand what prose poems are, it's important to understand the genres of
SHAPE and FORM prose and poetry independently. Prose is anything written down that does not possess any
Basically, the actual shape and form of poem can vary dramatically from poem to poetic meter. Well, that's an easy enough definition, but what is meter exactly?
poem. In potry, you will encounter two forms: structured and free verse.
Poetic meter is the rhythm of a poem. Whether you've heard any of Shakespeare's famous
MOOD or TONE is the feeling that the poet creates and that the reader senses through the sonnets or the latest hip-hop song burning up the charts, chances are that you've noticed that
poet”s choice of words, rhythm, rhyme, style and structure. many poems or songs have a certain rhythm to them. This rhythm is based on different factors,
including the syllables per line and what syllables are naturally emphasized or stressed if
IMAGERY refers to the “pictures” which we perceive with our mind’s eyes, ears, nose, tongue, someone were to read the poem out loud.
skin, and through which we experience the “duplicate world” created by poetic language.
There is more to poetry than poetic meter, of course. Poems are often image-driven and
OTHER EXPERIMENTAL TEXT emphasize visual descriptions, including metaphors, while prose tends to focus on aspects
1. Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written such as narrative, characters, and plot arc. In addition, poems also play with the sound of
language using repetition and rhyming.
language legible, readable, and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type
involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing (leading), To rephrase that: prose contains narrative and does not follow any set rhythm, while poetry is
and letter-spacing (tracking), and adjusting the space between pairs of letters rhythmic and image-based. So, what is prose poetry then? It's quite simple. Prose poetry is
(kerning). The term typography is also applied to the style, arrangement, and anything that combines these elements into a single piece of writing! If you want a stricter
appearance of the letters, numbers, and symbols created by the process. Type definition, prose poetry is poetry that is not written in verse and contains other poetic attributes,
design is a closely related craft, sometimes considered part of typography; most such as rhythm and metaphors.
typographers do not design typefaces, and some type designers do not consider
themselves typographers. Typography also may be used as a decorative device, Characteristics of Prose, Poetry & Prose Poetry
unrelated to communication of information. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typography Prose:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sByzHoiYFX0 • Written in paragraphs
• Tells a story rather than describes an image or metaphor
2. Genre Crossing Texts • Generally has characters and a plot
a. Performance poetry is poetry that is specifically composed for or Poetry:
during a performance before an audience. During the 1980s, the • Written in verse
term[1] came into popular usage to describe poetry written or • Written in poetic meter
composed for performance rather than print distribution, mostly open • Focuses on image-driven metaphors
to improvisation. • Might have a narrative, but it might not or it might be harder to understand
View: Prose poetry:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMp0D5-glz8 • Looks like prose (written in paragraphs)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glsynDRsT8Y • Focuses on images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmXj-ANgLKo • Includes instances of poetic meter
• Contains language play, such as repetition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppwowTJg0mI
Example of Prose Poems 5. Use Metaphor or Simile
Use metaphor or simile to bring imagery and concrete words to your writing.
An example of a prose poem written by Gary Young, Poet Laureate of Santa Cruz county, is
6. Use concrete words instead of abstract words
called 'I discovered a journal'.
Concrete words describe things that people experience with their senses.
'I discovered a journal in the children's ward, and read, I'm a mother, my little boy has cancer. • Orange Warm Cat
Further on, a girl has written, this is my nineteenth operation. She says, sometimes it's easier Abstract words refer to concepts or feelings.
to write than to talk, and I'm so afraid. She's offered me a page in the book. My son is • Liberty Love Happy
sleeping in the room next door. This afternoon, I held my whole weight to his body while a 7. Communicate Theme
doctor drove needles deep into his leg. My son screamed, Daddy, they're hurting me, don't let Poetry has a theme. Theme is not just a topic, but an idea with opinion. This
them hurt me, make them stop. I want to write, how brave you are, but I need a little courage also sows what the poet thinks about a given event. The poet must strive to
of my own, so I write, forgive me, I know I let them hurt you, please don't worry. If I have to, I show the reader his/her theme during the entire poem, making use of literary
can do it again.' techniques.
8. Subvert the ordinary
The prose poem looks, at first glance, like prose. But unlike prose, it resists conventional Poet’s strength is the ability to see what other people see every day in a new
narrative or character. The voice of the speaker is never elaborated on (except that he is a way. You don’t have to be special or a literary genius to write good poems-
father). The poem defies easy interpretation, due to multiple pronouns that are not clarified, in all you have to do is take an ordinary object, place, person, or idea, and come
addition to raising the question of whose journal it is. If you read the prose poem out loud, you up with a new perception of it.
can hear the rhythm that the prose poem contains. It's not as clear-cut as a traditional poem,
since it is a prose poem, but there is clearly a consideration to each word and sentence the 9. Rhyme with extreme caution
writer chose. Rhyme and meter (the pattern of stressed and unstressed words) can be
dangerous if used the wrong way. Remember sing-song nursery rhymes? If
you choose a rhyme scheme that makes your poem sound sing-song, it will
INNOVATIVE TECHNIQUES IN WRITING POETRY detract from the quality of your poem.
10. Revise, revise, revise
1. Know your goal The first completed draft of your poem is only the beginning. Poets often go
You need to know what you are trying to accomplish before you begin any through several drafts of a poem before considering the work “done.”
project. Writing a poem is no exemption. 11. Tricks with language
Repeating a word or phrase to emphasize its importance/ create a regular
2. Avoid clichés rhythm.
A work full of clichés is like a plate of old food: unappetizing. 12. Use personification
Describe an object/ idea as though it were alive. Giving it human qualities.
3. Avoid Sentimentality
13. Use the idea of “contrast”
When readers have the feeling that emotions like rage or indignation have
The poets place two different things side by side to emphasize something
been pushed artificially for their own sake, they will not take the poem
important towards the subject.
seriously.
14. Use symbolism
4. Use Images It is a word that becomes a sign of something other than simply itself. This is
Poetry should stimulate six senses: a powerful device because it encourages the reader to read deeper layers of
• Sight > Hearing meaning into poem.
15. Ambiguity
• Smell >Touch
This is where words/ sentences have more than one meaning/ are open to
• Taste >Motion
numerous interpretations.