Poetry Part 3

Review:
1. Content: Subject, Theme
2. Form: Structure (Poetry Part 2)
3. Literary devices: Poetic devices

Poetic Devices
- essential tools that a poet uses to create rhythm, enhance a poem's meaning, or intensify a mood
or feeling.
- deliberate use of words, phrases, sounds, and even shapes to convey meaning.
- generally used to heighten the literal meaning of words by considering sound, form, and function.
*some of these devices have already been mentioned in previous notes and discussions like imagery,
alliteration, rhyme, rhythm

Poetic devices infuse literal meanings (what words actually say) with figurative meanings (implications,
unexpected connotations, and so on).
Example:
My luve* is like a red, red rose
(note the repetition of the word red)
meaning: the rose is at its most vibrant color in full bloom. So the persona (the one speaking in the
poem) is saying that his love is at its fullest.
*not a typo error, it really is spelled that way in the poem

A poetic devices effects any of the following:

 Rhetoric: Persuading someone to feel or do something
 Prosodic: Creating a sound or rhythm
 Semantic: Establishing a meaning
 Aesthetic: Creating beauty

We are going to discuss only a few of these poetic devices.

1. Repetition - in prose or poetry, repetition indicates that something is important. Repetition also
makes something stick to the mind. Sometimes, repetition also provides rhythm to the verses.
Examples:
i.
'Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play
And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate
Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake
I shake it off, I shake it off (Whoo-hoo-hoo)
Heartbreakers gonna break, break, break, break, break
And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake
Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake
I shake it off, I shake it off (Whoo-hoo-hoo)
(Shake It Off, Songwriters: Max Martin / Schuster Johan Karl/Taylor Swift)

Now, try reciting or singing it without the repetition, and it won’t sound the same.

ii. In "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe. There are 18 stanzas. The last 11 stanzas end with the
same word, "Nevermore"

2. Rhyme - the sound of language. A sort of repetition, that again lends rhythm and cadence to
the lines of poetry. There are two kinds:
End rhymes: the most familiar, refers to the repetition of sound at the end of every line

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Internal rhyme: repetition of sound within the line.

Let us take "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe as an example, since it has both end rhymes and internal
rhymes, and repetition of words too. We will look at the first 2 stanzas only

The Raven
BY EDGAR ALLAN POE
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more.”

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;

And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore—
Nameless here for evermore.

3. Enjambment
Moving over from one line to another without a terminating punctuation mark. It can be defined as a
thought or sense, phrase or clause, in a line of poetry that does not come to an end at the line break,
but moves over to the next line. This is a trick that makes it seem like the poem has a very fast pace;
and it enables a poet to express multiple ideas without punctuation in between.
Simply put, enjambment is the continuation of the thought in the next line; unlike the expectation
that every live expresses a though.

Example:
[I Carry Your Heart with Me (i carry it in]
by E. E. Cummings

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in here is an example of an enjambment:

my heart) i am never without it(anywhere the last phrase of the first line is
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done continued in the second line
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

*this is e.e. cummings' style - poems in all small letters, no capitalizations

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4. Hyperbole
- The use of over-exaggeration to create emphasis or humor. It’s not intended to be taken literally.
Like when one says, "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse". It's just an exaggerated way of saying that
one is very hungry.
Hyperbole helps express ever-lasting love, a broken heart, or feelings of despair in an amplified tone.
Examples:
i.
I would walk 500 miles, And I would walk 500 more, Just to be the man who walked 1,000
miles to fall down at your door.
-The Proclaimers, “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”

ii.
The Tantrum Felt Round the World
by Kelly Roper
When little Janie's mother told her, "No more ice cream,"
Janie's face turned red, and her ears began to steam.
Her body trembled harder than a huge earthquake,
And when she opened up her mouth, let there be no mistake,
She let out the most terrifying, awful shrieking scream,
The likes of which a million banshees only dared to dream.
The vibrations from this tantrum could be felt across the ground,
They shook the entire U.S. and then they traveled the whole world round.
Her hellish scream traveled on the winds to places far and wide,
And no one could escape it; there was nowhere they could hide.
But Janie's mother wasn't impressed with this kind of behavior.
She grounded Janie for three weeks and refused to relent or waiver.

5. Onomatopoeia
- the phonetic pronunciation and sound of a word is parallel to the word's actual meaning
- like when we refer to the sound a cat makes "meow" of that of a dog "bark" -> the words used to
describe sound like the word they are describing. Crunch, twang, buzz, moo, hiss, pow, bang are a few
more examples.
- use in poetry: in addition to well-known onomatopoeic words, it also encompasses strings of
words that together produce an associated sound effect.
examples:
i.
Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven (see previous page)
you have the words tapping, rapping

ii.
Here's another Edgar Allan Poe example: (excerpt from "The Bells")
Oh, the bells, bells, bells!
What a tale their terror tells
Of Despair!
How they clang, and clash, and roar!
What a horror they outpour
On the bosom of the palpitating air!
Yet the ear it fully knows,
By the twanging,
And the clanging,
How the danger ebbs and flows;
Yet the ear distinctly tells,
In the jangling,
And the wrangling.

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ii.

Swish Went the Fish

By Kelly Roper

Swish, swish, swish,

Went the little goldfish
As he swam around his bowl.

Splash, splish, splash

Went his fancy little tail
Because he was a happy little soul.

Glub, glub, glub

Went the bubbles he blew
As they floated up to the top.

Smack, smack, smack

Went his tiny fishy lips
As he ate his flakes without a stop.

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