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Elements of Poetry

Ayu Pradhitiyaningrum

5190511003

Class B

University of Technology Yogyakarta

Faculty of humanities and business

English literature

2021

Contents
PREFACE..............................................................................................................................3

CHAPTER 1...........................................................................................................................4

1.1. BACKGROUND OF PAPER.................................................................................4

1.2. PURPOSE...............................................................................................................4

1.3. BENEFIT................................................................................................................4

CHAPTER 2...........................................................................................................................5
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2.1 DEFINITION OF POETRY............................................................................................5

2.2 POETRY STRUCTURE..................................................................................................5

2.3 ELEMENTS OF POETRY.............................................................................................6

2.3.1 INTRINSIC ELEMENTS..............................................................................................7

2.3.2EXTRINSIC ELEMENTS...........................................................................................13

CHAPTER 3.........................................................................................................................15

3.1 CONCLUTION..............................................................................................................15

3.2 SUGESTION..................................................................................................................15

REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................16

Preface
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First of all, thanks to Allah SWT because of the help of Allah, writer finished writing the
paper entitled “Elements of poetry” right in the calculated time.
The purpose in writing this paper is to fulfill the assignment that given by Mr. Robertus
Bambang Edi Pramono as lecturer in poetry explication major. in arranging this paper, the writer
trully get lots challenges and obstructions but with help of many indiviuals, those obstructions
could passed. writer also realized there are still many mistakes in process of writing this paper.
Because of that, the writer says thank you to all individuals who helps in the process of
writing this paper. hopefully allah replies all helps and bless you all.the writer realized tha this
paper still imperfect in arrangment and the content.  then the writer hope the criticism from the
readers can help the writer in perfecting the next paper.last but not the least Hopefully, this paper
can helps the readers to gain more knowledge about poetry explication major.

                                      Yogyakarta, 10 October 2021

Author

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
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1.1. Background of the paper

When we discuss literature, it must be very closely related to poetry. Poetry itself has many
meanings, depending on the point of view of each person. In my opinion, poetry is a work that
consists of wordings whose purpose is to express the feelings of the performer by using rhyme
and rhythm so as to produce a beautiful and broadly meaningful reading.
Poetry itself emphasizes the beauty of the language used by the author or the poet. This view is
based on an assumption that the hallmark of literature is the use of beautiful language. To better
understand what poetry is, the first thing we must know is the meaning of poetry and the structu
re of poetry itself.
1.2. Purpose
To find out the intrinsic and extrinsic elements in poetry.
1.3. Benefit
So that people who read will better understand the elements in a poetry.

CHAPTER 2
DISCUSSION
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2.1 Defenition of Poetry

Poetry is a literary work that uses words, rhymes and rhythms as a medium of delivery to pr
oduce expression, illusion and imagination. Poetry is a piece of writing using beautiful or unus
ual language arranged in fixed lines that have a particular beat and often rhyme. Poetry is able t
o attract attention because of its poetic words.

2.2 Structure Poetry

 Lyric poetry concerns itself largely with the emotional life of the poet, that is, it’s written in thei
r voice and expresses strong thoughts and emotions. There is only one voice in a lyric poem and
we see the world from that single perspective. Most modern poetry is lyric poetry in that it is pe
rsonal and introspective.
 Narrative Poetry
As its name implies, narrative poetry is concerned with storytelling. Just as in a prose story, a na
rrative poem will most likely follow the conventions of plot including elements such as conflict,
rising action, climax, resolution etc. Again, as in prose stories, narrative poems will most likely
be peopled with characters to perform the actions of the tale.
 Descriptive Poetry
Descriptive poetry usually employs lots of rich imagery to describe the world around the poet.
While it most often has a single poetic voice and strong emotional content, descriptive poetry di
ffers from lyric poetry in that its focus is more on the externalities of the world, rather than the i
nterior life of the poet.

2.3 Elements of Poetry

Poetry is indeed an important element in a poem. These elements of poetry will shape the p
oem into a work that has a certain impression and meaning. There are two kinds of poetry elem
ents, namely intrinsic and extrinsic elements.
2.3.1 Intrinsic Elements
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Intrinsic element of poetry is an element contained in a poetry, which is used by

analysts in studying and understanding the meaning of a poem. There are several
intrinsic elements in poetry:
 Imagery

Imagery is sense of language experience, as a representation of some meaning,

so the reader can be imagine of the poetry base on the writer mean.
a. Visual Imagery
Visual imagery is the imagery that can be gained from the experience of
the senses of sight (eyes). Example :
Elizabeth Bishop's poem titled "The Fish":
Here and there
His brown skin hung in strips
Like ancient wall-paper,
And its pattern of darker brown
Was like wall-paper:
Shapes like full-blown roses
Strained and lost through age.
He was speckled with barnacles,
Fine rosettes of lime,
And infested
With tiny white sea-lice,
And underneath two or three
Rags of green weed hung down. (9-21).

b. Kinesthetic Imagery
Kinesthetic imagery is the imagery produced from an experience that
form of movement.
c. Auditory Imagery
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Auditory imagery is the element of imagery associated with the sense of

hearing. Example :

The sound must seem an echo to the sense:

Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently bows,

And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flow;

But when the loud surges lash the sounding shore

The hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent roar. (365-69)

d. Organic Imagery
Organic imagery is the imagery that emerged from our minds. Organic
imagery can be seen in the disclosure of feelings such as hunger, thirst,
fatigue, drunkenness, etc.
e. Tactile Imagery
Imagery is directly related to our sense of touch. Tactile imagery can be
seen from the description of feelings such as feeling hot, cold, smooth,
rough, and anything that can be felt to be touched. Example :
The word plum is delicious
pout and push, luxury of
self-love, and savoring murmur
full in the mouth and falling
like fruit
taut skin
pierced, bitten, provoked into
juice, and tart flesh. (1-8).

f. Gustatory Imagery
Gustatory imagery is imagery that portrayed the experience of our sense
of taste, a taste of thing. Things like sweet, bitter, sour, tasteless are some
examples of words that indicate gustatory imagery
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g. Olfactory Imagery
Olfactory imagery is the imagery associated with our sense of smell, a
smell of thing. Things that can be described based on the experience of
smell from your nose is an example of olfactory imagery, such as for
example: the smell fragrant, smells fishy, etc. Example :
"Root Cellar," by Theodore Roethke:
And what a congress of stinks!— Roots ripe as old bait,
Pulpy stems, rank, silo-rich,
Leaf-mold, manure, lime, piled against slippery planks.
Nothing would give up life:
Even the dirt kept breathing a small breath. (5-11).

 Style of language (Figure of language)

There are several kinds of figure of speech that are commonly seen in a
poetry
a. Simile
Simile is a figure of speech which is formed from which we
make comparisons between a thing with another thing which is
basically similar. Simile is the rhetorical term used to designate the
most elementary form of resemblances: most similes are introduced
by "like" or "as." These comparisons are usually between dissimilar
situations or objects that have something in common, such as "My
love is like a red, red rose."
b. Metaphor
Metaphors make comparisons between things by stating that
one thing literally is something else. Metaphors are used to bring
clarity to ideas by forming connections. Often, metaphors reveal
implicit similarities between two things or concepts. Example : 
She’s an old flame
Time is money
Life is a rollercoaster
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c. Synecdoche 
Synechoche is a form of metaphor, which in mentioning an
important (and attached) part signifies the whole (e.g. "hands" for
labour).
d. Irony
Irony is a figure of speech which features an Opposition of the
meaning of the word. There are three forms of irony "there remains,
namely: verbal irony" there remains, dramatic irony "there remains
and the Irony of situation.
- Paradox: usually a literal contradiction of terms or situations -
e.g. "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than
others!"
- Situational Irony: when a situation in life or a story is
incongruent - e.g. a firehall burns down
- Dramatic Irony: audience has more information or greater
perspective than the characters
- Verbal Irony: saying one thing but meaning another
 Overstatement (hyperbole)
 Understatement (meiosis)
 Sarcasm.

Irony may be a positive or negative force. It is most

valuable as a mode of perception that assists the poet to see
around and behind opposed attitudes, and to see the often
conflicting interpretations that come from our examination of
life. 

 Metonymy 
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Metonymy is similar to synecdoche; it's a form of metaphor allowing an object closely

associated (but unattached) with a object or situation to stand for the thing itself (e.g. the
crown or throne for a king or the bench for the judicial system.
 Symbol
Symbol is like a simile or metaphor with the first term left out. "My love is like a red, red
rose" is a simile. If, through persistent identification of the rose with the beloved woman,
we may come to associate the rose with her and her particular virtues. At this point, the rose
would become a symbol.
 Allegory 
Allegory can be defined as a one to one correspondence between a series of abstract ideas
and a series of images or pictures presented in the form of a story or a narrative. Example :
George Orwell's Animal Farm is an extended allegory that represents the Russian
Revolution through a fable of a farm and its rebellious animals
 Personification
Personification is a particular type of metaphor where a non-human thing or idea is ascribed
human qualities or abilities. This can be in the form of a single phrase or line, or extended
in the form of a stanza or the whole poetry. Example:
The moon was shining sulkily,
Because she thought the sun
Had got no business to be there
After the day was done –
“It’s very rude of him,” she said,
“To come and spoil the fun.”

[From the Walrus and the Carpenter by Lewis Carroll]

 Rhyme
Rhyme refers to the repetition of sounds in a poem. Various types of rhyme are possible, however
in English we usually use the term rhyme to refer to the repetition of the final sounds in a line,
or end rhyme. Letters are often used to denote a rhyme scheme. A new letter is ascribed to each of
the different sounds. For example, in the following example the rhyme scheme is described as
ABAB. Example: From Neither Out Far Nor In Deep by Robert Frost
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The people along the sand

All turn and look one way.
They turn their back on the land.
They look at the sea all day.

 Rhythm
Rhythm in poetry involves sound patterning. A lot of classical poetry conforms to a systematic
regularity of rhythm which is referred to as the poem’s meter. This involves the combining of
stressed and unstressed syllables to create a constant beat pattern that. Example :
Trochee trips from long to short;
From long to long in solemn sort
Slow Spondee stalks; strong foot yet ill able
Ever to come up with Dactylic trisyllable.
Iambics march from short to long –
With a leap and a bound the swift Anapests throng.
-Samuel Taylor Coleridge-
 Diction
Diction is 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 - its definition according to the dictionary and its connotation - the
emotions, thoughts and ideas associated with and evoked by the word.
 Alliteration
This device involves the repetition of the initial consonant sound of a series of words, often
consecutively. Alliteration is most easily explained to students through looking at a few
simple tongue twisters, such as Peter Piper or She Sells Seashells. Example:
Betty Botter bought a bit of butter
But, the bit of butter Betty Botter bought was bitter
So Betty Botter bought a better bit of butter.
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 Assonance
Similarly to alliteration, assonance involves the repetition of sounds in a series of
words, often consecutive words. However, rather than repeating the initial sounds,
assonance focuses on the internal vowel sounds that are repeated. We can find many
examples of assonance in poetry and song. Here’s an example from the poetry of
Edgar Allen Poe: Hear the mellow wedding bells
Hear the mellow wedding bells,
Golden bells!
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!
Through the balmy air of night
How they ring out their delight!
From the molten-golden notes,
And all in tune,
What a liquid ditty floats
To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats
On the moon!
Oh, from out the sounding cells,
What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
How it swells!
How it dwells
On the Future! how it tells
Of the rapture that impels
To the swinging and the ringing
Of the bells, bells, bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells—
To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!
 Consonance
Consonance is the consonant-focused counterpart to assonance. It involves the
repetition of consonant sounds in the middle or at the end of words, as distinguished
from alliteration where the initial sound is repeated. Example: 
- The crow struck through the thick cloud like a rocket
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 Typography
Typography or figuration is a form of poetry that is filled with words, left and right
edges and has no line arrangement. Usually, a line of poetry does not always start
with a capital letter and does not end with a period.

 Inner Element :
The inner element is an element related to feelings in reading poetry.
o Theme

The theme is the most important part of a poem because it relates to the meani
ng of the content of the poem. which is usually the basis and main idea of the c
ontent of the poem.
o Feeling
Feeling in poetry is the attitude of the poet towards the subject matter containe
d in the poem. Disclosure of themes and feelings is closely related to the social
background, experience, and psychology of the poet.
o Tone
The tone relates to the theme and feeling that the poet conveys to the reader, it
can be in a tone of patronizing, dictating, arrogant, high-pitched or as if wantin
g to cooperate with the reader.
o Message
In poetry, the message or purpose is the message contained in a poem. The me
ssage can be found by interpreting the poem directly or indirectly.

2.3.2 Extrinsic Elements

Poetry extrinsic elements are elements that are outside the manuscript poems.
Can be derived from the inner poet or writer tempai environment that poetry
writing poetry. Here are the types of extrinsic elements of poetry :
1. Biographical Elements
The biographical element is the background element or the author's life exper
ience that has a major influence on the author's work.
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2. Elements of Value
In poetry always contains elements of the values contained in it. Elements of
value in poetry can be in the form of values in the fields of economy, politics,
culture, social, education and others.
3. Elements of society
Elements of society are the social conditions and situations when this poem w
as made. Elements of society can be in the form of environmental conditions t
o the political situation of a country concerned.
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CHAPTER 3
CLOSING

3.1 Conclution
Poetry is a work of art that can express something that is in the heart and
feelings of a author.

3.2 Suggestion
1. The reader should be able to understand more deeply about the old poetry.
2. Readers should be able to develop literature as a medium for developing talent
and creativity.
3. It should be able to revive this literature in Indonesia and in the eyes of the
world.
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References

https://literacyideas.com/elements-of-poetry/
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/writing_abo
ut_poetry.html
https://www.academia.edu/14725230/BASIC_ELEMENTS_OF_POETRY