POETRY

FORMS &
ELEMENTS
Poetry
a form of literary art which
uses aesthetic and rhythmic
(sound) qualities of language
to evoke meanings
(suggestive or literal) through
the use of verses.
Elements of Poetry
• Cadence: natural and
rhythmic rise and fall for
normal speech caused by
the alteration of accented
and unaccented syllables
Elements of Poetry
• Meter: the
pattern of
stressed
and
unstressed
syllables in
poetry
Elements of Poetry
• Foot: Unit of meter with two
or three syllables of which
one is usually stressed.
Elements of Poetry
Elements of Poetry
Elements of Poetry
Elements of Poetry
Elements of Poetry
Elements of Poetry
One equal temper of heroic hearts
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield

-an example of iambic pentameter

*letters in bold are stressed

Elements of Poetry
• Feminine Ending: a final
unstressed syllable
appended to an iambic or
anapestic line

To be or not to be, that is the

question
Elements of Poetry
• Metrical lines
Elements of Poetry
• Stanza: division of poem
based on thought or form
Elements of Poetry
• Rhyme & Sound
 Rhymed Verse
 Free Verse
 End Rhyme
 Masculine Rhyme: one
syllable rhyme (spring, bring)
 Feminine Rhyme: two-syllable
rhyme (certain, waken)
Elements of Poetry
• Rhyme & Sound
 Assonance: repetition of a
vowel sound
 Consonance: repetition of a
consonant sound
 Onomatopoeia: word
imitation of natural sound
 Repetition: reiterating a word
or phrase in a poem
Elements of Poetry

• Scansion: the act of

scanning - the analysis of
meter and its variations in
poetry
Elements of Scansion
• We count the syllables in each line
• identify stressed and unstressed
syllables
• determine if the poem uses rhyme
• look for the use of stanzas
• Identify the use of traditional forms
Elements of Scansion
Elements of Scansion
count the syllables in each line
Elements of Scansion
identify stressed and unstressed syllables
Elements of Scansion
identify stressed and unstressed syllables
Elements of Scansion
determine if the poem uses rhyme
Elements of Scansion
determine if the poem uses rhyme
Elements of Scansion
determine if the poem uses rhyme
Elements of Scansion
determine if the poem uses rhyme
Elements of Scansion
determine if the poem uses rhyme
Forms of Poetry
• Acrostic: any poem in which the
first letter of each line forms a word or
words
Elements of Poetry
• Ideas
 Simile
 Metaphor
 Personification
 Hyperbole
 Symbol
 Voice
Forms of Poetry
• Ballad: form of folk poetry that
usually has 4 lines in each stanza,
alternating lines of iambic
(unstressed syllable followed by a
stress syllable) tetrameter (8
syllables) and trimester (6 syllables);
follows the a/b/c/b pattern in
rhyming
Forms of Poetry
Forms of Poetry
• Blank Verse: a poetry with no
set stanza, length and no
rhyme; a great deal of
greatest literature in English
has been written in this form;
pentameter lines (5 feet of
iambic syllables)
Forms of Poetry
Forms of Poetry
• Cinquain: American
poem influenced by the
Japanese Haiku and
tanka with 5 lines and 22
syllables long.
Forms of Poetry
Listen...
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break
from the trees
And fall.
Snow
Silent, white
Dancing, falling, drifting
Covering everything it touches
Blanket
Forms of Poetry
• Elegy: formal lament for the
death of a particular person
• Epic: A long narrative poem,
told in a formal, elevated
style, that focuses on a serious
subject and chronicles heroic
deeds and events important
to a culture or nation
Forms of Poetry
• Limerick: a short,
humorous form known for
its off-color statements.
It’s a five line poem with
meter and rhyme
Forms of Poetry
Forms of Poetry
• Ode: A relatively lengthy lyric
poem that often expresses
lofty emotions in a dignified
style; no specific/prescribed
pattern
• Sestina: complex form relying
on the repetition of end-words
Forms of Poetry
• Sonnet: consists of fourteen lines, usually
written in iambic pentameter (10 syllables
per lines with an alternating unstressed and
stressed syllable)
Italian Sonnet/Petrarchian Sonnet:
combination of octave (abbaabba pattern) +
sestet (cdecde or cdcdcd or cdccdc pattern)

English Sonnet/ Shakespearean Sonnet:

three quatrains (4 lines) and a couplet (2 lines)
with the pattern abab cdcd efef gg
Forms of Poetry
Forms of Poetry
Forms of Poetry
• Villanelle: a poem of heavy
repetition where entire lines
are repeated. 19 lines long, it
repeats not only lines but it
also rhymes

ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA

pattern
Forms of Poetry
 Famous
Poetry in
the World
CHINA – Classical Literature
• The Tang period witnessed the flourishing of
Chinese poetry with TuFu who was given the
title, god of Poetry. Tu Fu was the poet sage”
who was known more as an intellectual poet
with much restraint and refinement.
• Li Po, his friend also rose to fame with his
romantic lyrical poems, and was called “plot
fairy”
• Other poets contributed to the periods of the
great age of poetry were Po Chiu, Wang Wei,
and Wei Ying Wu.
CHINA – Ancient Literature

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20090529_Gre
at_Wall_8185.jpg

Chinese Ancient poetry is the largest and oldest collection

of poetry in the world. This offers a wide anthology of
verse which can be compared with Chinese paintings. The
poems are certainly like a panorama of Chinese rural
paintings having subjects such as cherry, bushes like
sentinels, soldiers marching to war, all put artistically in
picture-painting words with vivid imagery and clarity of
expression.
JAPAN – Poetry Forms

• Tanka (31-syllabled poem)

• Haiku (17-syllabled poem)

 JAPAN – The Haiku

• Haiki meaning “light-hearted” or “free verse”

became the stepping stone to haiku.

On a withered branch
A crow has settled –
autumn nightfall.

Matsuo Basho

http://www.i-to-i.com/tefl-blog/real-life-tefl-stories/teaching-english-japan-pauls-story/
JAPAN – The Haiku
• The haiku is a rimless, short 17-syllable
poem which is intended to express and
evoke emotion.

• It is shorter than the tanka, a short lyric

poem which expresses an impression in five
lines.
JAPAN – The Haiku
• free verse, Japanese haiku writers
alternated lines of 5-7-5 syllables in three
lines as rhythm to capture the highest
moments, emotion or impression.

• ‘Haiku’ is characterized with varying

qualities from shallow or deep; formal,
heavy, or flippant; humorous or sad;
religious or satirical.

• Matsuo Basho – greatest master of Haiku

TIPS IN WRITING POETRY

• Explore your surroundings

• Brainstorm ideas
• Play with structure
• Play with form
• Play with setting
TIPS IN WRITING POETRY

• Play with titles

• Play with literary devices
• Look inward
• Imitate poets