Reading and

Writing Poetry
Ernesto Cordero Collo, Jr.
Lecturer
POETRY is the
LANGUAGE OF
THE HEART.
 2. Elements of the Genre
A. Essential elements
A.1. Theme gives the underlying truth about people,
society, or the human condition, either explicitly or
implicitly (Lukens, 2007).
Theme is NOT:
(a) expressed in a single word; (b) the purpose of a
work; (c) the moral; and (d) the conflict
A. Essential Element

A.2. Tone
It is the attitude or approach
that the author takes toward
the work’s central theme or
subject.
B. Elements for specific forms
B.1. Conventional forms
 TANAGA (is a type of Filipino poem following a
7-7-7-7 syllabic verse)
“Pagbabalik”
by Rio Alma
Umaawit ang hangin,
Sumasayaw ang saging;
Alam nila, marahil,
Na ikaw ay darating.
B. Elements for specific forms

 DIONA (a pre-Hispanic rhyming poem of

three lines with seven syllables in each line)
by Ernesto Santiago
isang mapulang apol
sa’yo lagi kong ungol
na ayaw kong pumatol
B. Elements for specific forms

 HAIKU
This writing in the Philippines can be traced back to the
influence of the Japanese occupation from 1941–1945.
“Tutubi”
by Gonzalo K. Flores
hila mo’y tabak…
ang bulaklak, nanginig!
sa paglapit mo.
B. Elements for specific forms Haiku

Sky's painted it blue

on a spring in Hokkaido
when flowers brim, bloom.
B. Elements for specific forms Haiku
B. Elements for specific forms

 SONNET
It is a one-stanza poem of fourteen lines written
in iambic pentameter.
It is a popular classical form that has compelled
poets for centuries.
(Mabillard, Amanda. Shakespearean Sonnet Basics: Iambic Pentameter and the English Sonnet Style. Shakespeare Online. 30 Aug.
2000. http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/sonnetstyle.html)
B. Elements for specific forms
Sonnet
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
(a) Ye ladies, walking past me piteous-
eyed,
(b) Who is the lady that lies prostrate here?
(b) Can this be even she my heart holds
dear?
(a) Nay, if it be so, speak, and nothing hide.
(a) Her very aspect seems itself beside,
(b) And all her features of such altered
cheer
(b) That to my thinking they do not appear
(a) Hers who makes others seem beatified.
Petrarchan Sonnet
(c) ‘If thou forget to know our lady thus,
(d) Whom grief o'ercomes, we wonder in no
wise,
(c) For also the same thing befalleth us,
(d) Yet if thou watch the movement of her
eyes,
(c) Of her thou shalt be straightaway
conscious.
(d) O weep no more; thou art all wan with
sighs.
(Trans. D.G. Rossetti)
B. Elements for specific forms Shakespearean Sonnet
Sonnet 130

(a) My Mistress' eyes are nothing like the

sun;
(b) Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
(a) If snow be white, why then her breasts are
dun;
(b) If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her
head.
(e) I love to hear her speak; yet well I know
(f) That music hath a far more pleasing
sound
(e) I grant I never saw a goddess go;
(f) My mistress, when she walks, treads on
the ground

(c) I have seen roses damasked, red and (g) Any yet, by heaven, I think my love as
white, rare
(d) But no such roses see I in her cheeks; (g) As any she belied with false compare.
(c) And in some perfumes is there more
delight
(d) There in the breath that from my mistress
reeks.
B. Elements for specific forms

 Rhyme and Meter

English poetry employs five basic rhythms of
varying stressed (/) and unstressed (x) syllables.
The meters are iambs, trochees, spondees,
anapests and dactyls.
Sites, M. Retrieved at: http://www.rc.umd.edu/sites/default/RCOldSite/www/rchs/sonnet.htm
http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/meter.html
B. Elements for specific forms Rhyme and Meter

Meters with two-syllable feet are:

IAMBIC (x /) : That time of year thou mayst in me behold
TROCHAIC (/ x): Tell me not in mournful numbers
SPONDAIC (/ /): Break, break, break/ On thy cold gray
stones, O Sea!
Meters with three-syllable feet are:
ANAPESTIC (x x /): And the sound of a voice that is still
DACTYLIC (/ x x): This is the forest primeval, the murmuring
pines and the hemlock
B. Elements for specific forms

 Metaphor
It makes an implicit, implied or hidden comparison
between two things that are unrelated but share
some common characteristics.
Examples:

Jesse is the black sheep in the family.

Her voice is music to his ears.
B. Elements for specific forms

B.2. Free verse

Free verse is an open form of poetry. It does not use
consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any other musical
pattern. Many poems composed in free verse thus tend
to follow the rhythm of natural speech.

Walt Whitman's work breaks the boundaries of poetic

form and is generally prose-like.
B. Elements for specific forms Free Verse

Line Break & Enjambments

(it is the continuation of a sentence or clause over a line-break)
Examples:
“Old Age Sticks” by E.E. Cummings
“Don't Ask Me, Love, for That First Love” by Mimi Khatvila
Don't think I haven't changed. Who said
absence makes the heart grow fonder?
Though I watch the sunset redden
every day, days don't grow longer.
There are many kinds of silence,
none more radiant than the sun's.
Sun is silent in our presence,
unlike love, silent when it's gone.
B. Elements for specific forms

B.3. Purple prose/poetry

It is a prose text credited to Roman poet Horace
that is so extravagant, ornate, or flowery as to
break the flow and draw excessive attention to
itself.
Purple prose is characterized by the excessive
use of adjectives, adverbs, and metaphors.
B. Elements for specific forms

B.4. Haibun
It is a literary form originating in Japan, combining
prose and haiku.
The range of haibun is broad and frequently includes
autobiography, diary, essay, prose poem, short story,
and travel journal.
C. Other experimental texts
C.1. Typography
Typography has been used for thousands of years to
elucidate and expand upon the narrative of a literary text.
From the "shape poems" of the ancient Greeks and the
Elizabethans to the well-known playfulness of E.E.
Cummings, how a text looks has been as important as what
it "means."
Rossa, J. 2007. Avant-garde Typhography in Literature
B. Elements for specific forms Free Verse

l (a E. E. Cummings
l(a (1894-1962)
le
af
fa

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one
l

iness
C. Other experimental texts

C.2. genre-crossing (or hybrid genre)
It is a genre in fiction that blends
themes and elements from two or more different
genres.
It is a technique to break the monotony of a genre
and experiment on combinations of genres to
produce an equally interesting piece.
C. Other experimental texts

Some Common Types of Prose

Nonfictional Prose: mainly based on fact although it may contain
fictional elements in certain cases.
Fictional Prose: wholly or partly imagined or theoretical.
Heroic Prose: written down or recited and employs many of the
formulaic expressions found in oral tradition.
PROSE POETRY: A literary work which exhibits
poetic quality using emotional effects and heightened
imagery but are written in prose instead of verse but
preserving poetic qualities.
C. Other experimental texts

Spoken word is a performance art that is word based.

It is an oral art that focuses on the aesthetics of word
play and intonation and voice inflection.
It covers poetry slams, poetry readings, and prose
monologues.
Example:

Mga Basang Unan by Juan Miguel Severo

SAMPLE WORKS
of Well-known Local & Foreign Writers

One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII/I Do

Not Love You Except Because I Love You
by Pablo Neruda
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
Don't Ask Me, Love, For That First Love
by Mimi Khalvati
Contemporary Poetry
Contemporary Poetry