English Department

Even Semester 2022

Universitas Negeri Semarang
The topic discusses some major elements in poetry,
namely ‘word’ and ‘word order’. The term ‘word’ in poetry
refers to the basic property of poetry. The ‘word’ can have a
denotative and connotative meaning. Therefore, this
corresponds with diction that the topic of the previous
week discussed. The discussion also includes word order or
the arrangement of words into lines and then lines into
stanzas. This word order corresponds with typography or
the arrangement of lines and stanzas into certain patterns.
For instance, classic poetry of the Romantic British and
American poets tend to use close form or regular poetic
pattern. Meanwhile, modern and contemporary poetry use
open form or poems without regular or rhythmic pattern.
1. The students are expected to be able to understand
the terms word and word order in a poetic text.
2. The students are expected to be able to identify
denotative and connotative meaning of words used in
the text.
3. The students are expected to be able to correctly
give examples of the denotative and connotative
meaning of words in the poem(s).
4. The students are expected to be able to identify the
word order of the poem through the grouping of the
words into lines, stanzas, and metrical pattern.
The average word has three components: sound, denotation, and
connotation.
Denotation is the dictionary meaning or meanings of the word.
For instance, the word ‘spring’ has various meanings, such as
(1) a pounce or leap, (2) a season of the year, (3) a natural
source of water, (4) a coiled elastic wire, etc.
Connotation is what a word suggests beyond what it expresses
or its overtones of meaning. For instance, the word ‘home’, by
denotation it only means a place where one lives, while by
connotation, this word suggests “security, love, comfort, and
family” (Perrine & Arp 37).
In poetic language, denotation also means a literal meaning,
while connotation refers to a figurative meaning.
 Oneresponds to things around his/her life through
one’s senses. For instance, during a summertime,
he/she feels certain emotions stirred by the
scorching weather or the dry and dusty air.

 Various emotions that he/she feels might be “a

cluster of sense impressions” such as “seeing a
mountain scenery, hearing sparrows chirping on
the trees, smelling fragrant chrysanthemum, and
feeling the sizzling heat of the summer day.
 Imagery is defined as “the representation of
any object through language of sense
experience” (Perrine & Arp 49).
 This term also suggests “words that appeal to

human’s senses” of his surroundings.

 This comes from the word “image” that means

“a mental picture, or something one sees in

his/her mind’s eye (ibid., 49).
1.Visual Imagery is “the kind of imagery that
appeals to one’s sense of sight”.
2.Auditory Imagery is “the imagery that
appeals to one’s sense of hearing”.
3.Olfactory Imagery is “the imagery that
appeals to one’s sense of smelling”.
4.Gustatory Imagery is “the imagery that
appeals to one’s sense of taste”.
5. Tactile Imagery is “the imagery that appeals to
one’s sense of touch”.
6. Organic Imagery is “the imagery that appeals
to one’s internal sensation, such as hunger, thirst,
fatique, or nausea”.
7. Kinesthetic Imagery is “the imagery that
appeals to one’s movement or tension in the muscles
or joints (Ibid., 49).
“Love seeketh not Itself to please,
“Nor for itself hath any care,
“But for another gives its ease,
“And builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair.

So sang a little Clod of Clay

Trodden with the cattle’s feet,
But a Pebble of the brook
Warbled out these metres meet:
“Love seeketh only Self to please,
“To bind another to Its delight,
“Joys in another’s loss of ease,
“And builds a Hell in Heaven’s despair?”
the back wings
of the

hospital where
nothing

will grow lie

cinders

in which shine
the broken

pieces of green
bottle
O generation of the thoroughly smug
and thoroughly uncomfortable,
I have seen fishermen picnicking in the sun,
I have seen them with untidy families,
I have seen their smiles full of teeth
and heard ungainly laughter.
And I am happier than you are,
And they were happier than I am;
And the fish swim in the lake
and do not even own clothing.
Tall nettles cover up, as they have done
These many springs, the rusty harrow, the plough
Long worn out, and the roller made of stone:
Only the elm butt tops the nettles now.

This corner of the farmyard I like most:

As well as any bloom upon a flower
I like the dust on the nettles, never lost
Except to prove the sweetness of a shower.
How doth the little busy Bee
Improve each shining Hour,
And gather Honey all the Day
From ev’ry op’ning Flow’r!

How skilfully she builds her Cell!

How neat she spreads the Wax!
And labours hard to store it well
With the sweet Food she makes.
In Works of Labour or of Skill
I would be busy too:
For Satan finds some Mischief still
For idle Hands to do.

In Books, or Work, or healthful Play,

Let my first Years be past,
That I may give for every Day
Some good Account at last.
The way to write about imageries in a poem is as follows:
‘deer’, ‘doe’ (1.3) appeal to visual imagery/sense of

sight
‘clank’, ‘whir’ (2.3) appeal to auditory imagery/sense

of hearing (onomatopoeia)
‘fluttering’, ‘drooping’ , ‘whirl’ (3.4) appeal to

kinesthetic imagery/sense of kinesis

‘rough’, ‘silky’, ‘velvety’ (4.1) appeal to tactile

imagery/sense of touch
1. Read one of these following poems “The Clod & the
Pebble”; “Tall Nettles” & ”Against Idleness and
Mischief”. Identify its denotation and connotation.
2. What imageries can you identify in the poem? Give
examples.
3. Which imageries attract you more? Why? Explain in
brief.
4. What does the poem tell about? What is the literal &
figurative meaning of the poem?
Answer the questions and submit your work on
Tuesday, 15 March 2022 via google drive.