The 12 elements of poetry include structure, form, speaker, sound devices, figurative language, rhyme, meter, theme, tone, mood, syntax, and diction.

1. Module 3: Poetry and
Elements of Poetry
Mary Joy Baron
3rd Year BSED

2. Objectives: In this lesson
the students are expected
to:
A. define poetry;
B. identify the elements of
poetry; and
C. use selected elements of
poetry in short exercises.

3. Poetry
is that board genre of the literature
that is written in stanza form. It is
characterized by a regular rhythmic
pattern, rhyme, horizontal and/or
vertical measure, imagery, symbolism
and figurative language. These
elements make it distinct from prose
forms.

4. Poetic forms
are classified into narrative poems
(epic, ballad, metrical tale, and metrical
romance), lyric poems (ode, elegy,
hymn, psalm, sonnet, song, and simple
lyric), and dramatic
poems (tragedy, comedy, tragicomedy,
farce, historical play, religious, musical
play or opera, and melodrama).

5. Elements Of Poetry
RHYME
RHYTHM
HORIZONTAL MEASURE
VERTICAL MEASURE
OTHER ELEMENTS OF POETRY

6. RHYME:
refers to the presence of words
that have identical or similar
(approximate) final sounds; the
recurrence of the same final
sounds result in what is known as
rhyme pattern such as aabb
(star-are-high-sky), abab (star-
high-are-sky), or abba (star-
high-sky-are).

7. Internal rhyme The rhyme which exists within a line, as in
Francisco
Tonogbanua’s “Hermit’s Chant”
“In litanies of silentness”
Terminal rhyme The rhyme which exists at the end of lines, as in Jose
Garcia
Villa’s “God Said, ‘I Made a Man’”
“God said, I made a man
Out of clay –
But so bright he, he spun
Himself to brightest Day”
Perfect/Exact rhyme The rhyme which is exhibited by words having identical
final
sounds, as in rhyme – time, sound – round, and final –
fatal
Approximate/Imperfect
rhyme
The rhyme which is exhibited by words having similar
or
approximate final sounds, as in rhyme – thine, sound –
count,
and final – fable.

8. Eye rhyme The rhyme which is exhibited by words having the same
final letters with differing sounds, as in come – home, Joan
– loan, and comb – tomb
Masculine/Single
rhyme
The rhyme which is exhibited by one-syllable words, as in lame
–dame, star – are, and, high – sky
Feminine/Double
rhyme
The rhyme which is exhibited by two-syllable words with
stress
on the first syllable, as in mother – father, children –
brethren,
and walking – talking
Triple rhyme The rhyme which Is exhibited by three-syllable words with
stress
on the same syllable (either first, second, or third), as in
wonderful – beautiful, outrageous – courageous, and snorkeling
-funneling
Compound rhyme The rhyme which is exhibited by compound words producing
two pairs of rhyming words, as in eyesight – daylight, moonwalk
– goon talk, and dishcloth – fish broth
Rime riche/
Identical
rhyme
The rhyme which is exhibited by homophonous words or
homonyms, as in seen – scene, sight – site, and night - knight

9. Monorime The rhyme which is exhibited by a stanza having terminal
words with the same final sounds, as in Jose Garcia Villa’s
couplet,
“First, a poem must be magical,/
Then musical as a seagull.”
Dirime The rhyme which is exhibited by a stanza having two pairs or
sets
of rhyming words at the end of lines, as in the nursery rhyme
“Twinkle, twinkle, little star/ How I wonder what you are / Up
above the world so high/ Like a diamond in the sky.”
Tririme The rhyme which is exhibited by a stanza having three pairs or
sets of rhyming words at the end of lines as in Francesco
Petrarch’s sonnet (Please refer to the sestet of “O Gentle
Hand
Whose Pressure Rules My Heart”

10. RHYTHM:
refers to the regular
succession of accented and
unaccented syllables in a
line; associated with the
metrical feet classified
below, it may be choppy or
smooth, fast or slow.

11. Lamb A two-syllable foot which is accented on the second
syllable, as in
William Shakespear’s line “When in/ disgrace / with
For/tune and
/ men’s eyes”
Anapest/
Antidatylus
A three-syllably foot which is accented on the third syllable, as
in
the lines of George Gordon Byron’s “The Destruction of
Sennacherib”
“The Assyri/an came down /like a wolf / on the fold
And his co/horts were gleam/ing in pur/ple and gold
And the sheen/ of their spears / was like stars / on the sea
When the blue / wave rolls night/ly on deep/ Galilee.”
Trochee/
Choree/ Choreus
A two-syllable foot which is accented on the first syllable, as in
the lines of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “the Song of
Hilawatha” “Should you ask me, whence these stories?
Whence these legends and traditions,
With the odours of the forest
With the dew and damp of meadows”
Dactyl A three-syllable foot which is accented on the first syllable, as
in the lines of Robert Browning’s “The Lost Leader”
“Just for a handful of silver he left us
Just for a riband to stick in his coat”

12. Spondee A two-syllable foot which is accented on both syllables, as
in the lines of G.K. Chesterton’s “Lepanto”
“White founts falling in the courts of the sun
And the Soldan of Byzantium is smiling as they run
Pyrrhus/
Pyrrhic/Dibrach
A two-syllable foot which is unaccented on both syllables, as in
the lines of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “In Memoriam” “Be near me
when my light is low,
When the blood creeps and the nerves prick
And tingle; and the heart is sick,
And all the wheels of Being slow.
Tribrach A three-syllable foot which is unaccented on all syllables
Amphibrach A three-syllable foot which is accented on the second syllable
as in the lines of Leonard Cohen’s “Famous Blue Raincoat”
“It’s four in/ the morning, / the end of / December
I’m writing/ you now just/ to see if/ you’re better
New York/ is cold, but/ like where / I’m living
There’s music/ on Clinton/ Street all through/ the evening.”
Bacchius A three-syllable foot which has one unaccented syllable
followed by two accented ones
Antibacchius A three-syllable foot which has two accented syllables followed
by one unaccented one

13. Amphimacer/Cretic A three-syllable foot which has an unaccented syllable
between two accented ones, as in the line of William
Shakespeare’s song
“Shall I die? Shall I fly?”
Molossus A three-syllable foot which consists of three accented
syllables, as in the lines of W. S. Gilbert’s “To sit in Solemn
Silence”
“To sit in solemn silence in a dull dark dock,
In a pestilential prison, with a life-long lock,
Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp, shock,
From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block’!”

14. HORIZONTAL
MEASURE:
refers to the number
of syllables or
metrical feet within
a line. A metrical
foot is also called
meter.

15. Monosyllabic A line which has one syllable, such as the last line in a nonet or
the first line in an etheree
Disyllabic A line which has two syllables, such as the penultimate line in a
nonet or the second line in an etheree
Trisyllabic A line which has three syllables, such as the lines of the translated
version of “Indarapatra and Sulayman”
“O Hinagud!
O great spear
Of hardened,
Holy wood”
Tetrasyllabic A line which has four syllables, such as the lines of a Tagalog riddle
“Hindi Tao,
Hindi hayop;
Buto’t balat,
Lumilipad.”
Pentasyllabic A line which has five syllables, such as the lines of “Tubad-tubad”
translated by Abdullah Madali
“Why shouldn’t I say
That the parrot’s mine
When only of in flight
Can I not trap it?”

16. Hexasyllabic A line which has six syllables, such as the lines of Ramon
Escoda’s “Chantey”
“Down river, up river
Rows the boatman singing”
Heptasyllabic A line which has seven syllables, such as the lines of a tanaga
“Sinilayan ang Langit.// Indak ng mga tala.
Sinilayan ang lupa.// Indak ng alikabok.”
Octasyllabic A line which has eight syllables, such as the lines of Francisco
Tonogbanua’s “Hermit’s Chant”
“And loneliness is sharp and sweet,
Unleavened bread for some to eat”
Nonsyllabic A line which has nine syllables, such as the lines of Francisco
Tonogbanua’s “Hermits Chant”
“For loneliness is a silver word,
An acrid wine, or a broken chord”
Decasyllabic A line which has ten syllables, such as the lines of Dylan Thomas’
“Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”
“Old age should burn and rave at close of day
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
Undecasyllabic A line which has 11 syllables, such as the lines of the English
translation of “Our Plea” by Marra Lanot and Lilia Santiago”
“Then you must follow her teaching and obey…
Only then can we prove we respect deeply”

17. Dodecasyllabic A line which has 12 syllables, such as the lines of Francisco
Baltazar’s awit “Florante at Laura”
“Ito and ngalan ko mulang pagkabata,
Nagisnan sa ama’t inang nag-andukha.
Pamagat na ambil sa lumuluha-luha
At kayakap-yakap ng madalang dalita.”
Monometer A line which has one foot, such as the lines of Robert Herrick’s
“Upon His Departure Hence”
Thus IPasse by
And die:
As one,
Unknown,
And gone:
Dimeter A line which has two feet, such as the lines of Alfred Lord
Tennyson’s
“The Charge of the Light Brigade”
“Half a League, half a league,
Half a league onward”
Trimeter A line which has three feet, such as the lines of William Blake’s “I
Love the Jocund Dance”
“I love the jocund dance,
The softly breathing song,
Where innocent eyes do glance,
And where lisps the maiden’s tongue.”

18. Tetrameter A line which has four feet, as in William Wordsworth’s “I
Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”
“I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills”
Pentameter A line which has five feet, as in William Shakespeare’s
“Sonnet 18”
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate”
Hexameter A line which has six feet, such as the first line of henry Wadsworth
Longfellow’s “Evangeline”
“This is the / forest pri/meval. The / murmuring / pines
and the / hemlocks”
Heptameter A line which has seven feet, such as the lines of George Gordon’s
Byron’s “Youth and Age”
“As springs in deserts found seem sweet, all brackish though they
be,
So midst the wither’d waste of life, those tears would flow to me!”
Octameter A line which has eight feet, such as the lines of Edgar Allan Poe’s
“The Raven”
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,”

19. VERTICAL MEASURE:
refers to the
number of lines
within stanza or
the number of
stanzas in a poem.

20. Couplet A poem or stanza which has two lines, such as most Filipino
riddles and proverbs
“Ang hindi lumingon sa pinanggalingan
Di makararating sa paroroonan.”
“Maliit pa si Nene, Marunong nang manahi.”
Triplet A poem or stanza which has three monoriming lines, such as the first
stanza of Nicholas Breton’s “Country Song”
“Shall we go dance the hay, the hay?
Never pipe could ever play
Better shepherd’s roundelay.”
Tercet A poem or stanza which has three lines that are not monoriming,
such as the first stanza of Harvey Stanbrough’s
“Reduced Circumstances”
“He wasn’t always stretched that way, you know strained through
that fine sieve and powdered out into polite society, a mote.”
Terza rima A poem or stanza which has three lines with the following rhyme
pattern-aba, bcb, cdc, ded, etc., such as the poem of Sir Thomas
Wyatt, “Second Satire”
“My mother’s maids, when they did sew and spin,
They sang sometimes a song of the field mouse,
That for because their livelihood was but so thin.
Would needs go seek her townish sister’s house.
She thought herself endured to much pain:
The stormy blasts her cave so sore did souse…”

21. Quatrain A poem or stanza which has four lines, such as the first stanza of
William Blake’s “The Tiger”
“Tiger! Tiger! Burning bright
In the forest of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry”
Cinquain/
Quintet/
Quintain
A poem or stanza which has five lines, such as Adelaide Crapsy’s
cinquain (1911)
“Friendship (2 syllables-noun)
Understanding (4 syllables-adjective)
Talking, caring, sharing (6 syllables-verb)
Taking and giving all at once (8 syllables-feeling)
Best pals” (2 syllables-synonym)
Sestet A poem or stanza which has six lines, such as the first stanza of
Teagan’s “Follow Me”
“Follow me to a place of dreams
Of life and love and silver streams
Follow me, feel again.
There is no need of fancy schemes
Love is all and within our means
Open up, and feel again.”

22. Septet A poem or stanza which has seven lines, such as Ryter Roethical’s
“Come”
“Come! Walk with me in the moonlight
Only you and I on the starry night
Walk with me across the golden sands
Over moonlight desert as we hold hands
For have not we been together for all time
Soul partners facing whatever our fate
Certain that you are my eternal mate.”
Octave A poem or stanza which has eight lines, such as Ryter Roethical’s
“How Do You Know”
“How do you know you cannot fly higher
Until you take that first step into space?
The Eagle started as an egg,
That became a blind chick,
And now she looks from her lofty perch,
Regally on humanity below,
Remembering that breathless moment
When she took that first leap.”

23. Nonet A poem or stanza which has nine lines, such as Suzanne Honour’s
“School” (2002-2003) with a 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 syllable count
“I wish we didn’t have to stay here.
The only good part is lunchtime,
eating and playing handball
instead of doing maths.
I don’t like history
or geography.
I can’t wait
for the
bell.
Etheree A poem or stanza which has 10 lines with a 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10
syllable count or the reverse 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 syllable count; it
may doubled (1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 syllable
count), tripled, quadrupled, and so on.
Sonnet A poem which has 14 lines; it may be Shakespearean(3 quatrains and
1 couplet with abab-cdcd-efef-gg rhyme scheme), Petrarchan(1
octave and 1 sestet with abbaabba-cdeedc rhyme scheme), or
Filipino (with variable rhyme scheme and vertical measure)

24. OTHER ELEMENTS OF
POETRY
Poem have elements other
than rhyme, rhythm, and
measure. These include
but are not limited to
theme, tone, mood,
moral, symbolism, and
values.

25. Theme The idea or concept of the author expressed in a concise
statement; referred to as the message of the story, it
concretizes the abstract idea the writer wants to impart
Tone The element of a narrative or any literary work which refers to the
attitude of the writer toward his subject; it may be communicated
through the words used by him and may evoke an emotional
response in the reader; words used may convey sarcasm, love, hatred,
fear, delight, respect, and so on.
Mood Synonymous with tone, it refers to the feeling that an author creates
in a literary work; synonymous with atmosphere, it refers to the
quality of a setting, such as somber or calm.
Moral A practical lesson about right and wrong conduct contained in the
narrative; it is stated directly in fables, but it is usually implied in
other stories.
Symbolism A person, a place, a thing, or an experience that represents something
else; for example, in John Galsworthy’s “Quality”, the shoes represent
craftsmanship, pride in products of good quality, and hardwork, but in
William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” the rose represents wealth,
love, and dignity.
Values Classified into aesthetic, social, psychological, and literary, these are
the things which make a literary piece important to its reader or
users