Elements of Poetry

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Elements of Poetry:
Structure and Forms

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Let’s start with some
basics…
po·et·ry (n)
writing chosen and arranged to create a
certain emotional response through meaning,
sound, and rhythm
prose (n)
everything else! ordinary language that
people use when they speak or write

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Lines
 May be short or long.
 Are NOT necessarily complete
sentences or even complete thoughts!
 The arrangement of lines, spacing,
and whether or not the lines rhyme in
some manner, can define the FORM
of a poem.

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Stanza
 A group of lines whose rhyme scheme
is usually followed throughout the
poem.
 A division in poetry like a paragraph in
prose.
 Common stanza patterns include
couplets, triplets, quatrains, etc.
 Free-verse poems follow no rules
regarding where to divide stanzas.

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And now several forms
of poetry…

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Couplet
 Two lines that rhyme.
 A complete idea is usually
expressed in a couplet, or in a long
poem made up of many couplets.
 Couplets may be humorous or
serious.

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Couplet continued…
Example:
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored and sorrows end.
Shakespeare
Chocolate candy is sweet and yummy
It goes down smoothly in my tummy!
Unknown

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Couplet continued…
Twinkle, twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are,
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

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Narrative Poems
 Tell a story. It is a story told in verse, by
a speaker or narrator.
 There is a plot … something happens;
because of this, something else happens.
 Can be true or fictional.
 Poems vary in treatment of character
and setting.
 Forms of narrative poetry include:
 ballad
 epic

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Narrative Poems: Ballad
 A narrative, rhyming poem or song.
 Characterized by short stanzas and
simple words, usually telling a heroic
and/or tragic story (although some are
humorous).
 Can be long.
 Usually rich with imagery (emotionally charged visual images).
 Originated from folk songs that told
exciting or dramatic stories.

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Ballad continued…
Example from John Henry, a traditional American ballad in ten stanzas.
When John Henry was a tiny little baby
Sitting on his mama’s knee,
He picked up a hammer and a little piece of steel
Saying, “Hammer’s going to be the death of me, Lord, Lord,
Hammer’s going to be the death of me.”
John Henry was a man just six feet high.
Nearly two feet and a half across his chest.
He’d hammer with a nine-pound hammer all day
And never get tired and want to rest. Lord, Lord,
And never get tired and want to rest.

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Ballad continued…
Example from The Unquiet Grave. (an old ballad that would have been sung to an
eerily catchy tune)
The wind doth blow today, my love,
And a few small drops of rain.
I never had but one true-love,
In cold grave she was lain.
I’ll do as much for my true-love
As any young man may.
I’ll sit and mourn all at her grave
For a twelvemonth and a day.

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Narrative Poems: Epic
 Very long narrative (story) poem that
tells of the adventures of a hero.
 Purpose is to help the reader
understand the past and be inspired
to choose good over evil.
 Usually focuses on the heroism of one
person who is a symbol of strength,
virtue, and courage in the face of
conflict.

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Narrative Poems: Epic continued
 Some are VERY long – for example,
The Odyssey by Homer, (written as 12
books) has over 6,213 lines in the first
half alone!

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Lyric Poetry
 Always expresses some emotion.
 Poems are shorter than epic poems.
 Tend to express the personal feelings
of one speaker (often the poet).
 Give you a feeling that they could be
sung.

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Lyric Poetry continued…
 Originally Greek poets sang or recited
poems accompanied by music played
on a lyre (a stringed instrument like a small harp).
 In the Renaissance, poems were
accompanied by a lute (like a guitar).

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Lyric Poetry: Sonnet
 Most sonnets are in a fixed form of 14
lines of 10 syllables, usually written in
iambic pentameter.
 The theme of the poem is summed up
in the last two lines.
 Can be about any subject, but usually
are about love and/or philosophy.

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Lyric Poetry: Sonnet continued…
Example from Sonnet 18 by Shakespeare:
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

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Lyric Poetry: Ode
 A tribute to someone or something.
 Often uses exalted language in praise
or celebration.
 Can be serious or humorous.

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Lyric Poetry: Ode continued…
Example from Ode to Pablo's Tennis Shoes by Gary Soto
They wait under Pablo's bed,
Rain-beaten, sun-beaten,
A scuff of green
At their tips
From when he fell
In the school yard.
He fell leaping for a football
That sailed his way.
But Pablo fell and got up,
Green on his shoes,
With the football
Out of reach.
Now it's night.
Pablo is in bed listening
To his mother laughing
to the Mexican novelas on
TV.
His shoes, twin pets
That snuggle his toes,
Are under the bed.

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Elegy
 to express grief or mourning for someone
who has died
 somber, serious, ending on a peaceful
note

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Elegy for Anne Frank
by Jessica Smith
You blossomed and grew
between the quiet gray walls
of your attic home.
A sidewalk-surrounded flower
pushed up through the cracks,
petals straining for
the light, but your
roots held you down.
In the dim light of your room
you made family trees,
the continuing lives
comforting you in ways
your mother could not.
While concentration camps
built bonfires with the
bones of your neighbors,
you dreamed of the sun and
the love you’d find when the doors
of your prison were unlocked.
When I took your short life from your diary,
I could feel your heartbeat
pulse with my own,
and every breath you took
went into my own lungs,
every desire you felt,
I felt, too.
Your life was held by four silent years,
surrounding you as the four walls did.
And before the last bomb fell,
destroying the last of your love and light,
you died.
And I am thankful.
Elegy example…

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Limerick
 A FUNNY 5-line poem, written with one
couplet (two lines of poetry that rhyme) and one triplet (three lines of poetry
that rhyme).
 Always follows the same pattern.
 The rhyme scheme (pattern) is – a a b b a.
 The last line contains the “punchline” or “heart
of the joke”.
 Often contain hyperbole, onomatopoeia,
idioms, and other figurative language.

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Limerick continued…
 You will soon hear the distinctive beat pattern
of all limericks.
 eg: “A fly and a flea in a flue
Were caught, so what could they do?
Said the fly, “Let us flee.”
“Let us fly,” said the flea.
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.”

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Limerick continued…
By Edward Lear, who made limericks very popular.

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Limerick continued…
eg. Before we even said grace
He sat and filled up his face
He gorged on salami
Ate all the pastrami
Then exploded with nary a trace.
There was a large bear in a tree
Who was in pursuit of a bee
The bee was no dummy
He gave the bear money
So the bear let the honeybee free.

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Free Verse
 Is just that – free!
 Lines of poetry written without rules; no
regular beat or rhyme.
 Unrhymed poetry.

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Haiku
 A Japanese form of poetry; one line of five
syllables; one line of seven syllables; and a
final line of five syllables.
 Fragments (not usually complete sentences)
 About everyday things; written in the present
tense.
 Much is left unsaid.

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Haiku continued…
Examples:
Little sparrow child
plays in the road. “Oh, watch out!
Watch out! Horse tramps by!”
Soft, summer twilight,
suddenly a sound; Frog leaps
in the old pond – Splash!

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Cinquain
 A Cinquain is a poem that resembles a
diamond.
 It has 5 lines and begins with one word.
 The 2nd line has two adjectives that
describe that word.
 The 3rd , three verbs.
 The 4th line is a phrase that goes
deeper into the topic.
 The 5th line gives either a synonym for
the first word, or a word that
encompasses the whole poem.

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Sister
Smart, Outgoing
Loving, playing, Laughing
Always in for some fun
Friend
“Tucson Rain”
The smell
Everyone moves
To the window to look
Work stops and people
start talking
Rain came
Cinquain examples…

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and a few other interesting poetry forms…

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List Poem
 One of the oldest forms of poetry
 Polynesians used list poems to form an inventory of all of their
islands!
 a.k.a Catalog Poem
 Can be long or short, rhymed or unrhymed

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List Poem continued…
Example: Things a Pigeon Knows
What does a pigeon know? Who throws cracker crumbs the
Eaves and ledges, thickest,
Rafter edges, How thin cats are often
Gutter streams, quickest.
Steel beams, Tennis courts. Trees in parks.
Cars and busses, The highest steeple.
A bridge, with its delightful Swarms
trusses, of people.
Sidewalks,
Culverts,
Popcorn vendors, - Patricia Hubbell
Taxis and their yellow
fenders.

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Poetry in which authors use
both words and physical
shape to convey a message.
Poetry in which authors use
both words and physical
shape to convey a message.

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Another Concrete Poem