This document provides an introduction to poetry, including definitions of key terms and concepts. It discusses what poetry is, how to read poetry, and elements that make up poetry, such as theme, structure, sound, imagery and more. Specifically, it covers: - Poetry is characterized by structure including stanzas and rhythm, as well as metaphors, allusions and other literary devices. It is meant to be heard rather than just read. - Poetry has been used since ancient times to pass on important knowledge because its repetitive structure makes it easier to remember. - Elements like theme, line, stanza, rhyme, meter and imagery are examined in detail with examples provided. Different types of stanz

1. Orpheus and Eurydice
The Ancient Art
By Ronald Speener
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2. OBJECTIVES
Understand what poetry is
Define key terms and concepts
Read poetry
Explicate poetry
Enjoy poetry
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3. QUICK LINKS—CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO GO TO THAT
SECTION
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Definition Theme Structure
Meter Sound Imagery
How to Read
Poetry
How to write
about poetry
Exercise

4. What is Poetry?
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5. DEFINITION
A type of writing which is characterized by
Structure which includes stanzas and rhythm
Metaphors
Allusions
Alliteration
May also include rhymes
Usually written to be heard rather than silently read.
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6. THE ANCIENT ART
Roman Mosaic
Because of the repetitive
structure of poetry, it is
easier to remember.
Because it is easier to
remember, it was use
from earliest times to
pass on important
knowledge.
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7. WHAT POETRY IS ABOUT
Poetry is about language
Poetry is about language and ideas
Poetry is about language and emotions
Poetry is about language and joy
Poetry is about language and sorrow
Poetry is about language and love
Poetry is about language and death
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8. SONG LYRICS
Every time you listen
to a song you are
listening to poetry.
Some songs have
moving lyrics while
others are fluff
This is true of poetry
“Danny Boy” sung by
Sinead O’Conner
1. Oh Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are
calling.
2. From glen to glen and down the mountain
side.
3. The summer's gone, and all the flowers
are falling.
4. 'Tis you, 'tis you must go, and I must bide.
5. But come ye back when summer's in the
meadow,
6. Or when the valley's hushed and white
with snow.
7. 'Tis I'll be there in sunshine or in shadow.
8. Oh Danny Boy, oh Danny Boy, I love you
so.
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9. READING POETRY
Read it out loud
Follow the punctuation
Respect the line endings – particularly
in modern poetry
Ask why the words are chosen
Ask why the images are used
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10. READING CHALLENGES
All poems have some meaning but it may
not be easy to find
Vocabulary may be difficult
Archaic terms may be used
Thee
Poetic contractions
N’er
Imagery replacing concept
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11. LAYERS OF MEANING
1. I am in love with him to whom
a hyacinth is dearer
2. Than I shall ever be dear.
3. On nights when the field-mice
are abroad he cannot sleep;
4. He hears their narrow teeth at
the bulbs of his hyacinths.
5. But the gnawing at my heart
he does not hear.
Hyacinth – Edna St. Vincent Millay
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Hyacinth--Roman

12. LAYERS OF MEANING
1. I am in love with him to whom
a hyacinth is dearer
2. Than I shall ever be dear.
3. On nights when the field-mice
are abroad he cannot sleep;
4. He hears their narrow teeth at
the bulbs of his hyacinths.
5. But the gnawing at my heart
he does not hear.
Hyacinth – Edna St. Vincent Millay
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Hyacinth was a Greek lad
who was loved by the god
Apollo. When he
tragically died, Apollo
turned him into the
flower.
Reread the poem with
this knowledge.

13. CONSTRUCTING A POEM
Theme
Structure
Sound
Meter
Imagery
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14. What Poetry is About
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15. DEFINITION — THEME
Theme is what the
poem is about.
It is the meaning of
the poem
Theme unifies the
poem
The theme can be
directly stated or
implied
Sometimes the theme
is to just tell a story,
Other times to
comment on society
and life
Or to make
philosophical
observations
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16. RANGE OF THEMES
Poems can be
about
Love or hate
Birth or death
Solitude or parties
If humans
experience it, it
can be in poetry
1. Do not go gentle into that good
night,
2. Old age should burn and rave at
close of day;
3. Rage, rage against the dying of the
light.
4. Though wise men at their end
know dark is right,
5. Because their words had forked no
lightning they
6. Do not go gentle into that good
night….
Dylan Thomas
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17. Line and Stanza
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18. LINE
A unit in a poem
From where a line starts
to where the poem ends
in a line
Traditional poetry pause
occur at punctuation
In modern poetry pauses
occur at the end of a line
1. Roses are red
2. Violets are blue.
3. Sugar is sweet
4. And so are you.
In text use a virgule (/)
1. Roses are red/Violets
are blue.
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19. STANZAS
A collection of lines
It is like a
paragraph
Many times
determined by the
rhyme scheme
1. And the night shall be
filled with music,
2. And the cares that
infest the day,
3. Shall fold their tents,
like the Arabs,
4. And as silently steal
away.
William Wadsworth Longfellow
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20. TYPES OF STANZA
Fixed Length
1.And the night shall be filled
with music,
2.And the cares that infest
the day,
3.Shall fold their tents, like
the Arabs,
4.And as silently steal away.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Free Verse Variable
1. So be it. I am
2. a wholeness I’ll never
know.
3. Maybe that’s the
best.
Hayden Carruth
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21. TYPES OF FIXED STANZAS
Couplet – two lines
Terza Rima – three lines
Quatrain – four lines
Octava Rima – eight lines
Spenserian – nine lines
Sonnet—14 lines
Refrain – a line repeated at the end of each
stanza
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22. COUPLET
Two lines rhyme
May be part of a
stanza
1. Blessing on thee
little man,
2. Barefoot boy, with
cheek of tan!
3. With thy turned-up
pantaloons,
4. And thy merry
whistled tunes;
John Greenleaf Whittier
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23. TERZA RIMA
.Three lines to a
stanza
From Italian for
three lines
1. The swallows
veering skimmed
the golden grain
2. At midday with a
wing aslant and
limber;
3. And yellow cattle
browsed upon the
plain.
Trumbull Stickney
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24. QUATRAIN
Four lines to a
stanza
The most common
stanza format
1. And the night shall
be filled with music,
2. And the cares that
infest the day,
3. Shall fold their tents,
like the Arabs,
4. And as silently steal
away.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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25. OCTAVO RIMA
Eight line stanza
From Italian for 8
rhymes
1. Woodman, spare that tree!
2. Touch not a single bough!
3. In youth it sheltered me,
4. And I’ll protect it now.
5. ‘Twas my forefather’s hand
6. That placed it near the cot;
7. There, woodman, let it stand,
8. Thy axe shall harm it not!
George Pope Morris
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26. SONNET – TWO FLAVORS
Italian or Petrarchan
8 line Stanza
6 lines Stanza
Elizabethan or Shakespearean
3 quatrains
1 Couplet
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27. ITALIAN SONNET1. What lips my lips have kissed,
and where, and why,
2. I have forgotten, and what arms
have lain
3. Under my head till morning; but
the rain
4. Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap
and sigh
5. Upon the glass and listen for
reply,
6. And in my heart there stirs a
quiet pain
7. For unremembered lads that not
again
8. Will turn to me at midnight with a
cry.
1. Thus in winter stands the
lonely tree,
2. Nor knows what birds have
vanished one by one,
3. Yet knows its boughs more
silent than before:
4. I cannot say what loves have
come and gone,
5. I only know that summer sang
in me
6. A little while, that in me sings
no more.
Sonnet XLIII –Edna Vincent Millay
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28. ELIZABETHAN SONNET
1. Shall I compare
thee to a
summer's day?
2. Thou art more
lovely and more
temperate:
3. Rough winds do
shake the darling
buds of May,
4. And summer's
lease hath all too
short a date:
1. Sometime too
hot the eye of
heaven shines,
2. And often is his
gold complexion
dimm'd;
3. And every fair
from fair
sometime
declines,
4. By chance, or
nature's changing
course,
untrimm'd;
1. But thy eternal summer
shall not fade
2. Nor lose possession of
that fair thou ow'st;
3. Nor shall Death brag
thou wander'st in his
shade,
4. When in eternal lines to
time thou grow'st;
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1. So long as men can
breathe or eyes can
see,
2. So long lives this, and
this gives life to thee.
William Shakespeare
Sonnet #18

29. HEMISTICH
Marked by a
sharp division in
the line
Usually indicated
by a shift in
alliteration
Traces back to
Old English
poetry
1. Glory be to God for dappled things –
2. For skies of couple-colour as a brinded
3. For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that
swim;
4. Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
5. Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow,
and plough;
6. And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and
trim.
7. All things counter, original, spare, strange;
8. Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows
how?)
9. With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
10.He fathers-forth whose beauty is past
change:
11. Praise him
.Gerard Manley Hopkins Pied Beauty
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30. FREE VERSE
No set length to
the line or the
stanza
1. so much depends
upon
2. a red wheel
barrow
3. glazed with rain
water
4. beside the white
chickens
William Carlos Williams-no title
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31. Hearing is Seeing
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Homer by August Leloir

32. IMPORTANCE OF
SOUND
Poetry is meant to
be read aloud
The sound of words
and word
combinations is part
of the experience
Poets expend great
effort to get the
sound right
1. Listen my children and you
shall hear
2. Of the midnight ride of
Paul Revere,
3. On the eighteenth of April,
in Seventy-five;
4. Hardly a man is now alive
5. Who remembers that
famous day and year.
Longfellow Paul Revere’s Ride
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33. SOUND DEVICES
Rhyme
Alliteration
Assonance
Repetition
Onomatopoeia
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34. RHYME
Rhyme is used frequently to
tie lines and stanzas together
Rhyme is often used to
connect ideas
Rhyme was borrowed from
other languages and is not
natural to English
A rhyme scheme is indicated
by small letters a, b, c, d, etc.
1. There once was a lady
from Niger
2. Who smiled as she rode
on a tiger
3. They returned from the
ride
4. With the lady inside
5. And the smile on the face
of the tiger
Limerick
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B
A
A
A
B

35. RHYME DEVICES
End rhyme – at the end of
the line
Internal rhyme – inside the
line
Near rhyme – words are a
close rhyme
Water  Washer
Eye rhyme – visual but not
pronunciation rhyme
Lint  Pint
1. Canary-birds feed on sugar
and seed,
2. Parrots have crackers to
crunch;
3. And, as for the poodles, they
tell me noodles
4. Have chickens and cream for
their lunch.
5. But there’s never a
question
6. About my digestion---
7. ANYTHING does for me!
Charles E. Carryl –Camels Complaint
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36. ALLITERATION AND
ASSONANCE
Alliteration is the
repetition of initial
consonant sounds
Assonance is the
repetition of vowel
sounds
1. Friendless and faint, with
martyred steps and slow,
2. Faint for the flesh, but for
the spirit free,
3. Stung by the mob that
came to see the show,
4. The Master toiled along
to Calvary;
5. We gibed him, as he
went, with houndish glee,
6. Till his dimmed eyes for
us did overflow;
Edwin Arlington Robinson
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37. REPETITION AND
REFRAIN
Repetition is the
repeating a word
or phrase for effect
Refrain is a phrase
that is repeated in
each stanza
1. HALF a league, half a league,
2. Half a league onward,
3. All in the valley of Death
4. Rode the six hundred.
5. 'Forward, the Light Brigade!
6. Charge for the guns! ' he said:
7. Into the valley of Death
8. Rode the six hundred.
9. 'Forward, the Light Brigade! ‘
10.Was there a man dismay'd?
11.Not tho' the soldier knew
12.Some one had blunder'd:
13.Their's not to make reply,
14.Their's not to reason why
15.Their's but to do and die:
16.Into the valley of Death
17.Rode the six hundred.
Alfred Lord Tennyson
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38. ONOMATOPOEIA
Onomatopoeia
is using words
that sound like
what is being
described
1. When the frost is on the punkin
and the fodder’s in the shock,
2. And you hear the kyouck and
gobble of the struttin’ turkey-
cock,
3. And the clackin’ of the guineys,
and cluckin’ of the hens,
4. And the rooster’s hallylooyer
as he tip-toes on the fence;…
James Whitcomb Riley
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39. It is all in the beat
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40. DEFINITION—METER
The arrangement of
accented and unaccented
syllables to create a
rhythm.
Rhythm that is recurring is
called meter
Meter is frequently indicated
by the symbols
– stressed
 unstressed
Metric foot is one unit
of stressed and
unstressed syllables
Metric line is the
number of
stressed/unstressed
syllables in a single
line of poetry
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41. METRIC
Varied the meter to
avoid monotony
Enhances the poetry
rather than
overwhelms it
Modern poetry will
use rhythm or meter
but seldom will use a
fixed metric line
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1. Whenas in silks my Julia
goes,
2. Then, then (methinks) how
sweetly flows
3. That liquefaction of her
clothes.
4. Next, when I cast mine eyes,
and see
5. That brave vibration each way
free,
6. O how that glittering taketh
me!
Robert Herrick

42. POETIC FOOT
The rhythm in a line of poetry
The beat of a poem
In English poetry it is the arrangement
of stressed and unstressed syllable.
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43. POETIC METER TYPES
Iambic  – (common in
English)
The brain is wider
than the sky
Trochaic – 
Earth, receive an
honored guest
Anapest   –
And the peak of
the mountain was
apples
Dactylic –  
After the pangs of
a desperate lover
Spondaic – –
Rocks, caves,
lakes, fens and
bogs.
The number of feet
determines the
line length or
meter
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44. IAMBIC METERED LINES
Monometer - rare
I have
One wish
Dimeter
When I / descend
Towards / their brink
I stand, / and look
Trimeter
Alone / he rides, / alone
Tetrameter
The gar/den gate /was left
/ajar
Pentameter (common in
English)
The leaf/less trees /and
ev/ery ic/y craig
Hexameter – six stress
Heptameter – seven stress
Hemistich – old English style
based on alliteration
The sweet songs // of the
sparrow on a branch
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45. METRIC LINE
The number of metric feet in a line of poetry
1. And the night shall be filled with music,
2. And the cares that infest the day,
3. Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs,
4. And as silently steal away.
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  —   —  — 
  —   —  —
 —  —   — 
  —  —  —
Anapest
Anapest
Anapest
Iambic
Trimeter
Return to Links

46. What I See
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47. DEFINITION—IMAGERY
The use of a strong
sensual language
to convey a
concept or
emotion.
1. Slim dragonfly
2. Too rapid for the eye
3. to cage—
4. Contagious gem of
virtuosity—
5. Make visible, mentality.
6. reveal
7. and veil
8. a peacock tail.
Marianne Moore –Arthur Miller
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48. POETIC TECHNIQUES
Metaphor and
simile– an image
which stands for
something else
Personification –
making something
not human act
human
The skies weep
The Chambered Nautilus
(Comparing the sea shell to his body)
1. Build thee more stately
mansions, O my soul,
2. As the swift seasons roll!
3. Leave thy low-vaulted past!
4. Let each new temple, nobler than
the last,
5. Shut thee from heaven with a
dome more vast,
6. Till thou at length art free,
7. Leaving thine outgrown shell by
life’s unresting sea!
Oliver Wendell Holmes
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49. POETIC TECHNIQUES
Allegory – things stand
for abstractions
Allusion – a reference
to something else
Archaism – using old
fashion words and
contractions
Irony – meaning which
is contradictory and
against what is said
1. A single flow'r he sent me, since we met.
2. All tenderly his messenger he chose;
3. Deep-hearted, pure, with scented dew
still wet—
4. One perfect rose.I knew the language of
the floweret;
5. "My fragile leaves," it said, "his heart
enclose.“
6. Love long has taken for his amulet
One perfect rose.
7. Why is it no one e’er sent me yet
8. One perfect limousine, do you suppose?
9. Ah no, it's always just my luck to get
10. One perfect rose.
Dorothy Parker
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50. How do you attack a poem?
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51. READING POETRY REQUIRES EFFORT
Read it more than once
Read the poem aloud
Read the lines as a unit of thought
Talk back to the poem
Pay close attention to how the poem
starts and ends
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52. TALKING BACK TO THE
AUTHOR
When was the poem
written
What was going on in
the poet’s life
What was going on in
the world?
Is the poem independent
of context?
1. If I should cast off
this tattered coat,
2. And go free into the
might sky:
3. If I should find
nothing there
4. But a vast blue,
5. Echoless, ignorant—
6. What then?
Stephen Crane (1895)
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53. TALKING BACK TO THE
CREATION
Does the poem spring from
an identifiable historical
moment?
Does the poem speak from
a specific culture?
Does the poem have its own
vernacular?
Does the poem use imagery
to achieve a particular
effect?
1. If I should cast off this
tattered coat,
2. And go free into the
might sky:
3. If I should find nothing
there
4. But a vast blue,
5. Echoless, ignorant—
6. What then?
Stephen Crane (1895)
)
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54. TALKING BACK TO THE
TEXT
Who is the speaker?
What circumstances
gave rise to the poem?
What situation is
presented?
Who or what is the
audience?
What is the tone?
1. If I should cast off
this tattered coat,
2. And go free into the
might sky:
3. If I should find
nothing there
4. But a vast blue,
5. Echoless, ignorant—
6. What then?
Stephen Crane (1895)
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55. TALKING BACK TO THE
LANGUAGE
What kind of figurative
language, if any, does the
poem use?
Does the poem use unusual
words or use words in an
unusual way?
If the poem is a question,
what is the answer?
If the poem is an answer, what
is the question?
What does the title suggest?
1. If I should cast off
this tattered coat,
2. And go free into the
might sky:
3. If I should find
nothing there
4. But a vast blue,
5. Echoless, ignorant—
6. What then?
Stephen Crane-No title (1895)
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56. TALKING BACK TO THE
LANGUAGE
Why are certain
words used?
Why do lines end
where they do?
Why the
punctuation?
1. If I should cast off this
tattered coat,
2. And go free into the
might sky:
3. If I should find nothing
there
4. But a vast blue,
5. Echoless, ignorant—
6. What then?
Stephen Crane (1895)
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57. TALKING BACK ABOUT
THE STRUCTURE
What form, if any,
does the poem
take?
How is form related
to content?
Is sound an
important element
in the poem?
1. If I should cast off
this tattered coat,
2. And go free into the
might sky:
3. If I should find
nothing there
4. But a vast blue,
5. Echoless, ignorant—
6. What then?
Stephen Crane (1895)
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58. TALKING BACK ABOUT
THE STRUCTURE
Typography
Punctuation
Sound
Rhythm
Breath
Meter
1. If I should cast off
this tattered coat,
2. And go free into the
might sky:
3. If I should find
nothing there
4. But a vast blue,
5. Echoless, ignorant—
6. What then?
Stephen Crane (1895)
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59. TALKING BACK TO THE
YOURSELF
How did I feel when I
read the poem?
Did I look up words I
did not know?
Did I ask good
questions?
Did I seek other
opinions?
1. If I should cast off
this tattered coat,
2. And go free into the
might sky:
3. If I should find
nothing there
4. But a vast blue,
5. Echoless, ignorant—
6. What then?
Stephen Crane (1895)
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60. FINAL EVALUATION
Did you understand
the poem?
Did you like the poem?
Did you like parts?
If you could ask the
poet one question,
what would it be?
1. If I should cast off
this tattered coat,
2. And go free into the
might sky:
3. If I should find
nothing there
4. But a vast blue,
5. Echoless, ignorant—
6. What then?
Stephen Crane
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61. Developing your response
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62. DEVELOP A RESPONSE
Use the information gathered from
active reading of the poem
What was your evaluation?
Why are you writing about this poem?
Formulate questions you would like
answers too
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63. DEVELOPING AN APPROACH
Literature can be approached in four ways
Author approach
How the life of the
author influenced the
writing
Text approach
How the text was
created: the structure,
word choice, etc.
Cultural approach
Society and the work
Themes
Social and philosophical
issues
Personal approach
Personal response to the
work
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64. SELECTING A FOCUS
Narrowing the topic
Develop a research question
• Who, what, when, where, why, or how
Answer the question
Develop a thesis
• This is the most important part of the paper
Create an outline
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65. RESEARCH
Reinforce the thesis
Find credible sources
Use sources that
relate only to the
thesis
Copy or paraphrase
sources accurately
Use a standard
documenting format:
MLA, APA, CMS
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66. WRITING
Use the writing process: organize, write, edit
Follow the outline--adjust as needed
Paraphrase more often than quote
Identify sources: quotes, paraphrases and
summaries
Sources are support for the thesis
Edit, edit, and edit
Use good time management
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67. SUMMARY
Poetry is an ancient art form
The structure is lines and
stanzas
Meter is how the syllables are
accented
Sound is emphasized though
Rhyme
Alliteration and assonance
Imagery is used to replace
concepts
Read poetry
carefully for
several
meanings
Write from your
perspective
Enjoy poetry
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68. EXERCISE
SONG – ALLEN
GINSBERG
What is the poem
about?
What do you know
about the author?
What poetic
techniques are
used?
1. The weight of the
world
2. is love.
3. Under the burden
4. of solitude,
5. under the burden
6. of dissatisfaction
7. the weight,
8. the weight we carry
9. is love.
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69. EXERCISE
SONG – ALLEN
GINSBERG
What is the
structure of the
poem?
How does the poem
sound?
What is the tone of
the poem
1. Who can deny?
2. In dreams
3. it touches
4. the body,
5. in thought
6. constructs
7. a miracle,
8. in imagination
9. anguishes
10. till born
11. in human —
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70. EXERCISE
SONG – ALLEN
GINSBERG
What is the burden
of life?
Is the poem
effective?
Do you like the
poem—why or why
not?
1. Looks out the heart
2. burning with purity—
3. for the burden of life
4. is love,
5. But we carry the weight
6. wearily,
7. and so must rest
8. in the arms of love
9. at last,
10. must rest in the arms
11. of love. …
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Return to Links

71. RESOURCES
Poetry Handbook by Babette Deutsch
How Does a Poem Mean? By John Ciardi
Rhyme Pattern Variations
www.loske.org/html/school/english/rhyme.pdf
Elements of Poetry [Interactive]
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetry/rhym
e_def.html
Rhyme and Stanza
http://instructional1.calstatela.edu/tsteele/TSpage5/r
ands.html
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72. RESOURCES (CONT.)
Poets. Org http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/58
Image in Poetry
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/617/01/
P.A.L. Elements of Poetry
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/append/A
XF.HTML
Modern American Poetry
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/
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