Poetry has certain structural elements that distinguish it from prose. Rhythm and meter give poetry its musical quality through patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables. A poem is divided into stanzas which can have different numbers of lines. Rhyme and rhyme schemes are patterns of similar sounding words that end lines of poetry. Other elements include theme, symbolism, and imagery which help convey the poet's message through sensory details.

1. BASIC ELEMENTS OF POETRY

2. WHAT IS POETRY?
Poetry can be defined as 'literature in a
metrical form' or 'a composition forming
rhythmic lines'.
a poem is something that follows a particular
flow of rhythm and meter.

3. Compared to prose, where there is no such
restriction, and the content of the piece flows
according to story, a poem may or may not
have a story, but definitely has a structured
method of writing.

4. ELEMENTS OF POETRY
Rhythm: This is the music made by the
statements of the poem, which includes the
syllables in the lines. The best method of
understanding this is to read the poem aloud,
and understand the stressed and unstressed
syllables.

5. Meter: This is the basic structural make-up of
the poem. Do the syllables match with each
other? Every line in the poem must adhere to
this structure. A poem is made up of blocks
of lines, which convey a single strand of
thought. Within those blocks, a structure of
syllables which follow the rhythm has to be
included. This is the meter or the metrical
form of poetry.
ELEMENTS OF POETRY

6. Stanza: Stanza in poetry is defined as a
smaller unit or group of lines or a paragraph
in a poem. A particular stanza has a specific
meter, rhyme scheme, etc. Based on the
number of lines, stanzas are named as
couplet (2 lines), Tercet (3 lines), Quatrain (4
lines), Cinquain (5 lines), Sestet (6 lines),
Septet (7 lines), Octave (8 lines).
ELEMENTS OF POETRY

7. Rhyme: A poem may or may not have a
rhyme. When you write poetry that has
rhyme, it means that the last words or
sounds of the lines match with each other in
some form. Rhyme is basically similar
sounding words like 'cat' and 'hat', 'close' and
'shows', 'house' and 'mouse', etc. Free verse
poetry, though, does not follow this system.
ELEMENTS OF POETRY

8. Rhyme Scheme: As a continuation of rhyme, the
rhyme scheme is also one of the basic elements
of poetry. In simple words, it is defined as the
pattern of rhyme. Either the last words of the
first and second lines rhyme with each other, or
the first and the third, second and the fourth and
so on. It is denoted by alphabets like aabb (1st
line rhyming with 2nd, 3rd with 4th); abab (1st
with 3rd, 2nd with 4th); abba (1st with 4th, 2nd
with 3rd), etc.
ELEMENTS OF POETRY

9. Theme: This is what the poem is all about.
The theme of the poem is the central idea
that the poet wants to convey. It can be a
story, or a thought, or a description of
something or someone; anything that the
poem is about.
ELEMENTS OF POETRY

10. Symbolism: Often poems will convey ideas
and thoughts using symbols. A symbol can
stand for many things at one time and leads
the reader out of a systematic and structured
method of looking at things. Often a symbol
used in the poem will be used to create such
an effect.
ELEMENTS OF POETRY

11. Imagery: Imagery is also one of the important
elements of a poem. This device is used by
the poet for readers to create an image in
their imagination. Imagery appeals to all the
five senses. For e.g., when the poet
describes, 'the flower is bright red', an image
of a red flower is immediately created in the
reader's mind.
ELEMENTS OF POETRY