definition, elements, types, and genres of poetry

POETRYGROUP 6 (B)

Rabiatul Hamidah (A1B214041)Rizki Amalia (A1B214049)

DEFINITION OF POETRY

• Poetry is a form of writing that uses not only words, but also form, patterns of sound, imagery, and figurative language to convey the message.

ELEMENTS OF POETRY• Rhythm• Rhyme• Alliteration• Assonance• Stanzas• Imagery• Diction

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry

Rhythm• Rhythm is a literary device which demonstrates the long and short

patterns through stressed and unstressed syllables particularly in verse form.

• Rhythm in writing acts as beat does in music. The use of rhythm in poetry arises from the need that some words are to be produced more strongly than others. They might be stressed for longer period of time.

• Example:Two households, both alike in dignity,In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.From forth the fatal loins of these two foesA pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life;(Romeo Juliet by Shakespeare)

http://literarydevices.net/rhythm/

Rhyme• A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounding words occurring at

the end of lines in poems or songs. • A rhyme is a tool utilizing repeating patterns that brings

rhythm or musicality in poems which differentiate them from prose which is plain. A rhyme is employed for the specific purpose of rendering a pleasing effect to a poem which makes its recital an enjoyable experience.Example:Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.All the King’s horses, And all the King’s menCouldn’t put Humpty together again!

http://literarydevices.net/rhyme/

Alliteration• Alliteration is derived from Latin’s “Latira”. It means “letters of

alphabet”. It is a stylistic device in which a number of words, having the same first consonant sound, occur close together in a series.

• Example:From Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”“The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,The furrow followed free;We were the first that ever burstInto that silent sea.”

• In the above lines we see alliteration (“b”, “f” and “s”) in the phrases “breeze blew”, “foam flew”, “furrow followed”, and “silent sea”.

http://literarydevices.net/alliteration/

Assonance• Assonance takes place when two or more words close

to one another repeat the same vowel sound but start with different consonant sounds. Assonance is primarily used in poetry in order to add rhythm and music, by adding an internal rhyme to a poem.

• Example:William Wordsworth employs assonance to create an internal rhyme in his poem “Daffodils”:“I wandered lonely as a cloudThat floats on high o‘er vales and hills,When all at once I saw a crowd,A host, of golden daffodils;Beside the lake, beneath the trees,Fluttering and dancing in the breeze…”

http://literarydevices.net/assonance/

Stanzas• In poetry, a stanza is a division of four or more lines having a fixed

length, meter or rhyming scheme. Stanza divides a poem in such a way that does not harm its balance but rather it adds to the beauty to the symmetry of a poem. Moreover, it allows poets to shift their moods and present different subject matters in their poems.

• Traditional English language poems have the following kinds of stanzas:

1. Couplet2. Tercet3. Quatrain4. Quintain5. Sestet

http://literarydevices.net/stanza/

Couplet : It consists of two rhyming lines having the same meter.Tercet : A tercet comprises three lines following a same rhyming scheme a a a or have a rhyming pattern a b a. Sir Thomas Wyatt introduced tercet in 16th century.Quatrain : It is a form of stanza popularized by a Persian poet, Omar Khayyam, who called it a Rubai. It has common rhyming schemes a a a a, a a b b, a b a b.Quintain : Quintain also referred to as cinquain is a stanza of five lines which may be rhymed or unrhymed and has a typical stress pattern. Its invention is attributed to Crapsey.Sestet : Sestet is a kind of stanza that consists of six lines. It is the second division of Italian or sonnets of Petrarch following an octave or the first division comprising eight lines.http://literarydevices.net/stanza/

ImageryImagery means to use figurative language to represent objects, actions and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our physical senses.

• Example:Imagery of light and darkness is repeated many times in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”“O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!It seems she hangs upon the cheek of nightLike a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear;”Romeo praises Juliet by saying that she appears more radiant than the brightly lit torches in the hall. He says that at night her face glows like a bright jewel shining against the dark skin of an African. Through the contrasting images of light and dark, Romeo portrays Juliet’s beauty.

http://literarydevices.net/imagery/

DictionDiction can be defined as style of speaking or writing determined by the choice of words by a speaker or a writer.Example:Keats in his “Ode to the Grecian Urn” uses formal diction to achieve a certain effect. He goes:“Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheardAre sweeter: therefore, ye soft pipes, play on”Notice the use of formal “ye” instead of informal “you”. The formality here is due to the respect the urn inspires in Keats. In the same poem he says:“Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shedYour leaves, nor ever bid the spring adieu.”It is more formal to use “adieu” than to say “goodbye”.http://literarydevices.net/diction/

TYPES OF POETRYSonnetVillanelleHaikuLimerick

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry

OdeEpic PoetryElegy

EpitaphFree verseBallad

Sonnet

• The word sonnet is derived from the Italian word “sonetto”. It means a small or little song or lyric. In poetry, a sonnet has 14 fourteen. Each line has 10 syllables. It has a specific rhyme scheme.

• Generally, sonnets are divided into different groups based on the rhyme scheme they follow. The rhymes of a sonnet are arranged according to a certain rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme in English is usually abab-cdcd-efef-gg.

http://literarydevices.net/sonnet/

Example:

VillanelleIt is defined as a poetic device which requires a poem to have 19 lines and a fixed form. It has five tercets (first 15 lines), a quatrain (last four lines), and a couplet at the end of the quatrain.

http://literarydevices.net/Villanelle/

Haiku• A haiku poem has three lines, where the first and last lines

have five moras, while the middle line has seven. The pattern in Japanese genre is 5-7-5. The mora is another name of a sound unit, which is like a syllable, but it is different from a syllable. As the moras cannot be translated into English, they are modified and syllables are used instead. The lines of such poems rarely rhyme with each other.

• Example:Old ponda frog jumpsthe sound of water(Old Pond by Basho)http://literarydevices.net/haiku/

Ode

Ode is a literary technique that is lyrical in nature, but not very lengthy. You have often read odes in which poets praise people, natural scenes, and abstract ideas. It is highly solemn and serious in its tone and subject matter, and usually is used with elaborate patterns of stanzas. However, the tone is often formal.Example:Row after row with strict impunityThe headstones yield their names to the element,The wind whirrs without recollection;In the riven troughs the splayed leavesPile up, of nature the casual sacramenTo the seasonal eternity of death…(Ode to the Confederate Dead by Allen Tate)http://literarydevices.net/ode/

Epic • Epic – It is a form of poem, often written in blank verse,

lengthy in size in which poet shows protagonist in action of historical significance or great mythic.

• Example:Come slowly, EdenLips unused to thee.Bashful, sip thy jasmines,As the fainting bee,Reaching late his flower,Round her chamber hums,Counts his nectars—alights,And is lost in balms!(Come Slowly, Eden by Emily Dickinson)

http://literarydevices.net/free-verse/

• Elegy A melancholic poem in which poet laments the death of a subject, however, consoles towards the end is called elegy.

http://literarydevices.net/elegy/

Example -----------------

Epitaph • Epitaph – A small poem used as an inscription

on tombstone of dead person.• Example:

http://literarydevices.net/epitaph/

Free verse• Free Verse – It consists of non-rhyming lines,

without any metrical pattern, but follows a natural rhythm.

• Example:Come slowly, EdenLips unused to thee.Bashful, sip thy jasmines,As the fainting bee,Reaching late his flower,Round her chamber hums,Counts his nectars—alights,And is lost in balms!(Come Slowly, Eden by Emily Dickinson)

http://literarydevices.net/freeverse/

Ballad • Ballad – It is a type of narrative poem narrates a story,

often talks about folk or legendary tales. It may take a form of moral lesson or a song.

• Example:“Tam Lin” is an example of a popular (traditional) ballad.‘O I forbid you, maiden all,That wears gold in your hair,To come or go by CarterhaughFor young Tam Lin is there.

http://literarydevices.net/ballad/

Limerick • Limerick – This is a type of humorous poem with five

anapestic lines in which first, second and fifth lines have three feet and third and fourth have two feet with a strict rhyme scheme of aabba.

• Example:There was a young lady of station“I love man” was her sole exclamationBut when men cried, “You flatter”She replied, “Oh! no matterIsle of Man is the true explanation.(From To Miss Vera Beringer by Lewis Carroll)

http://literarydevices.net/limerick/

KINDS (GENRES) OF POETRY

• Narrative poetry• Dramatic poetry• Lyrical poetry

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry

A Poem that tells a story, and has the

elements of a story. Often Narrative

poems have a rhyme scheme.

“The Raven”

-Edgar Allen Poe

Dramatic PoetryA poem where the speaker is someone other then the

poet themselves. A Dramatic poem often

includes characters and dialogue. A Dramatic

Monologue is often from a fictional character’s point

of view.

“Meeting At Night”

By Robert Browning

“Be Still my Beating Heart”

- Sting

“Winter”

-Shakespeare

Expresses emotions, appeals

to your senses, and often could be set to music.