THE ELEMENTS OF POETRY
1. SPEAKER-The poem’s speaker is the person who is addressing the reader. Sometimes, the speaker is the poet, who addresses the reader directly or another person. The poet reveals the identity of the speaker in various ways. Choice of words, focus of attention and attitudes will indicate the age, perspective, and identity of the speaker.
2. CONTENT is the subject of the poem. It answers the question “what?” What is the poem all about? What happens in the poem?
3. THEME of the poem is the meaning of the poem – the main idea that the poet is trying to communicate. The theme may be stated directly or it may be implied.
4. SHAPE & FORM Basically, the actual shape and form of poems vary dramatically from poem to poem. In poetry, you will encounter two forms: structured and free verse. STRUCTURED POETRY has predictable patterns of rhyme, rhythm, line-length and stanza construction, while FREE VERSE does not follow a pattern.
5. MOOD OR TONE The mood of a poem is the feeling that the poet creates and that the reader senses through the poet’s choice of words, rhythm, rhyme, style, and structure. Poems may express many moods – humorous, sarcastic, joyous, angry, or solemn.
6. IMAGERY it refers to “pictures” which we perceive with our mind’s eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, and through which we experience the “duplicate world” created by poetic language. Imagery evokes the meaning and truth of human experiences in more perceptible and tangible forms.
7. DICTION It is the poet’s choice of words. The poet chooses each word carefully so that both its meaning and sound contribute to the tone and feeling of the poem. He considers the following:
A. Denotation – the literal or dictionary meaning;
B. Connotation – the emotions, thoughts, and ideas associated with and evoked by the word.
8. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE It is a type of language that varies from the norms of literal language, in which words mean exactly what they say. It is also known as “ornaments of language.” It does not mean exactly what it says, but instead, forces the reader to make an imaginative leap in order to comprehend the poet’s point.
WHAT IS POETRY?
• Poetry is a rhythmical creation of beauty.
- Edgar Allan Poe
• Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of a powerful feeling recollected in tranquility.
- William Wordsworth
• Poetry achieves extra dimension by packing more pressure into each word and creating greater tension by drawing richly on various language resources such as connotation, imagery, symbol, figures of speech, rhythm, and pattern.
- Anonymous
• Poetry speaks of experience – beautiful or ugly, strange or common, noble or ignoble, actual or imaginary. It speaks of the inner need to live more fully and greater awareness of the experience of others, as well as to understand one’s own better. It gives soul to simple narration of experience by adding more depth.
- Anonymous
• Poetry is the most condensed and concentrated form of literature. The individual lines of a good poem have more brilliance and power, word for word, packed into them, than those in any other literary form. It says more and says it more intensely.
- Anonymous
FIGURES OF SPEECH
1. SIMILE is an explicit comparison between two things or ideas which are essentially unlike, but with at least one thing in common. It uses like, as, similar to, resemble, etc., that make the comparison apparent.
Examples:
1. Life is like a stage where everyone performs a role.
2. She is as graceful as a swan.
3. Love is similar to a fire.
4. My grandmother resembles a delicate withered flower.
2. METAPHOR is an implicit comparison between two things or ideas which are essentially unlike but with at least one thing in common.
Examples:
1. Life is a stage where everyone performs a role.
2. She is a swan.
3. Love is a fire.
4. My grandmother is a delicate withered flower.
3. PERSONIFICATION ascribes intelligence, feeling, or human quality to abstract ideas, concepts, animals, or plants as if acting like human beings.
Examples:
1. The flowers stood proudly in the sun.
2. The trees are whispering.
3. The tropical storm slept for two days.
4. Life is laughing at him.
4. HYPERBOLE is an overstatement or exaggerated statement for effect or humor.
Examples:
1. I have been to all places looking for you.
2. She cried a river.
3. I have a mountain of works to do.
4. I nearly die laughing.
5. LITOTES emphasizes its subject by conscious understatement.
Examples:
1. Money is not important to live a decent life.
2. War is not bad to humanity.
3. Too much fatty food is not bad for your health.
4. Daily exercise is not essential to our body.
6. PARADOX is an apparent contradiction, which may be a statement or a situation that reveals a striking truth.
Examples:
1. She’s NEAR yet so FAR.
2. LESS is MORE.
3. ZERO is a PERFECT SCORE.
4. There is LIGHT in total DARKNESS.
7. OXYMORON combines two normally contradictory words made for effect.
Examples:
1. It was a painful pleasure to see her go.
2. She is a beautiful monster.
3. This wallet is a genuine imitation.
4. He has a strong weakness for drinks.
8. METONYMY uses a closely related idea or concept to represent the idea itself.
Examples:
1. He is addicted to bottle.
2. The pen is mightier than the sword.
3. The White House appoints new Defense Secretary.
9. SYNECDOCHE uses a part of something or someone to represent the whole thing or the person himself.
Examples:
1. Her mother has five mouths to feed.
2. I enjoy driving my new wheel.
3. Two heads are better than one.
4. There are a lot of hard hats working on this building.
10. APOSTROPHE addresses abstract ideas or concepts, dead or absent as if present or alive.
Examples:
1. Oh love! Can I hold you close enough?
2. Rizal, where are you now?
3. Death, be not proud.
11. ALLUSION uses a reference, explicit or implicit, from familiar figure in history, literature, religion, etc., for effect.
Examples:
1. The activists have the courage of ANDRES BONIFACIO.
2. The young medical doctor has the patience of JOB.
3. He has the creativity of JUAN LUNA.
12. ANTITHESIS is a marked contrast in words or clauses, as well as in ideas, in order to emphasize both parts or structures.
Examples:
1. Love is so short, forgetting is so long.
2. Man proposes, God disposes.
3. You may be through with the past , but the past is not yet through with you.
4. I don’t like drugs, but the drugs like me.
13. IRONY implies discrepancy or incongruity between what is said and what is actually meant.
Examples:
1. You were very kind to have scolded me in front of many people.
2. Go ahead, laugh at my mistakes.
3. You are too early for tomorrow’s class.
- SITUATIONAL IRONY refers to situation which is the opposite of what is expected, planned, or “deemed fitting.”
Example:
Richard Cory who had everything in life – good looks, fine manners, and material wealth – committed suicide.
14. ONOMATOPOEIA uses a word whose sound suggests the meaning.
Examples:
1. We heard the howling of dogs.
2. The bees are buzzing.
3. The Hen cackles early in the morning.
4. The jet plane zoomed in the sky.
15. CLIMAX shows that the intensity of thought and emotion gradually increases with each successive group of words. The series of thoughts or ideas are arranged in order of increasing importance.
Example:
1. He sacrificed his business, his home, and his honor for political gain
16. ANTICLIMAX shows the intensity of thought and emotion in decreasing importance. It is often used in humorous writings.
Example:
1. He lost his wife, his child, his household goods and his dog in one full swoop.
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