Types and Elements of Poetry

1. The
Wonderful
World of
Poetry…

2. What is

3. Poetry is an imaginative awareness
of experience expressed through
meaning, sound, and rhythmic
language choices so as to evoke an
emotional response.
Poetry is the chiseled marble of
language; it's a paint-spattered
canvas - but the poet uses words
instead of paint, and the canvas is
you.

4. Elements
of
Poetry

5. Elements of poetry can be
defined as a set of
instruments used to create a
poem. Many of these were
created thousands of years
ago and have been linked to
ancient story tellings. They
help bring
imagery and emotion to
poetry, stories, and dramas.

6. Stanza
•A unit of lines
grouped together
•Similar to a
paragraph in prose

7. A Stanza consists of two or more lines
of poetry that together form one of the
divisions of a poem. The stanzas of a
poem are usually of the same length and
follow the same pattern of meter and
rhyme and are used like paragraphs in a
story. Some different types of stanzas
are as follows:
Couplets - Couplets are stanzas of only two lines which
usually rhyme

8. Tercets - Tercets are stanzas of
three lines. The three lines may or
may not have the same end rhyme.
If all three lines rhyme, this type
of tercet is called a triplet.
Quatrains - Quatrains are stanzas
of four lines which can be
written in any rhyme scheme.

9. From Second Satire
Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-42)
My mother’s maids, when they did sew and spin,
They sang sometimes a song of the field mouse,
That for because their livelihood was but so thin

Would needs go seek her townish sister’s house.
She thought herself endured to much pain:
The stormy blasts her cave so sore did souse...

10. Couplet
•A stanza consisting of
two lines that rhyme
Whether or not we find what we
are seeking
is idle, biologically speaking.
— Edna St. Vincent Millay (at the
end of a sonnet)

11. Quatrain
•A stanza consisting of
four lines
Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of
Spring
Your Winter garment of Repentance
fling:
The Bird of Time has but a little
way
To flutter--and the Bird is on the
Wing.

12. Alternating Quatrain- a four line stanza
rhyming "abab." From W.H. Auden's "Leap Before
You Look"
The sense of danger must not disappear: a
The way is certainly both short and steep,  b
However gradual it looks from here; a
Look if you like, but you will have to leap. b

13. Envelope Stanza- a quatrain with the rhyme
scheme "abba", such that lines 2 and 3 are
enclosed between the rhymes of lines 1 and 4.
Two of these stanzas make up the Italian Octave
used in the Italian sonnet. This is from Auden's
"Look Before You Leap"
The worried efforts of the busy heap, a
The dirt, the imprecision, and the beer b
Produce a few smart wisecracks every year;  b
Laugh if you can, but you will have to leap. a

14. Tone/Mood
The attitude a poet takes
toward his/her subject
*refers to the writer's attitude towards
the subject of a literary work as
indicated in the work itself. One way to
think about tone in poetry is to consider
the speaker's literal "tone of voice": just
as with tone of voice, a poem's tone may
indicate an attitude of joy, sadness,
solemnity, silliness, frustration, anger,
puzzlement, etc.

15. Imagery
•Representation of the five senses:
sight, taste, touch, sound, and smell
•Creates mental images
about a poem’s subject

16. Visual imagery: visual descriptions so vivid they
seem to come to life in the reader's mind's when
they are read, as in the description of a very old
fish in Elizabeth Bishop's poem titled "The Fish":
Here and there
his brown skin hung in strips
like ancient wall-paper,
and its pattern of darker
brown
was like wall-paper:
shapes like full-blown roses
strained and lost through age

17. Auditory imagery: descriptions of sound so
vivid the reader seems almost to hear them
while reading the poem. For example,
Alexander Pope contrasts the gentle
sounds of a whispering wind and a soft-
running stream with the harsher sound of
waves crashing on the shore in "Sound and
Sense":
The sound must seem an echo to the sense:
Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently bows,
And the smooth stream in smoother
numbers flow;
But when the loud surges lash the sounding
shore,
The hoarse, rough verse should like the
torrent roar. (365-69)

18. Images of smell (olfactory imagery):
descriptions of smells so vivid they seem almost to
stimulate the reader's own sense of smell while
reading, as in the poem, "Root Cellar," by
Theodore Roethke:
And what a congress of
stinks!—
Roots ripe as old bait,
Pulpy stems, rank, silo-rich,
Leaf-mold, manure, lime,
piled against slippery planks.
Nothing would give up life:
Even the dirt kept breathing
a small breath. (5-11)

19. Tactile or "physical" imagery: descriptions
conveying a strong, vivid sense of touch or
physical sensation that the reader can almost feel
himself or herself while reading, as in Robert
Frost's description of standing on a ladder in
"After Apple Picking": "My instep arch not only
keeps the ache, / It keeps the pressure of a ladder-
round. / I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend"
(21-23). Or in the sensation of touch (and possibly
taste) in the fourth stanza of Helen Chasin's
poem, "The Word Plum":

20. The word plum is delicious
pout and push, luxury of
self-love, and savoring
murmur
full in the mouth and falling
like fruit
taut skin
pierced, bitten, provoked
into
juice, and tart flesh. (1-8).

21. Refrain
•The repetition of one or
more phrases or lines at
certain intervals, usually at
the end of each stanza
•Similar
to the chorus in a song

22. *The word 'Refrain'  derives from
the Old French word refraindre
meaning to repeat.
*Refrain Poetry Term is a phrase,
line, or group of lines that is repeated
throughout a poem, usually after each
stanza.
*A famous example of a refrain
are the words  " Nothing More" and
“Nevermore” which are repeated in
“The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe.
 

23. The Raven
by
Edgar Allan Poe
And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting,
still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my
chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a
demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws
his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies
floating on the floor
Shall be lifted nevermore.

24. Repetition
•A word or phrase
repeated within a line or
stanza
Example: “gazed and gazed”
Sometimes, repetition reinforces or even
substitutes for meter (the beat), the other
chief controlling factor of poetry.

25. Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;
All the King's horses and all the King's
men
Couldn't put Humpty together again
The repetition of a phrase in poetry may have an incantatory
effect as in the opening lines of T. S. Eliot's "Ash-
Wednesday":
Because I do not hope to turn again
Because I do not hope
Because I do not hope to turn....

26. Sometimes the effect of a repeated phrase in a
poem will be to emphasize a development or
change by means of the contrast in the words
following the identical phrases. For example, the
shift from the distant to the near, from the less
personal to the more personal is emphasized in
Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by such
a repetition of phrases:
I looked upon the rotting sea,
And drew my eyes away;
I looked upon the rotting deck,
And there the dead men lay.

27. Rhyme Scheme
The pattern in which
end rhyme occurs
Rhymes are types of poems which have
the the repetition of the same or similar
sounds at the end of two or more words
most often at the ends of lines. This
technique makes the poem easy to
remember and is therefore often used in
Nursery Rhymes. There are several
derivatives of the term rhyme which
include Double rhyme, Triple rhyme,
Rising rhyme, Falling rhyme, Perfect and
Imperfect rhymes.

28. Humpty Dumpty sat on a
wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a
great fall.
All the King's horses, And
all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty
together again!

29. Theme
The theme of the poem talks
about the central idea, the
thought behind what the poet
wants to convey. A theme can
be anything from a
description about a person or
thing, a thought or even a
story. In short a theme stands
for whatever the poem is
about.

30. Symbolism
A poem often conveys feelings,
thoughts and ideas using symbols,
this technique is known as
symbolism. A symbol in poetry can
stand for anything and makes the
reader take a systematic
approach which helps him/her
look at things in a different light.
A symbol is a poetry style that is
usually thought of in the
beginning.

31. *poetry has developed over hundreds
of years, certain symbolic meanings have
attached themselves to such things as
colors, places, times, and animals.
*A list of these
common symbols and their meanings follows.
The list does not exhaust the possible
meanings and associations of a symbol or
metaphor in any particular poem. You
cannot merely plug these meanings into a
poem and expect to understand the poem
completely. Your own knowledge,
associations, and experience are what will
lead you to a deep and personal connection
to any poem.

32. Sleep is often related to death. Dreams
are linked to the future or fate.
Seasons often represent ages: spring--
youth, summer--prime of life, autumn--
middle age, winter--old age or death.
Water is sometimes linked to the idea of
birth or purification.
Colors are often linked to emotions: red--
anger, blue--happiness, green--jealousy. They
are also used to represent states of being:
black--death or evil, white--purity or
innocence, green--growth.

33. Snakes and guns are often phallic; caves and
underwater images often womb-like; nature imagery, in
general, is often associated with the mother or the female.
The cycle of natural growth --birth, degeneration,
death--often suggests the cycle of love. For example, a poem
may trace a rose from bud to bloom to withered vine.
Animals have various associations: horse--phallic sexuality;
doves, lambs, sleeping animals--peace; felines, birds of prey--
dissension, war, danger; snakes, serpents--evil, phallic
sexuality, fall from virtue, magic.
Forests are often places of testing or challenge.
Light--as the sun, the moon, stars, candles--often
symbolizes good, hope, freedom.
Darkness is associated with evil, magic or the unknown.
The moon has several associations. It is sometimes a
feminine symbol, sometimes associated with madness,
sometimes with resurrection.

34. Dramatic
Poetry
Dramatizes
action though
dialogue or
monologue
Narrati
ve
Poetry
Poetry-
Tells a
story
Lyrical
Poetry
Expresses
Personal
thoughts and
emotions.

35. Dramatic Poetry
A 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

36. *an emotional piece of literature
which includes a story which is
recited or sung.
DREAM it was in which I
found myself.
And you that hail me now,
then hailed me king,
In a brave palace that was all
my own,
Within, and all without it,
mine; until,
Drunk with excess of
majesty and pride,

37. “Be Still my
Beating Heart”
- Sting
“Winter”

-Shakespeare
Expresses
emotions, appeals
to your senses,
and often could
be set to music.

38. *Lyric Poetry consists of a
poem, such as a sonnet or an ode,
that expresses the thoughts and
feelings of the poet. *The
term lyric is now commonly referred
to as the words to a song .
*Lyric poetry does not tell a story
which portrays characters and
actions. *The lyric poet addresses
the reader directly, portraying his or
her own feeling, state of mind, and
perceptions.
 

39. Many lyric poems are about love, but they can be about
anything which stirs the emotions. The last of the examples
of lyric poetry is a poem by Emily Dickinson named “I Felt
a Funeral in my Brain”. It describes a person who is going
insane, or thinks they are.

40. 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

41. When the
Author of a
poem writes
something,
but doesn’t
really mean it
literally.
Metaphor
Simile
Analogy
Imagery
Personification

42. A comparison
NOT using like
or as.
“”It is
the
East,
and
Juliet
is the
sun!”
The
worl
d
is a
stag
e!
Romeo, “Romeo and Juliet”, William Shakespeare

43. Similes
•When you compare
something using
l i k e or a s .
•The river is
peaceful, like a new
baby sleeping.
Assignment:
Find the similes in
“Be Still My Beating Heart”

44. When the
author
provi des
vi sual
pi ctures as
you read.
In a poem,
you can
often see
the i mages
the author
wri tes
about
The spring flowers,
vibrant, electrified with
the newness of spring

45. •A COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO
APPARRENTLY DISSIMILAR THINGS
MADE TO CLARIFY A CERTAIN
POINT ABOUT ONE OF THEM.
EXAMPLES:
Glove is to hand as paint is to wall
Citizens are to president as solar system is to galaxy
Horses are to past societies as computers are to future societies

46. When human like qualities are
given to an animal or object.
Example: An overly gregarious
puppy.
A decrepit old car.

47. Who is the
SPEAKER/
VOICE of the
Poem?
Is it the poet or
a character in
the poem?
What is the tone of
the poem?
The Point of view can be
the actual poet
him/herself, but may also
be an animal, an
inanimate object, or a
fictional character.

48. Connotation:
The way a word
makes us feel.
Words can give us
different feelings
when we hear
them…some
positive, some
negative, and
everything in
between!
Denotation:
The actual
dictionary
definition of the
word.
Word

Choice/Diction
Find some examples in
the poem…
“Meeting at Night,”

49. Irony
When something
that wasn’t
expected happens.
Or when the
opposite of what is
expected happens.
For example:
In
“Incident in a Rose Garden”
The devil wasn’t
coming for the
gardener, he was
coming for the
farmer!

50. •RHYME
•RHYTHM
•REPETITION
•REFRAIN
•ALLITERATION
•ASSONANCE
•ONOMATOPOEIA

51. •RHYME – REPETITON OF SIMILAR
SOUNDS.
•RHYTHM – PATTERN OF STRESSED
AND UNSTRESSED SYLLABLES IN
EACH LINE. THE POEM HAS A
REGULAR BEAT.
•RHYME SCHEME – A PATTERN OF
RHYMES IN A POEM.

52. VS.
Refrain is
when a poem
repeats entire
lines or more
several times
throughout.
Like the
chorus of a
song
Repetition
is when a
word or
phrase is
repeated
just once or
in one
specific
area of the
poem.

53. Musical Devices
•Alliteration

When the same
consonant sound is
used throughout a
piece of writing.
candy covered coconuts.
•Assonance

When the same vowel
sound is used in words
throughout a piece of
writing
That is the way we will
pray today, okay?

54. Onomatopoeia
word that expresses
sound…
Zip,
zoom,
bang,
boom

55. Poetic FormS
Some forms include: Acrostic,
Cinquain, Concrete, Haiku, List,
Limerick, Diamante
FORM – THE WAY A POEM LOOKS ON A PAGE.
LINES – POEMS ARE WRITTEN IN LINES, WHICH MAY
OR MAY NOT BE IN COMPLETE SENTENCES.
STANZA – IN SOME FORMS OF POETRY, LINES ARE
GROUPED INTO STANZAS.
STRUCTURED FORM – POEMS WITH A REGULAR,
REPEATED PATTERN.
FREE VERSE – POEMS WITHOUT A REGULAR
PATTERN.

56. ACROSTIC POETRY
AN ACROSTIC POEM IS
ONE WHERE YOU
CHOOSE A WORD OR
NAME AND UE EACH
LETTER IN THE NAME
AS THE BEGINNING OF
A WORD OR LINE THAT
TELLS SOMETHING
ABOUT THE PERSON OR
TOPIC!

57. •There is a classic example of acrostic poem in
English written by Edgar Allan Poe is entitled
simply "An Acrostic"
•Elizabeth it is in vain you say
"Love not" — thou sayest it in so sweet a way:
In vain those words from thee or L.E.L.
Zantippe's talents had enforced so well:
Ah! if that language from thy heart arise,
Breath it less gently forth — and veil thine eyes.
Endymion, recollect, when Luna tried
To cure his love — was cured of all beside —
His follie — pride — and passion — for he died.

58. HAIKU
A poem where
there are
5 syllables in the
1
st
line;
7 in the second
line;
5 in the 3
rd
line.
I Love you so
much,
I long to see
your beauty,
Love the way
you shine,
“You”
Pg 11

59. Tanka
A form of Japanese poetry that
depends on the number of lines and
syllables instead of rhyme. The
pattern is: (31 syllables)
Line 1 = 5 syllables 
Line 2 = 7 syllables 
Line 3 = 5 syllables 
Line 4 = 7 syllables 
Line 5 = 7 syllables

60. Saying Goodbye
Carefully I walk
Trying so hard to be brave
They all see my fear
Dark glasses cover their eyes
As mine flow over with tears

61. Cinquain
s
Sister
Smart, Outgoing
Loving, playing, Laughing
Always in for some fun
Friend
•A Cinquain is a poem that resembles a
diamond.
•It has 5 lines and begins with one
word.
•The 2
nd
line has two adjectives that
describe that word.
•The 3
rd
, three verbs.
•The 4
th
line is a phrase that goes
deeper into the topic.
•The 5
th
line gives either a synonym for
the first word, or a word that
encompasses the whole poem.
The
“Modern”
Cinquain
“Tucson Rain”
The smell
Everyone moves
To the window to look
Work stops and people
start talking
Rain came
“Traditional”
Cinquain
Pg 10

62. The list poem is a
very old form of
poetry.  It itemizes
things or events. 
List poems can be
of any length,
rhymed, or
unrhymed.

63. •1) The writer is telling you
something--pointing something
out--saying, "Look at this," or,
"Think about this."
2) There's a beginning and end
to it, like in a story.
3) The list is arranged with
stylistic consistency and the
words are arranged to
create a parallel structure.

64. If I Were a Pirate
If I were a pirate
I'd swagger and 
I'd wear a patch and
I'd attack treasure
boats.
I'd be fearsome!

65. What Bugs Me
When my teacher tells me to write a poem
tonight.
When my mother tells me to clean up my room.
When my sister practices her violin while I'm
watching TV.
When my father tells me to turn off the TV and
do my homework.
When my brother picks a fight with me and I
have to go to bed early.
When my teacher asks me to get up in front of
the class and read the poem I
wrote on the school bus this morning.

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

67. Another Concrete Poem

70. A S HORT, HUMOUROUS
POEM C OMPOS ED OF
FIVE LINES . IT US UALLY
HAS THE RHYME S C HEME
AABBA, C REATED BY TWO
RHYMING C OUPLETS
FOLLOWED BY A FIFTH
LINE THAT RHYMES WITH
THE FIRS T C OUPLET. A
LIMERIC K TYPIC ALLY HAS
A S ING-S ONG RHYTHM.

71. The form of poetry referred to as Limerick
poems have received incredibly bad press and
dismissed as not having a rightful place amongst
what is seen as 'cultivated poetry'. The reason
for this is three-fold:
*The content of many limericks is often of a
bawdy and humorous nature.
*A Limerick as a poetry form is by nature simple
and short - limericks only have five lines.
*And finally the somewhat dubious history of
limericks have contributed to the critics
attitudes.

72. •There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, 'It is just as I feared!
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!'

73. Diamante is a seven-line, diamond-shaped poem
which contrasts two opposites. It is more a visual
poem than one to be read aloud
It follows this format:
First Line and seventh line - Name the opposites. 
Second and sixth lines - Two adjectives describing
the opposite nearest it. 
Third and fifth lines - Three participles (ing words)
describing the nearest opposite. 
Fourth line - two nouns (if possible) for each of the
opposites. (This is the transition point where the poem
changes from one of the opposites to the other.)

74. Peaks,
Snowcapped, windswept, 
Reaching, waiting,
challenging 
mountain ranges, ocean
trenches,
Obscuring, waiting, daunting 
Dark, black
Depths.
by Mrs. Sinclair

75. Dogs
Happy, Friendly
Running, Jumping,
Barking
Paws, Tails, Claws,
Teeth
Hiding, Avoiding,
Demanding
Snobby, Skittish
Cats

76. Ballads are poems that tell a story.
They are considered to be a form of
narrative poetry. They are often
used in songs and have a very
musical quality to them.

77. I'll tell a tale, a thrilling tale of love beyond compare
I knew a lad not long ago more gorgeous than any I've seen.
And in his eyes I found my self a 'falling in love with the swain.
Oh, the glorious fellow I met by the ocean with eyes of deep-sea
green!
He was a rugged sailor man with eyes of deep-sea green,
And I a maid, a tavern maid! Whose living was serving beer.
So with a kiss and with a wave, off on his boat he sailed
And left me on the dock, the thief! Without my heart, oh dear!
And with a heart that's lost at sea, I go on living still.
I still am now still serving beer in that tavern by the sea.
And though the pay check's still the same, the money won't go
as far
For now I feed not just myself, but my little one and me!
So let that be a lesson, dear, and keep your heart safely hid.
I gave mine to a sailing thief with gorgeous eyes of green.
Save yours for a sweeter lad who makes the land his home.
Ah me! If only I'd never met that sailor by the sea!
-- Lonnie Adrift

78. A sonnet is simply a poem written in a certain
format. You can identify a sonnet if the poem
has the following characteristics:
14 lines. All sonnets have 14 lines which can
be broken down into four sections called
quatrains.