(1893

1918)

What is Form in poetry?

The form focuses on a certain pattern of the
poem - rhyme scheme or meter - or has a
certain topic/focus. Haiku, limericks and
sonnets are all forms of poetry that use
conventional arrangements of meter and
rhyme patterns.

Form can also be understood as the physical

structure of the poem: the length of the lines,
their rhythms, their system of rhymes and
repetition.

 How is the poem organized? How is it divided

up? Are there individual stanzas or numbered
sections? How are the sections or stanzas
related to each other?

A poems structure may tell you a lot about the

poets attitude toward the subject. Is it a very
formal topic? Is the poet trying to get a grip on
something chaotic?

Scansion rhyme and rhythmic patterns of stressed

and unstressed syllables
A foot is a combination of stressed and unstressed syllables
in a line of poetry.
Iamb: A foot with two syllables, one that is not stressed
and one that is, in that order. ( x / )
Trochee: A foot with two syllables, this time with one that
is stressed and one that is not. ( / x )
Spondee: A foot with two syllables, both of which are
stressed. ( / / )
Pyrrhic: A foot with two syllables, both of which are
unstressed. ( x x )

Meter rhythmic structure of poetic verse

Monometer one foot (two syllables in a line e.g. a drum) iambic
Dimeter two feet (his drumming noise 4 syllables)
Trimeter three feet (his drumming makes a noise)
Tetrameter four feet (he bangs the drum and makes a noise)
Pentameter five feet (he bangs the drum and makes a
dreadful noise)
Hexameter six feet (he bangs the drum and makes the most
appalling noise)

Exercise

#1

In pairs, write one line which has the beats

of an iambic pentameter.

Enjambment
The word enjambment comes from the
French which means to stride or move along.

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs

Enjambment describes a run-on. It gives you

an uninterrupted momentum, allows a sense
of continual flow in the image the poet
creates.

Caesura
Most commonly, a caesura (from the Latin,
caesum, to cut) is punctuation (a pause, a break)
somewhere else other than at the end of a line of
poetry.

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Dulce et Decorum Est

The poem consists of four stanzas of various
lengths. It can be understood as two sonnets
though the spacing is irregular.

The poem is similar to the French ballade

form, the poem consists of 28 lines which is
the number of lines used in the French
ballade structure.

Ballade is a form of medieval and

Renaissance French poetry (not to be
confused with ballad).

 The ballade is made up of 3 stanzas of 8 lines with

the rhyme scheme ABABBCBC, and a final 4-line
envoi in the last stanza with the scheme BCBC but
in Owens poem it is quite different.

#2

Exercise
: In pairs, note the rhyme scheme in
Owens poem.
The poet breaks up his stanzas irregularly into 8, 6,
2, and 10 lines.
Having a rhyme scheme makes a poem easier to
remember, it explores the rhythm or the pattern of
rhyming lines which gives meaning to the
particular line or poem as a whole.

Scansion
Dulce et decorum Est is written in more or less in iambic
pentameter, which consists of five pairs of syllables.

Hendecasyllabic: a line containing an additional syllable,

hence composed of eleven syllables.

What effect do the first two lines create at the beginning

of the poem?

.......1................2................3...............4..................5
Bent DOU..|..ble, LIKE..|..old BEG..|..gars UN..|..der SACKS,

...........1......................2..................3......................4..............
........5
Knock- KNEED,..|..cough ING..|..like HAGS,..|..we CURSED..|..through SLUDGE

Exercise

#3

In pairs, tap out and complete the metrical

rhyme of each line in the 1st stanza with your
fingers so that you can physically check the
regular / irregular beats.

At what point in the poem does the speaker

depart from basic iambic meter? How does
each departure help underscore the meaning?

Discuss how the 2nd stanza uses rhythm to

create certain effects.

So why use meter? Whats the function of meter?

Poets use meter

to heighten the dramatic quality of the poem,
adding enchantment, mystery and emotion to
the language.

to provide rhythm, uniformity and give a

rounded and well-formed structure.

to make the tone of language more lyrical.

to show artistic effects when a situation requires
heightened language.