emz

Element of Poetry
1. Structure
 style of poem
 has to do with the overall organization of his and/or the conventional patterns of sound
 STANZAS: series of lines grouped together and separated by an empty line from other stanzas.
One way to identify a stanza is to count the number of lines.
couplet (2 lines)
tercet (3 lines)
quatrain (4 lines)
cinquain (5 lines)
sestet (6 lines)
septet (7 lines)
octave (8 lines)
 FORM

a. Lyric Poetry: It is any poem with one speaker (not necessarily the poet) who expresses strong
thoughts and feelings. Most poems, especially modern ones, are lyric poems.

Ode: praises a person or marks an important event (praising, complement)

Elegy: a very sad poem ; song for dead

written in couplets that have a specific pattern of meter

Sonnet: 14 lines ; love poem

b. Narrative Poetry: It is a poem that tells a story; its structure resembles the plot line of a
story.
Ballad: has a musical rhythm and can be sung
organized into quatrains or cinquains, has a simple rhythm structure,
tells the tales of ordinary people ; poem with a story

Epic: long narrative poem in elevated style recounting the deeds of a legendary
or historical hero.

c. Descriptive Poetry: It is a poem that describes the world that surrounds the speaker. It
uses elaborate imagery and adjectives. While emotional, it is more "outward-focused" than lyric
poetry, which is more personal and introspective.
Haiku: unrhymed verse form having three lines (a tercet)
usually 5,7,5 syllables, respectively

2. Sound Patterns
 Rhyme- repetition of similar sounds
 End Rhyme- last words rhyme
Eg: I saw a fairy in the wood,
He was dressed all in green.
He drew his sword while I just stood,
And realized I'd been seen.

 Internal Rhyme- use of rhyming words in the same line, or rhyming words in the middle of lines
Eg: "Whiles all the night through fog-smoke white" ("The Ancient Mariner")

Rhythm and Meter

Rhythm is the pattern of stresses in a line of verse
< stressed (/) and unstressed (x) syllables >
 IAMBIC (x /) : That time of year thou mayst in me behold
 TROCHAIC (/ x): Tell me not in mournful numbers
 SPONDAIC (/ /): Break, break, break/ On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!

Meters (meter means “measure” in Greek): measured patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables.
 1 foot: monometer
 2 feet: dimeter
 3 feet: trimeter
 4 feet: tetrameter
Eg: Tell me | not in | mournful | number
 5 feet: pentameter
Eg: That time | of year | thou mayst | in me | behold
 6 feet: hexameter