Elements of poetry
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Transcript of Elements of poetry
Elements of Poetry
2
The Speaker and The Poet
• Poets will often assumes a role or imitate the speech of a person in a particular situation.
• This “role” is referred to as the speaker, voice, mask, or persona.
• The voice speaking a poem may sound like it is the poet’s own, and it may be difficult to separate the two, but there is usually a distinction.
Diction and Tone
• Diction refers to the words and grammatical constructions that the poet uses in the creation of their persona.
• These choices may occur on a subconscious level.
• These choices give the reader insight into the persona of the poet.
3
Diction and Tone• Speakers have attitudes toward
themselves, their subjects, and their audiences.
• They choose their words, pitch, and modulation based on these attitudes.
• These choices add up to the tone of the poem.
• To find the tone, it is a good idea to read the poem aloud. – The reader must try to catch “the speaking tone of voice
somehow entangled in the words and fastened to the page for the ear of the imagination.” (Frost)
4
Figurative Language
• Words have their literal meanings, but they can also be used so that something other than the literal meaning is implied.
• Common types of figurative language:– Simile: items from different classes are
compared by a connective such as “like,” “as,” “appears,” or “seems.”
5
Figurative Langaage
– Metaphor: Assert the identity, without a connective, of terms that are literally incompatible.
– Personification: The attribution of human feelings or characteristics or abstractions to inanimate objects.
– Apostrophe: Addressing a person or thing that is not literally listening.
6
Usage of Figurative Language
• Figurative language forces the reader to confront the connotations rather than the denotations of written language. – Connotations: suggestions, associations– Denotations: dictionary definitions
• It is said to be different than ordinary language, but many of these expressions, due to repetition have become literal.
7
Usage of Figurative Language
• Good figurative language is usually concrete, condensed, and interesting.
• It is not limited to literary writers. It is used by most anyone who is concerned with effective expression.
8
• Imagery refers to any element of setting or character that takes on a figurative significance.
• Much of literary imagery is based on the patterned use of diction, such as word choice. – The types of figurative language
discussed previously are examples of these patterns.
9
Imagery and Symbolism
Imagery and Symbolism
• Symbols: Images that are so loaded with significance that it is not simply literal, and it does not simply stand for something else; it is both itself and the something else that it suggests.
“The Infinite is made to blend with the Finite, to stand visible, and as it were, attainable there.” – Thomas Carlyle
10
Imagery and Symbolism
• Conventional Symbols: people have agreed to accept them as standing for something other than their literal meanings. – Cross = Christianity– Rose = Love, Romance
11
Verbal Irony and Paradox
• Verbal Irony: The speaker’s words mean more or less the opposite of what they say.– Overstatement (hyperbole)– Understatement
• Paradox: the assertion of an apparent contradiction
12
Poetic Structure
• Rhythm: Stresses at regular intervals– Poets vary their rhythm according to
their purpose. These choices often contribute to the meaning of the poem.
“Rhythm must have meaning. It cannot be merely a careless dash off, with no grip and on real hold on the words and sense, a tumty tum tumty tum tum ta.” – Ezra Pound
13
• Meter: the pattern of stressed sounds– Foot: basic unit of measurement – End-stopped line concludes with a
distinct pause– Run-on line has its sense carried over
into the next line with a pause– Meter produces rhythm – a poem with
end-stopped lines will have a different meter than one with run-on lines.
14
Poetic Structure
• Rhyme: the repetition of identical or similar stressed sounds or sounds– While rhythm is a basic element of
poetry, rhyme is not. – Rhyme suggests order and may be
related to meaning. It brings two words together, implying a relationship that the reader may not have been aware of.
15
Poetic Structure
16
Poetic Structure
• Blank Verse and Free Verse– Blank verse: unrhymed iambic
pentameter– Free verse: rhythmical lines, varying in
length, adhering to no fixed metrical pattern, and usually unrhymed. The pattern is often based on repetition and parallel grammatical structure.