Name:_______________________________
Date/Period:__________________________
Elements of Poetry
Poetry is imaginative literature that uses precise, musical, and emotionally charged language.
Poetry is a literary form that combines the precise meanings of words with their emotional
associations and musical qualities, such as rhythm and sounds. There are three main types of
poetry:
Lyric: a short poem that expresses the thoughts and feelings of a single speaker.
Narrative: a poem that tells a story
Dramatic: a poem that presents the speech of one or more speakers in a dramatic
situation.
Poems of all types are made up of certain elements. When you read poetry, consider the
poem’s “voice,” structure, and sound.
Speaker The speaker in a poem serves the same function as the narrator in a story: to “tell” the
poem. In some poems, the speaker is an imagined character. For example, in the poem
“Jabberwocky,” the speaker is not Lewis Carroll, the poet, but the Jabberwock, an imaginary
character. Even in personal poems that are based on the poet’s life, the speaker is not the poet.
Instead the speaker is a constructed, imagined voice.
Lines and Stanzas Most poetry is arranged in lines and stanzas, or groupings of lines. Stanzas
are named after then number of lines they contain. For example, a couplet consists of two lines, a
tercet consists of three lines, and a quatrain consists of four lines.
Example: Quatrain
Sweetest love, I do not go,
For weariness of thee,
Nor a hope in the world can show
A fitter love for me
(from “Song” by John Donne)
In the quatrain, notice that each line breaks, or ends, before a complete thought is expressed.
Rhythm and Meter Language has its own natural rhythms, created by stressed and unstressed
syllables of words. Poets make use of this innate property of language to create meter, or
rhythmic patterns built on the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables.
Readers identify the kind of meter used in a poem by counting the number and types of
stresses in each line. Stressed syllables are marked with an accent symbol (`), and unstressed
syllables are marked with a horseshoe symbol. The stressed and unstressed syllables are then
divided into units called feet. In the following stanza from “The Eagle” the vertical lines divide
each line into four feet.
Example: Meter
The wrin kled sea beneath him crawls,
He watch es from his mount ain walls,
And like a thun derbolt he falls
Each foot is made up of one unstressed syllable and one stressed syllable. This type of foot,
called an iamb, mimics the rise and fall of the “wrinkled sea” described in the poem. Other types
of metrical feet are as follows:
Trochee: a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable, as in the word twinkle
Spondee: two stressed syllables in a row, as in the word schoolyard
Dactyl: a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables, as in the word beautiful
Anapest: two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable, as in the word
comprehend.
Rhyme: In addition to meter, poets use other sound devices, or techniques that create musical
effects. Rhyme is a sound device commonly associated with poetry, although many poems do not
rhyme. Types of rhyme include the following
Exact, or true, rhyme: words that end in both the same vowel and the same consonant
sounds
Example: sun and run
Slant Rhyme: words that end in similar but not exact sounds
Example: prove and love
End Rhyme: rhyming words that fall at the ends of two or more lines
Example: crawls, walls, and falls in the passage from “The Eagle”
Internal Rhyme: rhyming words placed within a line
Example: The mouse in the house woke the cat.
Rhyme Scheme A set pattern of rhyme is called rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme of a
poem is identified by assigning a different letter of the alphabet to each rhyme. Notice the
rhyme scheme of the following stanza from “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” in which a
speaker recalls a field of flowers.
Example: Rhyme Scheme
For oft, when on my couch I lie
a
In vacant or in pensive mood
b
They flash upon that inward eye
a
Which is the bliss of solitude;
b
And then my heart with pleasure fills, c
And dances with the daffodils.
c
Rhyme scheme helps shape the structure of a stanza and clarifies the relationships among the
lines. In the example, the abab pattern creates a close connection among the first four lines,
which describe the speaker’s habit of daydreaming about the daffodils. The cc rhyme creates a
close connection between the last two lines, which sum up the speaker’s feelings as he
daydreams.
Other Sound Devices A poet may use a variety of other sound devices to create musical effects.
The chart below explains sound devices that are often used in poetry.
Repetition is the use of any language element more than once.
Example: Above the town, above the lake, and high above the trees.
Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.
Example: The sneaked past the snail.
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds followed by different consonants in two or
more stressed syllables.
Example: The green leaves fluttered in the breeze.
Consonance is the repetition of final consonant sounds in stressed syllables with
different vowel sounds.
Example: The king sang a song.
Onomatopoeia is the use of words to initiate sounds.
Example: The bees buzzed, and the brook gurgled.
Close Read: Poetic Language and Meaning
The elements of poetry combine to building meaning and tone.
Great poems synthesize the poetic elements of language, including sound, rhythms, imagery, and
connotations, into works that are wonderful to read and offer profound meanings. To analyze
poetry, consider all those elements and identify how they work together to build sound and sense.
Read aloud. To begin your analysis, read the poem aloud so that you can hear the language.
Make note of sound devices. Consider the voice and character of the speaker. Remember that
lines may break before the end of a complete thought, so let the punctuation of the poem guide
your reading.
Read for imagery, figurative language, and structure. Reread the poem to identify examples
of imagery and figurative language, and determine their effects and meanings. Consider any
formal elements in the poem and analyze their impact on meaning and tone.
Read for connotation and tone. Read the poem again to identify words that suggest a specific
tone, paying special attention to the words’ connotative meanings.
To guide your analysis of poetry, refer to the chart below, which offers reminders of poetic
elements and the ways in which they interact to build meaning and emotional impact in a poem.
Poetic Elements
Word Choice and Connotation
Connotative meanings that carry
negative or positive associations
provide clues about the ideas and
emotions the poem expresses.
Rhyme
The repetition of sounds at the ends of
words creates musical effects and makes
ideas memorable. A regular pattern of
rhyme, or rhyme scheme, helps shape
stanzas and build relationships among ideas.
Sensory Language and Imagery
Word pictures that appeal to the senses
Other Sound Devices
Repetition, alliteration, assonance,
consonance, and onomatopoeia create
musical effects and help develop
meaning and tone.
express thoughts and feelings. Look for
repeated or related images, as these may
be clues to a poem’s deeper meaning.
Figurative Language
Imaginative comparisons, such
as similes, metaphors, and
personification, make
connections among ideas and
express shades of meaning.
Form
The form of a poem gives structure to
the experience or events it describes.
Notice how formal elements in a poem
emphasize certain ideas or create a
specific emotional quality.
About the text: Sara Teasdale (1884-1933) was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. The
poem “Barter” is from her collection Love Songs, which won the first Pulitzer Prize for poetry in
1918. A barter is a trade or exchange of items.
“Barter”
by Sara Teasdale
Figurative Language:
The use of
personification turns
the fire into a living and joyous - being.
Other Sound Devices:
The alliteration in the
repeated “l” and “c”
sounds adds to the
poem’s music.
Life has a loveliness to sell,
All beautiful splendid things,
Blue waves whitened on a cliff,
Soaring fire that sways and
sings,
And children’s faces looking up
Holding wonder like a cup.
Life has loveliness to sell,
Music like a curve of gold,
Scent of pine trees in the rain,
Eyes that love you, arms that hold,
And for your spirit’s still delight,
Holy thoughts that star the night.
Spend all you have for loveliness,
Buy it and never count the cost;
For one white singing hour of peace
Count many a year of strife
well lost,
And for a breath of ecstasy
Give all you have been, or could be.
Rhyme: End rhymes
add a musical
dimension to the
poem and help shape
each stanza.
Figurative Language:
This simile allows the
reader to “see” music
as something tangible
and as part of life’s
“loveliness”
Word Choice And
Connotation: These words
connote Powerfully
Positive Emotions and
Convey a Joyful Tone.
About the Text: The American Poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) wrote more than 1,700
poems that sparkle with wit and intelligence. She is known for a stylistic use of punctuation,
especially exclamation points and dashes, and she often capitalized words within sentences to
give them added emphasis.
“We grow accustomed to the Dark-”
by Emily Dickinson
Word Choice and
Connotation: Dickinson
creates a contrast
between darkness, which
is associated with fear
and death, and light, which
is associated with seeing,
or understanding.
We grow accustomed to the DarkWhen Light is put awayAs when the Neighbor hold the Lamp
To witness her GoodbyeA Moment-We uncertain step
For newness of the nightThen-fit our Vision to the DarkAnd meet the Road-erectAnd so of larger-DarknessThose Evenings of the BrainWhen not a Moon disclose a signOr Star-come out-withinThe Bravest-grope a littleAnd sometimes hit a Tree
Directly in the ForeheadBut as they learn to see-
Figurative Language:
The metaphor
Continues. The
“Bravest” people
struggle through
sadness and
sometimes get hurt,
but adjust and come
to grips with their
experiences.
Either Darkness altersOr something in the sight
Adjusts itself to MidnightAnd Life steps almost straight.
Figurative Language:
Dickinson uses
metaphors to speak of
figurative darkness.
These metaphors
suggest Periods of
great sadness.
Rhyme: The rhyming
words help shape the
stanzas/ They support
the idea that idea that
this experience is a
regular occurrence.
This poem is written in free-verse: free verse is a form of poetry composed
of either rhymed or unrhymed lines that have no set fixed metrical pattern.
The early 20th-century poets were the first to write what they called "free
verse" which allowed them to break from the formula and rigidity of traditional poetry.
Name:_____________________________________
Date/Period:________________________________
“Uncoiling” by Pat Mora
About the Text: Pat Mora (b. 1942), a bilingual and bicultural Mexican American, often
includes Spanish words and phrases in her poems. Her poetry is rich in imagery and feeling, and
she often urges her readers to write poems and “enjoy the word-play.” This poem presents a vivid
picture of a tornado.
With thorns, she scratches
on my window, tosses her hair dark with rain,
snares lightning, cholla,1 hawks, butterfly
swarms in the tangles.
She sighs clouds,
head thrown back, eyes closed, roars
and rivers leap,
boulders retreat like crabs
into themselves.
She spews gusts and thunder,
spooks pale women who scurry to
lock doors, windows
when her tumbleweed skirt starts its spin.
They sing lace lullabies
so their children won’t hear
her uncoiling
through her lips, howling
leaves off trees, flesh
off bones, until she becomes
sound, spins herself
to sleep, sand stinging her ankles,
whirring into her raw skin like stars.
“A Voice” by Pat Mora
About the text: In this poem, the speaker describes her mother who, as a high school student,
participated in a speech contest.
Even the lights on the stage unrelenting
as the desert sun couldn’t hide the other
students, their eyes also unrelenting,
students who spoke English every night
as they ate their meat, potatoes, gravy.
Not you. In your house that smelled like
rose powder, you spoke Spanish formal
as your father, the judge without a courtroom
in the country he floated to in the dark
on a flatbed truck. He walked slow
as a hot river down the narrow hall
of your house. You never dared to race past him,
to say, “Please move,” in the language
you learned effortlessly, as you learned to run,
the language forbidden at home, though your
mother
said you learned it to fight with the neighbors.
You liked winning with words. You liked
writing speeches about patriotism and
democracy.
You liked all the faces looking at you, all those
eyes.
“How did I do it?” you ask me now. “How did I
do it
when my parents didn’t understand?”
The family story says your voice is the voice
of an aunt in Mexico, spunky as a peacock.
Family stories sing of what lives in the blood.
You told me only once about the time
you went
to the state capitol, your family proud as
if
you'd been named governor. But when
you looked
around, the only Mexican in the
auditorium,
you wanted to hide from those strange
faces.
Their eyes were pinpricks, and you
faked
hoarseness. You, who are never at a loss
for words, felt your breath stick in your
throat
like an ice-cube. “I can't,” you
whispered.
“I can't.” Yet you did. Not that day but
years later.
You taught the four of us to speak up.
This is America, Mom. The undo-able is
done
in the next generation. Your breath
moves
through the family like the wind
moves through the trees.
Homework
Complete each of the following questions in your notebook:
1. Key Ideas and Details: (a) Infer: In “Uncoiling” What kind of storm does the speaker
describe? (b) Interpret: Identify three actions that the storm takes (c) Analyze: How do
these actions show the storm’s violence?
2. Craft and Structure: (a) Analyze: In “Uncoiling,” what type of figurative language
does Mora use to describe the storm? (b) What is the effect of this choice?
3. Key Ideas and Details: (a) Interpret: In “A Voice,” which of her mother’s childhood
accomplishes does the poet celebrate? (b) Summarize: What happens to her mother at
the state capital? (c) Analyze: According to the speaker, how does the mother turn the
pain of that experience into triumph later in life?
4. Craft and Structure: (a) Note one simile and one metaphor in “A Voice.” (b)
Interpret: Explain the action each example describes.
5. Craft and Structure: (a) Determine: In “A Voice,” the speaker states that family lore
describes the mother’s voice as being “spunky as a peacock.” What type of figurative
language is this? (b) Analyze: What meaning does this comparison suggest?
6. Craft and Structure: Compare and Contrast: Compare and contrast the image of the
wind in “Uncoiling” and in the last stanza of “A Voice.” Explain the differences in tone
and meaning.
Homework
Complete each of the following questions in your notebook:
1. Key Ideas and Details: (a) Infer: In “Uncoiling” What kind of storm does the speaker
describe? (b) Interpret: Identify three actions that the storm takes (c) Analyze: How do
these actions show the storm’s violence?
2. Craft and Structure: (a) Analyze: In “Uncoiling,” what type of figurative language
does Mora use to describe the storm? (b) What is the effect of this choice?
3. Key Ideas and Details: (a) Interpret: In “A Voice,” which of her mother’s childhood
accomplishes does the poet celebrate? (b) Summarize: What happens to her mother at
the state capital? (c) Analyze: According to the speaker, how does the mother turn the
pain of that experience into triumph later in life?
4. Craft and Structure: (a) Note one simile and one metaphor in “A Voice.” (b)
Interpret: Explain the action each example describes.
5. Craft and Structure: (a) Determine: In “A Voice,” the speaker states that family lore
describes the mother’s voice as being “spunky as a peacock.” What type of figurative
language is this? (b) Analyze: What meaning does this comparison suggest?
6. Craft and Structure: Compare and Contrast: Compare and contrast the image of the
wind in “Uncoiling” and in the last stanza of “A Voice.” Explain the differences in tone
and meaning.
Do Now:
Directions: Carefully read through everything on this page before you do anything.
1.
Print your name in the upper left-hand corner of this page.
2.
Write the date below your name in the upper left-hand corner.
3.
coRRect the grammar mitsakes in This senetnce
4.
After the date written just below your name, write your birth date.
5.
Draw a line through this sentence.
6.
Draw a heart around number “6.”
7.
List the name of three texts that we have read so far this year on the back of his page.
8.
Punch a hole with your pencil through the number “8” at the beginning of this sentence.
9.
Draw a big smiley face in the middle of this paper.
10. Now that you have read everything through carefully, do only items 1 and 2 and then turn
your sheet over.
Do Now:
Directions: Carefully read through everything on this page before you do anything.
1.
Print your name in the upper left-hand corner of this page.
2.
Write the date below your name in the upper left-hand corner.
3.
coRRect the grammar mitsakes in This senetnce
4.
After the date written just below your name, write your birth date.
5.
Draw a line through this sentence.
6.
Draw a heart around number “6.”
7.
List the name of three texts that we have read so far this year on the back of his page.
8.
Punch a hole with your pencil through the number “8” at the beginning of this sentence.
9.
Draw a big smiley face in the middle of this paper.
10. Now that you have read everything through carefully, do only items 1 and 2 and then turn
your sheet over.