The Art of Poetry

1
The Art of Poetry

• Poetry has been defined as heightened language,
  as it is generally a very artistic use of
  language, which puts the language into verse and
  concentrates on rhythm. As your text points out,
  there need not be even a predictable rhyme or
  rhythm scheme for a piece of literature to be
  considered a poem.
• In a poem, instead of sentences and paragraphs,
  you find lines and stanzas.

2
Elements of Poetry

• In addition to metaphor, imagery, symbolism, and
  tone, we will look at speaker and situation,
  syntax, and sound as we study poetry.

3
Speaker

• One of the most difficult concepts in the study
  of poetry is that of speaker.
• The speaker is roughly equivalent to the narrator
  of fictional works. It is a character or a
  psychological persona that the poet constructs to
  deliver the words of the poem.

4
Speaker vs. Poet

• Be very careful in analyzing poem that you do not
  attribute the emotions or events experienced by
  the speaker to the poet, him- or herself.
• Sometimes, you may have strong biographical
  evidence linking the speaker to the poet, in
  which case you might quote and cite that
  information to make your case however, for the
  purposes of this class, you should mentally
  divorce the speaker from the poet.

5
Situation

• The situation is the context in which the speaker
  finds him- or herself. This is roughly
  equivalent to setting and plot in fiction.
• In Bored by Margaret Atwood, the speaker is the
  grown-up child who now understands that time
  spent with his/her father was precious, even
  though he/she did not understand that at the
  time. The situation is one removed from those
  former boring times.

6
Syntax

• Syntax refers to the structure of language in a
  poem. A poems lines may be long or short, simple
  or complex.
• Generally, we would look to the line length or
  the shape of the lines and stanzas as being
  related somehow to the poems theme.

7
Sound

• Sound in poems is extremely important. Poems can
  be analyzed by rhythm or the internal sounds of
  words or phrases.
• Rhythm can be created out of meter, the regular
  pattern of accented and unaccented syllables in a
  poetic line, and pace, the relative speed
  suggested by the lines.

8
Internal Sounds

• Rhyme occurs when the final accented syllables of
  words sound alike. They usually occur at the end
  of a poetic line. A regular rhyme scheme may
  make the poems lines more predictable or more
  easy to memorize.
• Roses are red / Violets are blue / Sugar is sweet
  / And so are you
• Alliteration occurs when initial consonant or
  vowel sounds are repeated through several words
• Roses are red
• Assonance occurs when internal vowel sounds are
  repeated through several words whose final
  consonant sounds differ.
• Lake and fate

9
Questions for Analyzing Poems

• Speaker and Situation
• What kind pf person is speaking in the poem? Can
  you figure out age, race, gender?
• What is the situation of the poem?
• How do speaker and/or situation relate to the
  poems theme?

10
Questions, continued

• Tone
• How would you describe the tone of the poem?
• Does the tone change over the course of the poem?
• Do diction, syntax, imagery, and/or sound help
  develop that tone?

11
Questions, continued

• Diction
• What is the level of the poems diction? Is it
  formal or informal? Simple or difficult? Elegant
  or course?
• What words might have double meanings?
• Does the poem use paradox or verbal irony?

12
Questions, continued

• Syntax
• How difficult are the lines or sentences? Are
  they short and simple or long and complex?
• Are there any departures from standard grammar,
  such as fragmented elliptical passages?
• Does the syntax change over the course of the
  poem?

13
Questions, continued

• Imagery
• What patterns does the imagery suggest?
• What colors predominate?
• To what senses do the images appeal?
• What similes, metaphors, and symbols does the
  poet use?
• Are there contrasting images?
• Does the imagery change through the course of the
  poem?

14
Questions, continued

• Sound
• What effects are created by the sounds and
  location of particular words/
• Does the poem move fast or slow? Does it flow
  smoothly, or does it contain abrupt shifts, stops
  and starts?
• How regular is the meter of the poem? What is the
  meter?
• Does the poem use rhyme, alliteration, or
  assonance?
• Does the sound in the poem change?