Elements of poetry

Open Ended

What comes into your mind when you hear the word, poem?

​Poem

is literary form that is a product of the writer's creative imagination and shows an emotional response through a set of carefully chosen words that have sound, meaning, and rhythm(Nemerov, 2022).

Poetry​

​Poem

"is a piece of writing that uses imaginative words to share ideas, emotions or a story with the reader( What is a poem? n.d)."​

Poetry​

​Poem

is like singing; it is a form of art that shows one's feelings through condensed ideas and rhyme

( The Elements of a Poem | Reading | Khan Academy (Unlisted), 2020)​.

Poetry​

There are many features that are unique to poems, but we are going to discuss the most common elements. ​

​What are the elements of poetry?

​

Multiple Select

Which do you think are some of the elements unique to poetry?

• theme

• rhyme

• paragraphs

• meter

• figures of speech

The poetry elements that we are going to focus on are structure & form, rhyme, meter, imagery, and theme​.

​Structure and Form

​This refers to how a poem looks like, its physical format and the arrangement of the words.

Multiple Choice

The basic unit of each poem consists of lines. What do you call a set of lines in a poem?

• verse

• sentence

• stanza

• paragraph

​STANZAS

Multiple Select

The way the lines are grouped and presented may vary from one type of poem to the other. Take for instance the form of a Haiku, a Japanese type of poem. ​Which do you think are characteristics of a haiku?

• It has 3 lines.

• It strictly follows a rhyme.

• The syllables follow the pattern 5-7-5 rule.

• It has 14 lines.

• It was popularized by Shakespeare.

​Supplementary materials:

• To learn more about haikus, please go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnXY5-DJdd0

• Refer to page 173 of your worktext for further details of haikus.

• Read sample haikus on page 50 of your Literary Anthology book.​

​Enjambment in poetry

This refers to the spilling over or continuing a phrase or idea from one line to the other.

Please refer to page 174 of your Worktext. ​

​METER

" Meter describes the rhythm (or pattern of beats) in a line of poetry. Meter is a combination of the number of beats and the arrangement of stressed and non-stressed syllables in each line. Iambic pentameter is a primary example of meter( Study.com, n.d.) " 

​This is evident

when

poem is read aloud

and

which makes

poetry

similar to the

art of singing.

Rhyme in poetry

"Rhyme is created when the last one or more syllables within separate words match. A poem is considered to rhyme when the last words of the lines within the verse share this relationship( Daina, n.d. para 11)"

If the poem does not follow a rhyme scheme(pattern), then it is called a

FREE VERSE.​

ELEMENTS OF POETRY​

​For examples of free verse poetry, please go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYb8G4MXy78

For examples of rhymed poetry, go to this link:​

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcGIAQw8ekM​

Multiple Choice

Read the second haiku on page 50 of the Literary Anthology book. Does it follow a rhyme?

• Yes

• No

Open Ended

IMAGERY: Refer to Haiku 1 on page 50 of your Literary Anthology book:

An old silent pond...

A frog jumps into the pond

Splash! Silence again.

Identify words that depict a strong image.

​IMAGERY

helps poetry appeal to the senses as they describe living things or inanimate objects, more so than other categories of figurative language.

The use of figures of speech such as metaphors and personifications and strong descriptions helps build the poem's imagery.​

Study this lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxASvORGoG4​

Read page 145 of your worktext.​

ELEMENTS OF POETRY​

​Sample imagery in haiku

​ SAMPLE HAIKU:

An old silent pond...

A frog jumps into the pond

Splash! Silence again.

Subject | Subject

​The words, silent and splash, evoke an image

that the pond is quiet(silent)

and only the sound of the frog(splash) gave movement to the pond. This appeals to the sense of hearing.

​Sample imagery in haiku

Subject | Subject

​“A lightening flash:

between the forest trees

I have seen water.”

(Shiki 222)

VISUAL IMAGERY: When the audience reads this haiku, they can clearly see a vivid picture of a forest being lit up by a flash, allowing the body of water to be seen. Imagery is used in these haikus to give a better understanding of what the poet is saying, allowing the reader to connect more with the text.

Open Ended

What emotion does this poem bring to you(see image)?

​THEME

​Theme in poetry refers to the message that the poet wants to convey in his/her poem.

This poem evokes sadness with the subject of the poem. It uses visual imagery to describe how she feels. The use of the words, clouds that are heavy and dark, speaks that the subject is about to cry, with tears falling like drops of rain.

​

​ELEMENTS OF POETRY

​HAIKU'S THEME

Originally, haikus are about nature. These are products of observations in natural things seen in everyday life. It can be as simple as describing how a flower looks like or the sound the rivers create.

​The purpose of haikus has transcended to illustrating one's emotions through the use of images in nature. Instead of saying directly, "I am happy", you may use images from your surroundings to express how you are feeling.

​References:

​

Daina. (n.d.). The Elements of Poetry: Teaching the Structure of a Poem. Mondays Made Easy. Retrieved October 21, 2022,

from  https://mondaysmadeeasy.com/elements-of-poetry/

Nemerov, H. (2022, October 18). poetry. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/art/poetry

What is a poem? (n.d.). Retrieved October 21, 2022,

from https://www.storytimemagazine.com/downloads/storytime_school_magazine_issue_25_teaching_resource_pack_poetry.pdf 

The elements of a poem | Reading | Khan Academy (unlisted). (2020, April 10). [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved October 21, 2022, from

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFNnbxCZPBU