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Structure
Structure
Structure refers to the form, or shape of a poem. Poems are made of lines, and the lines are grouped into stanzas . The structure of a poem adds significantly to the poem's effect and meaning, as does the white space between the stanzas and words, the punctuation that is used (or not used), and even the way the poem is placed on the page.
Lines: individual lines of words. Poets decide where to split lines based on the rhythm or meaning of the words in the line.
Lines do not necessarily correspond to sentences, but rather to a rhythm. Generally, but not always, the line is printed as one single line on the page. There is a tendency when reading poetry to pause at the end of a line, but the careful reader will follow the punctuation to find where natural pauses should occur.
Stanzas: Basically they are poem paragraphs. Groups of lines that are separated for rhythmic or thematic reasons.
Repetition: When a poet repeats words or phrases for emphasis. These lines are important.
Rhyme: When the ends of lines end with the same sound.
Hickory dickory dock
The mouse ran up the clock
Internal Rhyme: When word in the same line rhyme with each other
Hickory dickory dock
The mouse ran up the clock
Near Rhyme: When words do not rhyme exactly, but are close enough to count
I wanna be the very best
Like no one ever was
To catch them is my real test
To train them is my cause
Rhyme Scheme: The pattern of rhyme in a poem.
You're on your own. And you know what you know. (A)
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go. (A)
You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care. (B)
About some you will say, 'I don't choose to go there.' (B)
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, (C)
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street. (C)
If the game shakes me or breaks me (A)
I hope it makes me a better man (B)
Take a better stand (B)
Put money in my mom’s hand (B)
Meter: any regular pattern of rhythm based on stressed and unstressed syllables.
Syntax: Word order and sentence structure.
Indentation: When a line of poetry does not start at the left edge of the page, but is pushed in towards the middle of the page for dramatic effect.
it's
spring
and
the
goat-footed
balloonMan whistles
Language
Language
Most words convey several meanings or shades of meaning at the same time. It is the poet’s job to find words which, when used in relation to other words in the poem, will carry the precise intention of thought. Often, some of the more significant words may carry several layers or “depths” of meaning at once. The ways in which the meanings of words are used can be identified.
Figurative language
Simile: A direct comparison of two unlike things using “like” or “as.”
- He’s as dumb as a box of rocks.
- Your'e built like a refrigerator
Metaphor: A direct comparison between two unlike things, stating that one is the other without using "like" or "as".
- Lamar is a beast on the field.
- He got that dog in him.
- The Jet's season was a train wreck
Hyperbole: an extreme exaggeration used for effect
- If I don't pass English, my mom is going to kill me.
- I haven't read a book in a million years.
- You're mamma is so fat...
Personification: Attributing human characteristics to an inanimate object, animal, or abstract idea.
- The days crept by slowly, sorrowfully.
Sound Language
Alliteration: Repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of words, usually on the same line.
Fast and Furious
Peter and Peppa patted the pony in Pittsburgh
Rhyme: Repeated sounds at the end of words.
Assonance: Repeated vowel sounds in words placed near each other
deep sea green
he took the book without looking it
Consonance: the close repetition of identical consonant sounds before or after different vowels sounds
Touch the beach with a peach so the chicken doesn't chop my cheeks off.
Laura called to tell me that Lila had fallen ill.
Rhetorical Devices
Allusion: is a direct or indirect reference to a familiar person, place, historical event, literature, mythology or religious text.
To climb Mount Everest in winter was a Herculean task. (this is an allusion to the myth of Hercules)
“To say: “I am Lazarus, come from the dead, / Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all —” (allusion to the story of Lazarus in the Bible)
Analogy: A comparison, usually something unfamiliar with something familiar.
The plumbing took a maze of turns where even water got lost.
Irony a difference between what one says or expects and what is actually meant or what actually happens.
The tree's branches
knocked against our window.
It wanted to be friends
and come in.
My answer was to open my window
reach out and hack off
its two longest arms.
Paradox: Paradox is a statement of apparent contradiction. On a literal level the idea seems impossible, but there is truth in the contradiction.
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
Oxymoron: A condensed paradox. A combination of two words that appear to contradict each other.
bittersweet
organized chaos
cruel kindness
Symbolism: When poets use symbols to imply deeper meaning. An ordinary object, event, animal, or person to which we have attached extraordinary meaning and significance.
a flag to represent a country, a lion to represent courage, a wall to symbolize separation, a broken mirror to represent self-image
Imagery
Imagery
Imagery the use of words to convey vivid, concrete sensory experiences. The word "image" suggests most obviously a visual image, a picture, but imagery also includes vivid sensory experiences of smell, sound, touch, and taste as well. Imagery goes beyond mere description to communicate an experience or feeling so vividly that it encourages the creation of images in the mind of the reader and readers experiences for themselves the specific sensations that the poet intends.
Visual Imagery
Here and there
his brown skin hung in strips
like ancient wall-paper,
and its pattern of darker brown
was like wall-paper:
Auditory (sound) imagery
The sound must seem an echo to the sense:
Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently bows,
And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flow;
But when the loud surges lash the sounding shore,
The hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent roar.
Tactile (touch) Imagery
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend
Taste Imagery
The word plum is delicious
pout and push, luxury of
self-love, and savoring murmur
full in the mouth and falling
like fruit
taut skin
pierced, bitten, provoked into
juice, and tart flesh
Smell Imagery
And what a congress of stinks!—
Roots ripe as old bait,
Pulpy stems, rank, silo-rich,
Leaf-mold, manure, lime, piled against slippery planks.
Nothing would give up life:
Even the dirt kept breathing a small breath
Affect
Affect
Affect is the poems feeling, or how it effects the reader. Poets carefully choose their words in order to convey specific emotions. Think about how you feel as you read it, how the poet felt as they were writing it, and how the speaker or other characters in the poem feel. Try to understand how these emotions are brought out.
Connotation: The emotional suggestions attached to words beyond their dictionary definitions. The social overtones of a word; its implications and associations apart from its literal meaning.
- My uncle is frugal. Frugal has a positive connotation, meaning the uncle is smart with his money.
- My uncle is cheap. Cheap has a negative connotation, implying that the uncle is broke.
Denotation: The dictionary definition of the word. It is important to know the denotation of words so we can recognize the use of differing connotations.
Tone: The poet's attitude toward his/her subject or readers. it is similar to tone of voice but should not be confused with mood. An author's tone might be sarcastic, sincere, humorous . . .
Mood: is the prevailing feeling that is created in a story or poem.
Diction: Te the level of formality that a speaker uses
- Formal: Proper, elevated, elaborate, and often polysyllabic language. I shall procure my sustenance of pork in the utmost convenient fashion.
- Neutral: Correct language characterized by directness and simplicity. I am going to buy a ham sandwich.
- Informal: Relaxed, conversational and familiar language. I'm finna cop a hammy sammy
Speaker: the "voice" which seems to be telling the poem, like a narrator in a book. Not always the same as the poet.
Point of View: The author’s point of view concentrates on the vantage point of the speaker.
- 1st Person: the speaker is a character in the story or poem and tells it from his/her perspective (uses “I”). •
- 3rd Person limited: the speaker is not part of the story, but tells about the characters through the limited perceptions of one other person.
- 3rd Person omniscient: the speaker is not part of the story, but is able to “know” and describe what all characters are thinking.
Meaning
Meaning
What does it all mean? Think about what the poet's point was. What are they saying about the world? Why did they make the choices they made?
Subject: The main topic of the poem. What it is generally about.
love, death, war, racism, Democracy, the American Dream, Chicago, a ladybug, another person, childhood, etc.Theme: The message, or what the author is trying to say about the topic. The theme is a unique idea that can be applied to other aspects of life.
- If the topic was war, the theme could be that all war is senseless and not worth the deaths on either side of the conflict.
- If the topic was the American Dream, the theme could be that the dream has died for the working class.
- If the topic was love, the theme could be that losing a great love is painful, but still better than having always been alone.
Symbolism: When poets use symbols to imply deeper meaning. An ordinary object, event, animal, or person to which we have attached extraordinary meaning and significance.
- a flag to represent a country, a lion to represent courage, a wall to symbolize separation, a broken mirror to represent self-image
Context: The real-life circumstances that the poem was written under. No art exists in a vacuum. The poet's life and the work around them is woven into the poem as an influence. Often, poets will use their words to comment or critique their society.
- Walt Whitman wrote in the mid-1800's. The context of his poems was the Civil War.
- Langston Hughes was a black man in the early to mid 1900's. The context of his poems was racial discrimination.
- Sylvia Plath was clinically depressed her entire aldult life. Her mental state was the context of many poems.
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