A complete guide to the elements of poetry

Elements of Verse

WHAT IS A POEM?

elements of poetry | FUN WRITING TASKS 1 1 | Elements of Poetry | literacyideas.com

Before nosotros take a wait at some specific elements of poetry, it'd be helpful to briefly attempt to ascertain just what a poem is.

What exactly makes a verse form different, for example, from a piece of prose? Or song lyrics, fifty-fifty?

The truth is that when we get down to information technology, poetry isn't all that easy to pivot down. Even poets themselves disagree most what constitutes a poem. What chance, so, do our struggling students accept?

Luckily, some wide, general characteristics tin can be agreed upon. In this commodity, nosotros volition look at these common features of poetry and how we can best instil an understanding of these in our students.

COMMON FEATURES OF POETRY

It looks similar a poem – if it looks similar a poem and reads like a poem, then the chances are pretty skillful that it is, indeed, a poem. Verse comes in lines, some of which are consummate sentences, but many of which are not. Also, usually, these lines don't run out to the margins consistently, like in, say, a novel. All this gives poetry a distinctive and recognisable look on the page.

It often has some underlying form belongings things together – while this isn't always true (in some complimentary verse, for example), a lot of verse conforms to a prescribed structure such as in a sonnet, a haiku etc.

Information technology uses imagery – if the poet is worth his or her common salt, they'll endeavour to create images in the reader's mind using lots of sensory details and figurative language.

Information technology has a sure musicality – we could be forgiven for thinking that poesy's natural incarnation is the written word and its habitat, the page, merely the printed word is non where poetry's origins prevarication. The earliest poems were composed orally and committed to memory. Nosotros can still see the importance the sound of language plays when we read poems out loud. We can meet it, too, in the attention paid to musical devices incorporated into the verse form. Devices such as alliteration, assonance, and rhyme, for example. We will expect at many of these later on in this article.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO Didactics POETRY

Make poetryFUN, ENGAGING, AND RELEVANT! This unit is a complete solution for teaching and learning poesy to students. ❤️NO PREP REQUIRED ❤️. Just download and beginning teaching.

  • Digital & Print Versions
  • Teaching Guidelines & Instructions
  • Poetry Quiz
  • Elements of Poesy
  • Curriculum Links
  • nineteen Styles of Poetry
  • 30 Contained Tasks
  • Assessment Tools
  • Templates & Anchor Charts
  • Worksheets, Posters & More than

THE PURPOSE OF POETRY: WHAT IS POETRY FOR?

Of all the forms professional writers tin can accept, the professional person poet well-nigh often finds themself struggling to make ends encounter financially. Poetry can be challenging to sympathize and require a lot of effort from the reader. Students tin can exist forgiven for wondering exactly what the point of this difficult-to-write and hard-to-read genre that is evidently used to torture the less literary-minded during their school years.

It may be a hard sell to some of our more reluctant students, but there is a point behind all this word-smithery.

Verse's purpose is essential to help united states of america empathise the world effectually u.s.a.. Information technology endeavours to show us things anew that nosotros may accept previously taken for granted. It offers u.s.a. new perspectives on the familiar.

Poesy's purpose is to enable united states of america to see the globe with fresh optics again, like those of a child. In doing this, information technology helps united states of america sympathize our world more than profoundly.

THE Construction OF POETRY

We've mentioned already that though poetry'southward origins lie in the spoken word, it does take a very recognizable shape when put down on the folio. This is mainly due to the overall arrangement of the lines on the page, oft in the course of stanzas.

THE STANZA

Though some modern forms of poesy eschew traditional poetic conventions such as rhyme schemes and meter etc., the stanza all the same plays a vital role in the overall await of printed poetry.

But, just what exactly is a stanza? – your students may well ask.

Stanzas are the poetic equivalent of a prose paragraph. They are a series of lines grouped together and separated from other groups of lines or stanzas by a skipped line.

Stanzas come in various lengths, dependent either on the poet'due south whim or the conventions of a particular poetic form. Various technical vocabulary is often used to refer to stanzas of specific lengths. Here are the about common of these,

Stanzas of:

● two lines are chosen a couplet

● 3 lines are called a tercet

● four lines are chosen a quatrain

● 5 lines are called a cinquain

● 6 lines are called a sestet, or occasionally a sexain

● seven lines are chosen a septet

● 8 lines are called an octave

Verse form STRUCTURES: TYPES OF POETRY AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS

When exploring the elements of poetry, nosotros must appreciate in that location are many dissimilar types of poetry, some of which we will look at below. Only, regardless of the specific type of poesy in question, most likely, a poem will fit into ane of these iii overarching types of verse: lyric, narrative, and descriptive.

Lyric Poetry

Lyric poetry concerns itself mainly with the poet's emotional life; that is, information technology's written in their vocalisation and expresses solid thoughts and emotions. In that location is only 1 phonation in a lyric verse form, and we see the globe from that single perspective. Near mod poetry is lyric poetry in that it is personal and introspective.

Narrative Poetry

As its name implies, narrative verse is concerned with storytelling. Just equally in a prose story, a narrative poem volition most probable follow the conventions of the plot, including elements such equally conflict, ascension action, climax, resolution etc. Again, as in prose stories, narrative poems volition most probable be peopled with characters to perform the actions of the tale.

elements of poetry | 600 x 300px adverts | Elements of Poetry | literacyideas.com

Descriptive Poetry

Descriptive poetry commonly employs lots of rich imagery to describe the world around the poet. While it most often has a single poetic voice and stiff emotional content, descriptive verse differs from lyric poetry in that its focus is more than on the externalities of the world rather than the poet's interior life.

We have mentioned that verse often hangs on the conventions of specific underlying structures. Let's now expect at some of the more mutual subtypes and their defining characteristics.

SUBTYPES OF Verse

Sonnet

Sonnets are predominantly concerned with matters of the heart. If you see a sonnet's recognisably blocky class on a folio, there'due south a skilful chance the theme will be love. There are two common forms of sonnets: Shakespearean and Petrarchan. They differ slightly in their internal construction, but both have 14 lines. Let's take look at some more of the internal characteristics of both forms:

Petrarchan

●      Comprises two stanzas

●      The First eight lines pose a question

●      2d stanza answers the question posed

●      The rhyme scheme is: ABBA, ABBA, CDECDE

Shakespearean

●      Comprises 3 quatrains of iv lines each

●      Ends with a rhyming couplet which forms a determination

●      The rhyme scheme is: ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG

Haiku

Haiku is a disciplined form of poesy that originates in 17th-century Japanese verse. Usually, it is concerned with nature and natural phenomena such equally the seasons, weather etc. They are ofttimes quite meditative in tone.

However, at that place are no fundamental rules regarding themes; the but bodily demands here relate to structure:

●      They are written in three-line stanzas

●      1st line contains v syllables

●      2d line contains seven syllables

●      third line contains 5 syllables

Due to their short length and limited requirements, these are ordinarily a lot of fun for students to write. They tin serve as an excellent introduction for students to attempt to write poetry co-ordinate to specific technical requirements of a form.

Elegy

Elegies are a type of poem that don't really come up with specific structural requirements merely still constitute a recognisable grade of poetry. What makes an elegy an elegy is its subject, that is, death. Elegies are poems of lamentation – the word elegy itself comes from the Greek word elegeia which means to 'lament'.

●      A poem of reflection on expiry or on someone who has died

●      Normally comes in three parts expressing loss:

○      grief

○      praise for the deceased

○      and, finally, consolation.

Limerick

Favorites of school children everywhere, the most defining characteristic of limericks is their renowned humor. Given their well-deserved reputation for being funny and, on occasion, crude, information technology'southward easy to overlook the fact that beneath the laughs lies quite a tightly structured poesy form.

● v lines in total

●Distinct verbal rhythm

● two longer lines of usually between 7 to ten syllables

● two shorter lines of usually betwixt v to 7 syllables

● ane closing line containing the 'punchline.'

●      Rhyme scheme is AABBA

Ballad

Ballads are a blazon of narrative poesy closely tied to musical forms. Ballads written as poetry tin can often easily be adapted as song lyrics. While ballads don't have tight formal constrictions like some other forms of poesy, there are enough in the way of distinguishable features to identify them as a class.

●      Tells a story, often using simple language

●      Frequently romantic, adventurous, or humorous

●      Arranged in groups of 4 lines or quatrains

●      Oftentimes uses alternating 4 and 3 beat lines

●      Rhyme scheme is usually ABAB or ABCB

Ode

Another poesy form that traces its origins to Aboriginal Greece, odes were initially intended to be sung. Nowadays, though no longer sung, the term ode nevertheless refers to a blazon of lyrical poem that addresses and often praises a specific person, thing, or result.

●      The author addresses a person, thing, or event

●      Usually has a solemn, serious tone

●      Explores universal elements of the theme

●      Powerful emotional element, often involving catharsis

Odes written in the classical vein can follow very strict metrical patterns and rhyme schemes. Withal, many modern odes are written in costless verse involving irregular rhythm and without adherence to a rhyme scheme.

Ballsy

These long narrative poems recount heroic tales, normally focused on a legendary or mythical effigy. Think of works of literature on a m scale, such every bit The Odyssey, The Cattle Raid of Cooley, or Beowulf.

●      Employs an objective and all-seeing narrator

●      Written in an elevated style

●      Recounts heroic events

●      Grand in scale

POETIC DEVICES

Though we refer to these devices here as 'poetic devices, the devices below are not the exclusive domain of poetry alone. Many of these are to be found in other writing genres, especially other creative forms such as curt stories, novels, and artistic nonfiction.

Many of these devices originate in poetry's roots as a spoken literary form. They rely on the musicality of words, their rhythm and rhyme. They focus on various sound furnishings that can be created by the advisedly chosen word.

Other devices are more concerned with imagery. They forge connections between diverse ideas and conjure pictures in the readers' minds. Together, these devices elevator verse into the realm of art.

The post-obit devices are organized into two sections. The first section, titled Audio Devices, deals with the following devices: alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia, rhyme, and rhythm.

The second section Figurative Language deals with metaphor, personification, and simile. These are not meant as an exhaustive list merely to give an indication of the possibilities for these elements of poesy. You tin can notice many more examples of these in our article on figurative language.

Students will benefit from learning the definitions of each of these devices over time. While it is essential that they learn to recognize their utilize in the poesy of others and learn to appreciate the effects these devices tin can create, it is every bit of import that the students go a run a risk to have a go at creating their own examples of these devices in their own writing.

It is only by trying their hand at employing these devices in their own work that students can really internalize how these devices operate. And then, in the section below, we'll first look at a working definition of the poetic device, then an example to illustrate information technology in action, earlier offer simple exercise students can undertake to gain more practice with it themselves.

elements of poetry | Elements of poetry poster 1 | Elements of Poetry | literacyideas.com

SOUND DEVICES

Alliteration

Meaning: This device involves the repetition of the initial consonant sound of a series of words, frequently consecutively. Alliteration is most easily explained to students by looking at a few unproblematic natural language twisters, such as Peter Piper or She Sells Seashells.

Example:

Betty Botter bought a bit of butter

Just, the bit of butter Betty Botter bought was bitter

So Betty Botter bought a meliorate bit of butter

Exercise: Challenge the students to write their own tongue twisters using alliteration. You may wish to give them a topic to write on to start. For example, younger students may well enjoy writing about animals. They may even wish to employ the sounds animals brand in their tongue twister, e.g. The slithering snake slid sideways through the grass… Once they have written their poem run across if they can place any other elements of poetry within it.

Assonance

Meaning: Similarly to alliteration, assonance involves the repetition of sounds in a series of words, often consecutive words. Yet, rather than repeating the initial sounds, assonance focuses on the repeated internal vowel sounds.

Case:

We can find many examples of assonance in poetry and vocal. Here's an example from the poetry of Edgar Allen Poe: Hear the mellow wedding bells

Exercise: Assonance is frequently referred to as 'vowel rhyme'. It is very common in many forms of popular music, especially rap. Challenge your students to find examples of assonance in the music they mind to and share them with the class. They may also want to try their hand at writing their own examples too.

Consonance

Pregnant: Consonance is the consonant-focused counterpart to assonance. Information technology involves the repetition of consonant sounds in the heart or at the end of words, distinguished from alliteration, where the initial sound is repeated.

Example: The crow struck through the thick cloud like a rocket

Exercise: As there are many similarities between the devices of alliteration, assonance, and consonance, information technology would be a skillful idea to give the students opportunities to practice distinguishing between them. An excellent exercise to reach this is to have them first identify examples of each device from a poesy in a poesy anthology before challenging them to come upwardly with original examples of each on their own. The students can then use the examples they have identified equally models to create their own.

Onomatopoeia

elements of poetry | 600 x 300px adverts | Elements of Poetry | literacyideas.com

Meaning: Onomatopoeia refers to the process of creating words that sound similar the very thing they refer to. For many students, the first introduction to onomatopoeia goes dorsum to learning animal sounds equally an babe. Words such as Oink! Chirp! Woof! and Meow! can all be thought of as onomatopoeic. Be sure to examine these elements of poetry with your younger students first.

Example: Aside from animal noises, the names of sounds themselves are ofttimes onomatopoeic, for instance:

Bang!

Thud!

Crash!

Exercise: Encourage students to coin new onomatopoeic words. Instruct them to sit in silence for a few minutes. They should pay shut attention to all the sounds they can hear in the environs. When the time is upward, have the students quickly jot down all the noises they heard. They should and so come upward with an onomatopoeic discussion for each of the dissimilar sounds. For example, if they could hear people indistinctly talking in the corridor, they might come up with the discussion 'rabbalabba' to describe the audio they heard. As an extension, they could try using their freshly-minted words in sentences.

Rhyme

Meaning: Rhyme refers to the repetition of sounds in a poem. Various types of rhyme are possible; all the same, in English, nosotros usually use the term rhyme to refer to the repetition of the final sounds in a line or end rhyme. Messages are often used to denote a rhyme scheme. A new alphabetic character is ascribed to each of the dissimilar sounds. For example, in the following example, the rhyme scheme is described as ABAB.

Case:

The people along the sand

All turn and look one style.

They plough their back on the land.

They look at the body of water all twenty-four hours.

[From Neither Out Far Nor In Deep by Robert Frost]

Exercise: Even though a lot of modernistic poetry no longer follows a strict rhyme scheme, it is yet helpful for students to be able to recognize various rhyming patterns in poetry. A expert way for them to gain more feel with rhyme schemes is to requite them copies of several different poems and inquire them to draw the rhyme scheme using messages, east.g. ABAB, ABABCC etc. Once they have completed this task, they can then be challenged to write a stanza or two of poesy employing each rhyme scheme identified.

Rhythm

Meaning: Rhythm in poesy involves audio patterning. A lot of classical poetry conforms to a systematic regularity of rhythm, referred to every bit the poem'due south meter. This involves combining stressed and unstressed syllables to create a constant beat pattern that runs throughout the poem. Each design of beats is called a foot. There are diverse possible combinations of stressed and unstressed syllables, or feet, and these patterns have their ain names to draw them. While exploring all of these in this article is impossible, we wait at one of the more than common ones below.

Example:

Shall I com pare thee to a sum mer's mean solar day

[Iambic pentameter, i.east. five metrical feet of alternate unstressed and stressed syllables]

Exercise: A valuable fashion of tuning in students to meter is to accept them mark the stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poesy. The iambic pentameter is a good identify to beginning. This pattern is found in many of Shakespeare's plays. It is also frequently used in love sonnets, where its rhythm reflects the beating of the human heart and reinforces the idea that love comes 'from the middle'. One time students have become expert at recognizing various meters and rhythms, they should accept a become at writing in them too.

Figurative / Connotative Language in Poetry

Metaphor

Meaning: Metaphors make comparisons between things by stating that ane matter literally is something else. Metaphors are used to bring clarity to ideas by forming connections. Frequently, metaphors reveal implicit similarities between ii things or concepts.

Case: We tin discover lots of examples of metaphors in our everyday speech, for example:

She's an one-time flame

Fourth dimension is money

Life is a rollercoaster

Exercise: When students can comfortably identify metaphors in the poems of others, they should try their hands at creating their own metaphors. A good beginning is challenging them to convert some similes into metaphors. Not only does this give students valuable practice in creating metaphors, but it likewise helps reinforce their understanding of the differences between metaphors and similes while giving them a scaffold to support their first attempts at producing metaphors themselves.

Simile

Significant: Different metaphors that make comparisons past proverb one thing is something else, similes piece of work by maxim something is similar to something else. They commonly come in two forms. Those that make a comparison using 'every bit' and those that brand a comparison using 'like'.

Example:

She is as strong as an ox

She sings similar a nightingale

Practice: As with the exercise for metaphors, it'd be helpful to practice for students to convert metaphors they identify in poetry into similes, reinforcing their understanding of both in the process.

Personification

Meaning: Personification is a particular blazon of metaphor where a not-man thing or thought is ascribed to human qualities or abilities. This can be in the form of a single phrase or line or extended in the form of a stanza or the whole poem.

Example:

The moon was shining sulkily,

Because she thought the sun

Had got no business concern to be in that location

After the twenty-four hours was done –

"It's very rude of him," she said,

"To come and spoil the fun."

[From the Walrus and the Carpenter by Lewis Carroll]

Practice: To help students practise distinguishing betwixt metaphors, similes, and personification, gather a list of jumbled-up examples of each from various poems. Students can then sort these accordingly. When they accept completed this, task them to devise an original case of each.

The elements of poetry are many, and while the elements explored above represent the well-nigh important of these, it is not an exhaustive list of every element. It takes lots of exposure for students to become comfortable recognizing each and confident in employing these elements in their writing.

Take every opportunity to reinforce student agreement of these elements. Poetic elements are often employed in genres outside of poesy such as in stories, advertising, and song – waste product no opportunity!

DOWNLOAD THIS Gratis 30 Mean solar day POETRY WRITING ACTIVITY MATRIX

elements of poetry | Slide1 | Elements of Poetry | literacyideas.com

Your students will love this 30-mean solar day Poetry Matrix to challenge their understanding of and ability to write great poetry. Information technology works beautifully for Distance LEARNING due to its instructional hyperlinks and simple guides for students to follow. Add together information technology to GOOGLE CLASSROOM or SeeSaw to keep your students engaged on the job.

TUTORIAL VIDEOS ON THE ELEMENTS OF Poesy

LOOKING FOR More than Nifty ARTICLES ON THE ELEMENTS OF Verse?

elements of poetry | How to Write a Simile Poem | How to Write a Superb Simile Poem | literacyideas.com

How to Write a Superb Simile Poem

What Is a Simile Poem? Simile poems are simply poems that are built effectually an extended simile or a series of similes. Once y'all've taught your students that similes are comparisons using 'similar' or 'as', tasking them to write simile poems is a great style for them to consolidate this understanding through hands-on exercise. How…

elements of poetry | How to write poetry | How to Write Poetry and Seven Types of Poems Students Love. | literacyideas.com

How to Write Verse and 7 Types of Poems Students Love.

Poesy is a broad area of literature that offers teachers and students the opportunity to dip their toes or completely dive into creative writing. Learning how to write poetry is a fun and engaging process that will positively bear on the utilise of language beyond all other styles of writing. With over fifty acknowledged styles of…

elements of poetry | robertfrost1 2x | 7 Types of Poetry for Kids (With Examples & Tasks) | literacyideas.com

seven Types of Verse for Kids (With Examples & Tasks)

Acquire the 7 best forms of poetry to teach students including Haiku poetry, Calligram poetry, Limericks, Kenning Poetry, Free-poesy and sonnets. Improve you poesy writing skills.

elements of poetry | free writing tasks | Elements of Poetry | literacyideas.com

The content for this page has been written past Shane Mac Donnchaidh.  A old principal of an international school and English university lecturer with 15 years of education and assistants experience. Shane's latest Book, The Complete Guide to Nonfiction Writing, can be constitute here.  Editing and support for this article have been provided by the literacyideas team.