Poetry
Poetry is “a way of feeling life,” according to Daisy Zamora, a Nicaraguan poet. Her statement helps answer how does poetry help us “feel” life”. Poetry captures intense experiences of creative perceptions of the world in a musical language. If prose is just like talking, poetry is like singing.
If you want to understand poetry, you must understand its basic elements. In this lesson, you will encounter the basic elements of poetry that are very necessary in analyzing the poems you read and hear – and to “feeling life” in them.
Objective
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
1. Read a poem using active reading strategies; and
2. Analyze a poem using the basic elements.
Poetry
Poetry is defined in many ways. Some definitions
…show more content…
Hope
“Criticism of life” …Matthew Arnold
“The spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” … William Wordsworth
“Poetry is the lava of the imagination “ … Lord Byron
“Blood, imagination and intellect running together” …W.B. Yeats
Basic Elements of Poetry
Poetry is defined in many ways but there is one thing in common in poetry and that, it is a form of communication. For you to understand the poem, you have to identify the idea or theme that the writer wants to deliver, his purpose in writing the poem and identify techniques he used in his poem.
Speaker
Every poem has a speaker, or a voice that talks to the reader. In prose, the narrator is the speaker but not necessarily the author. In poetry, the speaker is not necessarily the poet. It can also be a fictional person, an animal or a thing.
Model: I once had a dear ring
speaker is a child
With a precious stone rare,
It was given to me By my mother so dear; From “My Lost Ring” by Emilia S. Reysio Cruz
The “What” of a Poem: This includes the subject matter and theme or the central idea of the
What is poetry? Is poetry about your feelings? Is poetry meant for you to deliberate or read between the lines? Elizabeth Alexander, a black educator that teaches poetry, believes that poetry is where you are your true self and finding yourself. In 2005, she published one of her poems called “Ars Poetica #100: I Believe.” She constructed the poem to speak to her students about her meaning of poetry. Poetry causes various emotions, various content, and based on various forms of realities.
Poetry is the expression of emotion and ideas through the use of words. “Ars Poetica #100: I Believe” by Elizabeth Alexander and “Poetry” by Marianne Moore are two poems that illustrate how each author feels about poetry. They both express what it is about poetry that should be valued. Although poetry can be misunderstanding, it exemplifies much purpose. There are many different ways the two authors show how poetry is purposeful.
Poetry is much more than just a piece of literature: it is a form of art. Similarly, it can save the world the same way art can, since the magic of poetry consists of many benefits. One of the major advantages of poetry is that one’s emotions and vulnerability is expressed in a beautiful way. All it takes is interest and to not have interest in poetry is
In a paragraphs, describe the elements you learned regarding poetry from your textbook (beginning on page 450). For example, how does your book discuss “defining poetry,” poetic subgenres and kinds (and discussing what’s been discussed), syntax and language, etc… One way to look at this assignment is to create a “recap” of notes from the chapter, by highlighting the important points of chapter. Another way to approach this question is to discuss parts of a poem, or ways to deconstruct a poem.
Poetry in some way, shape or form, gives realistic ideas to even objects that reflect upon a part of life by using symbolism and personification.
In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by
A well-written poem would help one to engage into the work with their senses. One should be able to ask themselves what the poem caused them to think, hear, see, feel, taste, and to determine what he or she learned from the poet’s words. Many people believe that because poetry is an enigmatic art, and that there is no way for sure to know the
In poetry the speaker is defined as “The voice used by an author to tell a story or speak a poem. The speaker is often a created identity and
poem is not merely a static, decorative creation, but that it is an act of communication between the poet and
The author of the poem should not concern the reader or influence what the reader is going to think about the poem. The idea of a poem is to learn something from a different type of writing style that doesn't say it all in
The voice subject refers to the speaker and the tone of the poem and it can be classified in two categories, lyric and narrative. A lyric poem expresses feelings and emotions of the speaker, it also often uses first person pronouns like I, me, we, ours, etc; sometimes the poem does not have pronouns but it is noticeable that it is a personal observation. An example of lyric poem is “I carry your heart with me” by e e cummings.
Poetry is considered to be a representational text in which one explores ideas by using symbols. Poetry can be interpreted many different ways and is even harder to interpret when the original author has come and gone. Poetry is an incredible form of literature because the way it has the ability to use the reader as part of its own power. In other words, poetry uses the feelings and past experiences of the reader to interpret things differently from one to another, sometimes not even by choice of the author. Two famous poets come to mind to anybody who has ever been in an English class, Robert Frost and E.E. Cummings. Both of these poets have had numerous famous pieces due to the fact that they both
In my preparation for this essay I thought that there was going to be very little that I would learn about the elements of poetry. This is not because I am an expert and have nothing new to learn, but rather the opposite. I have never really spent the time to break down and appreciate poetry. One of the reasons I think that I haven’t spent the time on poetry is due to my reading habits. I usually read to gather information and poetry is on the other end of the spectrum. Fredrick Gruber sums this up, “Poetry tends to give general truths while history gives particular facts.” (Gruber) Having said all of this though, I did see a couple of things that I could apply to my own writing. I will first start off with some elements of poetry that I
Poetry is literary work in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by the use of distinctive style and rhythm, poems collectively or as a genre of literature. It is also a quality of beauty and intensity of emotion regarded as characteristic of poems. Poetry (poem) is something that follows a particular flow of rhythm and meter. Compare to prose, where there is no such restriction, and the content of the piece flows according to the story, a poem may or may not have a story, but definitely has structured method of writing.
Poetry is a varied art form. Poetry is expression with words, using aesthetics and definition. Word choice in poetry is the single most important thing. Devices such as assonance, alliteration and rhythm work in a poem to convey a certain image or to facilitate understanding. Similes and metaphors can take two unlike objects, such as a potato and cinderblock, and if done the correct way use them to describe how Abraham Lincoln dealt with scoundrels. Poetry is beautiful. One of the best genres in poetry, let alone a great literary movement is Romanticism or the post-enlightenment Romantics.