Vincent H.

Baltazar
IV-Lopez Jaena
Poetry, as man's inherited possession, is the expression of strong feeling and thought which leads to a
communion between the individual and his surroundings, but most usually between a person and nature, the
world, or the universe. Poetry is the means of universalizing and perpetuating a thought, an idea, a feeling,
sensation, or internal experience.

Elements OF Poetry

FORM
Whenever we look at a poem, the first thing we will probably notice is its form. In other words, poems
have a given FORM. One poem will look very different from another, and still another poem will look very
distinct from the second one, and so on. Each poet uses the "form" which will most effectively EXPRESS what
he wants to convey to other human beings.
Traditional poetry used to follow very strict forms. People who still follow these forms nowadays are following
the traditional manner and style. But nowadays we know that there is a strong tendency to break from the
traditional and to become even very unorthodox, unconventional or even unusual. This kind of poetry is called
FREE VERSE. It is most often used in modern times and presents a multitude of possibilities. The poet uses
free form to make the poem fit the contents and to express the mood or feeling of his work.
LINES
After looking at a poem and seeing that it has some sort of FORM, we often notice that it also consists
of LINES. These are the vehicle of the authors thoughts and ideas. These are the building blocks with which to
create a poem. The WORDS of each line proceed as usual from left to right, but they curiously end where the
poet wants them to stop. Therefore, you may have some lines that are of equal length and others which are not.
Besides the length and margining of the first word in each line, the PUNCTUATION at the end of each is also a
major tool for the poet. At times he will want us to make a full stop, other times a gentle or slight pause, and
even others perhaps a sudden break, and so on. Ultimately, then, poetry creates sensations, moods, and images
in the reader's mind.
STANZAS
The lines in a poem are most often divided into sections looking as some sort of paragraphing. These we
call STANZAS. A stanza, therefore, is the grouping of the lines, sort of like a paragraph.
RHYME
Rhyme is the SONIC imitation usually of end syllables of words. There are basically two kinds of rhyme
used in poetry. The first is the most typical and best known by young people, END RHYME, in which the
words at the end of a given line rhyme. The second kind of rhyme is called INTERNAL RHYME. This kind of
rhyming is different from end rhyme in that the rhyming takes place somewhere within the line and not at the
end. But most of us find it more natural to use rhyming at the end and not in the middle of our poem's lines.
Still, the most widely read and enjoyed poetry artfully combines these and other patterns and techniques for the
creation of the poems.

(Internal Rhyme):
It won't be LONG before my SONG ends the day,
And the FLOWERS near the TOWERS reach the sky.
PATTERN:
Rhyme contributes in creating a pattern when read appropriately. It creates a special effect which results
in being pleasant and motivating. Humans in general are susceptible to patterns. As a matter of fact, we live
with all sorts of patterns every day of our lives. Our very lives are patterns themselves. The human mind itself
has an inherent (internal) patterning force and capacity which allows the individual to perceive and create the
patterns inherent in poems. And it is rhyme which is one of the contributors to the pattern created in reading or
writing a poem:
SQUEEZE ... TEASE;
RUN ... FUN;
DEMONSTRATE ... WHAT SHE ATE.
Another contributor to pattern is the number of syllables, as can be seen in the third set of the examples
given right above. DE-MONS-TRATE as imitated by WHAT-SHE-ATE. Still another element which contributes
to pattern is the accomodation and distribution of the lines. The reader is thus led or even forced into following
a given pattern, and BEAT.
But the ultimate creator of pattern is the combination of the STRESSED SYLLABLES IN ANY
PARTICULAR LINE of a poem.
RHYTHM
This brings us to the topic of RHYTHM, perhaps the pivot point of all the elements, because it is rhythm which
creates the pleasant gliding effect when we read a poem. It helps us as readers to travel along the lines of the
poem with a certain enjoyable tempo created by the components of rhythm.
Never in my lonely life,
Could you make it -- be my wife.
or,
If only then she had seen,
That crime and anger were to have been.
The length of the lines are different, but it is the combination that creates a certain rhythm.
Now, if the poet just repeats the same pattern with every set of lines in a stanza, and from stanza to stanza, then
he will be effectively creating a rhythm. It is the REGULARITY of the REPETITION that tends to create the
rhythmical pattern. A BEAT is created when we analyze the STRESSED and UNSTRESSED SYLLABLES
within the lines of a poem.
Observe the following lines from a poem:

And as she WALKED to the MOON,

Figures OF Speech
Personification
Personification is all about adding a human trait to an inanimate object or an abstraction.
For example: The picture in that magazine shouted for attention.
Simile
A simile is a figure of speech that compares two unrelated things or ideas using "like" or "as" to accentuate a
certain feature of an object by comparing it to a dissimilar object that is a typical example of that particular trait.
For example: as big as a bus, as clear as a bell, as dry as a bone, etc.
Analogy
An analogy is a figure of speech that equates two things to explain something unfamiliar by highlighting its
similarities to something that is familiar. This figure of speech is commonly used in spoken and written English.
For example: Questions and answers, crying and laughing, etc.
Metaphor
A metaphor compares two different or unrelated things to reveal certain new qualities in the subject, which you
might have ignored or overlooked otherwise.
For example: The streets of Chennai are a furnace.
Alliteration
Alliteration is the duplication of a specific consonant sound at the start of each word and in quick succession.
Although alliterations are all about consonant sounds, exceptions can be made, when vowels sounds are also
repeated. This figure of speech is commonly seen in poems.
For example: "Guinness is good for you" - Tagline for Guinness
Hyperbole
A far-fetched, over exaggerated description or sentence is called as hyperbole and is commonly used in jokes
and making backhanded compliments.
For example: When she smiles, her cheeks fall off.
Onomatopoeia
This figure of speech is partly pleasure and partly business. It is used to replicate sounds created by objects,
actions, animals and people.
For example: Cock-a-doodle-do, quack, moo, etc.

Imagery
Imagery is a figure of speech, which employs words to create mental images in the mind of the reader. It is a
powerful tool and mostly used by poets, lyricists and authors. For example: "Cloudless everyday you fall upon
my waking eyes inviting and inciting me to rise, And through the window in the wall, Come streaming in on
sunlight wings, A million bright ambassadors of morning." - A portion of the lyrics to the song 'Echoes' by the
band Pink Floyd
Symbol
Symbol refers to the use of an object or symbol to represent or indicate something else.
For example: The symbolism of a red rose (love), the symbolism of a white flag (peace), etc.
Allegory
An allegory is nothing but an improvised metaphor. It is a figure of speech, which involves the use of characters
or actions in a piece of literature, wherein the characters have more to them than meets the eye.
For example: The Trojan Women by Euripides,
Aesop's Fables by Aesop.
Tautology
Tautology is needless repetition of words to denote the same thing.
For example: CD-ROM disk, PIN number, ATM machine, etc.
Euphemism
Euphemism is a figure of speech where an offensive word or expression is replaced with a polite word.
For example: David: Do you have a few minutes?
Ryan: No, I'm busy.
David: Ok, listen...
Ryan: No, you listen, when I said 'busy', I meant leave me the hell alone.
Assonance
Assonance is a repetition of the vowel sounds. Such a figure of speech is found most commonly in short
sentences or verses.
For example: And murmuring of innumerable bees.
Idiom
An idiom is a phrase, expression or group of words whose implication is not clear when you go by the literal
meaning of words.
For example: As easy as pie, at the eleventh hour, pull someone's leg, etc.
Allusion
An allusion is an indirect or subtle reference made about a person, place or thing in a work of literature.
For example: I am no Prince Hamlet.
Antecedent
An antecedent, in grammar, is a word, a phrase, or a clause that is usually replaced by a pronoun in a sentence,
but regularly so in a following sentence.
For example: When I arrived to meet Caleb, he wasn't to be seen.
Jargon
Jargon is the kind of language that is specific to a particular trade, occupation, professionals or group of people.
For example: I need your vitals.

Double Negative
A double negative is a figure of speech that occurs when two negative words or two forms of negation are used
in one sentence.
For example: I won't not use no ladder to climb the building.
Antithesis
An antithesis is a figure of speech where two very opposing lines of thought or ideas are placed in a somewhat
balanced sentenced.
For example: Man proposes: God disposes.
Apostrophe
An apostrophe is used when a person who is absent or nonexistent is spoken to.
For example: "Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky."
Metonymy
A metonymy is a figure of speech where one word or phrase is used in place of another. With metonymies, a
name of a particular thing is substituted with the name of a thing that is closely related to it.
For example: "We have always remained loyal to the crown."
Oxymoron
Oxymoron involves the usage of contradictory terms to describe an object, situation or incident.
For example: open secret, tragic comedy, exact estimate, original copies, etc.
Synecdoche
This is figure of speech where a part of a particular object is employed to throw light on the whole thing.
For example: Describing a whole vehicle as just "wheels".
Stereotype
A stereotype, as far as the figures of speech are concerned, is a convention, a predisposition or a set approach to
any particular issue.
For example: All blondes are dumb.
Anastrophe
An anastrophe refers to an inversion or rearrangement of a group of words that usually appear in a certain
order.
For example: Gold that glitters is not all that not. (All that glitters is gold)
Anaphora
An anaphora is an expression, which refers to another and can be ambiguous.
For example: The tiger ate the snake and it died. Longfellow
Antonomasia
This figure of speech uses the name of a person on another person or persons possessing characteristics that are
similar to the characteristics of the former.
For example: He was the Adolf Hitler of the school.

Paralipsis
A paralipsis is a figure of speech that focuses on any particular thing without really making it obvious.
For example: I know who ate the last apple, but I will not mention Karen's name.
Rhetoric
Rhetoric in writing refers to an unexplained and undue use of exaggeration.
For example: When I reached the peak of the mountain, I stretched out my hands, touched heaven and took a
quick look at the Almighty!
Consonance
Consonance refers to the repetition of consonant sounds, within the limits of a sentence or a certain number of
sentences.
For example: "Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me
stopping here. To watch his woods fill up with snow." - Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert
Frost
Irony
Irony is used to stress on the opposite meaning of a word. When people are looking to be sarcastic, they employ
irony.
For example: He was so intelligent, that he failed all his tests.
Anadiplosis
Anadiplosis refers to the repetition of a significant word in a sentence in the second part of the same sentence,
usually with a slight change in its meaning or an exaggerated word for the same.
For example: "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." -Yoda, Star Wars
Appositive
Appositive is a word or phrase that is used in juxtaposing related issues.
For example, Jeanne, Diane's eleven-year-old beagle, chews holes in the living room carpeting as if he were still
a puppy.
Enthymeme
An enthymeme is a figure of speech where an argument that is being made has no definite conclusion or is not
completely expressed.
For example, "With a name like Smucker's, it has to be good."
Parallelism
In the English language, parallelism refers to balance created between two or more similar words and
sentences.
For example, I like rich desserts, fast card-games, and difficult riddles.
Asyndeton
This is a figure of speech that conveniently ignores the use of conjunctions.
For example, She has provided with a chance to earn a living, with self-respect, with satisfaction.
Epithet
An epithet can be best defined as a descriptive title that commonly involves a word or a phrase that is used in
lieu of the real name.
For example: Alexander the Great.