LIT 101: Philippine Literature in English

THE DEFINITION AND ELEMENTS OF POETRY

DEFINITIONS OF POETRY THE ELEMENTS OF POETRY

“A poem is a meaningful organization of words.” 1. MUSIC

-Gemino Abad Meaningful poems are pleasing to the ear. Poets use
sound devices to interpose music into their poems.
“Poetry is the union of thoughts and feelings.”
Sound Devices are literary elements used in prose and
-Manuel Viray poetry to stress certain sounds and create musical
Poetry, fiction as novels or short stories - these are effects.
autonomous as created by their authors. They should Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds
stand on their own, like pieces of furniture that should in the same line.
be judged as to their usefulness, elegance.”
Ex: The child mildly danced in the wild.
- F. Sionil Jose
Consonance: generally occurs when consonant sounds
“Poetry becomes a civilization of the human spirit.” are repeated in the middle or end of a word
-Jose Garcia Villa Ex: It will creep and beep while you sleep.
POETRY Alliteration: happens when consonant sounds are
Poetry is derived from the Greek word poesis meaning repeated in two or more words in a sentence that are
“making or creating”. located next to or near each other.

It is a type of literature that evokes a concentrated Ex. The wiggly wobbly wag.
imaginative awareness of experience or a specific Onomatopoeia: It refers to the word which imitates the
emotional response through language chosen and natural sounds of the things.
arranged for its meaning, sound, and rhythm.
Ex. The rustling leaves kept me awake.
FUNCTIONS OF POETRY
Rhyme –refers to the similarity of sounds in the lines of
- to convey an idea or emotion in beautiful language. poetry. It is often found at the end of the lines.
-to transform imagery and words into verse form, to
touch the hearts and minds of the readers.
2. EMOTION
According to Baritugo (2004), there are five (5) things
that we must remember about poetry. Meaningful poems invite or evoke an emotional
response. They have a distinct tone or mood that may
1. Poetry is concentrated thought. change as the ideation of the poem progresses.
2. Poetry is a kind of word-music.

3. Poetry expresses all the senses. 3. IMAGERY

4. Poetry answers our demand for rhythm. Meaningful poems create word pictures in the mind of
5. Poetry is observation plus imagination. the reader or listener by means of precise, unique,
imaginative vocabulary, interesting word combinations
and by means of using figurative language.

-Navarez
 LIT 101: Philippine Literature in English
THE DEFINITION AND ELEMENTS OF POETRY

Figurative Language are words or phrases that depart Examples:

from literal meaning to achieve fresh, image-driven, and
1. The pen is mightier than the sword.
heightened meaning.
2. He lives through the bottle.

I have read all of Shakespeare

a) Simile- a figure of speech that makes a comparison,
showing similarities between two different things. It f) Synecdoche- a literary device in which a part of
makes use of like or as. something represents the whole, or it may use a whole
to represent a part.
Ex. Your face is as big as a seed,
Ex. No busy hand provoke a tear.
but you do not bear fruit...
No roving foot shall crush thee here.
(Lines from A Secret by Carlos Bulosan)
g) Hyperbole- from a Greek word meaning “over-
b) Metaphor- a figure of speech that makes an implicit,
casting,” is a figure of speech that involves an
implied, or hidden comparison between two things that
exaggeration of ideas for the sake of emphasis.
are unrelated, but which share some common
characteristics. Ex. I know not what to name thy charms,
Ex. Dear Lord: Thou art half human, half divine;
Let thou be the street-cleaner And if I could hold thee in my arms,
Whilst I be the read I know both heaven and earth were mine.
(Prayer by NVM Gonzales) (Lines from The Rural Maid by Fernando M. Maramang)
c) Personification - a figure of speech in which an idea g) Irony-a figure of speech in which words are used in
or thing is given human attributes and feelings or is such a way that their intended meaning is different from
spoken of as if it were human. the actual meaning of the words.
Ex. The bullet said to the heart: Ex. If all these men whose heads are with the stars,
From now on we shall never part. Who dream unceasingly of blazing royalty,
(Lines from Communion by Gerson M. Mallinllin) Will only strive to be like you.
d) Apostrophe- is a direct address to someone absent, A dweller of the sod with the heart of loyalty!
dead, or inanimate.
(Lines from To a Dog by Florizel Diaz)
Ex. Like the sampaguita
i) Allusion-a brief and indirect reference to a person,
With wandering eye place, thing or idea of biblical, historical, cultural,
literary or political significance.
Did a tiny fairy
Ex. The pendulum
Drop where you lie?
Is a thing of thread
(Lines from The Sampaguita by Natividad Marquez)
To nervous persons like me
e) Metonymy- means “change of name.” It is a figure of
speech in which one object or idea takes the place of It reminds me of a swaying Iscariot-
another with which it has a close association.
-Navarez
 LIT 101: Philippine Literature in English
THE DEFINITION AND ELEMENTS OF POETRY

Suspended from a tree. Ex. She is not unlike her mother.

( Lines from After Palanan by Rene You are not doing badly at all.
Iturralde)
p) Pun/Paronomasia- a word play which suggests two
j) Oxymoron-a figure of speech pairing two words or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of
together that are opposing and/or contradictory. words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended
humorous or rhetorical effect.
Ex. She is a living history.
Ex. Atheism is a non-prophet institution.
I silently screamed as I watch with horror.
The tallest building in town is the library — it has
He was clearly misunderstood.
thousands of stories
k) Idiom - a phrase understood to mean something
q) Anaphora-a rhetorical device that features repetition
quite different from what individual words of the
of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive
phrase would imply.
sentences, phrases, or clauses.
Ex. If you play your cards right, you may overcome the
Ex. “Give me liberty or give me death.”
banes of life.
“Fool me once, shame on you.
l) Imagery- figurative language that represent objects,
actions, and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our Fool me twice, shame on me.”
physical senses.
r) Tautology-the repetitive use of phrases or words that
Ex. The girl ran her hands on a soft satin fabric. have similar meanings.

It was dark and dim in the forest. Ex. She was completely devoid of emotion.

m) Symbolism- the use of symbols to signify ideas and Sorrows discovered. Sadness found.
qualities, by giving them symbolic meanings that are
s) Understatement- a figure of speech employed by
different from their literal sense.
writers or speakers to intentionally make a situation
Ex. All the world's a stage. seem less important than it really is.

And all the men and women merely players; Ex."If we do not succeed, we run the risk of failure."

they have their exits and their entrances; -Dan Quayle

And one man in his time plays many parts. The grave’s a fine and private place,

n) Sarcasm - a literary and rhetorical device that is But none, I think, do there embrace.
meant to mock, often with satirical or ironic remarks,
- Andrew Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress”
with a purpose to amuse and hurt someone, or some
section of society, simultaneously. 4. JOURNEY
Ex. “I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter Meaningful poems take the reader to a new place of
saying I approved of it.” (Mark Twain) knowing, seeing, or understanding - like Alice down the
rabbit hole.
o) Litotes - a figure of speech that employs an
understatement by using double negatives or, in other Theme
words, a positive statement expressed by negating its
opposite expressions. The nugget of meaning; the vision, the life-lesson, the
observation, or universal truth about life and/or the
-Navarez
 LIT 101: Philippine Literature in English
THE DEFINITION AND ELEMENTS OF POETRY

human condition that can be made based on the Free Verse

experience of the poem.
• Free verse are poems without rhythm and
Reflective Thought rhyme schemes, do not follow regular rhyme
scheme rules, yet still provide artistic
The essence that lingers after the poem's end. How
expression. In this way, the poet can give his
does the poem resonate with you?
own shape to a poem however he or she
5. FORM desires.

Meaningful poems have a form that complements the End Line – where a poet chooses to “break” or end a
poem's intentions. line.

add white space to a poem that offers a pause,

suspense,

drama, or a time for the reader to think or to absorb a

moment of irony, humor, or pathos.

Enjambment – The poet chooses to end the line in a

way that breaks the normal expectation of where the
reader might otherwise “break” the line. The flow of
verse simply continues into the next line without the
Haiku break of a period or a comma.
• It is a type of poetry derived from the Japanese
Hokku.

• Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three

phrases that contain a kireji, or "cutting word",
17 on in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a kigo, or
seasonal reference.

Limerick

• - is a comic verse which has 5 lines and a regular

meter and rhyme scheme Couplet – Two lines of rhyming verse intentionally
meant to operate “as a couple.”
Concrete Poem
Stanza – How a poem groups and orders the lines of
• also known as “shape poetry”. verse – for example two line stanzas are called
• It is a poem that visually takes the shape of the couplets, four line stanzas are called quatrains etc.
poem’s topic or theme. Often, stanza breaks come at a moment where the
poem takes a turn, begins a new emphasis, or offers a
Sonnet kind of pause or progression.
• a poem which has 14 lines, and is written in
iambic pentameter. Each line has 10 syllables. It
expresses a thought or idea and utilizes an
established rhyme scheme.

-Navarez
 LIT 101: Philippine Literature in English
THE DEFINITION AND ELEMENTS OF POETRY

Astonishment

Meaningful poems

 often have a surprising turn, a hinge moment,

or a volta.
 have one or more "meta" moments.
 make use of the notion of caesura or dramatic
pause

Intentionality of Placement Change

– How individual words, lines of verse, or stanzas are Angela Manalang-Gloria
placed on the page enriches and complements the
meaning of the poem. I have outgrown them all, and one by one,

Clarity , Complexity , and Astonishment in Poetry These loves I took so mightily to heart

Clarity Before you came: the dolls that overran

- The purpose of all writing is to communicate My childhood hours and taught me fairy art;
effectively. Robert Frost says that the poems The books I ravished by the censored score:
with the most clarity and resonance "say the
most they can in the fewest words possible." Music that like delirium burned my days;

Meaningful poems may be... The golden calf I fashioned to adore

• Transparent- easily accessible and easy to When lately I forsook the golden phrase
understand. And thus I shall outgrow this love for you.
• Translucent- interpreted more figuratively than Sooner or later I shall put away
literally.
This jewelled ecstasy for something new.
• Opaque-written with such a sense of mystery.
Brand me not fickle on that fatal day:
Complexity
Bereft of change that is my drink and bread,
Meaningful poems
I would not love you now. I would be dead.
• are richly layered.

• invite the reader to enter into the poem and to

add their own life experiences.

• are literal and figurative

• have multiple layers of reception and

perception.

-Navarez