12

Creative Writing
Quarter 1 – Module 2:
Literary Elements and
Techniques of Poetry
Creative Writing
Alternative Delivery Mode
Quarter 1 – Module 2: Literary Elements and Techniques of Poetry
First Edition, 2020

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Creative Writing
Quarter 1 – Module 2:
Literary Elements and
Techniques of Poetry
Introductory Message
For the facilitator:

Welcome to Creative Writing Alternative Delivery Mode (ADM) Module on Literary

Elements and Techniques of Poetry!

This module was collaboratively designed, developed and reviewed by educators

both from public and private institutions to assist you, the teacher or facilitator in
helping the learners meet the standards set by the K to 12 Curriculum while
overcoming their personal, social, and economic constraints in schooling.

This learning resource hopes to engage the learners into guided and independent
learning activities at their own pace and time. Furthermore, this also aims to help
learners acquire the needed 21st century skills while taking into consideration
their needs and circumstances.

In addition to the material in the main text, you will also see this box in the body of
the module:

Notes to the Teacher

This contains helpful tips or strategies
that will help you in guiding the learners.

As a facilitator you are expected to orient the learners on how to use this module.
You also need to keep track of the learners' progress while allowing them to
manage their own learning. Furthermore, you are expected to encourage and assist
the learners as they do the tasks included in the module.

For the learner:

Welcome to Creative Writing Alternative Delivery Mode (ADM) Module on Literary

Elements and Techniques of Poetry!

The hand is one of the most symbolized part of the human body. It is often used to
depict skill, action and purpose. Through our hands we may learn, create and
accomplish. Hence, the hand in this learning resource signifies that you as a
learner is capable and empowered to successfully achieve the relevant
competencies and skills at your own pace and time. Your academic success lies in
your own hands!

This module was designed to provide you with fun and meaningful opportunities
for guided and independent learning at your own pace and time. You will be
enabled to process the contents of the learning resource while being an active
learner.

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This module has the following parts and corresponding icons:

What I Need to Know This will give you an idea of the skills or
competencies you are expected to learn in
the module.

What I Know This part includes an activity that aims to

check what you already know about the
lesson to take. If you get all the answers
correct (100%), you may decide to skip this
module.

What’s In This is a brief drill or review to help you link

the current lesson with the previous one.

What’s New In this portion, the new lesson will be

introduced to you in various ways such as a
story, a song, a poem, a problem opener, an
activity or a situation.

What is It This section provides a brief discussion of

the lesson. This aims to help you discover
and understand new concepts and skills.

What’s More This comprises activities for independent

practice to solidify your understanding and
skills of the topic. You may check the
answers to the exercises using the Answer
Key at the end of the module.

What I Have Learned This includes questions or blank

sentence/paragraph to be filled into process
what you learned from the lesson.

What I Can Do This section provides an activity which will

help you transfer your new knowledge or
skill into real life situations or concerns.

Assessment This is a task which aims to evaluate your

level of mastery in achieving the learning
competency.

Additional Activities In this portion, another activity will be given

to you to enrich your knowledge or skill of
the lesson learned. This also tends retention
of learned concepts.

Answer Key This contains answers to all activities in the

module.

At the end of this module you will also find:

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References This is a list of all sources used in
developing this module.

The following are some reminders in using this module:

1. Use the module with care. Do not put unnecessary mark/s on any part of
the module. Use a separate sheet of paper in answering the exercises.
2. Don’t forget to answer What I Know before moving on to the other activities
included in the module.
3. Read the instruction carefully before doing each task.
4. Observe honesty and integrity in doing the tasks and checking your
answers.
5. Finish the task at hand before proceeding to the next.
6. Return this module to your teacher/facilitator once you are through with it.
If you encounter any difficulty in answering the tasks in this module, do not
hesitate to consult your teacher or facilitator. Always bear in mind that you are
not alone.

We hope that through this material, you will experience meaningful learning
and gain deep understanding of the relevant competencies. You can do it!

What I Need to Know

Welcome dear learner! In this module you will be provided with opportunities
to use your imagination and creativity while increasing your understanding and
knowledge about poetry. Series of activities are set to enhance your skills and for
you to have meaningful and significant experiences.
After going through this module, you are expected to:
1. identify the elements of poetry;
2. recognize the imagery used in poems;
3. recognize the figurative language of poetry;
4. analyze a poem based on the elements and literary devices; and
5. apply the elements and literary devices in writing a poem.

Let’s start the learning now.

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 What I Know

Directions: Choose the letter of the best answer. Write the chosen letter on a
separate sheet of paper.

1. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of poetry?

a. It expresses creative thoughts.

b. It has musical quality.
c. It connotes deeper meaning
d. It uses everyday language

2. “And this was the reason that, long ago, in this kingdom by the sea, A wind
blew out of a cloud, chilling, My beautiful Annabel Lee; So that her highborn
kinsmen came; And bore her away from me, To shut her up in a sepulcher;
In this kingdom by the sea.”

What tone can be inferred in these lines of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, Annabel
Lee?

a. intriguing
b. gloomy
c. broken
d. surprised
3. Which of the elements of poetry summarizes the meaning of a poem?

a. theme
b. mood
c. tone
d. genre

4. As an unperfect actor on the stage,

Who with his fear is put beside his part,
Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,
Whose strength's abundance weakens his own heart;
So I, for fear of trust, forget to say
The perfect ceremony of love's rite,

- Sonnet 23 by William Shakepeare

What is the rhyme scheme of the poem?

a. A-B-A-B-C-D
b. A-A-B-B-C-C
c. A-B-C-D-E-F
d. A-B-A-C-A-D

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5. Refer to the poem in number 4. What can you infer about the underlined
phrase?
a. natal celebration
b. farewell
c. matrimony
d. punishment

6. How many lines are there in a quatrain?

a. 3
b. 4
c. 5
d. 6

7. An old pond! Furu ike ya

A frog jumps in— kawazu tobikomu
the sound of water. mizu no oto

What is the syllabic meter of the example poem above?

a. 3/4/5
b. 7/5/7
c. 4/4/4
d. 5/7/5

8. Which of the following is NOT a genre of poetry?

a. descriptive
b. narrative
c. inferential
d. lyric

9. What literary device refers to the descriptive language that is used to appeal
to the human senses?

a. figurative language
b. mood and tone
c. imagery
d. syllabic meter

10. Which of the following figurative language shows exaggeration?

a. onomatopoeia
b. litotes
c. hyperbole
d. allusion

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11. When glided in Porphyria; straight
She shut the cold out and the storm,
And kneeled and made the cheerless grate
Blaze up, and all the cottage warm
(excerpt from “Prophyria’s Lover” by Robert Browning)

What imagery is being emphasized?

a. sight
b. touch
c. smell
d. taste

12. April is the cruellest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
(excerpt from “The Waste Land” by T. S. Eliot)

What figurative language is shown in the first line of the poem?

a. simile
b. alliteration
c. personification
d. metaphor

Direction: Read the poem carefully and answer the questions below.

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
Excerpt from the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling

13. What is the poem’s rhyme scheme?

a. babadcdc c. ababcdcd
b. abcdabcd d. aabbccdd

14. What is the tone of poem?

a. hilarious c. joyful
b. intriguing d. encouraging

15. What is the genre the poem?

a. didactic c. epic
b. ballad d. sonnet

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Lesson
Poetry: Elements, Techniques,
1 and Literary Devices
Our imagination is never-ending that we can travel different portals and
explore new thresholds of expressing our emotions. We can use this imagination
with words to create a craft which liberates our senses and soul.

What’s In

Activity 1 It’s in Me

Have you ever recited a poem in your younger days? Do you still remember
the one that you loved the most? Think of the best poem that you could recall and
accomplish the diagram below.

I learned this poem

when______________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
This poem is all ___________________ After I have read
about_____________ the poem I felt
___________________
___________________ ___________________ ___________________
___________________ ___________________
___________________
___________________ _____________ ___________________
___________________ ___________________
___________________ ___________________
___________________ Title of the Poem ___________________
___________________ ___________________
___________________ by:____________________ ___________________
___________________ ___________________
______________ ___________________
________
I was moved by this I will recommend
poem because this poem to others
___________________ because___________
___________________ ___________________
___________________ ___________________
___________________ ___________________
___________________ ___________________
___________________ ___________________
___________________ ___________________
___________________ ___________________
___________________ ___________________
___________________ ___________________
________ 8 ________________
 What’s New

Activity 2 Warming Up!

Thumbs up! You did an amazing job on remember your favorite poem. At
this point, you are about to read a poem. Carefully read the directions below for the
activity.
Directions: Rearrange the letters to decode the correct word to complete the line of
the poem. The meanings of the words are provided on the box.

1. calmly; peacefully free from disturbance

2. irritation; act of harassing; cause of trouble
3. dishonesty; practice of deception
4. to fake; to pretend
5. doubtful; suspicious; disbelieving
6. dullness; boredom
7. everlasting; undying; lasting
8. hypocrisy; falseness; pretense
9. dull and fatiguing work; doing hard labor

Desiderata
Max Ehrmann

placidly
Go (ydlcipal) 1. ________________ amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,

vexation
they are (soinxevat) 2. __________________to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;

it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
trickery
for the world is full of (ryicrtke) 3. _______________________.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

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 Be yourself.
feign
Especially, do not (eifgn) 4. ________________ affection.
cynical
Neither be (aclincy) 5. _________________ about love;
aridity
for in the face of all ( tydiria) 6. _________________and disenchantment
perennial
it is as (nnialerep) 7. ___________________ as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,

gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,

no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,

whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

sham
With all its(hsma) 8. ____________, drudgery and broken dreams,
(ruddryge) 9. _____________,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Activity 3. Setting the Content

Directions: Answer the following questions.

1. What do you understand about the poem “Desiderata”?

__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

2. What particular line in the poem struck you? What is it all about?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

3. Give at least 2 insights that you gained from the poem.

__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

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 What is It

With your imagination, creative writing has much to offer. Sometimes, it is

set to entertain and satisfy our artistic expression. One avenue of creative writing is
poetry. It is a composition that is arranged it rhythmic pattern which use to
express creative thoughts and feeling through specified language.

Moreover, poetry works differently from other creative writing forms like
fiction and drama because it can express thoughts in briefer way, and it connotes
universal deeper meaning.

As you move toward, you will learn more of poetry and its basic elements.

Head-on!
Poetry has 6 basic elements namely: theme, tone, genre, rhyme and
rhyme scheme, line and meter.

Theme and Tone

In reading poetry, it is very important to comprehend what it is all about and

to able to uncover the possible emotions it encompasses.

Theme is the summarized statement which contains the meaning of the

poem. Moreover, theme can also be the message of the poem. Themes can be
wonders and amazements, life and existence, isolation, self-discovery, and
spirituality.

Tone describes the attitude or the mode of the poem which affects the
reader’s response to the poetry. Some poems may have hilarious, joyful, alert, lively
intriguing, gloomy, broken, or sad tone.

Let’s go back with the poem “Desiderata”. What is the theme of the poem?
Perhaps, your answer will be humility, compassion, self-love, honesty or human
dignity?

How about its tone? Is it very positive? Inspiring? Emotionally strong?

Cheerful?

You are right!

Rhyme and Rhyme Scheme

Notice that whenever you recite or read a poem there is a melody which
makes the piece more pleasurable to hear and it adds-up rhetoric value. These that
link melody and poem have something to do with rhyme and rhyme scheme.

Rhyme refers to the repetition of similar sounding words that usually

appears at the end of the lines of a poem which brings rhythm or musicality to the
poems. There are types of rhymes: true rhyme, internal rhyme, and slant rhyme.

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A. True Rhyme – occurs when the words sound same syllables at the end of
the lines of the poetry.

Example:
Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
(excerpt from “A Dream Within a Dream” by Edgar Allan Poe)

Notice that the highlighted words are rhyme.

brow – now away – day none - gone

B. Internal Rhyme – unlike the true rhyme, internal rhyme happens two
words within the line of poetry have rhyming sounds.

Example:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more.”
(excerpt from “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe)

Look at the words dreary and weary, both words happened to

appear within a line, so the pair words is an example of
internal rhyme. In addition, napping and tapping has the same
explanation.

C. Slant Rhyme - a type of rhyme where words sound similar but do not
rhyme exactly.

Example:

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
(excerpt from “Hope Is The Thing With Feathers” by Emily Dickinson)

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 The following pair of words heard - bird and storm- warm, are
slant rhymes since they are different words but sounds alike.

Rhyme Scheme is the pattern of rhyme that comes at the end of each line
in poetry, usually it is represented or indicated by letters.

Example:

Neither Out Far nor in Deep

by Robert Frost

The people along the sand A The words that have

All turn and look one way. B the same letters are
They turn their back on the land. A rhyme. If another
They look at the sea all day. B rhyme appears on
the other stanzas, it
As long as it takes to pass C will take same letter
A ship keeps raising its hull; D representing the
The wetter ground like glass C rhyme.
Reflects a standing gull. D

(so, the rhyming scheme of the first stanza is ABAB

the second stanza is CDCD)

The land may vary more; ___

Now, it is your time
But wherever the truth may be— ___
The water comes ashore, ___ to try. Identify the
And the people look at the sea. ___ remaining rhyming
scheme of the poem.
They cannot look out far. ___
Hint: The listing of
They cannot look in deep. ___
But when was that ever a bar ___ the letters must be
To any watch they keep? ___ continued.

Line and Meter

The structure is very important in writing a poetry especially when it talks

about the numbers of syllables and accents. It varies to the type of poetry you are
dealing.

Line refers to the line of words in the poetry. When the lines are formed in a
unit or a group it is called stanza. The table below show the forms of stanzas
according to the number of poetic lines:

Consider the poem

“Desiderata”,
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How many lines

 Number of Lines Forms
2 Couplet
3 Tercet
4 Quatrain
5 Quintain
6 Sestet
7 Septet
8 Octave

Meter is the systematic arrangement of syllables or accents in the line of

poetry. There varied metrical patterns: syllabic meter and free verse are just two of
those.

A. Syllabic Meter / Syllabic Verse has a fixed number of syllables in each

line, though there may be a varying number of stresses. In other words,
syllabic Meter is determined by the total number of syllables per line, rather
than the number of stresses.

a. Tanaga is a type of short Filipino poem with 4 lines

consisting 7 syllables on each line.

Example:

PALAY
Ildefonso Santos

Palay siyang matino, Pa1/lay2/si3/yang4/ma5/ti6/no7

Nang humangi’y yumuko; Nang1/hu2/ma3/ngi’y4/yu5/mu6/ko7
Nguni’t muling tumayo Ngu1/ni’t2/mu3/ling4/tu5/ma6/yo7
Nagkabunga ng ginto. Nag1/ka2/bu3/nga4/ng5/gin6/to7

b. Haiku is a type of Japanese poem with 3 lines where the

first and last lines have 5 syllables and the second line has 5
syllables.

Example:
Yuku haru ya Spring is passing.
Tori naki uwo no The birds cry, and the fishes’eyes are
Me ha namida with tears
- Matsuo Basho

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 B. Free Verse has lines that have irregular number of stresses and syllables.

You are a child of the universe, - 9 syllables

no less than the trees and the stars; - 8 syllables
you have a right to be here. - 6 syllables
And whether or not it is clear to you, - 10 syllables
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. - 13 syllables
(Excerpt from “Desiderata” by Max Ehrmann)

As shown in the example above, the poem “Desiderata” is a free verse poem
considering that it has no fixed numbers of syllables and accents.

Aside from the elements of poetry, another important thing that you should
learn are the genres of poetry and the literary devices.

Genres of Poetry

The genres of poetry are categories into different types: Descriptive Poetry,
Narrative Poetry, and Lyric Poetry.

A. Descriptive Poetry is a type of poetry that deals or focuses on the details of the
subject.

Didactic Poem aims primarily to teach something, either in terms of

morals or by providing knowledge of philosophy, religion, arts,
science, or skills.

Example:

You are a child of the universe,

no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
(Excerpt from “Desiderata” by Max Ehrmann)

B. Narrative Poetry tells a story with a plot, characters, and a setting It is always
told by a narrator. This genre could be epic or ballad.

1. Epic is a long narrative poem about the remarkable deed of gods or

heroes.

Examples: The Epic of Gilgamesh

Bi-ag ni Lam-ang
Iliad

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2. Ballad a poem like a folk tale which uses a repeated refrain. This
means that every few stanzas a portion of the poem is repeated, much
like a song.

Example:
Annabel Lee
Edgar Allan Poe

It was many and many a year ago,

In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,

In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee—
With a love that the winged seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,

In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,

Went envying her and me—
Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love

Of those who were older than we—
Of many far wiser than we—
And neither the angels in Heaven above
Nor the demons down under the sea
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea—

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 In her tomb by the sounding sea.

C. Lyric Poetry is a genre of poetry where the main feature is the expression of
feelings and thoughts of the poet. The common forms of this
genre are elegy, sonnet, and ode.

1. Elegy is a poem of mourning or reflection on the death of an

individual.

Example: Because I could not stop for Death

Emily Dickinson

Because I could not stop for Death –

He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.

We slowly drove – He knew no haste

And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility –

We passed the School, where Children strove

At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun –

Or rather – He passed Us –
The Dews drew quivering and Chill –
For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle –

We paused before a House that seemed

A Swelling of the Ground –
The Roof was scarcely visible –
The Cornice – in the Ground –

Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet

Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
Were toward Eternity –
2. Ode is a serious and thoughtful type of lyrical poetry, usually with a
formal structure generally seen to pay homage or tribute to a thing or
person.

Example:

“The untaught harmony of spring …

Still is the toiling hand of Care:
The panting herds repose:

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 Yet hark, how thro’ the peopled air
The busy murmur glows!
Some lightly o’er the current skim,
Some show their gaily-gilded trim
Quick-glancing to the sun.”
(Excerpt from “Ode to Spring” by Thomas Gray)

3. Sonnet is a fourteen-line poem which dealt with the lover’s suffering

and hopes.

Example:

Sonnet 116
William Shakespeare

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments; love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no, it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
Literary Devices in Poetry

In poetry, it is remarkable that you can capture the attention of your

readers. The effective use of language and imagination can spice up the
involvement of the readers’ senses to the piece of poetry and letting their
imagination work to create clear interpretation of the poetry. The language can be
flowery, elaborate, expressive, and conversational as long as the intention of the
poem will be communicated. One’s mind is powerful that it can visualize words.

Imagery and figurative language or figures of speech are utilized in writing

poems to give the audience different experience in reading.

Imagery refers to the descriptive language that are used to appeal to the
human senses: sight (visual imagery), smell (olfactory imagery), hearing (auditory
imagery), taste (gustatory imagery), and touch (tactile imagery), and helps the
readers to create clear mental picture of the scene or subject being described.

Examples:

I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.

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 And I keep hearing from the cellar bin
The rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
(excerpt from “After Apple Picking” by Robert Frost)

The lines from the poem “After Apple Picking” of Robert Frost shows imagery of
touch, sight and hearing. Upon reading the lines, you can feel the movement of
the ladder movement, you can see the bending of the bough, and the sound of
the apples on the cellar.

They silently inhale

the clover-scented gale,
And the vapors that arise
From the well-watered and smoking soil
(excerpt from “Rain In Summer” by Henry W. Longfellow)

Primarily, the lines from the poem “Rain in Summer” by Henry W. Langfellow
showcases the imagery of smell. The phrases ‘clover- scented’ breeze and ‘well-
watered and smoking soil’ paint a clear picture in the reader’s mind about the
smells after rainfall.

This Is Just To Say

by William Carlos Williams

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the ice box

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast.

forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

This poem was written by the poet to apologize for consuming the plums. It
gives us the idea that the poet has the desire to eat the fruit. The last stanza
signals the use of imagery of taste (delicious, sweet, and cold)

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 Figurative Language (Figure of Speech) has an important role in literary
works. It primarily works to communicate the poets’ or writer’s ideas and emotions
to the readers, where it expands reader’s comprehension beyond the literal
meaning of the lines (or the poem as a whole).

Here are some of the figurative language used in several pieces of poetry:
simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, alliteration, allusion, and onomatopoeia.

1. Simile is a figure of speech that shows comparison of two things using “like”
or “as” to describe common quality

Examples:

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
(excerpt from “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth)

My heart is like a singing bird

Whose nest is in a water'd shoot;
My heart is like an apple-tree
Whose boughs are bent with thick-set fruit;
My heart is like a rainbow shell
That paddles in a halcyon sea;
(excerpt from “A Birthday” by Christina Rossetti)

The first excerpt from the poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” has a simile
using the word “as” to compare the loneliness and the cloud.

The second example is an excerpt from the poem “A Birthday”. In this poem the
word “like” was used to compare the heart to the action of the bird, to a tree,
and the shell’s movement.

2. Metaphorrefers to the figurative language that makes a comparison by

directly relating one thing to another unrelated thing, unlike simile, without
using “as” or “like”.

Example:

The Moon’s a snowball. See the drifts

Of white that cross the sphere.
The Moon’s a snowball, melted down
A dozen times a year.
(excerpt from “What the Snowman Said” by Vachel Lindsay)

The two things being compared directly are moon and snowball.

20
 3. Personificationis a figure of speech which gives human attribution to the
inanimate object or idea.

Examples:

But tree, I have seen you taken and tossed,

And if you have seen me when I slept,
You have seen me when I was taken and swept
And all but lost.

That day she put our heads together,

Fate had her imagination about her,
Your head so much concerned with outer,
Mine with inner, weather.
(excerpt from “Tree at my Window” by Robert Frost)

When death comes

like the hungry bear in autumn;
when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse
(excerpt from “When Death Comes” by Mary Oliver)

In the first poem, the tree (an inanimate object) was personified as someone
watching over the speaker inside the house. The second poem, “death” is an
idea which was given a human characteristic of someone who desires for
something.

4. Hyperboleis a figure of speech that involves an exaggeration of ideas for the

sake of emphasis.

Example:

"I'll love you, dear, I'll love you

Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street,

"I'll love you till the ocean

Is folded and hung up to dry
And the seven stars go squawking
Like geese about the sky.
(excerpt from “As I Walked Out One Evening” by W. H. Auden)

The lines suggest exaggeration of ideas. China and Africa will never meet and
the ocean will be never folded and be dried.

5. Alliteration is the repetition of the first consonant of neighboring words.

Example:

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 All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.
(excerpt from “Pied Beauty” by Gerard Manley Hopkins)

The repetition of the consonant “s” is repeated on the third line of the stanza,
this is an example of alliteration since the words are close to each other.

6. Allusion is a figurative language that uses person, place, or things as

reference.

Example:

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down today.
Nothing gold can stay
(excerpt from “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost)

In this example, it is clearly described the paradise Eden as reference. We can

infer that even a beautiful paradise will not last for long.

7. Onomatopoeiais defined as the figurative language of sound, which imitates

sound to express or describe of a thing/situation.

Example:

Booming and Baning thunder in the air

Crashing and Rumbling waves against wet rock
Bombing and scraping, lighting the sky
Swishing and Sloshing rain on a windscreen
Metallic thuds on a tin roof
(excerpt from “Storm” by Olisha Starr)

Since the underlined words reflect the sounds of the objects to detail the idea
or description, they can be onomatopoeia.

Let’s have a short exercise to test your knowledge about figurative language.
Below are some of the lines of the poem “Desiderata”, identify the figurative language
used:

_________________1. “Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.

But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.”

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_________________2. “Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.”

What’s More

Activity 4 Skinning A Poem

Directions: Read and analyze the poem. Complete the sketch by providing the
necessary information.
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

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 Genre of
Title of the Poem
Poetry
Poet

Theme
(Brief Explanation)

Tone
(Brief Explanation)

Number of Type of Poem based on the number

Number of Lines
Stanzas stanza

______ ______
______ ______
______ ______
1 1
______ ______
______ ______

______ ______
______ ______
______ ______
2 2
______ ______
______ ______
Rhyme
Number of Syllables
______ Scheme ______
______ ______
______ ______
3 3
______ ______
______ ______

______ ______
______ ______
______ ______
4 4
______ ______
______ ______

What is the impact

of the poem to
you?

24
Activity 5. Imagery

Directions: Read the poems below. Identify the imagery. Write your answer on a
separate sheet of paper.

___________________1. “Now sleeps the crimson petal, now the white;

Nor waves the cypress in the palace walk;
Nor winks the gold fin in the porphyry font:”
(excerpt from “Summer Night” by Alfred Tennyson)

___________________2. “The whiskey on your breath

Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:”
(excerpt from “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Rothke)

___________________3. “Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;

And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft,
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.”
(excerpt from “To Autumn” by John Keats)

___________________4.“the old strange fragrance filled the air

a fragrance like the garden pink,
but tinged with vague medicinal stink
of a camphor, soap, new sponger, blent,
with chloro form and violent scent.”
(excerpt from “Miss Thompson Gees Shopping”
by Martin Amstrong)

___________________5. “He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.”
(excerpt from “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening”
by Robert Frost)

__________________6.“Of the great harvest I myself desired.

There were ten thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.”
(excerpt from “After Apple Picking” by Robert Frost)

__________________7.“I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills,

25
 When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”
(excerpt from “Daffodils” by W. W. Worth)
__________________8. “Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.”
(excerpt from “To Autumn” by John Keats)

__________________9. “masses of flowers

load the cherry branches
and color some bushes
yellow and some red”
(excerpt from “The Widow’s Lament In Spring Time”
by William Carlos Williams)

__________________10. “the voice of the last cricket

across the first frost
is one kind of good-by
it is so thin a splinter of singing”
(excerpt from “Splinter” by Carl Sandburg)

Activity 6. Figurative Language

Directions: Underline the figurative language in the poem excerpts and identify its
kind. Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper.
__________________1. “Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all –
(excerpt from “Hope is the thing with feathers”
by Emily Dickinson)

__________________2.“What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?”
(excerpt from “Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes)

__________________3.“Another age shall see the golden ear

Embrown the slope, and nod on the parterre,
Deep harvests bury all his pride has planned,
And laughing Ceres reassume the land.”
(excerpt from “Epistles to Several Persons” by Alexander Pope)

__________________4.“To say: “I am Lazarus, come from the dead,

Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all —”
(excerpt from “Love Song of Alfred J Prufrock” T.S. Eliot)

26
__________________5. “I’d love to take a poem to lunch
or treat it to a wholesome brunch
of fresh cut fruit and apple crunch.”
(excerpt from “Take a Poem to Lunch” by Denise Rodgers)

__________________6.“A spot for the splendid birth

Of everlasting lives,
Whereto no night arrives;
And this gaunt gray gallery
A tabernacle of worth”
(excerpt from “In a Whispering Gallery”
by Thomas Hardy)

__________________7. “How they clang, and clash, and roar!

What a horror they outpour
On the bosom of the palpitating air!
Yet the ear it fully knows,”
(excerpt from “The Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe)

__________________8.“Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe

Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know’.”
(excerpt from “Ode on a Grecian Urn” by John Keats)

__________________9. “Earth felt the wound; and Nature from her seat,
Sighing, through all her works, gave signs of woe.”
(excerpt from “Paradise Lost” by John Milton)

__________________10. “By the rude bridge that arched the flood,

Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world.”
(excerpt from “Concord Hymn” by Ralph Waldo Emerson)

What I Have Learned

Activity 7 In 3..2..1..!
Directions:
1. You will complete the graphic organizer by supplying the necessary
information.

27
 2. On the top three boxes, write three things that you have learned
from the lesson. One idea per box.
3. On the middle boxes, write two things that you found interesting
about the lesson. One idea per box.
4. On the last box, write one thing you will share from the topic.

What I Can Do

Activity 8. Write it Up!

Directions:
1. You will write a poem.
2. You can choice your own topic or subject.
3. Use creatively the elements of poetry, imagery, and figurative
language in writing your poem.
4. Write or print your poem on a short bond paper.
5. Be guided with the rubric below.

28
 Excellent Good Fair
Indicators
5 points 4 points 3 points
Content and Originality
The poem was originally created by the
students and presented his/her idea and
thoughts effectively to convey the meaning.
Grammar and Mechanics
Have create the poem with less error of the
usage of the language with regards to
convention and.
Form and Structure
The elements of poetry are properly presented
with the use of the literary devices.
Creativity
The poem contains details and/or descriptions
that contributes as proof of student’s creativity
and imagination.
Overall Impact
The student’s effort was evident and showed
his/her understanding of the topic through the
presented output.

Assessment

Multiple Choice. Choose the letter of the best answer. Write the chosen letter on a
separate sheet of paper.
The Eagle by Lord Tennyson Alfred

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;

He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

1. What happened to the eagle in the last part of the poem?

a. dying of old age
b. hunting prey
c. learning to fly
d. keeping watch over the nest

2. What imagery is implied on the fourth line of the poem?

a. gustatory
b. visual
c. olfactory

29
 d. auditory

3. What is the figurative language shown in the last line of the poem?
a. Metaphor
b. Personification
c. Allusion
d. Simile

4. What is the rhyme scheme of the poem?

a. aabbcc
b. abcabc
c. ababcc
d. aaabbb

5. Which of the following is not part of the group?

a. elegy
b. sonnet
c. ballad
d. ode

6. What genre of poetry is the below?

a. lyric poetry
b. narrative poetry
c. descriptive poetry
d. dramatic poetry

“Because I could not stop for Death

He kindly stopped for me.”

7. What type of figurative language does “Death” represent in this line?

a. Personification
b. Allusion
c. Imagery
d. Metaphor

8. Which of the following describes “tone” as element of poetry?

a. The author's style of writing.
b. The reader's feelings while reading the text.
c. The reader’s feelings before reading the text.
d. The author's attitude or feelings.

9. Which of the following refers to the group of lines that form a division of a
poem?
a. meter
b. rhyme
c. stanza
d. genre

10. “I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

30
 A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;”
(excerpt from “Tree” by Joyce Kilmer)

What form is used in the poem?

a. sestet
b. octave
c. couplet
d. tercet

11. Refer to the item number 10. What is the meter of the poem?
a. 8-8-8-8-8-8
b. 9-9-9-9-9-9
c. 6-6-6-6-6-6
d. 7-7-7-7-7-7

12. What is the tone of the poem “Tree” by Joyce Kilmer?

a. light
b. serious
c. curious
d. skeptic

13. Ballad is like a song. Which of the following is repeated in a ballad?

a. stanza
b. meter
c. refrain
d. image

14. What is the main function of simile and metaphor as literary devices?
a. to exaggerate
b. to narrate
c. to compare
d. to contrast

15. “Here Captain! Dear father!

This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.”
(excerpt from “Oh Captain, My Captain” by Walt Whitman)

What do the underlined words describe?

a. true rhyme
b. slant rhyme
c. internal rhyme
d. off rhyme

31
 Additional Activities

Activity 9. It’s My Time!

Directions:

1. Create your own video presentation.

2. Record yourself reciting the poem that you have created.
3. Send your video to your teacher. (Your teacher will give you
further instruction for the submission of your video)
4. Read the rubric below for your reference.

Excellent Good Fair

Indicators
5 points 4 points 3 points
Articulations
Has pronounced the words properly.
Clarity and Expression
Has spoken clearly with proper pausing,
pacing, and voice modulation throughout the
presentation
Physical Presence
Has effectively used proper gestures in
presenting the poetry
Overall Performance
Has successfully delivered the poem with no
errors and has presented with enthusiasm

32
 Answer Key

Assessment What's More What’s More

Act. 6
1. B Act. 5
2. B 1. Metaphor - “Hope” is the
3. D
thing with feathers 1. visual
4. D 2. Simile – fester like sore 2. olfactory
5. C 3. auditory
3. Allusion – Ceres 4. olfactory
6. A
7. A 4. Allusion – Lazarus 5. auditory
8. B 6. tactile
5. Personification – poem
9. C 7. visual
10. C 6. Alliteration – gaunt, gray, 8. tactile
11. A
gallery 9. visual
12. A 7. Onomatopoeia – clang, clash, 10. auditory
roar
13. C
14. C 8. Metaphor – Beauty is truth
15. A
9. Personification – Earth felt
the wound and Nature from
her seat

10. Hyperbole – and fired the

shot heard round the world

What is it What’s New What I Know

Rhyming Scheme Act. 2 1. D
2. C
EFEF GHGH 1. placidly 3. A
2. vexation 4. A
3. trickery 5. C
Line – 46 lines 4. feign 6. D
5. cynical 7. D
Stanza – 8 stanzas 6. aridity 8. C
7. perennial 9. C
8. sham 10. C
Figurative Language 9. drudgery 11. B
1. Alliteration 12. D
2. Simile 13. C
14. D
15. A

33
What’s More

Genre of
Title of the Poem The Road Not Taken Narrative Poetry
Poetry

Poet Robert Frost

Theme - Decision Making

(Brief Explanation) - Making Choices

- sentimental
Tone
- nostalgic
(Brief Explanation)
- (varies)

Number of Type of Poem based on the number

Number of Lines
Stanzas stanza

20 lines 5 stanzas quintet

9 A
9 B
1 9 1 A
9 A
9 B
9 C
9 D
2 10 2 C
8 C
9 Rhyme D
Number of Syllables
9 Scheme E
8 F
3 10 3 E
9 E
10 F
9 G
8 H
4 9 4 G
8 G
9 H

34
References

Arnold Jarn Ford G. Buhisan and Ayesha H. Sayseng, Creative Writing: Pasay City:
JFS Publishing Services, 2016, 9-29.

Glenis Rix, An Analysis of Desiderata (1927), a Prose Poem about Mindful Living by
Max Ehrmann, February 23, 2020, www.owlcation.com/humanities/Analysis-of-
Desiderata-a-Prose-Poem-by-Max-Ehrmann.

Literary Devices. “Figurative Language” Accessed July 5, 2020.

www.literarydevices.com/figurative-language/.

Literary Terms. “Poetry: Definition and Examples” Accessed June13, 2020.

www.literaryterms.net.

Michael Shook. The Meaning Behind the Desiderata Poem, July 12, 2019,
www.medium.com/publishous/the-meaning-behind-the-desiderata-poem-
8c2e3296d6cb.

Sara Letourneau, Identifying Themes in the Poetry We Read, June 3, 2019,

www.diymfa.com/reading/identifying-themes-poetry.

Tagalog Lang. “Mga Tanaga (Maiikling Tula)” Accessed July 5, 2020.

www.tagaloglang.com/tanaga-maiikling-tula/.

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