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The Art of Poetry • Poetry has been defined as “heightened language,” as it is generally a very artistic use of language, which puts the language into verse and concentrates on rhythm. As your text points out, there need not be even a predictable rhyme or rhythm scheme for a piece of literature to be considered a poem. • In a poem, instead of sentences and paragraphs, you find lines and stanzas.
Elements of Poetry • In addition to metaphor, imagery, symbolism, and tone, we will look at speaker and situation, syntax, and sound as we study poetry.
Speaker • One of the most difficult concepts in the study of poetry is that of speaker. • The speaker is roughly equivalent to the narrator of fictional works. It is a character or a psychological persona that the poet constructs to deliver the words of the poem.
Speaker vs. Poet • Be very careful in analyzing poem that you do not attribute the emotions or events experienced by the speaker to the poet, him- or herself. • Sometimes, you may have strong biographical evidence linking the speaker to the poet, in which case you might quote and cite that information to make your case; however, for the purposes of this class, you should mentally divorce the speaker from the poet.
Situation • The situation is the context in which the speaker finds him- or herself. This is roughly equivalent to setting and plot in fiction. • In “Bored” by Margaret Atwood, the speaker is the grown-up child who now understands that time spent with his/her father was precious, even though he/she did not understand that at the time. The situation is one removed from those former boring times.
Syntax • Syntax refers to the structure of language in a poem. A poem’s lines may be long or short, simple or complex. • Generally, we would look to the line length or the shape of the lines and stanzas as being related somehow to the poem’s theme.
Sound • Sound in poems is extremely important. Poems can be analyzed by rhythm or the internal sounds of words or phrases. • Rhythm can be created out of meter, the regular pattern of accented and unaccented syllables in a poetic line, and pace, the relative speed suggested by the lines.
Internal Sounds • Rhyme occurs when the final accented syllables of words sound alike. They usually occur at the end of a poetic line. A regular rhyme scheme may make the poem’s lines more predictable or more easy to memorize. • Roses are red / Violets are blue / Sugar is sweet / And so are you • Alliteration occurs when initial consonant or vowel sounds are repeated through several words • Roses are red • Assonance occurs when internal vowel sounds are repeated through several words whose final consonant sounds differ. • Lake and fate
Questions for Analyzing Poems • Speaker and Situation • What kind pf person is speaking in the poem? Can you figure out age, race, gender? • What is the situation of the poem? • How do speaker and/or situation relate to the poem’s theme?
Questions, continued • Tone • How would you describe the tone of the poem? • Does the tone change over the course of the poem? • Do diction, syntax, imagery, and/or sound help develop that tone?
Questions, continued • Diction • What is the level of the poem’s diction? Is it formal or informal? Simple or difficult? Elegant or course? • What words might have double meanings? • Does the poem use paradox or verbal irony?
Questions, continued • Syntax • How difficult are the lines or sentences? Are they short and simple or long and complex? • Are there any departures from standard grammar, such as fragmented elliptical passages? • Does the syntax change over the course of the poem?
Questions, continued • Imagery • What patterns does the imagery suggest? • What colors predominate? • To what senses do the images appeal? • What similes, metaphors, and symbols does the poet use? • Are there contrasting images? • Does the imagery change through the course of the poem?
Questions, continued • Sound • What effects are created by the sounds and location of particular words/ • Does the poem move fast or slow? Does it flow smoothly, or does it contain abrupt shifts, stops and starts? • How regular is the meter of the poem? What is the meter? • Does the poem use rhyme, alliteration, or assonance? • Does the sound in the poem change?
