Poetic Forms & Elements of Poetry

Poetic Forms & Elementsof Poetry

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. By Robert Frost Stanza vs. Line • Poems are written in lines. • A group of lines in a poem is called a stanza. • Stanzas separate ideas in a poem. They act like paragraphs. • This poem has two stanzas. • Purpose: Stanzas help to keep poems clear and organized

Sestet:a six-line stanza • Septet: a seven line stanza • Octet (octave): an eight line stanza Types of stanzas • Couplet:a two-line stanza • Triplet: a three-line stanza • Quatrain: a four-line stanza • Quintet: a five-line stanza, also called a quinquain

Rhyme Examples Fool – Pool Slam – Wham! – Sam- Jam Dance- Pants- Lance Grass-Sass- Lass-Bass Create two of examples of your own!

You Try! Determine the rhyme scheme of the following poem: Fire and Ice by Robert Frost Some say the world will end in fire,Some say in ice.From what I've tasted of desireI hold with those who favor fire.But if it had to perish twice,I think I know enough of hateTo say that for destruction iceIs also greatAnd would suffice

Rhyme • EndRhyme: Rhyme at the ends of lines of poetry • Example: Seamus Heaney’s “Digging” • Under my window, a clean rasping sound When the spade sinks into gravelly ground • Internal Rhyme: Rhymes insidethe lines, or a word inside a line that rhymes with a word at the end of a line. • Example: Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” • Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Haiku • Haiku: • a Japanese poem with 3 lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables. (17 total) • Does not rhyme. • Purpose • Is about an aspect of nature or the seasons. • Captures a moment in time. Example by Basho: Lightning flash–what I thought were facesare plumes of pampas grass

Limerick Limerick: • 5 line poem with a rhyme scheme of AABBA • Has a ‘bouncing’ rhythm Purpose: • lighthearted • humorous tone Example by Edward Lear: There was a young lady of Lucca Whose lovers completely forsook her;She ran up a tree And said "Fiddle-de-dee!"Which embarrassed the people of Lucca.

Narrative Poems Narrative poem • Tells a story which has characters and a plot • Can be several stanzas long • May follow any rhyme scheme (but does not need to rhyme) Purpose: • To tell a story in poetic form

Traditional English Sonnets • 14 lines long with ten syllables per line. • made famous by William Shakespeare • sometimes called Shakespearean sonnets. • rhyme scheme of ababcdcdefefgg • Broken into three quatrains (stanzas of 4 lines grouped) and a couplet at the end (2 rhyming lines to make up a stanza) Sonnet Sonnet: • Fourteen lines long • Has a fixed rhyme scheme Purpose • Often about love

Sonnet 94 They that have power to hurt and will do none, That do not do the thing they most do show, Who, moving others, are themselves as stone, Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow, They rightly do inherit heaven’s gracesAnd husband nature’s riches from expense; They are the lords and owners of their faces, Others but stewards of their excellence. By William Shakespeare The summer’s flower is to the summer sweet, Though to itself it only live and die, But if that flower with base infection meet, The basest weed outbraves his dignity: For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds; Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.

Ballad Example: It is an ancient Mariner, And he stoppeth one of three.By thy long gray beard and glittering eye,Now wherefore stoppstthou me? The Bridegroom’s doors are opened wide, And I am next of kin;The guests are met, the feast is set:Maysthear the merry din." • Definition • Written like a song that tells a story • Contains simple stanzas and usually a recurring refrain (chorus) • Purpose • To tell a story through song • Example: • The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Coleridge

Poetic Forms & Elements of Poetry