POETRY is generally considered to be the oldest of the arts.

Long before our forefathers learned to

read and write, they sang and recited lines of verse.

Among the literary genres, poetry is the most closely related to music. Like music, it appeals to the
senses and imagination (heart and mind).

How to read a poem?

1. Read each poem aloud. Hearing the sounds of a poem makes the meaning clearer and adds
to your enjoyment.
2. Read the poem slowly, carefully and attentively. A poem should not be read cursorily. Some
poems may be understood at first reading but must have to be read several times for deeper
understanding and appreciation.
3. Identify the speaker. Does the speaker use “I” and “me” or remain a general voice speaking to
the reader?
4. Take time to imagine, to see, hear, touch, taste, and smell what the poet is describing.
5. Give each poem a chance. Remember that each poem has something to give if you want to
take it.

ELEMENTS OF POETRY

1. Speaker – the persona or voice who is addressing the reader. Sometimes the speaker is the
poet himself but not all the time. The poet reveals the identity of the speaker in various ways.
The choice of words, focus of attention and attitudes indicate the age, perspective and identity
of the speaker.
2. Content – is the subject of the poem. It answers the question “what?” What is the poem all
about? What happens in the poem?
3. Theme – is the meaning of the poem – the main idea that the poet is trying to communicate.
The theme may be stated directly or it may be implied.
4. Shape and Form – is the structure of the poem (rhythm, line-length, stanza construction,
rhyme).
5. Mood or Tone – is the feeling that the poet creates and that the reader senses through the
poet’s choice of words, rhythm, rhyme, style and structure. The tone may be humorous,
sarcastic, joyous, solemn etc.
6. Imagery – refers to the picture which we perceive with our mind’s senses and through which
we experience the “duplicate world” created by poetic language. Imagery evokes the meaning
and truth of human experiences not in abstract terms, as in philosophy, but in more perceptible
and tangible forms. This is the device by which the poet makes meaning strong, clear and
sure.
7. Diction – is the poet’s choice of words. The poet considers both the denotation/denotative (its
definition according to the dictionary) and connotation/connotative (the emotions, thoughts and
ideas associated with and evoked by the word).

Dr. Jet Joaquin Batin Notes on Poetry Page 1

 8. Sound-effect Device – is used to reinforce the meaning of the poem. It is also known as
“verbal music” or “sounds in a poem.”

Kinds of Sound-effect Devices

A. Repetition – is a basic artistic device, fundamental to any conception of poetry. It provides

emphasis.
B. Rhyme – is a patterned recurrence of like or similar sounds functioning indirectly to
intensify meaning. It serves as binding and unifying element and lends continuity to the
piece.
C. Rhythm – is the regular or progressive pattern of recurrent accents in the flow of a poem.
It exist for the full gamut of emotions.
D. Onomatopoeia – is the formation or use of words which imitate sounds, but the term is
generally expanded to refer to any word whose sound is suggestive of its meaning whether
by imitation or though cultural inference.
E. Alliteration – is also called head rhyme or initial rhyme. It is the repetition of the initial
sounds (usually consonants) of stresses syllables in neighboring words or at short intervals
within the line or passage, usually at word beginnings.
F. Consonance – the repetition of internal consonant sounds.
G. Assonance – the rhyming of a word with another in one or more of their accented vowels,
but not in their consonants; sometimes called vowel rhyme.

9. Figurative Language – is a type of language that varies from the norms of literal language. It
is also known as the “ornaments of language” or the “sensory or poetic images.” Figurative
language does not mean exactly as it says, but instead forces the reader to make an
imaginative leap in order to comprehend the poet’s point.

Kinds of Figures of Speech

A. Simile – is a comparison of two unlike objects which are unlike in most respect but which
have a common quality. It uses the words “like” or “as” to signal comparison.

Your face is as big as a seed,

But you do not bear fruit
To complete the meaning of your name;
Like the night that spreads
Over the sea with thick wings
But has no body
To tell of its existence.

(A Secret by Carlos Bulosan)

B. Metaphor – is an implied or implicit comparison between two things essentially unlike. It

does not use the words like or as to signal the comparison.

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 Dear Lord:
Let Thou be the street-cleaner
Whilst I be the road.

(Prayer by NVM Gonzales)

C. Personification – is the transfer of human characteristics to inanimate objects or abstract

ideas. Human attributes are given to an animal, an object or a concept.

Long vigil I kept

With my books:
The morning sun met me
With a sad rebuke.

(Long Vigil by Alfredo Cuenca, Jr.)

D. Apostrophe – a figure of speech in which someone is absent or dead or something non-

human is addressed as if it were alive and present and could reply.

Little sampaguita,
With the wandering eye,
Did a tiny fairy
Drop you where you lie?

In the witching hour

Of a tropic night,
Did a careless moonbeam
Leave you in its flight?

(The Sampaguita by Natividad Marquez)

E. Paradox – is a statement or situation containing apparently contradictory or incompatible

elements. At first reading, paradox seems unintelligible or absurd but at a closer reading, it
can communicate real truth.

My dear, my dear, canst thou resolve for me

This paradox of love concerning thee:
Mine eyes, when opened, with thy beauty fill –
But when they’re closed they see thee better still.

(Paradox by A. E. Litiatco)

F. Allusion – is a reference, explicit or implicit, to something in previous literature or history.

The purpose of allusion is to broaden the context and deepen the meaning of the poem.

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 The pendulum
Is a thing of dread
To nervous persons like me.
It reminds one of swaying Iscariot –
Suspended from a tree.

(After Palanan by Angela Rene Ituralde)

G. Irony – always implies some sort of discrepancy or incongruity: between what is said and
what it means, or between appearance and reality, or between expectation and fulfilment.

If all these men whose heads are with the stars,

Who dream unceasingly of blazing royalty,
Will only strive to be like you,
A dweller of the sod with the heart of loyalty!

(To a Dog by Florizel Diaz)

H. Symbol – is a figure of speech in which something (object, person, situation, or action)

means more than what it is. A symbol may be read both literally and metaphorically.

ten floors up
a lizard
punctual
at six o’clock
crawls down
stopping
every now
and then
along the
slender
tree trunk
and kisses
the ground
nitrified
loam of the
arboretum
ten floors
up

(Deception by Antonino Soria de Veyra)

I. Hyperbole – is a figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for the purpose of

emphasis and in the service of truth.

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 I know not what to name thy charms,
Thou art half human, half divine,
And if I could hold thee in my arms,
I know both heaven and earth were mine.

(The Rural Maid by Fernando Maramag)

J. Understatement – is the opposite of hyperbole. It is the deliberate underplaying or

undervaluing of a thing and mutes the expression of an emotion, idea or situation.

You’ll need a board, one-by-eight-by-twenty,

A hammer, a saw.

To start,
Hold a thread on the child, vertically
For length, the shoulders for width,
Saw off the board on two benches to get
The back, the sides, the lid.
Put together with a handful of nails.

You haven’t planed, or painted, or cut

Any edge –
No coffin is ever a work of art.

(On the Death of a Five-Year-Old by Simeon Dumdum)

K. Oxymoron – is a figure of speech in which two opposite or contrasting words are jammed
or put together.

Examples:
Resident-alien, found missing, silent scream, living dead, small crowd, butt head,
sweet sorrow, passive aggression, pretty ugly, working vacation, clearly
misunderstood, genuine imitation, exact estimate, diet ice cream, peace force, terribly
pleased, socially recluse, etc.

L. Metonymy – is a figure of speech in which the name of one object is replaced by another
which is closely associated with it.

Examples:

By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food.

He lives through the bottle.
The tuxedos sniff at the beggar.
The school bus drags her from her bed.

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 Scepter and crown came tumbling down.
I have read all of Shakespeare.
The pen is mightier than the sword.

M. Synecdoche – is a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or whole for the
part.

Examples:

I drove my mother’s wheels to the party.

The mother has eight mouths to feed.
All hands on deck.
Lend me your ears.
Read my lips.
Give us this day our daily bread.

N. Antithesis – is a figure of speech wherein there is a marked contrast in words or clauses,

as well as in ideas, in order to emphasize both parts of the contrast.

Examples:

Love is so short, forgetting is so long.

I don’t like the drugs but the drugs like me.
You may be through with the past but the past ain’t through with you.
My ass may be dumb, but I ain’t a dumb ass.
Man proposes, God disposes.
Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, moderation in the pursuit of justice is no
virtue.

O. Litotes – is a figure of speech that emphasizes its subject by conscious understatement.

An example from common speech is to say “not bad” as a form of high praise.

Examples:

A few unannounced quizzes are not inconceivable.

War is not healthy for children and other living things.

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