Elements and Types of Poetry

English 9
What is • A quality of beauty and intensity of emotion

Poetry? regarded as characteristic of poems.

• Literary work in which special intensity is

given to the expression of feelings and ideas
by the use of distinctive style and rhythm;
poems collectively or as a genre of literature.

• Poetry is written in lines and these lines are

grouped into stanzas.
Elements of Poetry
Stanza • The stanza functions like
paragraph in a story.
• A group of lines.

Types of Stanza

Couplet = Two lines

Tercet = Three lines
Quatrain = Four lines
Quintain = Five lines
Sestet = Six lines
Septet = Seven lines
Octave = Eight lines
Rhyme
• The repetition of the same or similar sounds usually in stressed syllables at the
end of lines.
• Words rhyme when there is an agreement of likeness in the sounds of their
endings.
• For example: 1. time, crime 2. way, day 3. side, tide 4. praise, gaze

Rhyme Scheme
• The rhyming pattern that is created at the end of the lines in poetry.
• If the poem does not have a rhyme scheme, it is considered to be a free verse.
Rhyme Scheme
For example:

When as in silks my Julia goes -a

Then, then how sweetly flows -a
The liquefaction of her clothes. -a

-„Upon Julia‟s Clothes‟ by Robert Herrick

Example Sonnet 18
William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? -a
Thou art more lovely and more temperate. -b
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, -a
And summer's lease hath all too short a date. -b

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, -c

And often is his gold complexion dimmed; -d
And every fair from fair sometime declines, -c
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed: -d
But thy eternal summer shall not fade -e
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, -f
Nor shall Death brag thou wand'rest in his shade -e
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st. -f
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, -g
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. -g
 Rhythm and Meter
• Rhythm is the pattern of sound created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed
syllables in a line.
• Meter is a unit of rhythm in poetry, the pattern of the beats. It is determined by a
particular combination of stressed syllables and unstressed syllables.
Types of Meter:
• Trochee (trochaic) : 1 stressed and 1 unstressed pattern. Example: lad-der.
• Iamb (iambic): 1 unstressed and 1 stressed pattern. Example: in-deed.
• Spondee (spondaic): two stressed syllables. Example: T-V.
• Dactyl (dactylic): 1 stressed followed by 2 unstressed syllables. Example: cer-tain-ly,
• Anapest (anapestic) : It has 2 unstressed syllables followed by 1 stressed. Example: un-
der-stand”
Meter is a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables
which sets the overall rhythm of certain poems.

Typically, stressed syllables are marked with / and unstressed

syllables are marked with .
 Measures of Meter
Metrical feet = consists of one or more feet and is named for the number
of feet in it.

Monometer = one foot

Dimeter = two feet
Trimeter = three feet
Tetrameter = four feet
Pentameter = five feet
Hexameter = six feet
Heptameter = seven feet
Octameter = eight feet
My Heart
 /
My heart
 /  /
Belongs to you
 /  /  /
To you alone in love
 /  /  /  /
For you created me and all
 /  / /  /  /
The ones I truly love and care about
 /  /  /  /  /  /
For this I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Types of Poetry
TYPES OF POETRY

Lyrical Narrative Dramatic

Dramatic
Sonnet Epic
Monologue

Elegy Ballad Soliloquy

Ode Social Oration

LYRICAL
POETRY
Lyrical • Expresses Personal thoughts and
emotions.
Poetry
• It is a short poem which has the
characteristics of a song
• It pertains to a single mood or feeling
and is more personal in nature.
• Sonnet, Elegy, and Ode are types of
LyricalPoetry.
Sonnet
• The Name sonnet derives from Italian word sonneto which
means little song.

• is a relatively short poem consisting of merely fourteen lines.

It is known to follow a strict pattern of rhyme.

• Sonnet by WilliamShakespeare
• 154 sonnets
The Rhyme Pattern of a Sonnet There are two (2) main types of
sonnets:

• The “English” or “Shakespearean” sonnet;

• The “Italian” or “Petrarchan” sonnet.

• In a traditional "English" or "Shakespearean" sonnet, the first twelve lines are

divided into three groups called "stanzas." Each stanza has four lines each,
called "quatrains". The last two lines usually rhyme, and make up what is called
a "rhymed couplet." These lines conclude the poem by summing up the story
told in the previous quatrains.

• The rhyme scheme or pattern:

• Shakespearean Sonnet: a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g
• Petrarchan Sonnet: a-b-b-a- a-b-b-a, c-d-e-c-d-e
Bid me to weep, and I will weep, -a
While I have eyes to see; -b
And having none, yet I will keep -a
A heart to weep for thee. -b
 Life is an artwork
Should I compare our lives to a painting? (a)
Some are colourful, others black and white. (b)
We are all of us artists in training, (a)
Sometimes our colours are dark, sometimes light. (b)

Some of us plan others go off the cuff (c)

Some draw in pencil, afraid of mistakes (d)
Some of us give in when things get too tough (c)
Some of us will do whatever it takes (d)

Some of us draw only what is present (e)

Some of our works are more than meets the eye (f)
Sometimes our art appears very pleasant (e)
Sometimes we suffer even when we try (f)

Whatever the kind of artwork you make (g)

Be sure it is you and not a mere fake (g)
Example Sonnet 18
William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall Death brag thou wand'rest in his shade
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
 Elegy
• This is a lyric poem which expresses lamented mourning of
the dead, feeling of grief and melancholy.
• The theme of this poem is death.
Ode
• This is a poem of nobeling feeling, expressed with dignity and
praises for some persons, objects, events or ideas.
• It is exalted in tone and formal in structure andcontent.
NARRATIVE
POETRY
Narrative • Types of poet that narrates a
story through the use of poetic
Poetry diction either real or imaginary.
• Narrative poemhas special
appeal.
• This form of poetry describes
events in a vivid way, using some
of the elements as short stories,
plot characters and dialogue.
Epic
• This is a long and narrative poem that normally tells a story
about a hero or anadventure.
• Epics can be oral stories or can be poems in writtenform.
3 Greatest examples of epic poem
• Beowulf by Anonymous - This is an Old English language
heroic epic poem of anonymous authorship, dating as
recorded in the Nowell Codex manuscript from between
the 8th to the 11th century and relates events described as
having occurred in what is now Denmark and Sweden.
• The Odyssey by Homer - The poem is, in part, a sequel to
Homer’s Iliad and mainly centers on the Greek hero
Odysseus and his long journey home to Ithaca following
the fall of Troy.
• The Iliad by Homer - oldest extant work of literature in
the ancient Greek language, making it the first work of
European literature.
Ballad
• It also tell a story, like epic poems however, ballad poetry is
often based on a legend or a folk tale.
• A ballad often features a refrain-a regular repeated line or
group of lines.
• Ballad derives from the medieval French chanson ballade or
ballade.
Social poem
• This is either purely comic or tragic and pictures the life of
today.
• It may aim to bring changes in social conditions.
DRAMATIC
POETRY
Dramatic • Has elements related closely to
the drama.
Poetry
• It uses a dramatic technique and
may unfold astory.
• It emphasize the character rather
than the narrative.
Dramatic monologue
• This is a combination of drama
and poetry.
• It presents some line or speech of single character in a
particular but complicated situation and sometimes in a
dilemma
• A type of poetry written in the form of a speech of an
individual character.
Soliloquy
• The speaker of the poem or the character in a play delivers a
passage.
• The thoughts and emotions are heard by the author and the
audience aswell.
Oration

• This is a formaladdress elevated in tone and usually delivered

on some notable occasion.