Our Lady of the Pillar College – San Manuel, Incorporated

District 3, San Manuel, Isabela

Basic Education Department

S.Y. 2022 – 2023

Creative Writing
Senior High School
Humanities and Social Sciences Strand

Elvis Pabro Viernes

Subject Teacher

Mobile Number: 09984853637

Facebook Account: Elvis Pabro Viernes
Gmail Account: [email protected]
 Module 1
Learner’s Material
Creative Writing Grade 12 HUMSS
Concept and Performance Matrix

: The course aims to develop practical and creative skills in

reading and writing; introduce students to the fundamental
Subject
techniques of writing fiction, poetry, and drama; and discuss
Description
the use of such techniques by well-known authors in a variety
of genres. Each class will be devoted to the examination of
techniques and to the workshop of students’ drafts toward the
enrichment of their manuscripts. Students learn how to
combine inspiration and revision, and to develop a sense of
form.

Learning Standards
Module 1

Quarter and Theme Content Standards Performance Standards

The learners have an The learners shall be able

understanding of imagery, to produce short
diction, figures of speech, paragraphs or vignettes
and variations on language. using imagery, diction,
figures of speech, and
specific experiences.

The learners have an The learners shall be able

understanding of poetry as a to produce a short, well-
genre and how to analyze its crafted poem.
elements and techniques.

The learners have an The learners shall be able

understanding of fiction as a to produce at least one
genre and are able to striking scene for a short
analyze its elements and story.
techniques
UNIT Introduction to
ONE
Creative Writing
"Only in men's imagination does every truth find an effective and undeniable
existence. Imagination, not invention, is the supreme master of art as of life."

- Joseph Conrad
Writing is viewed by many young writers as a complicated process. This
is made true by the fact that writing involves expressing the writer's innermost
thoughts, feelings, and ideas. Important factors have to be considered and
satisfied if one is planning to be a serious writer. The beginning writer must be
familiar with the writing process and know by heart the basic grammar rules.
Most writers begin by listing down their ideas and thoughts, whatever they think
they should put in what they are writing. This is followed by organizing the ideas.
The writer will have to decide which ideas are best put at the beginning, which
ones go in the middle, and which ones are best placed at the end. Then, once
the writing work is finished, the writer still has to rewrite, edit, evaluate, and
improve his or her work. These are just some of the points that a young writer
must consider regarding the writing process. But it is good to note that, with
practice and dedication, the beginning writer is bound to improve and
become better.

LET'S ENERGIZE!

Are you fond of writing? Do you find it easy to write or does it take time
before you could start writing? Below are pictures which may illustrate your
views about writing. Choose one picture that reveals your idea about the
writing task and tell your reasons to a partner. Here are some questions to guide
you in the sharing activity:

• Is it easy to choose a topic for writing? Do you prefer writing with a given
topic?
• How do you prepare for writing? Do you consider your readers and their
interests?
• What problems do you often encounter in writing? Share your
experience.
 LEARN AND DISCUSS

Creative Writing: Definition and Nature

What does the word "creative" mean to the writers? Is there a huge
difference between regular writing and creative writing? According to expert
writers, there is always creativity in writing. "Creative writing is writing that
expresses the writer's thoughts and feelings in an imaginative, often unique
way." (Sil. org. What is Creative Writing?) It is geared towards presenting one's
ideas and feelings rather than just conveying information. It is synonymous to
gaining a license to write which allows writers to form their rules in writing.

Reasons for writing creatively

• Write to be entertained.
• Write to share your ideas and emotions.
• Write to be the person you wish to be.
• Write to touch people's lives.

Principles of Creative Writing

According to the Creative Writing program of the Graduate School of

Arts and Sciences Teaching Center in Columbia University, writers must keep in
mind the following principles to further enhance their writing skills:

• Read before writing

• Learn to make revisions
• Know the true nature of creative writing

Kinds of Creative Writing

Creative writing involves a wide range of literary forms. This includes fiction and
non-fiction works. These writing forms illustrate a style that centers on expressing
one's feelings and thoughts rather than merely giving facts or details. Thus, any
kind of writing that deals with human emotions, interactions of men with
incorporations of the human soul is categorized as creative writing, Adapted
from an article written by Linda St. Cyr, the following are some forms of creative
writing:
 • Poetry, Song, Limerick
• Free form writing and journals
• Short stories, novels, novellas, and flash fiction.
• Scripts and plays

The Writing Process

Writing can be made more enjoyable and thrilling by observing the

following steps:

1. Pre-writing
2. Writing the draft
3. Revising
4. Editing
5. Publishing

LET'S PRACTICE!

After knowing the nature of creative writing, its forms and principles, as well as
writing, write a three-paragraph essay on any of the following broad topics:

1. Cyber-bullying
2. COVID19 Pandemic
3. Family problems
4. Wearing school uniforms
5. Pros and cons of K-12
6. Virtual Learning

Observe the given steps in the writing process. Start by narrowing your
chosen topic Accomplish your paper by generating ideas, outlining, and
drafting. Once you finish writing. ask two classmates to read your work for
editing and revising. Rewrite your paper to make the necessary corrections
and revisions.
 LET'S CHECK!

Recall the salient points discussed in this unit and answer the items
below.

1. What is creative writing? Define it in your own words.

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2. Why do we write creatively? Enumerate four possible reasons and

explain each.
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3. What principles of creative writing should we observe?

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4. What are the various kinds of creative writing? Describe each.

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5. What are the steps in the writing process? Why should an effective writer
follow those steps accordingly?
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UNIT Elements of
TWO
Creative Language
LESSON ONE
IMAGERY AND FIGURES OF SPEECH

LET'S ENERGIZE!

If I Were

You are assigned to complete the statement, "If I were an inanimate

object, I would be a/an plain why.

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Close Reading
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What does an ambulance do?
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Read the poem and answer the questions that follow.

Auto Wreck
By: Karl Shapiro

Its quick soft silver bell beating, beating,

And down the dark one ruby flare
Pulsing out red light like an artery,
The ambulance at top speed floating down
Past beacons and illuminated clocks
Wings in a heavy curve, dips down,
 And brakes speed, entering the crowd.
The doors leap open, emptying light;
Stretchers are laid out, the mangled lifted
And stowed into the little hospital.
Then the bell, breaking the hush, tolls once.
And the ambulance with its terrible cargo
Rocking, slightly rocking, moves away,
As the doors, an afterthought, are closed.

We are deranged, walking among the cops

Who sweep glass and are large and composed.
One is still making notes under the light.
One with a bucket douches ponds of blood
Into the street and gutter.
One hangs lanterns on the wrecks that cling,
Empty husks of locusts, to iron poles.

Our throats were tight as tourniquets,

Our feet were bound with splints, but now,
Like convalescents intimate and gauche,
We speak through sickly smiles and warn
With the stubborn saw of common sense,
The grim joke and the banal resolution.
The traffic moves around with care,
But we remain, touching a wound
That opens to our richest horror.
Already old, the question Who shall die?
Becomes unspoken Who is innocent?

For death in war is done by hands;

Suicide has cause and stillbirth, logic;
And cancer, simple as a flower, blooms.
But this invites the occult mind,
Cancels our physics with a sneer,
And spatters all we knew of denouement
Across the expedient and wicked stones.

• Look back

Understand and watch out for words or phrases telling you what the
ambulance and its parts are doing.

1. List down the words or phrases that stood out. For example, “doors leap
open.”
 • A Second Look

Read the poem for the second time. Watch out for words or phrases that
compare two things or objects directly or indirectly.

2. List down words or phrases that stood out. For example, “cancer,
simple as a flower, blooms.”

• One More Look

Read the poem silently for the third time. Watch out for phrases with
words that are natural contrasts or contradictions.

3. List down these words or phrases that stood out. For example, “grim
joke.”

• Last Look

Read the poem silently for the last time. Watch out for words, images,
and details that stand out for you.

4. List down imagery, or details that stood out when you read the poem.
 5. Do you think these activities or writing exercises help you understand the
text?
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6. Have you experienced an emergency in the family lately? What did you
feel? Why?
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LEARN AND DISCUSS

Imagery and Figures of Speech

Imagery is a figurative language used to represent objects, actions, and

ideas in a manner that appeals to the senses. It uses vivid descriptive language
to add depth to the work. Imagery creates mental pictures in the reader as
he/she reads the text.
There are many kinds of figures of speech. The common ones are simile,
metaphor, onomatopoeia, personification, apostrophe, hyperbole,
alliteration, synecdoche, metonymy, oxymoron, and paradox.
Simile is a stated comparison (formed with “like” or “as”) between two
fundamentally dissimilar things that have certain qualities in common, while
metaphor is an implied comparison between two unlike things that have
something in common.

Example of simile: Example of metaphor:

“Does it dry up “Hope’ is the thing with feathers–

Like a raisin in the sun? That perches in the soul–
Or fester like a sore– And sings the tune without the
And then run? words–
Does it stink like rotten meat? And never stops–at all–“
Or crust and sugar over–
Like a syrupy sweet?” –Emily Dickinson, “Hope is the Thing
with Feathers”
–Langston Hughes, “What Happens
to a Dream Deferred?”
 Onomatopoeia uses words that imitate sounds associated with objects
or actions. Personification, on the other hand, endows human qualities or
abilities to inanimate objects or abstractions. Addressing an absent person or
thing that is an abstract, inanimate, or inexistent character is apostrophe.

Example of Example of Example of

onomatopoeia: personification: apostrophe:

“How they tinkle, tinkle, “Ah William, we’re “Death be not proud,
tinkle. weary of weather,” said though some have
In the icy air of night! the sunflowers, shining called thee
with dew. “Our traveling Mighty and dreadful,
To the tintinnabulation habits have tired us. for, thou art not soe,
that so musically wells Can you give us a room For, those, whom thou
From the bells, bells, with a view?” think’st, thou dost
bells, bells, overthrow,
Bells, bells, bells– –Wiliam Blake, “Two Die not, poore death,
From the jingling and the Sunflowers Move in the nor yet canst thou kill
tinkling of the bells.” Yellow Room” mee.”

–Edgar Allan Poe, “Bells” –John Donne, “Death

Be Not Proud”

Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration for the purpose of emphasis or

exaggerated effect. When an initial consonant sound is repeated, alliteration
is used.

Example of hyperbole: Example of alliteration:

“Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear, “When I see birches bend from left
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun: and right…
O I will love thee still, my dear, I like to think some boy’s been
While the sands o’ life shall run.” swinging them.”

–Robert Burns, “A Red, Red Rose” –Robert Frost, Birches”

A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent a whole is called

synecdoche. When one word or phrase is substituted for another with which
it’s closely associated to or when something is described indirectly by referring
to things around it, which is metonymy. Here are sample verse:
Example of synecdoche: Example of metonymy:

“The western wave was all a-flame. “Friends, Romans, countrymen lend
The day was well was nigh done! me your ears”
Almost upon the western wave
Rested the broad bright Sun” –William Shakespeare, “Julius
Caesar”
–Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “The Rime
of the Ancient Mariner”

Oxymoron is a figure of speech where incongruous or terms appear side

by side. Paradox is a statement that appears to contradict itself.

Example of oxymoron: Example of paradox:

“Why, then, O brawling love! O loving “My heart leaps up when I behold
hate! A rainbow in the sky:
O anything, of nothing first create! So was it when my life began;
O heavy lightness! Serious vanity! So is it now I am a man;
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming So be it when I shall grow old,
forms! Or let me die!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold The child is father of the Man”
fire, sick health!
Still-awaking sleep, that is not what it –William Wordsworth, “My Heart
is! Leaps Up When I behold”
This love feel I, that feel no love in this.
Dost thou not laugh?”

–William Shakespeare, “Romeo and

Juliet”, Act 1, Scene 1
Imagery and figures of speech beautify a piece of literature.

LET'S PRACTICE!
• Closer Look

Look at the lists you made in the previous activities.

1. Is a figure of speech used in your first list? What figure of speech is it?
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2. What about in your second list? What figure of speech is used, if any?
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3. Can you categorize the words listed in your third list into figures of
speech?
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• Deeper Look
1. Upon reading the word “ambulance,” what words or scenes did you
associate it with?
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2. What do you think happened in the poem? Why was an ambulance

present? Was there an emergency? What word or phrase tell us it was
an emergency?
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3. Was there a patient? Did the patient live or die? What word or phrase
tell us this?
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4. What was the feeling of the onlookers? Were they happy or sad? What
word or phrase tell us this?
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5. Can you point out the line that tells us the cause of death? What is the
attitude of the author toward death and its cause? What word or phrase
gives us a clue to this?
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 6. Have the figures of speech used helped you “picture” the scenario
described in the poem? Explain.
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7. What is the poem about?

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LET'S CHECK!

Draw a symbolic representation of the poem. Theme of the Poem:

Explanation (of the

symbolic
representation):

Relationship (of the

poem and the
symbol):
UNIT
THREE
Poetry Writing
Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words."

- Edgar Allan Poe

Composing poems is one effective way to express our innermost
thoughts and feelings. When poets feel blissful, inspired, or downhearted, they
are able to compose verses using colorful language. Through poetry writing,
we create various images and symbols that reveal truths about life. The poet
must have passion in composing in order to attain the appropriate tone and
mood. Readers are encouraged to think and associate their own thoughts and
emotions. As they discover the truths behind well-crafted lines, they appreciate
these and relate them to their personal lives.

Poetry, like other forms of creative writing, can be a great way to

propose ideas, convey emotions, and entertain the audience all in one. Poetry
writing is a way to grow emotionally and intellectually, as the language
articulates and frames experience symbolically. It is also a natural process,
serving people's innate need to explain themselves and their lives in the world.

LET'S ENERGIZE!

Write your own acrostic poem. For each letter, write words that will
clearly show your personality, your character, or your emotions. Study the given
example below.

C – aught in desolation, I was a hopeless being

A – nd I was trapped in the dark, until you came
T – o save me from damnation and to lead me to
H – eaven here on earth where
Y – ou and I will be together forever.
While writing lines for each letter, did you have any difficulty thinking of
words that are relevant to your personality? Were you able to find the ap
propriate words to express your true feelings and thoughts? What were the
things you considered while writing your acrostic poem?
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 LESSON ONE
A REVIEW OF THE ELEMENTS OF POETRY

The first thing you need to have when you decide to write a poem is
something to write about. You need not concern yourself with coming up with
a profound material or topic. Anything can be the subject of the poem you
want to write. Many great poems written by great poets were about common
and everyday things like a red wheelbarrow (William Carlos Williams), a gas
station (Elizabeth Bishop), and pieces of broken glass on the beach (Amy
Clampitt). One of the reasons why everyday things are such good topics for a
poem is because it is very easy to write a good poem about something the
writer knows well or has experienced firsthand. What makes a poem
interesting, and profound are the hidden details or qualities you discover in
your subject-details that not everyone may notice or that remind you of
something else.

Before you compose your own poem, you must first recall the various
elements of poetry. Familiarity with the elements especially the major ones will
guide you in creating well-written verses by choosing the right words, symbols,
and imagery.

LEARN AND DISCUSS

Poetry is a literary form which expresses an individual's emotions and

ideas. Those strong feelings and thoughts are often presented figuratively in
order to deliver the true meaning or essence of human emotions. Through
poetry, the poet may reveal his or her views about other people, the
environment, society, the country, and even the world.

A knowledge of the elements of poetry is essential in composing poems.

Poetry requires reflection and careful selection of words to be able to illustrate
the poet's idea.

Stanza – Stanzas refer to the grouping of lines or the succession of lines

arranged together according to substance. It is similar to a paragraph in prose
writing. A stanza is separated from another stanza through the use of space. A
stanza may have two or more lines depending on the type of poem being
composed.
Form – Form pertains to the style of the poem or how the poem is structured.
Classical poetry shows metrical pattern, has specific number of lines, and has
rhyme scheme. Contemporary poetry is different since it does not have meter,
rhyme, nor pattern, hence it is often called free or blank verse.

Rhyme – Rhyme is the repetition of similar sounds. There are different kinds of
rhyme. such as the end rhyme and the internal rhyme. The end rhyme, as the
term suggests, refers to words with similar sounds that appear at the end of the
lines. It is often used in children's rhymes, which helps young readers appreciate
poetry. While internal rhyme is a kind of rhyme found in the middle of the lines
or a rhyme within the lines.

Rhythm – This refers to the tempo or beat created through the stressed and
unstressed syllables presented in the lines. It differs from rhyme through its
pattern which is illustrated by sounds repeated regularly.

Meter – This is the pattern of sounds or the organized arrangement of sounds.

This is shown by the kind of foot and the feet number. Specific types of foot are
iambic, trochaic, dactylic or anapestic. The number of feet may be
monometer (one foot), dimeter (two feet), trimeter (three feet), tetrameter
(four feet), pentameter (five feet) or hexameter (six feet).

LET'S PRACTICE!

Below is a poem entitled "Beclouded" composed by Emily Dickinson.

Examine the poem by looking into the elements. Fill out the chart that follows
to guide you in analyzing the given poem.

The sky is low, the clouds are mean,

A travelling flake of snow
Across a barn or through a rut
Debates if it will go.

A narrow wind complains all day

How some one treated him;
Nature, like us, is sometimes caught
Without her diadem.
POEM TITLE:

1. Stanza

2. Form

3. Rhyme

4. Rhythm

5. Meter

LET'S CHECK!

After reviewing the elements of poetry, you have an idea on how you
can compose your own poem. Nowadays, many poets prefer to create a
blank verse or a free verse due to the spontaneous flow of thoughts. However,
it could be more fun and exciting to compose a poem showing the elements.
Use the acrostic poem you created in the first activity and revise it by
incorporating the poetry elements. Rewrite your revised poem below.
 LESSON TWO
ESTABLISHING STRUCTURE, METER, AND
RHYME SCHEMES
Some writers see poetry writing as more complicated than prose writing.
In addition to the challenges found in any form of literature, poetry also
includes certain elements and requirements that set it apart and make a
unique challenge for budding poets. Some of these are the structure, the
rhyme scheme, and the meter.

In general, structure has to do with the overall organization of the lines

of the poem and/or the conventional patterns of sound. Although this is not
always the case. Many modern poems may not have any identifiable structure
at all. Rhyme is the repetition of similar sounds in a poem, the most common of
which is the end rhyme. As the name suggests, end rhymes occur at the end
of two or more lines. Lastly, meter is the systematic regularity in rhythm. It is
usually identified by examining the type of "foot" and the number of "feet" in
the poem. This lesson will focus on these three elements of poetry.

LET'S ENERGIZE!

Below are two excerpts showing the traditional form of poetry and the
contemporary form. Take note how the three elements are used in each
poem. Compare and contrast the two poems by filling out the Venn diagram
that follows with differences and similarities between the poems.

The Eve of St. John

by Sir Walter Scott

The baron of Smaylho'me rose with day,

He spurr'd his courser on,
Without stop or stay, down the rocky way.
That leads to Brotherstone.

He went not with the bold Buccleuch,

His banner broad to rear;
He went not 'gainst the English yew,
To lift the Scottish spear.
 Yet his plate-jack was braced, and his helmet was laced,
And his vaunt-brace of proof he wore:
At his saddle-gerthe was a good steel sperthe,
Full ten pound weight and more.

After the Sea-Ship

by Walt Whitman

After the Sea-Ship after the whistling winds;

After the white-gray sails, taut to their spars and ropes,
Below, a myriad, myriad waves, hastening, lifting up their necks,
Tending in ceaseless flow toward the track of the ship:
Waves of the ocean, bubbling and gurgling, blithely prying,
Waves, undulating waves liquid, uneven, emulous waves,
Toward that whirling current, laughing and buoyant, with curves,
Where the great Vessel, sailing and tacking, displaced the surface;

AFTER THE SEA-SHIP THE EVE OF ST. JOHN

 After completing the Venn diagram showing the similarities and
differences of each poem, what do you think are the verse elements that you
need to look into as a poet? How are the excerpts similar? In what ways are
they different?

LEARN AND DISCUSS

There are three significant elements of poetry which you must be able
to incorporate in your own poems. It takes time before a poet can master the
art of poetry writing due to these verse elements. Thus, a poet should study
every bit of poetry from its lines and stanzas to its shape and rhythmic patterns.

Structure of the Poem

A. The Poetic Line

In establishing the structure of a poem, a poet must think of the length

of lines and how each line ends. The first and third lines may have the same
length, while the second and fourth lines may be the same. To illustrate this,
study the beginning of a poem composed by Robert Herrick:

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

Old Time is still a-flying:
And this sumne flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.

This example clearly gives us an idea that line length and break produce
a unique structure which the reader may find appealing. Creating lines in
poetry is utterly different from the lines you write in stories or essays, since each
line must be carefully structured. Each line break allows the reader to pause.
The length of the lines, whether condensed or lengthy, also make the reading
speed faster or slower. Structure gives the poem a distinct look. Are the lines
compressed or are the lines showing a lot of spaces? Lastly, it also shows
emphasis which indicates the significant words within each line.
 B. Line Types

Poets decide on the form of the poem as well as length of the lines. If a
poet composes a verse like an ode or a sonnet, his or her writing is controlled
by the standard set of rules dictated by the verse type. As this may be the case,
you should still figure how your thoughts and words can be expressed in each
line. A reader pauses when there is a period at the end of the line. A reader
continues reading when the lines are written in a continuing manner.

For lines with sudden stops or unusual breaks, this may suggest another
idea or thought that can be puzzling or thrilling to the readers.

There are lines called end-stopped lines, which end at usual pauses and
are indicated by a comma or a period. The following is an example:

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.

Old Time is still a-flying:

If you choose to compose a free verse and not follow the conventional
or standard form, you may experiment with the line length and even the layout
or how the lines are written. You have more ways of formulating your lines since
there are no rules or guidelines to follow. Some modern poets present lines
according to the shape of the subject matter reflected in the poem. Here are
some examples:

C. Stanzas

In order to organize ideas in poetry, lines that go together form a stanza.

The idea is similar to prose writing where closely linked sentences form a para.
graph. Here is an example of a stanza taken from a poem by Robert Herrick

That age is best which is the first,

When youth and blood are warmer,
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,

And while ye may, go marry:
For having lost but once your prime.
You may for ever tarry.
 The first two lines of the poem speak of the good things about being
young. In the next two lines, the speaker reveals the how miserable life can be
as one gets older. In the last four lines, the persona says that one must marry
while one still has the opportunity and the capacity to marry.

Meter

Poetry meter is defined by the Poetry Foundation as "the rhythmical

pattern. of stressed and unstressed syllables in verse." Meter adds color to the
poem, and has rhythm indicated through the accented and unaccented
syllables.

It pays to have a clear concept of meter in poetry because it allows the

reader to discover what goes on in the mind of a poet, and how words,
phrases, and lines are grouped together to illustrate the poet's idea. If you have
a full understanding of what poetry meter is all about, composing a poem will
not be as hard as you think. Whether you are writing a conventional form or
free verse, it is still better to learn how both forms are written.

Types of Foot:

1. Trochaic Foot or Trochee

This is a type of foot which is a succession of accented and unaccented

syllables, or an unaccented syllable following an accented syllable. Here is an
example from William Blake's "The Tyger":

Tyger, Tyger, burning bright

In the forests of the night

2. Anapestic Foot or Anapest

It consists of two unaccented or unstressed syllables followed by one

accented or stressed syllable. This metrical foot produces a strong kind of
rhyme brought forth by the succession of two short syllables and a long syllable
which is often found in classical verses. This is illustrated through Lord Byron’s
"The Destruction of Sennacherib":

Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,

That host with their banners of sunset were seen:
Take the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath bloom,
 3. Dactylic Foot or Dactyl

It consists of a stressed or an accented syllable which is followed by two

unstressed or unaccented syllables. In classical verse forms, it is a succession of
one long syllable and two short syllables. An example is Lord Alfred Tenny son's
The Charge of the Light Brigade":

Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!" he said.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

4. lamb or lambic Foot

It is a type of foot consisting of a short syllable which is followed by a long

syllable, or an unstressed syllable which is followed by a stressed syllable. The
poem "After Apple Picking" by Robert Frost has an iambic foot:

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree

Toward heaven still,
And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.

Number of Feet:

After familiarizing yourself with the types of foot, it is also necessary to

know the number of feet illustrated in every line of the poem. Here is a listing:

Monometer is a verse line having a single metrical foot.

Example: Robert Herrick's "Upon His Departure Hence":
Thus 1 And laid
Pass by. I'th grave,
And die: There have
As One, My Cave.
Unknown, Where tell
And gone: I dwell,
I'm made Farewell.
A shade,

Dimeter consists of a line showing double metrical feet.

Example: Thomas Hardy's "The Robin":

When winter frost But when it lasts.

Makes carth as steel And snows still fall,
I search and search I get to feel
But find no meal, No grief at all.
And most unhappy For I turn to a cold stiff
Then I feel Feathery ball!

Trimeter is a line having three metrical feet.

Example: Robert Bridges' "The Idle Life I Lead":

The idle life I lead

Is like a pleasant sleep,
Wherein I rest and heed
The dreams that by me sweep.

Tetrameter refers to a line showing four metrical feet.

Example: William Blake's "Milton"

And did those feet in ancient time

Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God.
On England's pleasant pastures seen?
 Pentameter shows a line with five metrical feet.
Example: this passage from William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night:

If music be the food of love, play on;

Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! it had a dying fall:
0, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound

Hexameter, also called Alexandrine, has six metrical feet in a line.

Example: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Evangeline":

Now had the season returned, when the nights grow colder and longer.
And the retreating sun the sign of the Scorpion enters.
Birds of passage sailed through the leaden air, from the ice-bound,
Desolate northern bays to the shores of tropical islands.

Heptameter is a line consisting of seven metrical feet.

Example: Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee":

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.

Rhyme Schemes

Poets who composed traditional poetry viewed rhyme as an essential

element of verses. Rhymes show musicality in a verse which offers a melodic
pattern. Rhymes are also used to give more substance to the lines of a verse.
When words thyme, the readers pay close attention and try to make meaning
out of the lines. It is also for strengthening the shape of the verse.

Rhyme scheme is achieved by placing rhyming words at the end of a

line. It gives the reader a pattern of end lines that rhyme. Below is an excerpt
from Shakespeare's Sonnet 18:

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.
 In this particular sonnet, Shakespeare used the A-B-A-B rhyme scheme
where first line is A, second line is B, third line is A, and fourth line is B. Other
rhyme schemes presented in this sonnet are C-D-C-D, E-F-E-F, and G-G.

LET'S PRACTICE!

Study the poem Love's Secret by William Blake. Evaluate the verse
according to its struct meter, and rhyme scheme. Fill out the table that follows.

Love's Secret
by William Blake

Never seek to tell thy love,

Love that never told can be;
For the gentle wind doth move
Silently, invisibly.

I told my love,
I told my love,
I told her all my heart,
Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears.

Ahl she did depart!

Soon after she was gone from me,
A traveller came by.
Silently, invisibly He took her with a sigh.

STRUCTURE

Line Type

METER

Type of Foot

Number of Foot

Rhyme Scheme

Patterns
 LET'S CHECK!

To sum up all the salient points taken up in the lesson, discuss with the
class your answers to the following questions:

1. What is a poetic line? How does a poet create a good structure for a
verse?
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2. How is meter achieved in poetry writing? What is a foot? What are it's
types? How many metrical feet may be used in a line of a verse?
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3. What are the common rhyme schemes for classical pieces like the
sonnet? Why is the thyme scheme considered as an essential element
of poetry?
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