Calayan Education Foundation, Inc.

LIT101: PHILIPPINE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH

Prepared by: Francisco La Torre Jr.

MODULE 2
FORMS AND ELEMENTS OF POETRY
Brief Introduction or Description
This module discusses the elements and forms of poetry and prose including other verse forms,
elements of literature, sound, and narrative.

Learning Outcomes:
By the end of the module, you should be able to:
1. Distinguish the elements and classifications of poetry;
2. Identify and analyze various literary elements ; and,
3. Draw out meaningful insights from poetry analysis focusing on figurative language.

Pre-Discussion Activity:
Homework 2 and Recitation
Answer the following questions in SILID and prepare for the recitation.
• What are the different elements of poetry?
• How do these elements contribute to the beauty of poetry?

LESSON 1:
DEFINITIONS OF POETRY
“A poem is a meaningful organization of words.”
- Gemino Abad

“Poetry is the union of thoughts and feelings.”

- Manuel Viray

“Poetry, fiction as novels or short stories - these are autonomous as created by their authors.
They should stand on their own, like pieces of furniture that should be judged as to their usefulness, elegance.”
- F. Sionil Jose

“Poetry becomes a civilization of the human spirit.”

-Jose Garcia Villa

Poetry is derived from the Greek word poesis meaning “making or creating”.
It is a type of literature that evokes a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience or a specific
emotional response through language chosen and arranged for its meaning, sound, and rhythm.
LESSON 2:
FUNCTIONS OF POETRY
- to convey an idea or emotion in beautiful language.
-to transform imagery and words into verse form, to touch the hearts and minds of the readers.

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 Calayan Education Foundation, Inc.
LIT101: PHILIPPINE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
Prepared by: Francisco La Torre Jr.
According to Baritugo (2004), there are five (5) things that we must remember about poetry.
1. Poetry is concentrated thought.
2. Poetry is a kind of word-music.
3. Poetry expresses all the senses.
4. Poetry answers our demand for rhythm.
5. Poetry is observation plus imagination.

LESSON 3:
THE ELEMENTS OF POETRY

1. MUSIC
Meaningful poems are pleasing to the ear. Poets use sound devices to interpose music into their poems.
Sound Devices are literary elements used in prose and poetry to stress certain sounds and create musical
effects.
a) Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line.
Ex: The child mildly danced in the wild.
b) Consonance: generally occurs when consonant sounds are repeated in the middle or end of a word
Ex: It will creep and beep while you sleep.
c) Alliteration: happens when consonant sounds are repeated in two or more words in a sentence that
are located next to or near each other.
Ex. The wiggly wobbly wag.
d) Onomatopoeia: refers to the word which imitates the natural sounds of the things.
Ex. The rustling leaves kept me awake.
e) Rhyme: refers to the similarity of sounds in the lines of poetry. It is often found at the end of the lines.

2. EMOTION
Meaningful poems invite or evoke an emotional response. They have a distinct tone or mood that may change
as the ideation of the poem progresses.
3. IMAGERY
Meaningful poems create word pictures in the mind of the reader or listener by means of precise, unique,
imaginative vocabulary, interesting word combinations and by means of using figurative language.
Figurative Language are words or phrases that depart from literal meaning to achieve fresh, image-driven, and
heightened meaning.
a) Simile- a figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different
things. It makes use of like or as.
Ex. Your face is as big as a seed,
but you do not bear fruit...
(Lines from A Secret by Carlos Bulosan)

b) Metaphor- a figure of speech that makes an implicit, implied, or hidden comparison between two
things that are unrelated, but which share some common characteristics.
Ex. Dear Lord:
Let thou be the street-cleaner
Whilst I be the read
(Prayer by NVM Gonzales)

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 Calayan Education Foundation, Inc.
LIT101: PHILIPPINE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
Prepared by: Francisco La Torre Jr.
c) Personification - a figure of speech in which an idea or thing is given human attributes and feelings
or is spoken of as if it were human.
Ex. The bullet said to the heart:
From now on we shall never part.
(Lines from Communion by Gerson M. Mallinllin)

d) Apostrophe- is a direct address to someone absent, dead, or inanimate.

Ex. Like the sampaguita
With wandering eye
Did a tiny fairy
Drop where you lie?
(Lines from The Sampaguita by Natividad Marquez)

e) Metonymy- means “change of name.” It is a figure of speech in which one object or idea takes the
place of another with which it has a close association.
Ex: The pen is mightier than the sword.
He lives through the bottle.
I have read all of Shakespeare

f) Synecdoche- a literary device in which a part of something represents the whole, or it may use a
whole to represent a part.
Ex. No busy hand provoke a tear.
No roving foot shall crush thee here.

g) Hyperbole- from a Greek word meaning “over-casting,” is a figure of speech that involves an
exaggeration of ideas for the sake of emphasis.

Ex. 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.
(Lines from The Rural Maid by Fernando M. Maramang)

h) Irony-a figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is
different from the actual meaning of the words.
Ex. 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!
(Lines from To a Dog by Florizel Diaz)

i) Allusion-a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of biblical, historical, cultural,
literary or political significance.
Ex. The pendulum
Is a thing of thread
To nervous persons like me
It reminds me of a swaying Iscariot-
Suspended from a tree.
( Lines from After Palanan by Rene Iturralde)
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 Calayan Education Foundation, Inc.
LIT101: PHILIPPINE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
Prepared by: Francisco La Torre Jr.
j) Oxymoron-a figure of speech pairing two words together that are opposing and/or contradictory.
Ex. She is a living history.
I silently screamed as I watch with horror.
He was clearly misunderstood.

k) Idiom - a phrase understood to mean something quite different from what individual words of the
phrase would imply.
Ex. If you play your cards right, you may overcome the banes of life.

l) Imagery- figurative language that represent objects, actions, and ideas in such a way that it appeals
to our physical senses.
Ex. The girl ran her hands on a soft satin fabric.
It was dark and dim in the forest.

m) Symbolism- the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities, by giving them symbolic meanings that
are different from their literal sense.
Ex. All the world's a stage.
And all the men and women merely players;
they have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.

n) Sarcasm - a literary and rhetorical device that is meant to mock, often with satirical or ironic
remarks, with a purpose to amuse and hurt someone, or some section of society, simultaneously.
Ex. “I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.” (Mark Twain)

o) Litotes - a figure of speech that employs an understatement by using double negatives or, in other
words, a positive statement expressed by negating its opposite expressions.
Ex. She is not unlike her mother.
You are not doing badly at all.

p) Pun/Paronomasia- a word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple
meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect.
Ex. Atheism is a non-prophet institution.
The tallest building in town is the library — it has thousands of stories!

q) Anaphora-a rhetorical device that features repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of
successive sentences, phrases, or clauses.
Ex. “Give me liberty or give me death.”
“Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.”

r) Tautology-the repetitive use of phrases or words that have similar meanings.

Ex. She was completely devoid of emotion.
Sorrows discovered. Sadness found.

s) Understatement- a figure of speech employed by writers or speakers to intentionally make a

situation seem less important than it really is.
Ex."If we do not succeed, we run the risk of failure."
-Dan Quayle
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 Calayan Education Foundation, Inc.
LIT101: PHILIPPINE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
Prepared by: Francisco La Torre Jr.
4. JOURNEY
Meaningful poems take the reader to a new place of knowing, seeing, or understanding - like Alice down the
rabbit hole.
Theme
The nugget of meaning; the vision, the life-lesson, the observation, or universal truth about life and/or
the human condition that can be made based on the experience of the poem.
Reflective Thought
The essence that lingers after the poem's end. How does the poem resonate with you?

5. FORM
Classical Form Free Verse
 has regular meter and rhyme scheme  has no rhyme or rhythm
 has a restricted form  has an open and spontaneous form

Classical Forms
Haiku
- a type of poetry derived from the Japanese Hokku.Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that
contain a kireji, or "cutting word", 17 on in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a kigo, or seasonal reference.
Limerick
- a comic verse which has 5 lines and a regular meter and rhyme scheme
Concrete Poem
- also known as “shape poetry”.
- a poem that visually takes the shape of the poem’s topic or theme
Sonnet
-a poem which has 14 lines, and is written in iambic pentameter. Each line has 10 syllables. It expresses a
thought or idea and utilizes an established rhyme scheme.

Free Verse
Free verse are poems without rhythm and rhyme schemes, do not follow regular rhyme scheme rules, yet still
provide artistic expression. In this way, the poet can give his own shape to a poem however he or she desires.

End Line – where a poet chooses to “break” or end a line.

add white space to a poem that offers a pause, suspense,
drama, or a time for the reader to think or to absorb a
moment of irony, humor, or pathos.
Enjambment – The poet chooses to end the line in a way that breaks the normal expectation of where the
reader might otherwise “break” the line. The flow of verse simply continues into the next line without the
break of a period or a comma.
Couplet – Two lines of rhyming verse intentionally meant to operate “as a couple.”
Stanza – How a poem groups and orders the lines of verse – for example two line stanzas are called couplets,
four line stanzas are called quatrains etc. Often, stanza breaks come at a moment where the poem takes a
turn, begins a new emphasis, or offers a kind of pause or progression.
Intentionality of Placement
– How individual words, lines of verse, or stanzas are placed on the page enriches and complements the
meaning of the poem.

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 Calayan Education Foundation, Inc.
LIT101: PHILIPPINE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
Prepared by: Francisco La Torre Jr.
LESSON 4: CLARITY , COMPLEXITY , AND ASTONISHMENT IN POETRY
Clarity
The purpose of all writing is to communicate effectively. Robert Frost says that the poems with the most
clarity and resonance "say the most they can in the fewest words possible.
Meaningful poems may be...
· Transparent- easily accessible and easy to understand.
· Translucent- interpreted more figuratively than literally.
· Opaque-written with such a sense of mystery.
Complexity
Meaningful poems
· are richly layered.
· invite the reader to enter into the poem and to add their own life experiences.
· are literal and figurative
· have multiple layers of reception and perception.
Astonishment
Meaningful poems
· often have a surprising turn, a hinge moment, or a volta.
· have one or more "meta" moments.
· make use of the notion of caesura or dramatic pause.

Activity - After Reading Questions/Discussion Questions

ACTIVITY 2: Essay (200 words above)
1) Answer the following question:
“Why are figurative language and sound devices important in poetry? “
2) Write your answer in the Activity 1 posted in SILID LMS and be prepared to share it in the face-to-
face meeting.
3) The use of AI Tools and Plagiarism is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. Students who commit these acts will be
given a grade of zero (0) and reported.

Learning Tasks:
1. Quiz (Individual Activity:Face-to-Face)
2. Homework 1 and Activity 1 ((Individual Activity: Asynchronous)
3. Think-Pair- (Class Activity: Face-to-Face)
References:
Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc. (n.d.). Readings in Philippine literature. Calayan Educational Foundation,
Inc.: Lucena City

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