Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language—such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre—to

evoke
meanings in addition to, or in place of, the prosaic ostensible meaning. Poetry has a long history, dating back to the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh.

Elements of Poetry

STRUCTURE and POETRY

An important method of analyzing a poem is to look at the stanza structure or style of a poem. Generally speaking, structure has to do with the overall
organization of lines and/or the conventional patterns of sound. Again, many modern poems may not have any identifiable structure (i.e. they are free
verse), so don't panic if you can't find it!

STANZAS: Stanzas are a series of lines grouped together and separated by an empty line from other stanzas. They are the equivalent of a paragraph in
an essay. One way to identify a stanza is to count the number of lines. Thus:
 couplet (2 lines)
 tercet (3 lines)
 quatrain (4 lines)
 cinquain (5 lines)
 sestet (6 lines) (sometimes it's called a sexain)
 septet (7 lines)
 octave (8 lines)
FORM: A poem may or may not have a specific number of lines, rhyme scheme and/or metrical pattern, but it can still be labeled according to its form or
style. Here are the three most common types of poems according to form:
1. Lyric Poetry: It is any poem with one speaker (not necessarily the poet) who expresses strong thoughts and feelings. Most poems,
especially modern ones, are lyric poems.
2. Narrative Poem: It is a poem that tells a story; its structure resembles the plot line of a story [i.e. the introduction of conflict and
characters, rising action, climax and the denouement].
3. Descriptive Poem: It is a poem that describes the world that surrounds the speaker. It uses elaborate imagery and adjectives. While
emotional, it is more "outward-focused" than lyric poetry, which is more personal and introspective.

Ode: It is usually a lyric poem of moderate length, with a serious subject, an elevated style, and an elaborate stanza pattern.
Elegy: It is a lyric poem that mourns the dead. [It's not to be confused with a eulogy.]It has no set metric or stanzaic pattern, but it usually begins by
reminiscing about the dead person, then laments the reason for the death, and then resolves the grief by concluding that death leads to immortality. It
often uses "apostrophe" (calling out to the dead person) as a literary technique. It can have a fairly formal style, and sound similar to an ode.
Sonnet: It is a lyric poem consisting of 14 lines and, in the English version, is usually written in iambic pentameter. There are two basic kinds of sonnets:
the Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnet and the Shakespearean (or Elizabethan/English) sonnet. The Italian/Petrarchan sonnet is named after Petrarch, an
Italian Renaissance poet. The Petrarchan sonnet consists of an octave (eight lines) and a sestet (six lines). The Shakespearean sonnet consists of three
quatrains (four lines each) and a concluding couplet (two lines). The Petrarchan sonnet tends to divide the thought into two parts (argument and
conclusion); the Shakespearean, into four (the final couplet is the summary).
Ballad: It is a narrative poem that has a musical rhythm and can be sung. A ballad is usually organized into quatrains or cinquains, has a simple rhythm
structure, and tells the tales of ordinary people.
Epic: It is a long narrative poem in elevated style recounting the deeds of a legendary or historical hero.
Other types of poems include:
Haiku: It has an unrhymed verse form having three lines (a tercet) and usually 5,7,5 syllables, respectively. It's usually considered a lyric
poem.
Limerick: It has a very structured poem, usually humorous & composed of five lines (a cinquain), in anaabba rhyming pattern; beat must
be anapestic (weak, weak, strong) with 3 feet in lines 1, 2, & 5 and 2 feet in lines 3 & 4. It's usually a narrative poem based upon a short and
often ribald anecdote.

SOUND PATTERNS
Three other elements of poetry are rhyme scheme, meter (ie. regular rhythm) and word sounds (like alliteration). These are sometimes collectively
called sound play because they take advantage of the performative, spoken nature of poetry.

RHYME
Rhyme is the repetition of similar sounds. In poetry, the most common kind of rhyme is the end rhyme, which occurs at the end of two or more lines. It is
usually identified with lower case letters, and a new letter is used to identify each new end sound. Take a look at the rhyme scheme for the following
poem :

I saw a fairy in the wood,

He was dressed all in green.
He drew his sword while I just stood,
And realized I'd been seen.
The rhyme scheme of the poem is abab..
Internal rhyme occurs in the middle of a line, as in these lines from Coleridge, "In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud" or "Whiles all the night through fog-
smoke white" ("The Ancient Mariner"). Remember that most modern poems do not have rhyme.
NOTE: Rhyme (above) and rhythm (below) are two totally different concepts!

RHYTHM AND METER

Meter: the systematic regularity in rhythm; this systematic rhythm (or sound pattern) is usually identified by examining the type of "foot" and
the number of feet.
1. Poetic Foot: The traditional line of metered poetry contains a number of rhythmical units, which are called feet. The feet in a line are
distinguished as a recurring pattern of two or three syllables("apple" has 2 syllables, "banana" has 3 syllables, etc.). The pattern, or foot, is
designated according to the number of syllables contained, and the relationship in each foot between the strong and weak syllables.Thus:
__ = a stressed (or strong, or LOUD) syllable
U = an unstressed (or weak, or quiet) syllable
In other words, any line of poetry with a systematic rhythm has a certain number of feet, and each foothas two or three syllables with
a constant beat pattern .
a. Iamb (Iambic) - weak syllable followed by strong syllable. [Note that the pattern is sometimes fairly hard to maintain, as in the
third foot.]

b. Trochee (Trochaic): strong syllable followed by a weak syllable.

c. Anapest (Anapestic): two weak syllables followed by a strong syllable.

 e.g.
In her room at the prow of the house
Where light breaks, and the windows are tossed...
From "The Writer", by Richard Wilbur
d. Dactyl (Dactylic): a strong syllable followed by two weak syllables.

DD
e. Spondee (Spondaic): two strong syllables (not common as lines, but appears as a foot). A spondee usually appears at the end
of a line.

2. The Number of Feet: The second part of meter is the number of feet contained in a line.
Thus:
one foot=monometer
two feet=dimeter
three feet=trimeter
four feet=tetrameter
five feet=pentameter
six feet=hexameter (when hexameter is in iambic rhythm, it is called an alexandrine)
Poems with an identifiable meter are therefore identified by the type of feet (e.g. iambic) and the number of feet in a line (e.g.
pentameter). The following line is iambic pentameter because it (1) has five feet [pentameter], and (2) each foot has two syllables with the
stress on the second syllable [iambic].
That time | of year | thou mayst | in me | behold
Thus, you will hear meter identified as iambic pentameter, trochaic tetrameter, and so on.

3. Irregularity: Many metered poems in English avoid perfectly regular rhythm because it is monotonous. Irregularities in rhythm add interest
and emphasis to the lines. In this line:

The first foot substitutes a trochee for an iamb. Thus, the basic iambic pentameter is varied with the opening trochee.

4. Blank Verse: Any poetry that does have a set metrical pattern (usually iambic pentameter), butdoes not have rhyme, is blank verse.
Shakespeare frequently used unrhymed iambic pentameter in his plays; his works are an early example of blank verse.

5. Free Verse: Most modern poetry no longer follows strict rules of meter or rhyme, especially throughout an entire poem. Free verse, frankly,
has no rules about meter or rhyme whatsoever! [In other words, blank verse has rhythm, but no rhyme, while free verse
has neither rhythm nor rhyme.] So, you may find it difficult to find regular iambic pentameter in a modern poem, though you might find it in
particular lines. Modern poets do like to throw in the occasional line or phrase of metered poetry, particularly if they’re trying to create a certain
effect. Free verse can also apply to a lack of a formal verse structure.

WORD SOUNDS

Another type of sound play is the emphasis on individual sounds and words:
Alliteration: the repetition of initial sounds on the same line or stanza - Big bad Bob bounced bravely.
Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds (anywhere in the middle or end of a line or stanza) - Tilting at windmills
Consonance: the repetition of consonant sounds (anywhere in the middle or end of a line or stanza) - And all the air a solemn stillness
holds. (T. Gray)
Onomatopoeia: words that sound like that which they describe - Boom! Crash! Pow! Quack! Moo!Caress...
Repetition: the repetition of entire lines or phrases to emphasize key thematic ideas.
Parallel Stucture: a form of repetition where the order of verbs and nouns is repeated; it may involve exact words, but it more importantly
repeats sentence structure - "I came, I saw, I conquered".