Studying poetry

Studying poetry

1. Types of Poetry

   • Blank verse: poetry written in iambic pentameter, that doesn't rhyme.
   • Rhymed poetry: poetry that contains rhyming vowel sounds (assonance).
   • Free verse: poetry that lacks a consistent rhyme scheme, structure or form.
   • Epics: a lengthy, narrative work of poetry. Have lots of detail and include characters from a distant past.
   • Narrative poetry: these poems tell a story. Similar to epic poetry.
   • Haiku: three line poetic form originating in Japan. The first line has 5 syllables, the second line has 7 syllables and the third line has 5 syllables.
   • Pastoral poetry: poems that concern the natural world, rural life and landscapes.
   • Sonnet: a 14 line poem typically with a theme of love. Contain internal rhymes.
   • Elegies: a poem that reflects on death/loss. Contains themes of mourning, loss and reflection. It can also explore themes of redemption and consolation.
   • Limerick: a 5 line poem that consists of a single stanza, an AABBA rhyme scheme. Typically has a short tale or description.
   • Lyric poetry: poems that contain feelings and emotion.
   • Ballad: form of narrative verse; either poetic or musical. Follows a pattern of rhymes quatrains. Represents a melodious form of storytelling.
   • Soliloquy: a monologue when the character speaks to themselves expressing their inner thoughts. They're not always poems.

2. Characteristics of Poetry

   • Descriptive imagery: describes what the poet sees or hears literally, or it could be an image he sees in his mind.
   • Punctuation and format: how the poem is arranged on the page and how the author intends you to read it,
   • Sound and tone: poets use different sounds and tones throughout the poem to change the way it sounds to impact the audience and give them a feel of the topic the poem is about.
   • Choice of meter: meter is the rhythm / pattern of speech when you read it. Poets use different meters to give their poetry different rhythms.
   • Figures of speech: ways of describing things in a non-literal way. For example, a metaphor.

3. What is poetry?

   • Poetry is a form of literature that uses style and rhythm to express feelings and ideas
   • Poetry often has a rhyme and meter
   • In poetry, words are strung together to form sounds, images and ideas that the poet has
   • The three main types of poetry are lyrical, narrative and dramatic.

4. Examples of types of poems

   • Lyric poem: 'The heart asks pleasure first' , Emily Dickinson
     • Short lyric poem from the 19th century
     • Written by and American poet, Emily Dickinson
     • The poet expresses what her heart desires, which is a common theme in lyric poetry
     • The poem expresses that the heart desires pleasure, but if that fails it will result in pain and will become numb to pain for the rest of its life
   • Narrative poem: 'The rape of Lucrece' , William Shakespeare
     • Shakespeare wrote this poem in the early 1590s, whilst the London theatres were shut down due to the plague
     • It tells the story of a Roman soldier who has a desire for his friend's wife and forces himself upon her
     • It's a tragic tale
     • Shakespeare tells this story using compelling language and imagery
   • Dramatic poem: 'Ulysses' , Alfred Lord Tennyson
     • It's a poem about growing old
     • Tennyson wrote this poem in his early twenties
     • Some speculate this poem as a response to Tennyson's friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who had died suddenly in 1833 in his early twenties
     • The poem takes the warrior Ulysses as its focus and reveals an ageing king, who having returned from war, puts his armour back on and rides of in search of battle, glory and adventure
     • Tennyson uses dramatic monologue to create an effect
     • The dramatic situation invites the reader to question the protagonist's actions and the impact it has on the people around him

5. Key terms

   • Alliteration: is the repetition of consonant sounds
   • Anaphora: repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of each line
   • Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds within a tight group of words
   • Caesura: deliberate pause/break within a line, marked by puncutation
   • Couplet: two lines with the same meter/ rhyme
   • Enjambment: continuation of a sentence/ phrase from one line to another
   • Iambic pentameter: a line of verse with five metrical feet containing one short (unstressed) syllable and followed by one long (stressed) syllable
   • Meter: the rhythmic measure of a line
   • Rhyme scheme: the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line
   • Rhythm: the beat or movement of a line
   • Stanza: a group of lines make us a stanza (like a paragraph)