Quarter 1 – Module 2

What I Need to Know

This module was designed and written with you in mind. It is here to help you
master the nature of Poetry. The scope of this module permits it to be used in
many different learning situations. The language used recognizes the diverse
vocabulary level of students. The lessons are arranged to follow the standard
sequence of the course. But the order in which you read them can be changed to
correspond with the textbook you are now using.

The module is divided into three lessons, namely:

 Lesson 1 – Elements of Poetry
 Lesson 2 – Literary Devices used in Writing Poetry
 Lesson 3 – Techniques in Writing Poetry
After going through this module, you are expected to:
 determine the different elements of poetry
 explore the different techniques in writing poetry
 use different literary devices in writing poetry

What I Know

Determine what is being described in each item. Choose the best answer from the
word pool and write it on separate sheet of paper.

symbolism tropes imagery rhymes structured poem sound

structure poetry sense scheme rhythm repetition
figures of speech free-verse omission parallelism

1. These are expressions that have non-literal meaning.

2. It pertains to the form of the poem that is dictated by its measurement or
lack thereof.
3. These are phrases or sentences that evoke sensory experiences.
4. It is when writers write lines using the same sentence structure or use
words with the same part of speech

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 5. This is the musical quality of the poem that resulted from following a
pattern.
6. This pertains to the number of syllables, lines, and stanzas in a poem.
7. It refers to the objects or images that represent a concept, a feeling, a
worldview or a theme.
8. It is a literary form generally characterized by melodic sound, figurative
language, and reflective ideas.
9. It pertains to the meaning conveyed by the poem.
10.This is the element of poetry that refers to the melodic quality of the lines
when read or recited.
11. It pertains to the similar initial, middle or ending sound of words that
make the poem pleasant to listen.
12. It is a literary device that uses comparison, association, or wordplay to play
with the literal meaning of words
13. It is a literary device in which an experimentation with the sequence and
repetition of words, sounds, and structures are done to create an impact on
the sound.
14.It is when a word, phrase or line is repeated to either emphasize its meaning
or create an effect in the sound
15.Writers remove a part of speech, or punctuation to either to fit in the
measured number of syllables per line or simply to create a unique effect.

What’s In

Recall the things you know or you can associate with the term, poetry and create a
concept map for it. Write your concept map, and a concise explanation (five to ten
sentences) about it on a separate sheet of paper.

Poetry Defined
Poetry is a literary art that uses language for evocation of meaning and for
achieving aesthetic value (Risdianto, 2014). It is often characterized by a melodic
language either spoken, sung or written based on a pattern that demonstrates the
relations between words on the basis of sound as well as meaning (Baldwick,
2001). It explores and expresses feelings, ideas and experiences through the use of
imagery, figures of speech. It may or may not have rhyme, rhythm, or
measurement. There are two types of poetry, the structured and free-verse. The
structured poem follows a specific pattern like number of syllables, lines or
stanzas, as well as rhyme schemes while a free-verse poem doesn’t follow any
structure and rhyme scheme.

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Lesson 1 : Elements of Poetry

What’s New

Imagine that you have been chosen as one of the judges in a poetry writing
competition for a nearby junior high school in your Barangay. The organizers
informed you that you and the two other judges are encouraged to discuss and set
together the criteria that would be best to use in evaluating the entries. Write five
major criteria that you think a winning poem must have. To convince the other
judges, beside each criterion write a concise explanation on why these features
must be found in a poem. Write your answer on a separate sheet of paper.

What is It
The three major elements of poetry are the sense, structure, and sound. These
three major elements have subcategories under them. The table below shows the
elements and their descriptions.

Elements of Description
Poetry
1. Sense It pertains to the message or the meaning carried by the poem.
a. Figurative language- expressions that have deeper
meaning that their literal surface sense
b. Imagery- expressions that evoke sensory experiences
c. Symbolism- objects or people that represent a concept
or a worldview
2. Sound It pertains to the melodic quality of the poem.
a. Rhythm- the melodic quality created by following a
pattern or measurement
b.Rhyme- It pertains to similar middle or ending sounds
of words in a line
3. Structure It pertains to the form or lack of form of a poem.
a. Number of syllables per line
b.Number of stressed or unstressed syllables
c. Number of lines
d.Number of stanzas

What’s More

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Examine the sense, sound and structure of the given poem and answer the
questions that follow. Write your answer on a separate sheet of paper.
Sonnet 18
By 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

Questions:
1. How many syllables per line does the poem have? how about lines per
stanza? how many stanzas does it have?
2. Does it follow a rhythm? If yes, how was its rhythm created?
3. Does it have rhymes? If yes, what is its rhyme scheme?
4. Write the lines that contains images and figures of speech.
5. What is the message of the poem?

Lesson 2: Literary Devices

What’s New

Ponder on the term “literary device” and answer the questions that follow. Write
your answer on a separate sheet of paper.
1. What comes in to your mind when you hear the term literary devices?
2. What literary devices do you know?
3. Have you used a literary device in writing before?
4. How does a literary device affect the meaning and aesthetics of a poem?

What is It

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There are two major types of literary devices, the trope and the scheme.
A. Trope
It uses word association like comparison and contrast to play with the meaning of
words to create a deeper sense than that of the literal message. According to
Burton (2007), there are five types of tropes: reference, wordplay, substitution,
overstatement/understatement, semantic inversions.
1. Reference
These refer to devices in which one thing is associated with another.
 Metaphor- it uses direct comparison of two things
 Simile – a comparison that uses “like” or “as”
 Synecdoche- parts represent a whole or a whole represent parts
 Metonymy- an associated term or object is used to name another
2. Wordplay and puns
 Antanaclasis- It is a repetition of a word but in two different usage
 Paronomasia -It is the use of two words that sound the same but have
different meanings
3. Substitutions
 Anthimeria -it is done by substituting one part of speech with another.
 Periphrasis- It is the substitution of descriptive word or phrase for a
proper name or of a proper name for a trait associated with the name.
4. Overstatement/Understatement
 Hyperbole it is the use of exaggerated expressions to heighten the impact
 Litotes- It is the deliberate understatement to lessen the blow of an
expression
5. Semantic Inversions
 Irony -It is the use of an expression that contradicts what is actually
meant.
 Paradox- It is a contradictory statement that seems impossible but
actually holds a measure of truth.

B. Scheme

It is a literary device in which an experimentation with the word sequence is done

(Burton, 2007) to create an impact on the poem’s sound. There are four types of
scheming devices:
1. Parallelism
To achieve parallelism, writers write lines using the same sentence structure. It
may also be done by using words that fall in the same part of speech (beginning all
the lines with verbs, adjectives, or infinitives).
2. Omission
In this scheme, writers remove a part of speech, or punctuation to either to fit in
the measured number of syllables per line or simply to create a unique effect
(Burton, 2007).

3. Repetition
A word, phrase or line is repeated to either emphasize its meaning or create an
effect in the sound (Burton, 2007).
4. Word sequence
Word sequencing in a sentence may be experimented in a such way that
they don’t appear the same as the usual conversation (Burton, 2007).

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 What’s More

Examine the sense, sound, and structure of Elizabeth Barret Browning’s Sonnet 43.
In a short essay, explain how the different elements of poem work together to shape
its meaning, melodic quality and its aesthetic value. Write your answer on a separate
sheet of paper.

How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning - 1806-1861

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Lesson 3: Techniques in Writing

Poetry

What’s New

Ponder on the question, “Are poets born or made?”. Decide whether writing poetry
is a natural talent, a learned skill or both and explain your answer. Write a short
essay explaining your ideas on a separate sheet of paper.

What is It

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Writing poetry may seem to be a formidable task, especially to those who are just
starting to explore creative writing. In the hopes of making poetry writing less
difficult and more enjoyable, this module offers techniques in pre-writing, writing,
and post-writing of poetry.
A. Techniques for the Pre-writing stage
The pre-writing stage refers to the stage of writing when a person looks for
inspiration and conceptualizes before he or she writes. To some, this is the hardest
part of writing as often times people get intimidated by a blank page. To conquer
the fear of a blank page and to develop a habit of germinating concepts, here are
some techniques:
1. Write a random word on piece of paper (it can a concrete noun, an abstract
noun, a verb or etc.,). Encircle the word (this will be the topic of your poem)
and create a cluster map of other words that you can associate with the main
word. Write any that comes into your mind and don’t fret whether it makes
sense or not.
2. Based on your cluster map of words, do an uninterrupted freewriting on your
chosen topic. When we say uninterrupted, it means you must continuously
write for 5 minutes or more without stopping to check whether your sentences
are beautiful or not. In freewriting, the goal is for you to let the ideas flow and
not to create a masterpiece. This stage will help you make sense of your topic
and the things you associate with it.

B. Techniques for the Writing stage

1. Read the product of your freewriting to grasp its meaning and to draw from it
the sense of the poem that you will write.

2. Your freewriting piece is structured and most probably carries a meld of big
and small chunk of ideas. Organize it by breaking the ideas down into several
main points. Write a line (or lines) for each of the main points that you have.
You may salvage other sentences from your freewriting and used them as
subpoints or actual lines in your poem.

3. Read the lines that you have written. At this point, it may still not look like
the poem that you want it to be. Don’t worry as it can still be improved. Read
it several times more to check for misplaced ideas or unrelated sentences.
You may draw from your personal experiences (or from other’s) to enrich your
piece.

4. Read you work several times more and ponder on your presentation of ideas.
Experiment on your presentation by using different imagery to evoke sensory
experiences to your readers. Also, you may recall your knowledge of tropes
and decide which lines in your poem can be restated using the appropriate
tropes.

5. After improving the imagery and tropes in your poem, you may experiment
with the rhythm by using different schemes. You may refer to the Lesson 2 of
this module for the different types of schemes.

6. You may also play with your poem’s structure by changing the number of
lines or stanzas, or creating a shape for your poem.

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 7. You may also improve the sound of your poem by adding middle or
end rhymes.

8. Use images, tropes, schemes and rhymes in moderation. Do not flood your
poem with too many literary devices as instead of making your poem
beautiful, it may end up becoming confusing, if not cringey for the readers.
Use literary devices properly and economically. Don’t put them just for the
sake of putting them, instead make sure they contribute in creating the
sense of your poem.

C. Techniques for the Post-writing stage

Actually, the post-writing stage is still a writing phase as you don’t really stop
writing at this point yet. You need to reread and reexamine your poem for you to be
able to revise. Here, you would need objective opinions on your writing, so you may
ask some friends, family members, or your teacher to read your poem and give
feedbacks. Collect their feedbacks and use them to revise your work. You must
remember, however, that you don’t actually have to force yourself to follow strictly
all their suggestions as there’s a risk of your poem losing its direction. You are still
the writer so decide on how you will apply the criticisms. Lastly, revise and revise
until you are satisfied with your work.

What’s More

List seven concrete nouns (ex. coffee, tree, house, books). Then, choose one
abstract noun (ex. life). Think of how each of the seven concrete nouns are
connected to the abstract noun. Form connections by either comparing or
contrasting the abstract noun to the concrete nouns. Write a line for each word
association, comparison or contrast. After writing the seven lines, you may now
proceed to experimenting by applying what you’ve learned about the elements of
poetry, literary devices and techniques in writing. After experimenting, read your
poem again and check for parts that need to be revised. Attach your poem to your
e-portfolio or physical portfolio if you don’t have access to the internet.

What I Have Learned

Share what you have learned from the lessons by completing the given phrases
below. Write your answer on a separate sheet of paper.

1. The major elements of poetry are…

2. The two types of literary devices are…
3. The tropes that I have learned from this module are…
4. The schemes I have learned from this module are…

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 What I Can Do

Write a poem for the person (a friend or a loved one) that you have not seen
personally for a long time, or you have been missing due to the social distancing
that must be followed in the time of Covid19 pandemic. Apply what you have
learned on the lessons in elements of poetry, techniques, and literary devices used
in writing poetry. Attach your work on your e-portfolio and submit it in the
assignment tab on our google classroom (if you don’t have access on the internet,
you may prepare a physical creative writing portfolio where you can place all your
outputs.)

Assessment

Determine what is being described in each item. Write your answer on separate
sheet of paper.

1. It is done by substituting one part of speech with another.

2. It is a contradictory statement that seems impossible but actually holds a
measure of truth.
3. It is the deliberate understatement to lessen the blow of an expression
4. It pertains to the meaning conveyed by the poem.
5. It pertains to the similar initial, middle or ending sound of words that
make the poem pleasant to listen.
6. It is a literary device that uses comparison, association, or wordplay to play
with the literal meaning of words
7. It is a literary device in which an experimentation with the sequence and
repetition of words, sounds, and structures are done to create an impact on
the sound.
8. These are expressions that have non-literal meaning.
9. It pertains to the form of the poem that is dictated by its measurement or
lack thereof.
10.It refers to the objects or images that represent a concept, a feeling, a
worldview or a theme.
11.It is when a word, phrase or line is repeated to either emphasize its meaning
or create an effect in the sound
12.Writers remove a part of speech, or punctuation to either to fit in the
measured number of syllables per line or simply to create a unique effect.
13.These are phrases or sentences that evoke sensory experiences.
14.This is the musical quality of the poem that resulted from following a
pattern.
15. This pertains to the number of syllables, lines, and stanzas in a poem.

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 Additional Activities

Using what you have learned about the elements, literary devices and techniques
from this module, write a short poem about the topic, “striving for success”. Write
your poem on a bond paper and paste a picture or draw an image that captures the
message of your poem. Attach it either on your e-portfolio or physical portfolio.

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