LESSON 3: POETRY

Brainstorming.

List down all the thoughts you have right now. These thoughts may be about a person, your studies,
food, books, music, idea, travel, feelings, etc.

Write words or phrases in the box relating to your thoughts.

Key points
Various elements of poetry

Poetry is a patterned from a verbal or written expression of ideas in concentrated, imaginative, and
rhythmical terms that often contain the elements of sense, sound, and structure. It is considered as the oldest
literary form.

I. Denotation vs. Connotation

Denotation is the dictionary meaning of the word while Connotation is the suggested or implied
meaning/s associated with the word beyond its dictionary definition.

a. Imagery is the use of sensory details or descriptions that appeal to one or more of the senses: sight,
touch, taste, and smell. These are otherwise known as “senses of the mind” since a poem without
imagery is not poetry.

b. Sound of a poem

Tone Color is achieved through repetition.

 Repetition of Single Sounds

 Alliteration is the repetition of similar and accented sounds at the beginning of words.
 Assonance is the repetition of similar accented vowel sounds
 Consonance is the repetition of similar consonant sound typically within or at the end of words.

c. Rhyme is the repetition of the same stressed vowel sounds and any succeeding sounds in two or more
words.

SUBJECT: CREATIVE WRITING

PREPARED BY: RICH CATIGAN
Types of Rhyme

1. Internal Rhyme – rhyme within the line

2. Terminal Rhyme – rhyme found at the end of the line.

Rhyme Scheme is the pattern of rhyme form that ends a stanza or poem. The rhyme scheme is
designated by the assignment of a different letter of the alphabet to each new rhyme.

c. Repetition of Words

Example:

My dreams are dreams of thee, fair maid. -

-Rural Maid

d. Repetition of Sentences or Phrases

Example:
I dream that one day our voices will be heard.
I dream that one day our hope becomes worth. -
-Paraiso

2. Rhythm is the pattern of beats created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables, which
gives musical quality and ads emphasis to certain words and thus helps convey the meaning of the poem. The
effect is derived from the sounds employed, the varying pitches, stresses, volumes, and durations.

3. Meter is a regular recurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables that give a line of poetry a more or
less predictable rhythm. Its unit of measure is termed as “foot” which usually contains an accented syllable and
one or two unaccented syllables.

4. Foot is the basic unit of meter consisting of a group of two or three syllables.

Structure also talks about:

Poem Appreciation is achieved not only when one has comprehended the plain sense or information
communicated by the poem; it is also achieved if the attitude and feeling conveyed are captured, together with
the larger meaning of the work, which is only possible when the tone and symbolic meanings are discerned.

Boost yourself

1.Theme
The theme is the summarized statement containing the main thought or meaning of the poem.

Tone refers to the attitude and mood of the poem. It is the overall atmosphere of the poem which
influence the emotional response of the reader.

Tone is the writer’s attitude toward his subject, mood, and moral view. It is the feeling that the poem has
created in the reader. It is communicated by the writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward his subject, his
imagined audience, or himself. It is the emotional coloring of the work which is indicated by the inflection of the
speaker’s voice.

SUBJECT: CREATIVE WRITING

PREPARED BY: RICH CATIGAN
 Agony
Mel Johannes Hortal

To hold you dear is never easy,

When your love seems to have dried up easily.
As much as I want you to stay with me,
You appear to be moving away from me.

Confused and haunted by our memories,

Every step I take is riddled with misery.
Torn between holding on and letting you go,
Every decision I make brings me back to thee.

That I still love you is a reality,

But our unity’s now an ambiguity.
And while I hope that you still love me the same,
Your silence prolongs my agony.

1.What is the tone of Mel Johannes Hortal’s poem “Agony”?

2.Can you feel the poet’s emotion in the poem? In what way?

Techniques and literary devices used in poetry

A narrative technique (also known more narrowly for literary fictional narratives as a literary technique,
literary device, or fictional device) is any of several specific methods the creator of a narrative uses to convey
what they want—in other words, a strategy used in the making of a narrative to relay information.

A literary device is a technique that shapes narrative to produce an effect on the reader.

Poetic Devices

Poetry is the kind of thing poets write.

— Robert Frost

Man, if you gotta ask, you’ll never know. — Louis Armstrong

1. The SOUNDS of words

Words or portions of words can be clustered or juxtaposed to achieve specific kinds of effects when we
hear them. The sounds that result can strike us as clever and pleasing, even soothing.
1. a. alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds, particularly at the beginning of words.
2. b. allusion: a reference to a person, event, or work outside the poem or literary piece.
3. c.assonance: the repetition of similar vowel sounds.

2. The MEANINGs of words

Most words convey several meanings or shades of meaning at the same time. It is the poet’s job to find
words which, when used in relation to other words in the poem, will carry the precise intention of thought.
Often, some of the more significant words may carry several layers or “depths” of meaning at once.

a. Allegory: A representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning.

SUBJECT: CREATIVE WRITING

PREPARED BY: RICH CATIGAN
 b. Ambiguity: A word or phrase that can mean more than one thing, even in its context.
Example: Robert Frost’s ‘The Subverted Flower’

c. Analogy: A comparison, usually something unfamiliar with something familiar.

Example: The plumbing took a maze of turns where even water got lost.

3. Arranging the words

Words follow each other in a sequence determined by the poet. In order to discuss the arrangements that
result, certain terms have been applied to various aspects of that arrangement process.

Point of View: The author’s point of view concentrates on the vantage point of the speaker, or “teller” of
the story or poem. This may be considered the poem’s “voice” — the pervasive presence behind the overall
work. This is also sometimes referred to as the persona.

• 1st Person: the speaker is a character in the story or poem and tells it from his/her perspective (uses
“I”).
• 3rd Person limited: the speaker is not part of the story, but tells about the other characters through the
limited perceptions of one other person.
• 3rd Person omniscient: the speaker is not part of the story, but is able to “know” and describe what all
characters are thinking.

4. The IMAGES of words

A poet uses words more consciously than any other writer. Although poetry often deals with deep
human emotions or philosophical thought, people generally don’t respond very strongly to abstract words, even
the words describing such emotions and thoughts.

1. Imagery: The use of vivid language to generate ideas and/or evoke mental images, not only of the
visual sense, but of sensation and emotion as well. While most commonly used in reference to figurative
language, imagery can apply to any component of a poem that evoke sensory experience and emotional
response, and also applies to the concrete things so brought to mind.

Examples:
• Sight: Smoke mysteriously puffed out from the clown’s ears.
• Sound: Tom placed his ear tightly against the wall; he could hear a faint but distinct thump thump
thump.
•Touch: The burlap wall covering scraped against the little boy’s cheek.
•Taste: A salty tear ran across onto her lips.
• Smell: Cinnamon! That’s what wafted into his nostrils.

SUBJECT: CREATIVE WRITING

PREPARED BY: RICH CATIGAN
Seatwork # 3

Write a two-stanza poem applying the various elements, techniques and literary devices.

END-OF-LESSON REFLECTION

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SUBJECT: CREATIVE WRITING

PREPARED BY: RICH CATIGAN