ELEMENTS OF POETRY

Persona

• the person who is understood to be speaking (or thinking or writing)

• the persona is almost invariably distinct from the author

• it is the voice chosen by the author for a particular artistic purpose.

• the persona may be a character in the work or merely an unnamed speaker

• the manner and style of expression in the work can exhibit taste, prejudice, emotion, or other characteristics of a human personality although the persona may not be a human.

Dramatic Situation

• it answers the questions: What is happening in the poem? Who is speaking to whom? What/Who is the persona or speaker talking about?

• this could be the equivalent of the plot in fiction but does not necessarily involve a conflict

Diction

• word choice or vocabulary

• class of words that an author decides is appropriate to use in a particular work

• can either be denotation/denotative, its literal or dictionary meaning, or connotation/connotative, an idea or feeling that a word invokes

• connotations may come from cultural, linguistic, historical, social, or political contexts

Image/Imagery

• a word or series of words that refers to any sensory experience (usually sight, although also sound, smell, touch, or taste)

• an image is a direct or literal recreation of physical experience andadds immediacy to literary language

• the images are collectively called imagery

Symbol

• any image or thing that stands for something else

• in literature, symbols are often characters, setting, images, or other motifs that stand in for bigger ideas

• when used as a literary device, symbolism means to imbue objects with a certain meaning that is different from their original meaning or function

Figures of Speech

• any intentional deviation from literal statement or common usage that emphasizes, clarifies, or embellishes both written and spoken language

• forming an integral part of language, figures of speech are found in oral literatures as well as in everyday speech

• in written poetry and prose, however, their use is more fully conscious,more artistic, and much more subtle

• has a stronger intellectual and emotional impact, is morememorable, and sometimes contributes a range and depth ofassociation and suggestion far beyond the scope of the casualcolloquial use of imagery

• the Old and New Testaments of the Bible—an example of a work rich in simile, metaphor, and personification (which is often used in Hebrew poetry)—is an important literary influence

Sound

• in general, sound can refer collectively to the elements rhyme, rhythm, and meter

• however, sound brings attention to both individual letters and wordsthat are drawn together through their sound as well as to the overallfeeling or experience

• for example, repetition of soft sounds like s, m, l, and f mightencourage a soft or sensuous feeling: Season of mists and mellowfruitfulness . . .

• on the other hand, d, c and gr can be hard sounds and produce strong feelings as in the words dread, cacophony, and greedy

Rhyme/Rime

• two or more words that contain an identical or similar vowel sound, usually accented, with following consonant sounds (if any) identical aswell

Rhyme Scheme

• any recurrent pattern of rhyme within an individual poem or fixed form

• usually described by using small letters to represent each end rhyme—a for the first rhyme, b for the second, and so on

Rhythm

• the pattern of stresses and pauses in a poem

• a fixed and recurring rhythm in a poem is called meter