Module I : Poetry:Some Key Concepts..... composed by K. J. Thomas

Basic Elements of Poetry

1.Prosody – Prosody means all the principles of poetry writing such as metre, rhythm, rhyme and stanza forms.

a. Metre : Metre is a Greek word meaning “metron” or measure. Metre means stressed and unstressed syllables in verse. Example: iambic (unstressed followed by stressed), trochaic (stressed followed by unstressed), anapestic, dactylic and spondee depending upon the number of feet. They are monometer (one feet), dimeter (two), trimester (three), tetrameter (four), pentameter (five), hexameter (six), heptameter (seven), Octameter (eight).

b. Rhythm: Rhythm is also a Greek word meaning “flowing”. This flowing is made possible by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllable. This flowing is possible in both verse and prose. According to Plato rhythm is the regular flow of verse. Rhythm is the actual sound that comes from a line of stressed and unstressed syllable in a line.

c. Rhyme: It is the similarity of sound at the end of every line. The structure of a syllable is represented as CVC which means the initial consonant or consonant cluster (C),  and V is the vowel sound and final C is the final consonant cluster.  CVC means (alliteration), (assonance) and (consonance).

There are three types of rhymes. They are Hard rhyme, Soft rhyme, and Internal rhyme.

Hard Rhyme: The final accented vowel and all following consonants or syllables are similar. Eg. Time, lime, crime, dime.

Soft Rhyme: Last consonant is the same but not the vowel Eg. Soft, waft.

Internal Rhyme: Rhyme is made in different words in the same line of the poem. Eg. After school, I take a dip in the pool, which is really on the wall.

2.  Alliteration. It is a Latin word meaning repeating and playing upon the same letter. Alliteration is a figure of speech and it is the repetition of an initial consonant or consonant cluster in stressed syllables.   Ex. She sells seashells by the seashore.     “Dull sublunary lovers’ love”  ( John Donne)

3. Assonance: Assonance is also a figure of speech widely used by poets. It is a Latin word “answering with the same sound”.  Assonance is made when two or more words repeat  the same vowel  sound but start with different consonant sounds.  Eg. “Men sell the wedding bells”.  “Whose soul is sense- cannot admit of absence” (John Donne).

4. Diction:  Diction means the vocabulary used by a writer. The diction used by a poet is quite different from the diction used by a novelist or a dramatist. Different kinds of vocabulary are used in different genres of poetry. For example the vocabulary used by a satirist poet like Alexander Pope or W. H. Auden is quite different from the vocabulary used by William Wordsworth who is a Romantic  poet. 

4.   Figures of Speech

      a. Simile :  A comparison between two different things indicated by the word ‘like’ or ‘as’

          Ex. “O my love’s like a red rose, red rose”   - (Robert Burns),

          ‘My dear, you are like a blue lotus to me’.

     b.  Metaphor: A comparison between two different things directly without the usage of ‘like’ or

          ‘as’.  Ex. You are my red rose.     ‘All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women mere

          Players’     -( William Shakespeare)

     c.  Personification:  It is a figure of speech that ascribes human qualities to that which is

          non-human.    Ex. ‘Because I could not stop for Death –

                                           He kindly stopped for me’      - Emily Dickinson

         ‘Can Honour’s voice provoke the silent dust,

         Or Flattery sooth the dull cold ear of Death?        - Thomas Grey

   d.   Oxymoron: It is a figure of speech that brings together opposite or contradictory terms

         Ex. Sweet sorrow

Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate

O heavy lightness, serious vanity,

e. Metonymy: It is also a figure of speech. One thing is applied to another because of a recurrent

    relation in common experience   Ex. The crown or the scepter is used for the term ‘King’.

    Hollywood for film industry. Kolliwood for film industry in Tamilnadu. ‘ But now my oat proceeds,

    And listens to the Herald of the Sea’ – Lycidas ( John Milton)

f.  Synecdoche is also a figure of speech. It is similar to Metonymy.  A part of something need to

    signify the whole. Ex. We use the term ‘ten hands’ for ten workers.  A hundred sails for ships and

    two wheelers  for motor bike  and four wheelers for cars.

    “ This is flesh I’m talking about here. Flesh that needs to be loved. Feet that need to rest and to

    Dance; backs that need support; shoulders that need arms, strong arms I’m telling you.”  Here

    Flesh, feet, backs, shoulders and arms indicate human beings.

g.  Transferred Epithet is a figure of speech.  Here the adjective is transferred from the noun to

    another noun in the sentence.   Ex. I had a hot cup of tea.    John had a sleepless night.

    “The ploughman homeward plods his weary way”     (Thomas Gray – Elegy)

kjt/-25-03-2020