Structure, Sound, and Sense

The Elements of Poetry

“…as universal as language and almost as ancient”.

…educated, intelligent, and sensitive…something we are better off for having… …provisional understanding; more successful

at appreciating poetry than defining it!To understand fully, we need to understand

what poetry “says”. (b/c language has different uses)

What is Poetry?

The most common use of language is to communicate information.

Practical Use = conveying the everyday/ ordinary business of living.

Poems(and other genres) usually aren’t meant for this… they are written more for the experience.Experience = to bring a sense of perception – to widen and sharpen our contacts with existence.

Practical Use

Often employed by poets to create significant experiences for readers (focused and formed).

Literary Use = using lit. as a gear for stepping up the intensity and increasing the range of our experience; having lit. not only as an aid to living but a means of living.

Literary Use

Poems can, simultaneously, serve multiple functions (practical, literary, persuasion).

When read well, poetry allows readers to feel an experience rather than just aquire information.

Analyze vs. SynthesizeExperiencing Literature

Broadening and Deepening

Poetry Points

Avoid limiting your experience with a poem by focusing on these points:1) Always looking for a lesson or moral instruction2) Find poetry as always beautiful

Focus on the Experience!1) Involve the whole person – not seeking to simply gain understanding and meaning. 2) Involve your intelligence but also your senses, emotions, and imagination.

Approaches to Poetry

…the difference is one of degree.Poetry is…

1) condensed and concentrated2) individual lines that have higher voltage than most language3) a language that gives off both light and heat4) ONLY what the reader brings to it.

Poetry vs. Other Lit.

Poetry requires you to answer two critical questions: “What” and “How”.1) What is the message or content the poem communicates?2) How does the poet use language resources to communicate this content?

Rationale

To understand form and purpose1) Form – the fact that poets make conscious choices about structure in order to communicate a particular meaning.

Recognition of the relationship of genre forms, effects, and purposes.

Poets often use other, less structural devices and techniques depending on the genre, effort or purpose of a poem.

Ballads _ Narrative Poems _ Dramatic MonologuesLyric_ Sonnet

Sub-Genres of Poetry

The reader must always know:1) who is speaking2) the attitude of the speaker toward the subject3) the point of view of view the speaker wishes to convey4) the mood (or atmosphere) that dominates

Poets usually do not speak to us directly (denotative language).1) They describe one thing but was used to notice another2) See the less obvious in the obvious3)Find the fun in poetry as well

When Reading…

Denotation & ConnotationAttitude & ToneImageryDictionFigurative Language

Metaphor, Personification, Metonymy, Symbol, AllegoryParadox, Irony, Hyperbole, Understatement

AllusionThemePattern, Structure, and Sound

Terminology