The Basics of Poetry - By Orkneyman

Poetry depends on the aesthetic effects of the elaborate and formalized use of language and on an imaginative sensitive style of expression. It is an art form-the goal being artfulness in concept and expression and in construction.

A basic characteristic of poetry is sound--has it got rhythm, or a compelling flow---does it catch your 'ear'-- does it 'move' comfortably along in thought and expression. Poetry is meant to be recited...read a poem out loud and you will discover its flow.

Sound is fundamental, defining poetry apart from all other literary forms. Rhyming contributes to the sound and rhythm of a poem, but rhyme can be a trap-keep a tight rein; don't rhyme just for the sake of rhyming, same with rhythm:

sometimes breaking from a rhyme scheme or changing up the rhythm creatively can add depth, meaning, a greater satisfaction with the poem overall.

Another basic characteristic of poetry is the employment of imagery. Imagery will take an abstract notion and give it life, concreteness:

how to describe a voice?

....'her voice was like hearing an angel' is descriptive, but old, used up. Better might be...'her voice was a melody', we are all familiar with melody. Familiar sounding imagery is important ...you don't want to lose your reader due to overly elaborate or obscurely conceived references, nor, to trite over-used images. Is snow simply white? Does rain always mean negative feelings? Are there other words for white...can rain mean comfort?

imaginative is the aim... " her voice sang of the moon" personifying 'voice', rather than using an unimaginative simile, thereby emphasizing the power of her voice and hinting at its celestial quality, that is yet perceptually familiar and comfortable, like a beloved song, and evoking the romanticism of the moon.

bringing it back to an abstraction, an inspiration in the reader's mind;

that is... meaning.

Imagery is not meant to hide meaning...but to illuminate it....it is simply indirect. Sound is used to enhance the pleasure and satisfaction in the journey, and its memorability... a poem is a path along which the poet entices the readers to discover meaning -derived, actually, much from their own experience-the poet's goal is to provoke, invoke, evoke that discovery...not to hand it to over fait accompli.

To me, these are the basics of poetry...which make it recognizable apart from other literary styles.

But I suppose I should speak to the Elements and Devices integral to achieving poetic writing.

Writing in stanzas is a common elemental structure for poetry...they're like 'paragraphs'... structure has to do with the overall organization of lines and/or patterns of sound. Many modern poems do not have easily, or any, identifiable structure (i.e. they are free verse).

Common Stanzas:

* Couplet

* Tercet

* Quatrain

* Cinquain

* Sestet

* Septet

* Octave

FORM: A poem may or may not have a specific number of lines, rhyme scheme and/or metrical pattern, but it can still be tagged according to its form or style. Here are the three most common types of poems according to form:

1. Lyric Poetry: It is any poem with one speaker (not necessarily the poet) who expresses strong thoughts and feelings.

2. Narrative Poem: It is a poem that tells a story; its structure resembles the plot line of a story [i.e. the introduction of conflict and characters, rising action, climax and the denouement].

3. Descriptive Poem: It is a poem that describes the world that surrounds the speaker. It uses elaborate imagery and adjectives. While emotional, it is more "outward-focused" than lyric poetry, which is more personal and introspective.

Then there are the poetic devices of word sounds and figurative imagery. I will just mention some of them here as I am sure there will be future discussion of these basic contrivances. For now, I am certain that you will recognize most of these already. In the interest of brevity, I leave the definitions to you.

Alliteration repetition assonance consonance onomatopoeia

Simile metaphor synecdoche metonomy allegory personification

Finally...I offer this:

POETRY AS A LANGUAGE OF INDIRECTION

If we recognize that much of the essential quality of our experience is more complex than a simple denotative statement can describe, then we must recognize the value of the poet's need to search for a language agile enough to capture the complexity of that experience. Consider this four-line stanza:

O Western wind, when wilt thou blow
That the small rain down can rain?
Christ, that my love were in my arms,
And I in my bed again!

The center of the poem is the lover's desire to be reunited with his beloved (lines 3 and 4). But the full meaning of the poem depends on the first two lines also. Obviously, the poet associates both his loneliness and its relief with the wind and rain, but the poet leaves to implication, to indirection, just how the lover's situation and the wind and rain are related. We note that they are related in several ways: the need for experiencing and manifesting love is an inherent need, like nature's need for rain; in a word, love, like the wind and rain, is natural. Secondly, the lover is living in a kind of drought or arid state that can only be slaked by the soothing presence of the beloved. The association of slaked arid land and slaked desire are inescapable. Thirdly, the rising of the wind and the coming of the rain can neither be controlled nor foretold exactly, and human affairs, like the lover's predicament, are subject to the same sort of chance.

Undoubtedly, too, there are associations with specific words, like "Western" or "small rain" that the reader is only half aware of but which nonetheless contribute to meaning. These associations or connotations afford a few indirections that enrich the entire poem.