1. What is Poetry?It's the oldest form of literature. It's like music because it creates beautiful sounds with words when expressing ideas and feelings.
A poem is made up of blocks of lines called (stanza).
*StanzaOne of the divisions of a poem, composed of two or more lines usually characterized by a common pattern of meter, rhyme, and number of lines. Every poem is divided into stanzas. Stanza consists of two or more lines and it usually covers on item or idea.
2.Elements of Poetry
There are several elements which make up a good poem. In brief, they are described below.
a) Rhythm: This is the music made by the statements of the poem, which includes the syllables in the lines. The best method of understanding this is to read the poem aloud
b) Meter: This is the basic structural make-up of the poem. Do the syllables match with each other? Every line in the poem must adhere to this structure
c) Rhyme: A poem may or may not have a rhyme. When you write poetry that has rhyme, it means that the last words of the lines match with each other in some form.
• Ex." I am busy" said the sea
" I am busy think of me "
d) Imagery:most figures of speech cast up in your mind. These pictures created are called “images” e). Figurative Language :Simile : Comparison of one thing to another using " like or as "• Ex:- I wandered lonely as a cloud./Love is like a fire.
Personification :To regard a thing or animal as a person.• Ex:- " Iam busy" said the sea.
The poet personifies the sea and makes it talk.
Metaphor :The use of words to indicate something different from the literal meaning .
A figure of speech that implies comparison between two unlike entities.• Ex:- all the world is a stage. / “day’s eye“ / sweet bird of life”
Theme: This is what the poem is all about. The theme of the poem is the central idea that the poet wants to convey. It can be a story, or a thought, or a description of something or someone – anything which is what the poem is all about. 6. Techniques or musical devicesAlliteration: The repetition of the first consonant sounds at the beginning of words.
• Ex. " With the wonderful water "
The (w) is repeated three times.
" Iam busy" said the sea.
Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds,(free as a breeze) (High as a kite)consonance. The repetition of final consonant sounds, as in "first and last," "odds and ends," "short and sweet," "a stroke of luck.
. The combination of assonance and consonance is rhyme. Rhyme is the repetition of the accented vowel sound and all succeeding sounds.Contrast :The use of the opposite words to make the meaning clear .
• Ex:- You are so great, and I am so small.
"Blowing here and blowing there,
Up and down and everywhere.
The arrangement of rhymes in a poem or stanza.Bid me to weep, and I will weep
While I have eyes to see;
And having none, and yet I will keep
A heart to weep for thee.
Patterns of Traditional Poems:
Ballad : is a long singing poem that tells a story (usually of love or adventure.Free Verse has no identifiable meter, although the lines may have a rhyme-scheme.Lyric is a poem of emotional intensity and expresses powerful feelings.Sonnet is a fourteen line poem. Exercise
Find the rhyme scheme, figures of speech and techniques in the following poemDay
Sir Cecil Spring Rice
"I am busy," said the sea.
"I am busy, think of me.
Making continents to be.
"I am busy," said the sea.
"I am busy," said the rain.
"When I fall it's not in vain.
Wait and you will see the grain.
"I am busy," said the rain.
"I am busy," said the air.
"Blowing here and blowing there,
Up and down and everywhere.
"I am busy," said the air.
"I am busy," said the sun.
"All my planets, every one,
Know my work is never done.
"I am busy," said the sun.
Sea and rain and air and sun,
Here's a fellow toiler-one,
Whose task will soon be done.
Sat Sep 14, 2013 11:53 pm by 
INTRODUCTION TO POETRY
