Poetry Structures with Expanded Analysis for Readers to Understand

– Poetry Structures –

The structure of a poem refers to how it was made. A poem with a robust structure lets the reader move effortlessly from beginning to end, helping to create a precise response within the reader. This and many more, you will get to learn as you keep reading.

Poetry has been around for almost four thousand years. Like other forms of literature, poetry is written to share ideas, express emotions, and create imagery. Let’s get to know from scratch.

What is Poetry?

Poetry is a type of literature that conveys a thought, describes a scene, or tells a story in a concentrated, lyrical arrangement of words.

Poems can be structured, with rhyming lines and meter, the rhythm and emphasis of a line based on syllabic beats. Poems can also be freeform, which follows no formal structure.

The basic building block of a poem is a verse known as a stanza. A stanza is a grouping of lines related to the same thought or topic, similar to a paragraph in prose.

A stanza can be subdivided based on the number of lines it contains. For example, a couplet is a stanza with two lines.

On the page, poetry is visibly unique: a narrow column of words with recurring breaks between stanzas. Lines of a poem may be indented or lengthened with extra spacing between words.

The white space that frames a poem is an aesthetic guide for how a poem is read.

What is a Stanza?

In poetry, a stanza is used to describe the main building block of a poem. It is a unit of poetry composed of lines that relate to a similar thought or topic—like a paragraph in prose or a verse in a song.

Every stanza in a poem has its own concept and serves a unique purpose. A stanza may be arranged according to rhyming patterns and meters—the syllabic beats of a line.

It can also be a free-flowing verse that has no formal structure. Learn more about stanzas in poetry here.

Structure in Literature

Everything we write has a specific structure. A text message is short and filled with slang, an email is formatted like a letter, and an essay is informal paragraphs.

These various structures contribute to the overall meaning or message of the writing. Think of structure as to how the parts in a piece of literature are put together.

Authors will carefully consider the structure of every piece of writing because changing the parts will change the whole message. For instance, having slang in a formal essay will undoubtedly make the writing less serious.

Two types of literature that have specific structures are poetry and drama. Let’s look at the structure of both poetry and drama to analyze how it contributes to the author’s message.

READ ALSO:

Poetry Structure

Poetry is literature written in stanzas and lines that use rhythm to express feelings and ideas. Poets will pay particular attention to the length, placement, and grouping of lines and stanzas.

This is called a form. Lines or whole stanzas can be rearranged in order to create a specific effect on the reader.

One example is the sonnet, which is a 14 line poem with a specific rhyme scheme. The key with sonnets is that most end with a pair of lines set apart from the rest.

Poets often arrange words according to meter in order to create specific sounds or beats.

Think about any song (which is a type of poem) that you sing along to. Think about the rhythm of the music and the words. Is the singer angry? Or sad?

The notes and meter might at first be fast, harsh, or short, while later it might be slow, soft, and drawn-out. These rhythms affect the overall message.

Finally, a poet might use figurative language techniques to establish an overall effect. The rhyme scheme is one such method using a pattern of repeated final sounds in the last words of each line.

The following is an example of a rhyme scheme in a poem by William Wordsworth called ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.‘ The bold words, italicized words, and underlined words represent the rhyming sounds:

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

What is Mimesis in Poetry?

In his first-ever online class, former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins teaches you how to find joy, humor, and humanity in reading and writing poetry.

Copying is something writers usually strive to avoid. And yet, the literary theory of mimesis says that artists copy constantly, as a matter of necessity. Does this make their art bad?

Centuries of thinkers from Plato and Aristotle onwards have attempted to answer this question by debating the nature of mimesis. Learn more about mimesis in poetry here.

What is Onomatopoeia in Poetry?

Usually, how words sound bears no relationship to what they mean. That’s not true in the case of onomatopoeia, where words sound like what they are.

The English language is littered with these mimicking words, from meowing cats to babbling brooks. In poetry and literature, the onomatopoeic effect is something writers can harness to create vivid imagery without verbosity. Learn more about onomatopoeia in poetry here.

What is Enjambment in Poetry?

Poetry is a structured literary form, with patterns and rhythms that dictate the flow of verses. Lineation in poetry is how lines are divided and where they end in relation to a clause or thought.

Having a line break at the end of a phrase or complete thought is a regular and expected pattern in poetry. Poets subvert this expectation by using a technique called enjambment. Learn more about enjambment in poetry here.

READ ALSO:

What is Dissonance in Poetry?

In his first-ever online class, former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins teaches you how to find joy, humor, and humanity in reading and writing poetry.

The human brain instinctively looks for harmony. When it is denied harmony, it can create a powerful moment—whether that’s for the purposes of creating tension, capturing inner turmoil, or bringing a bit of levity.

Dissonance injects discomfort into text through inharmonious sounds and uneven rhythms. Learn more about dissonance in poetry here.

What is Consonance in Poetry?

In poetry, rhyme isn’t the only way to introduce memorability and musicality. Consonance presents poets with the possibility of playing around with the repetition of consonant sounds. Learn more about consonance in poetry here.

What is Assonance in Poetry?

From William Wordsworth to Kendrick Lamar, generations of poets have used assonance as a looser alternative to strict rhymes.

Assonance, the repetition of vowel sounds, is distinct from consonance, which refers to the repetition of consonant sounds.

Along with rhyme and alliteration, it is a powerful poetic device that writers can use to make their words stand out. Learn more about assonance in poetry here.

What is Alliteration in Poetry?

Sometimes called initial rhyme or head rhyme, alliteration is one poetic device that’s unmissable in our everyday world. Poets, advertisers, and headline writers all regularly take this approach of repeating initial letter sound to grab people’s attention.

In poetry, it also injects focus, harmony, and rhythm.

Finally, you know that, when a poem has a strong sense of structure, it flows from beginning to end, and the ideas are easily conveyed.

Poetry Structures with Expanded Analysis for Easy Understanding