ElementsofPoetry-ABriefIntroduction.docVIP

Elements of Poetry - A Brief Introduction /english/reuben/pal/append/AXF.HTML 1. What is Poetry? It is difficult to define; we have been more successful at describing and appreciating poetry than at defining it. Poetry might be defined, initially, as a kind of language that says more and says it more intensely than does ordinary language. William Wordsworth defined poetry as the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, recollected in tranquillity. Poetry is the most condensed and concentrated form of literature, saying most in the fewest number of words. 2. Reading the Poem: a. Read a poem more than once. b. Keep a dictionary by you and use it. c. Read so as to hear the sounds of the words in your mind. Poetry is written to be heard: its meanings are conveyed through sound as well as through print. Every word is therefore important. d. Always pay careful attention to what the poem is saying. e. Practice reading poems aloud. Ask yourself the following questions: i. Who is the speaker and what is the occasion? ii. What is the central purpose of the poem? iii. By what means is the purpose of the poem achieved? 3. Denotation and Connotation: The average word has three components parts: sound, denotation, and connotation. Denotation is the dictionary meaning(s) of the word; connotations are what it suggests beyond what it expresses: its overtones of meaning. It acquires these connotations by its past history and associations, by the way and the circumstances in which it has been used. 4. Imagery: Poetry communicates experience and experience comes to us largely through the senses (seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling, and touching). Imagery may be defined as the representation through language of sense experience. The word image perhaps most often suggests a mental picture, something seen in the minds eye - and visual imagery is the most frequently occurring kind of imagery in poetry. But an image may also represent a sound; a smell; a taste; a tactile experience;