EDreosso - Questions About Poetry
[author: Erik Dreosso - postdate: 2007-10-24]
  • What is a poem?
    A poemi is a self-contained text which makes sense as it stands.
  • In which way is different from ordinary speech?
    A poem is different from ordinary speech because it is organized into lines, it is organized into stanzas, it  often has rhymes and its length is decided by the poet
  • How are words selected and arranged into a poem?
    They are carefully selected by the poet because the order of words is essential to produce a wide range of sound patterns.
  • What is  rhyme and what does it depend on?
    Rhyme is an identical vowel sound in the final syllable of a line and the coming lines.
  • What is rhythm and what does it depend on?
    Rhythm is a recurrence of stresses in the lines decided by the poet to give a musical movement to the poem.it consists of different patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables in different combinations.
  • What is an internal rhyme?
    An internal rhyme is when rhyme occurs within the line
  • What is an alliteration?
    An alliteration is the repetition of the initial consonant sound in two or more words in a line or consecutives lines.
  • What is an assonance?
    An assonance is the repetition of the same vowel sound within a line or at the end of a line.
  • What is a consonance?
    A consonance is the repetition of the same consonant sound within a line or at the end of a line
  • Which is the basic unit of rhythm?
    The basic unit of rhythm is the metric food
  • What does a metric food consist of?
    It consist of stressed and unstressed syllables alternating in several combinations
  • Which is the pattern of a iambic foot?
    The pattern of a iambic foot is when an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed one
  • Which is the pattern of a trochaic foot?
    The pattern of a trochaic foot is when a stressed syllable is followed by an unstressed one
  • Why is the layout important?
    The layout is important because it distinguish poetry from prose, it creates pauses, it gives prominence to words, it reinforces syntax and punctuation.
  • What is a stanza?
    A stanza is a group of lines
  • What is  free verse?
    Free verse is a verse that has no regular metre or line length.
  • What is denotation?
    Denotation is when you try to explain the poem with your own words
     
  • What is connotation?
    It is what the word suggests, the associations the word elicits in the reader.
  • What is a lyric form of poetry?
    It is a poem that directly expresses the personal thoughts, the emotions of a single speaker.
  • What are figures of speech and what is their role? Give examples.
    Figures of speech are:
  • personification: when the poet attributes human characteristics and feelings to animals and inanimate things (ex. Immortal Alps look down)
  • simile: an explicit comparison which uses “like”, ”as” or “as if” to jin two unlike things. ( I weep like a child)
  • metaphor: an implied comparison which omits the linking word, who creates a total identification between the two things being compared.
  • symbol: a concrete item which stands for a cluster of meanings rather than clear-cut references