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Now we will look at other elements of poetry that contribute to our understanding of poems: graphic elements and literary devices.
Poets often play with grammatical structure, word position, line length, and punctuation to manipulate language. E. E. Cummings is a poet who is well known for his manipulation of words, letters, and page space. Poets must make decisions about which words to capitalize (or not) and when to end a line. Capitalization imparts significance and urgency while a lowercase letter may indicate subordination. Missing spaces in between words indicate a rush. Repetition of letters may indicate a stutter. As poetry is concerned with conveying an emotional message in few words, these decisions are crucial. Decisions about line length can help a turn an ordinary poem into a picture poem. “The Altar” by George Herbert is a perfect example of this.
A broken A L T A R, Lord, thy servant reares,
Made of a heart, and cemented with teares:
Whose parts are as thy hand did frame;
No workmans tool hath touch’d the same.
A H E A R T alone
Is such a stone,
As nothing but
Thy pow’r doth cut.
Wherefore each part
Of my hard heart
Meets in this frame,
To praise thy Name;
That, if I chance to hold my peace,
These stones to praise thee may not cease.
O let thy blessed S A C R I F I C E be mine,
And sanctifie this A L T A R to be thine.
Notice the words that are printed in all capital letters. Also, notice how his spacing and line length create the picture poem. The subject of the poem is an altar that mimics the shape of the poem. He also divides the lines meaningfully. Notice that “a HEART alone” is on a line all by itself, further emphasizing the feeling of aloneness the poet wishes to convey.
We will conclude our poetry lesson with a brief discussion of poetic devices. See the following chart for device names, their definitions, and brief examples of how they are used in actual poems.
Poetic Devices> |
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| Poetic device | What it is | How it looks |
| Apostrophe | A person or personified object is addressed as if it is present. | From Lord Byron’s “ Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage”
“Roll on thou dark and deep blue ocean.” |
| Conceit | An extended metaphor | In John Donne’s “The Flea,” the poet compares a flea bite to the act of lovemaking, thus urging his lover to give in to his advances. |
| Hyperbole | An obvious exaggeration that serves to emphasize a point or add humor to a poem | From Mark Twain’s “Celebrated Jumpin’ Frog of Calaveras County”
“If he even seen a straddle-bug start to go anywheres, he would bet you how long it would take him to get wherever he was going to, and if you took him up, he would foller that straddle-bug to Mexico but what he would find out where he was bound for and how long he was on the road.” |
| Metaphor | Comparing two unlike things by calling one thing another; a staple of all poetry | From William Cullen Bryant’s “A Forest Hymn”
“The groves were God’s first temple.” |
| Metonymy | Referring to something or someone by naming one of its attributes or correlatives | Using “the White House” to mean the president and his advisors |
| Personification | Giving human characteristics to an inanimate object | From John Donne’s “Death be not Proud”
“Death be not proud, though some have called thee |
| Pun | A play on words with similar meanings; Shakespeare is a master at puns | From Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet after Mercutio has been stabbed
No, ’tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-door; but ’tis enough,’twill serve: ask for me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man. I am peppered, I warrant, for this world. |
| Simile | Comparing two seemingly unlike things using “like” or “as”; the simile is less powerful than the metaphor | From Robert Burns’s “A Red, Red Rose”
“My love is like a red, red rose |
| Synecdoche | A part of a thing that replaces the whole | Saying “the crown” when referring to the king |