ELEMENTS / CHARACTERISTICS OF POETRY

In our previous chapter we discussed various definitions of poetry. We may discern the salient features or elements of poetry from all those definitions which are as under:

1.   Imagination / Imagery

2.   Emotions

3.   Moral values

4.   Theme

5.   Meter or Rhyme

6.   Stanza

7.   Poetics Devices

 1.   IMAGINATION / IMAGERY:

It is rightly said that poetry is “imaginative reconstruction of life.” Every work of art is a piece of imagination and poetry being a work art is not an exception. Use of imagery creates visual pictures in readers' minds so they can easily imagine a situations, characters places and emotions. Imagination plays an important role in poetry. When the poet writespoetry, he observes this world & tries to imitate this world, this society,this life, this human nature and he createshis own world in his poetry. This new world created by the poet is known as “the poet’s world.” It has a touch of realism because it is based on real life,human nature, human society. But the poet also adds his own imagination to his creation. The scenes and situations which we see, the characters whom we meetin poetry are imaginative though based on real life and situations.

 

For example, the natural elements which we find in Wordsworth's poetry are imaginative.In Wordsworth's poem‘DAFFODILS', the beautiful flowers which we seeare the product of his fertile imagination and this imagination is so powerfulthat it has the power to create the picture in the minds of the reader.So imagination is important in every poetry.

 2.   EMOTIONS:

For Wordsworth “Poetry is the spontaneousoverflow of powerful emotions.” Poetry musthave the ability to carry the emotions of the poet. Not only that, poetry must be able to arouse the same emotions in the hearts ofthe readers. The poetry has to be highlyemotional and that is the basic differencebetween science and poetry. Science doesn't deal with emotions but poetry does. Generally, the emotions like love, hatred, fear, anger, sadness, happiness etc. are expressed by the poets.

 

For example, Milton’s poem ‘On His Blindness’ expresses the poets feeling of loss of his vision. John Donne’s poem ‘Go and Catch a Falling Star’ unveils his feeling of hatred towards womankind.

 3.   THEME :

Theme means thought or central idea. The thoughtis the soul of any work of art. Without thought poetry is just like a body without soul. When any seriouspoet writes poetry, he has a mission to complete, hewants to convey some ideas to the society , convey his own philosophy oflife. So thought is the most important of poetry.

 

For example,if we examine the Romantic poetry of John Keats, it expresses thought of love. The poetry of William Wordsworth conveys his eternal love for nature.

 4.   MORAL VALUES:

Serious literature must release somemoral message to the readers. The readers unknowingly learn some good lessons from poetry and that is infact the function of poetry. Thefunction of poetry is to please or delight thereader but at the same time some critics or scholars believe that true poetry must teach somemoral values to the world, to the citizens of the country.

 

For example, Plato, a great philosopher who was amoralist by nature believed that true poetrymust give some moral message to readers.

 5.   METER/ RHYME:

What makes poetry different from prose is the artistic use of meter or Rhyme. Otherwise there is not muchdifference between prose and poetry. Proper use ofmeter imparts rhythm to the poetry. Prose is to be read by the readers while poetry is to be read as well as to be sung by the readers. Real joy of poetry is to sing it well. When we sing the poetry well we feel delighted and this delight comes from the element of music which comes from the element of meter.In English poetry, mainly the poets usefour meters: 1) Iambus 2) Trochee 3) Anapest 4)Dactyl. There are other meters too but these are the four major meters used by the poets in English poetry. These meters make the poetry musical, melodious & singable. Element of music also comes from rhyming. The last words of all lines rhyme with oneanother and it creates a musical effect. So rhyme also plays an important role in poetry.

 

For example, see this first stanza of Shakespeare’s poem ‘Sigh No More Ladies’

 

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh nor more;

    Men were deceivers ever;

One foot in sea and one on shore,

    To one thing constant never;

 

6.   STANZAS:

What makes a poetry a poetry also depends on the art of composition. Poetry is composed in the form of stanzas & prose is composed in the form of paragraph. That is the basic difference betweenpoetry and prose.Stanza is group of lines used by the poets. In traditional Englishpoetry we have different kinds of stanzas such as 1) Couplet 2) Tercet 3) Quatrain 4) Quentin, 5) Sestet. These stanzas impart uniformity and unity to the poetry.

7.   POETIC DEVICES / FIGURES OF SPEECH:

The poet uses words or language to express his philosophy of life. But this language employed in poetry must be ornamental. Ornaments of language make it more appealing and impressive. This use of ornamental language is also known as poetic devices or figures of speech. In English poetry, many figures of speech like simile, metaphor, alliteration, assonance, hyperbole, climax, anti-climax, antithesis, and oxymoron and so on are popularly used by the poets to make their poetry more charming.

 CONCLUION:

Poetry aims at giving aesthetic pleasure to the reader. This aesthetic pleasure spurs from poetry when there is proper use of imagery, poetic devices, use of rhyme and meter and proper composition of the poem in stanzas. True poetry also holds some serious thought which is expressed in the most artistic and beautiful manner.