Poetic Techniques : A point of reference



Text Study (3) : Poetry

What and How?

WHAT is the poet saying?

• Is the poem a story, an event, an experience, a ‘slice of life’, a description, an exhortation, a farce, a fantasy? Something else?

• Does the poem have a particular theme? How significant or original is it? How narrow, biased or broad is its treatment? Is it a personal, particular or universal view of the theme?

• Is it a contemporary issue or a timeless one? Is it about life, living or the general human condition?

• Is the poet’s intention clearly apparent? Was it worth saying, in your view?

• Did the poem strike a particular chord with you? Did it increase your awareness, broaden your experience of life and nature, of the world in any way? Did it move you, excite you, anger you, contradict previously held ideas or beliefs?

HOW is it being said?

|Poetic Technique |Example |Effect on Reader |

| | | |

|Alliteration |“Tetley teabags tingle tastebuds” |This device simply makes a connection between the alliterated words and hence the |

| |(advertisement) |concepts they represent. In the first example, an advertiser uses the poetic device to |

| | |associate teabags with a refreshing and revivifying sensation. |

| |“… blind, blunt bullet-leads, / Which | |

| |long to nuzzle in the hearts of lads,” |In the second, the poet makes a mental connection between bullets, their bluntness and |

| |(“Arms and the Boy”, Wilfred Owen) |moral blindness. |

| | | |

|Onomatopoeia |“the stuttering rifle’s rapid rattle” |Onomatopoeia means the use of words that actually sound like the things they are |

| | |describing. |

| |(“Anthem for Doomed Youth”, Wilfred | |

| |Owen) |The “t” sounds over which we have to stammer in the example opposite give some sense of |

| | |the mechanical operation of a machine gun as does the violence of the short cracking “a”|

| | |sounds. Onomatopoeia is a poet’s way of appealing to your senses, of putting you almost |

| | |physically into the landscape of the poem. It has less to do with ideas than feelings, |

| | |feelings and emotional responses that are so basic they are almost like physical |

| | |responses rather than concepts. |

| | | |

|Repetition |“….thou art more lovely and more |Repetition is used rhetorically to emphasise the importance or prominence of some idea |

| |temperate…” |– in this case, how much more beautiful the beloved is than any passing summer’s day. |

| | | |

| |(“Sonnet 18”, William Shakespeare) | |

| | | |

|Simile (figure of speech) |“His hanging face, like a devil’s sick |This is a figure of speech in which “a” is said to be like “b”. It appeals to our reason|

| |of sin.” |and to our capacity to see similarities or analogies. Often, when we call upon someone |

| | |to see that something is like something else, we are trying to persuade them toward |

| |(“Dulce et Decorum Est” , Wilfred Owen)|sharing our opinion. In the example, Owen says the dead soldier’s face looks like that |

| | |of a devil who is so immersed in sin that he is tired of it. This simile helps us share |

| | |Owen’s view that the soldier is a helpless victim of evil. Look for the words like or |

| | |as. |

| | | |

|Metaphor (figure of speech) |“Her thoughts lie kitten-curled in |This is a figure of speech in which “a” is said to be “b”. It asks us to see surprising |

| |his…” |or unexpected associations between things – associations that often reveal the true |

| | |nature of what the poet is talking about. The example opposite is a visual image, a word|

| |(“Suburban Lovers” , Bruce Dawe) |picture that is also a metaphor. Here, the thoughts of a young girl are imagined as a |

| | |“kitten” with the effect that we instantly import all our understandings of the word |

| | |“kitten” to our knowledge of her personality. She seems fragile, innocent, dependent and|

| | |perhaps lacking in a bit of self-determination. |

| | | |

|Paradox (figure of speech) |“Your mother was |Paradox is a figure of speech in which the situation under poetic review is so complex |

| |helping |that two different (sometimes directly opposite) things appear to be the case at the |

| |You |same time. Take, for example, Bobbi Sykes’s description of an abusive relationship |

| |To die…” |between a mother and a son. “Help” we normally associate with giving life and support |

| | |but here, in order to underline the negative nature of the relationship, the poet uses |

| |(“Ambrose”, Bobbi Sykes) |the paradoxical statement that this “help” was in fact a fatal hindrance. |

| | | |

|Personification (figure of |“… blind, blunt bullet-leads, / Which |This is where an inanimate object (e.g. a “bullet”) is given human characteristics. This|

|speech) |long to nuzzle in the hearts of lads,” |is often used to evoke an emotional response in us or to shock us into thinking about |

| | |something in a different way. For example, saying that the bullets fired at the |

| |(“Arms and the Boy, Wilfred Owen) |soldiers “long to nuzzle in the hearts of lads” gives them intentionality and a greater|

| | |sense evil. Not only can they kill, they actively seek to kill. |

| | | |

|Connotation |“….On the cliff of kissing they know |The choice of particular words to describe things e.g. a kiss might be a “peck”, a |

| |this stillness come down upon them…” |“caress” or a “smack on the lips”. We call this connotation – the meaning that “hangs |

| | |around” or is associated with one a particular word as opposed to another. To say that |

| |(“Suburban Lovers” , Bruce Dawe) |the lovers are on the “cliff of kissing” makes their moment alone seem fragile, delicate|

| | |–even dangerous. |

| | | |

|Rhyme |“This thou perceiv’st which makes thy |Like alliteration, rhyme is simply a way of connecting words – and hence ideas – in the |

| |love more strong, / To love that well |reader’s head. Here Shakespeare wants the reader to associate the words “long” and |

| |which thou must leave ere long.” |“strong” with his description of the love he feels from his beloved. |

| | | |

| |(“Sonnet 73”, William Shakespeare) | |

| | | |

|Narrative |“Went down the harbour and stood upon |Narrative simply means “story-telling”. In the example, Auden writes of an episode in |

| |the quay, / Saw the fish swimming as if|the life of a refugee. Many poems do not have narrative or story-telling elements but |

| |they were free:” |those that have often do so because they want to make some sort of moral point that can |

| | |be read into the story. Events shape our understanding of the fairness or injustice of |

| |(“Refugee Blues”, W.H. Auden) |what happens to the characters who experience them. |

| | | |

|Rhythm |“All went lame; all blind; / Drunk with|Rhythm simply means the number of syllables per line or the number of “beats per bar”, |

| |fatigue…. Gas! Gas! Quick boys! “ |as in music. It can reflect a mood of relaxation and languor or it can express panic and|

| | |fear. |

| |(“Dulce et Decorum Est” , Wilfred Owen)| |

| | |The rhythm of verse can be changed dramatically to achieve a stark contrast of mood as |

| | |in the example. The slow repetitive phrases describing the soldiers’ tiredness are |

| | |replaced by single syllable stabs that show the urgency of their need to protect |

| | |themselves from the gas attack. |

| | | |

|Imagery |“Her thoughts lie kitten-curled in |Images are “word pictures”. See the description of the effect of this word picture in |

| |his…” |the definition of metaphor above. |

| | | |

| |(“Suburban Lovers” , Bruce Dawe) | |

| | | |

|Direct Speech |“I’ll soon be ‘ome. You mustn’t fret. /|Use of direct speech can show the difference between what people say and do. It may be |

| |My feet’s improvin’, as I told you of.”|used to comment ironically on what a character is saying (see “irony” below). |

| | | |

| |(“The Letter”, Wilfred Owen) |Direct speech, as in the example, can also be used to personalise what is being said, to|

| | |make it seem like a human or emotive utterance that appeals to our sympathies. Here a |

| | |soldier writes home and we “overhear” what he has to say to his family. The grammatical |

| | |inaccuracy merely adds to our sense of pity for the soldier. He does not seem well |

| | |equipped to understand the horror that is unfolding around him. |

| | | |

|Irony (tone) |“Tell me of a brother |Irony is saying one thing but meaning another. Often the sense that is intended is |

| |who flung himself to death / |directly opposite to that which overtly or literally stated. |

| |from the ninth floor of a building / | |

| |did his grip fumble with the loneliness|In the example, the poet does not really believe the “brother” fell. In fact, the |

| |up there…” |reference to fumbling with loneliness is ironic. The poet believes the man was pushed to|

| | |his death but chooses to make this evident through irony. |

| |(“Tell me the News”, Sipho Sempamla) | |

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