First technical foundation for beginners to poetry covering line, stanza, meter, rhythm, rhyme, grammar, and diction

1. Technical Aspects of
Writing Poetry I--
Structure
Colleen M. Farrelly

2. Meet Your Instructor
• No formal background in writing
• Published 150+ poems in 50+ peer-reviewed journals
– Free verse
– Formal verse
– Prose poetry
• Winner of multiple Best of Journal awards

3. What’s Covered in This Course
• Line
• Stanza
• Meter
• Rhythm
• Rhyme
• Grammar
• Diction

4. Introduction to Line
• The “sentence” of poetry
• Adding punctuation to the sentence or letting it flow/run
• In formal verse:
– Metered
– Strict
• In free verse:
– Short, medium, long, varied, open/visual, absent
– Interplays with other aspects of the poem and somewhat subjective

5. To Stop or Not to Stop
• Enjambment
• Considerations
– Flow (drive forward or slow down)
– Logical breaks

6. Line in Free Verse
• Long
• Short
• Medium
• Varied
• Visual
• None

7. Example: “Anya”
as snow
binds to tight jeans
like the shackles
she wore on the ship to her Shangri La
as streetlight
catches a gleam in her eyes,
a glimpse as she stares into
tonight
her fifteenth birthday.
Gaunt,
made-up,
wobbling in heels
too big for tiny feet,
heels
that sparkle and clack
against cold concrete
as wind
whips her teased hair
like a lasso
roping a steer

8. Introduction to Stanza
• The “paragraph of poetry”
• Usually expressing an idea or image or other block of material in the
poem
• Formal or free
• Mixing stanza lengths or types

9. Formal Stanza Types
• Couplets, tercets, quatrains…
• Defined rhyme scheme
• Can be put together into multiple stanzas with interlocking or
independent rhyme schemes
• Shakespearean sonnet example:
– abab
– cdcd
– efef
– gg

10. Free Stanzas
• Without rhyme schemes or defined meter
• Structure and length changing among stanzas
• No stanza breaks

11. Example: “Anya”
as snow
binds to tight jeans
like the shackles
she wore on the ship to her Shangri La
as streetlight
catches a gleam in her eyes,
a glimpse as she stares into
tonight
her fifteenth birthday.
Gaunt,
made-up,
wobbling in heels
too big for tiny feet,
heels
that sparkle and clack
against cold concrete
as wind
whips her teased hair
like a lasso
roping a steer

12. Introduction to Meter
• Mostly found in formal verse
• Regular stresses on syllables (“beat” of poem)
• Some more common than others
• Some interplaying with stanza, line, and rhyme to create a type of
formal verse (sonnet, villanelle…)

13. Common Meters
• Iambic pentameter (typical in sonnets)
– 5 feet (two-syllable combinations) with a ta-TUM-ta-TUM-ta-TUM-ta-TUM-ta-TUM
beat
• Trochee (opposite beat of iambs)
– Trochaic pentameter (TUM-ta-TUM-ta-TUM-ta-TUM-ta-TUM-ta)
• Spondee (two stressed beats)
– TUM-TUM
• Other meters:
– Pyrrhic, anapest, dactyl, amphibrach, bacchius, ionic, paeon, epitrite…

14. Breaking Meter for Effect
• Consider several lines of iambic pentameter in a sonnet:
– ta-TUM-ta-TUM-ta-TUM-ta-TUM-ta-TUM
– ta-TUM-ta-TUM-ta-TUM-ta-TUM-ta-TUM
– ta-TUM-ta-TUM-ta-TUM-ta-TUM-ta-TUM
– ta-TUM-ta-TUM-ta-TUM-ta-TUM-ta-TUM
– ta-TUM-ta-TUM-ta-TUM-ta-TUM-ta-TUM
– TUM-TUM-TUM-TUM-TUM-TUM-TUM-TUM-TUM-TUM
• Which line stands out?

15. Introduction to Rhythm
• Interplay of meter, line, and stanza (and syllable composition)
• Beat and flow of poem
– Fast
– Slow
– Speeding up
– Slowing down
• Reading poems aloud to feel rhythm as it’s written when editing

16. Introduction to Rhyme
• Highlights rhyming words in poem
• Many types
• Can be used to define formal verse by patterns of rhyme

17. Types of Rhyme
• True (ex. blue and true)
• Slant (ex. tent and tint; snake and gate)
• Sight (ex. come and home)
• Many others!

18. Using Rhyme for Effect
• Internal rhyme (Poe’s The Raven)
• Rhyme within free verse

19. Patterns of Rhyme
• Rhyming lines
• Repeating lines
• Interlocking lines

20. Example: First Part of “The Canary”
Silence is my song,
unlike the sweet harmony resounding
from the wildflower patches strewn along
the meadow’s edge as if from a painting.
Vibrant, rich reds, yellows, and oranges
splash across beating wings and plump bodies,
as the summer symphony arranges
itself in a whirlwind of wings and breeze.
Flitting, fluttering, always moving, and
always doing as they suck the nectar
out of life, the hummingbirds form this band
carrying their merry tunes near and far.
But, alas, I am not a hummingbird,
and I must wait for my song to be heard.
And I must wait for my song to be heard—
perhaps an encore to the bellowing
overtones of a male peacock, the bird
Rhyme scheme:
ababcdcdefefgG
Ghg

21. Introduction to Grammar
• Following proper grammar
• Breaking grammar conventions for effect
– Sentence fragments
– Run-on sentences
• Delicate balance

22. Introduction to Diction
• When is “a bird in a tree” really “a robin teetering on a twig?”
• Word choice matters!
• Be specific.
• Aim for vivid images and punchy language.
• Reference
– Spunk and Bite (Arthur Plotnik)

23. Other Resources
• Future lectures on poetry’s technical aspects
• Many wonderful books
– Creating Poetry (John Drury)
– The Prosody Handbook (Robert Beum and Karl Shapiro)
– The Poetry Dictionary (John Drury)
– A Poet’s Ear (Annie Finch)
– The Book of Forms (Lewis Turco)
– The Art and Craft of Poetry (Michael Bugeja)
– Spunk and Bite (Arthur Plotnik)