Poems 71453r

Poems

The Spouse by Luis Dato This poem portrays a picture of the curse spoken by God in the Garden of Eden upon the man and the woman. To the woman He said, �� your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you,� and to the man He said: �Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life� by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food.� Both man and woman in this poem suffer the curse. The woman suffers because she is a prisoner and a slave to the desire and devotion that she has for her husband as described in the third stanza. She builds her world around her husband and by doing so, has also set her own limitations in that she eventually refuses any joy that life could have further offered her if only she would, for once, explore the outer world beyond her self-made world with her husband. Because of this, she only looks up on her husband to satisfy her � an expectation that is only bound to be disappointed, also because of the curse upon the man. From afar, the woman looks ionately at her husband who is described as her mind, her motion, her time and space. From where the wife stands, she suffers the curse. In the same way, the husband himself in the fields suffers the curse of not being able to revel on such ion and devotion that her wife pours out on him. He is too preoccupied to enjoy the beauty and luxury of his wife�s love for him. He has to work, and as hard as he could, he must. By doing so, he doesn�t just deprive himself of the extravagance of his wife�s love and attention, but also deprive his wife of the very same things that he deprives himself of. The outcome of these two curses brought together is devastating as we can see in the lives of couples in our society nowadays. The curse on man has caused him to become egoistic, and the curse on woman has caused her to become insecure. If both parties are victims, who is there to blame? Is it God? If we go back to the story of the fall of man, there is none to blame but man himself (I am now speaking in the context of man as both male and female, which is what it really means in the eyes of God as said in Gen. 1:27). God is neither a feminist nor a chauvinist. His likeness is only fulfilled in the union of man and woman, which the world has been so blindingly trying to destroy. What, therefore, should be done? The only wise thing to do is to learn from man�s mistake and not repeat it again. Man, therefore, needs to pay heed this time to what God says. We need to go back to the Alpha and the Omega

Maria Clara Song by Jose Rizal In the novel, Maria Clara is regarded as the most beautiful and widely celebrated lady in the town of San Diego. Maria Clara, being religious, the epitome of virtue, “demure and self-effacing” and endowed with beauty, grace, and charm, was promoted by Rizal as the “ideal image”[1] of a Filipino woman who deserves to be placed on the “pedestal of male honor”. In Chapter 5 of Noli Me Tangere, Maria Clara and her traits were further described by Rizal as an “Oriental decoration” with “downcast” eyes and a “pure soul”.[2] Rizal based the fictional character of Maria Clara from his real life girlfriend and cousin Leonor Rivera. Although praised and idolized, Maria Clara's chaste, "masochistic", and "easily fainting" character had also been criticized as the "greatest misfortune that has befallen the Filipina in the last one hundred years".[1][3] In fashion in the Philippines, Maria Clara's name has become the eponym for a Filipino

national dress for females known as the Maria Clara gown, an attire connected to Maria Clara’s character as a maiden who is delicate, feminine, self-assured, and with a sense of identity.[4]

THE LITTLE SAMPAGUITA Natividad Marquez Little Sampaguita *this first line here is somewhat referring to a little girl or the Sampaguita flower it self.... With the wondering eye, *this line here is saying that the little girl has a wondering eye or the Sampaguita flower is watching over something. But i think that it is the little girl who has that wondering eye. Did a tiny fairy *the tiny fairy here is referring to the rain or rain drop(s). Drop you where you lie? *It seems that because of the rain, the little girl cannot go outside and play so that made her stay at home and just lie on her bed with a wondering eye. *the same also if we say the Sampaguita flower. Because of the rain, the flower fell to the ground. Drop where the Sampaguita flower lie. In the witching hour *of course this one is obviously referring to a Night time. Of a tropic night *yes. Sampaguita is abundantly found in tropical countries like Philippines. Did a careless moonbeam *a careless moonbeam is of course the light of the moon. Leave you in it's flight? *this means that tomorrow is another day. If the little girl did not had the chance to play because it is raining, well, night will sure to elapse and sunshine will burst full of hope. *as for the Sampaguita flower, the moonbeam cannot do anything to help the fallen flower and eventually, leaving the flower in the ground. It's like a death of a flower and a birth of a flower the next morning. I have cited two analysis. A little girl and a Sampaguita flower. As for the little girl, the poem is a story of an innocent

delicate kid who loves to play outside. On the other hand is a Sampaguita flower that fell on the ground and since that is a natural phenomenon, what can a moonbeam do? Nothing. Nevertheless, a poem has no definite meaning actually. It depends on how we understand it. Endless analysis even on a 4 lined poem.

Change . Gloria Manalang - The story is about how even romantic love can be outgrown. It is the story of the girl who was so obsessed by the love that she want to give to the boy, but unfortunately the boy that she love did not love her very much. It is also a puppy love in which the girl goes back when she is childhood memories. Definitely, Manalang Gloria’s poetry shows a good understanding of English poetics. A number of her poems follow the English iambic line. The cinquain was originally written in iambs: one iambic foot in the first line, two in the second, three in the third, four in the fourth and one in the fifth line. She has poems that follow the fixed poetic form of the sonnet like “Change.” Her poetry also illustrates a knowledge of techniques in English rhyme, especially of rhyme schemes. However, Manalang Goria’s poems are also reminiscent of the syllabic nature of native verse forms and the metrical romance and other syllabic poems introduced by Spain via Mexico in the seventeenth century. Native verse forms were mainly syllabic and followed the quatrain as a poetic unit. The two-line riddle and proverb were generally heptasyllabic and other short poems in a single quatrain were either heptasyllabic or octasyllabic (Lumbera 1986, 8-12). Poems introduced in the seventeenth century and later appropriated employed various numbers of syllables, such as the dalit, which consisted of monorhyming octosyllabic quatrains (46). The metrical romance, as it found its way into the appropriated corrido, is in quatrains and is octosyllabic, and the awit is also in quatrains and is dodecasyllabic. From the idealist that she was when younger, she emerged a pragmatist, a practical woman reshaped by the realities of life. She had found that life is not all love, that love is not the only way to one's goal. She realized that this world is "circumferenced with lucre/ within a coin of brass." She plunged into business and traveled and prospered. But Philippine literature lost her.

Poems Gloria Manalang she is talking about the poems that she thinks of, while some are more colorful & stand out than others, some draw more attention than others & everyone want to look at them because they stand out, as the dancers, while others are like the old frail nuns that no one pays attention to because they don't stand out. then she talks about the ideas that come to her head that fly away like shooting stars before she have a chance to write them down. then she talks about the poems that she writes that looks so splendid but is so dignified ( as a personified point of view) that people don't like them because the poems seem like they are too good to be touched, like snobby people dressed in white with their nose up in the air. then finally she talks about all her poems seem perfect in her mind but when she gets them out & written she feels like

they're confusing & incomplete because she did'nt put enough into them & people is confused about the meaning. i hope this help you understand better. Elements of Poetry When you read a poem, pay attention to some basic ideas: Voice (Who is speaking? How are they speaking?) Stanzas (how lines are grouped) Sound (includes rhyme, but also many other patterns) Rhythm (what kind of "beat" or meter does the poem have?) Figures of speech (many poems are full of metaphors and other figurative language) Form (there are standard types of poem)

Voice Voice is a word people use to talk about the way poems "talk" to the reader. Lyric poems and narrative poems are the ones you will see most. Lyric poems express the feelings of the writer. A narrative poem tells a story. Some other types of voice are mask, apostrophe, and conversation. A mask puts on the identity of someone or something else, and speaks for it. Apostrophe talks to something that can't answer (a bee, the moon, a tree) and is good for wondering, asking, or offering advice. Conversation is a dialogue between two voices and often asks us to guess who the voices are. Stanza A stanza is a group within a poem which may have two or many lines. They are like paragraphs. Some poems are made of REALLY short stanzas, called couplets--two lines that rhyme, one after the other, usually equal in length. Sound One of the most important things poems do is play with sound. That doesn't just mean rhyme. It means many other things. The earliest poems were memorized and recited, not written down, so sound is very important in poetry.

Rhyme - Rhyme means sounds agree. "Rhyme" usually means end rhymes (words at the end of a line). They give balance and please the ear. Sometimes rhymes are exact. Other times they are just similar. Both are okay. You mark rhyme in a poem with the letters of the alphabet. For instance, in this stanza: Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. the rhyme scheme is aaba (because "know," "though," and "snow" rhyme, they are marked "a," while "here" is another rhyme, and is marked "b") Repetition - Repetition occurs when a word or phrase used more than once. Repetition can create a pattern Refrain - Lines repeated in the same way, that repeat regularly in the poem. Alliteration - Alliteration is the repetition of the same sound in different words. Onomatopoeia - Onomatopoeia means words or phrases that sound like the things they are describing. (hiss, zoom, bow-wow, etc.) Consonance - Consonance happens when consonants agree in words, though they may not rhyme. (fast, lost) Assonance - Assonance happens when vowels agree in words, though they may not rhyme. (peach, tree) Rhythm Meter (or metrics) - When you speak, you don't say everything in a steady tone like a hum--you'd sound funny. Instead, you stress parts of words. You say different parts of words with different volume, and your voice rises and falls as if you were singing a song. Mostly, we don't notice we're doing it. Poetry in English is often made up of poetic units or feet. The most common feet are the iamb, the trochee, the anapest, and the dactyl. Each foot has one stress or beat. Depending on what kind of poem you're writing, each line can have anywhere from one to many stressed beats, otherwise known as feet. Most common are: Trimeter (three beats) Tetrameter (four beats) Pentameter (five beats) You also sometimes see dimeter (two beats) and hexameter (six beats) but lines longer than that can't be said in one breath, so poets tend to avoid them. Figures of speech

Figures of speech are also called figurative language. The most well-known figures of speech are are simile, metaphor, and personification. They are used to help with the task of "telling, not showing." Simile - a comparison of one thing to another, using the words "like," "as," or "as though." Metaphor - comparing one thing to another by saying that one thing is another thing. Metaphors are stronger than similes, but they are more difficult to see. Personification - speaking as if something were human when it's not. Poetic forms There are a number of common poetic forms. . Ballad - story told in verse. A ballad stanza is usually four lines, and there is often a repetitive refrain. As you might guess, this form started out as a song. An example of a traditional Scottish ballad is Lord Randal at http://www.bartleby.com/243/66.html Haiku - a short poem with seventeen syllables, usually written in three lines with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the third. The present tense is used, the subject is one thing happening now, and words are not repeated. It does not rhyme. The origin of the haiku is Japanese. Cinquain - a five-line poem with two syllables in the first line, four in the second, six in the third, eight in the fourth, and two in the fifth. It expresses one image or thought, in one or possibly two sentences. Villanelle - a 19-line poem with five tercets and one quatrain at the end. Two of the lines are repeated alternately at the ends of the tercets, and finish off the poem: the first line and the third line of the first tercet. Although it sounds very complicated, it's like a song or a dance and easy to see once you've looked at a villanelle. Limerick - A five-line poem, usually meant to be funny. The rhythm is anapests. Lines 1, 2, and 5 rhyme with one another, and lines 3 and 4 rhyme with one another. Lines 1, 2, and 5 have three feet, lines 3 and 4 have two feet. An iamb can be substituted for an anapest in the first foot of any line. The last foot can add another unstressed beat for the rhyming effect. Sonnet - There are different types of sonnet. The most familiar to us is made of three quatrains and ends with a couplet. They tend to be complicated and elegant.William Shakespeare wrote the most well-known sonnets. Free verse (or open form) - Much modern poetry does not obviously rhyme and doesn't have a set meter. However, sound and rhythm are often still important, and it is still often written in short lines. Concrete poetry (pattern or shape poetry) is a picture poem, in which the visual shape of the poem contributes to its meaning. Elements of Poetry POETRY ASSUMPTIONS

Readers of poetry often bring with them many related assumptions:    

That a poem is to be read for its "message," That this message is "hidden" in the poem, The message is to be found by treating the words as symbols which naturally do not mean what they say but stand for something else, You have to decipher every single word to appreciate and enjoy the poem.

There are no easy ways to dispel these biases. Poetry is difficult because very often its language is indirect. But so is experience - those things we think, feel, and do. The lazy reader wants to be told things and usually avoids poetry because it demands commitment and energy. Moreover, much of what poetry has to offer is not in the form of hidden meanings. Many poets like to "play" with the sound of language or offer an emotional insight by describing what they see in highly descriptive language. In fact, there can many different ways to enjoy poetry; this reflects the many different styles and objectives of poets themselves. For an overview of the many ways to read a poem, clickhere. Finally, if you are the type to give up when something is unclear, just relax! Like we just said, there can be many different approaches to examining poetry; often these approaches (like looking for certain poetic devices or examining the meaning of a specific phrase) do not require a complete and exhaustive analysis of a poem. So, enjoy what you do understand!

FIRST APPROACHES Read the poem (many students neglect this step). Identify the speaker and the situation. Feel free to read it more than once! Read the sentences literally. Use your prose reading skills to clarify what the poem is about.Read each line separately, noting unusual words and associations. Look up words you are unsure of and struggle with word associations that may not seem logical to you.Note any changes in the form of the poem that might signal a shift in point of view. Study the structure of the poem, including its rhyme and rhythm (if any). Re-read the poem slowly, thinking about what message and emotion the poem communicates to you. STRUCTURE and POETRY An important method of analyzing a poem is to look at the stanza structure or style of a poem. Generally speaking, structure has to do with the overall organization of lines and/or the conventional patterns of sound. Again, many modern poems may not have any identifiable structure (i.e. they are free verse), so don't panic if you can't find it!

STANZAS: Stanzas are a series of lines grouped together and separated by an empty line from other stanzas. They are the equivalent of a paragraph in an essay. One way to identify a stanza is to count the number of lines. Thus:       

couplet (2 lines) tercet (3 lines) quatrain (4 lines) cinquain (5 lines) sestet (6 lines) (sometimes it's called a sexain) septet (7 lines) octave (8 lines)

FORM: A poem may or may not have a specific number of lines, rhyme scheme and/or metrical pattern, but it can still be labeled according to its form or style. Here are the three most common types of poems according to form: 1. Lyric Poetry: It is any poem with one speaker (not necessarily the poet) who expresses strong thoughts and feelings. Most poems, especially modern ones, are lyric poems.

2. Narrative Poem: It is a poem that tells a story; its structure resembles the plot line of a story [i.e. the introduction of conflict and characters, rising action, climax and the denouement].

3. Descriptive Poem: It is a poem that describes the world that surrounds the speaker. It uses elaborate imagery and adjectives. While emotional, it is more "outward-focused" than lyric poetry, which is more personal and introspective. In a sense, almost all poems, whether they have consistent patterns of sound and/or structure, or are free verse, are in one of the three categories above. Or, of course, they may be a combination of 2 or 3 of the above styles! Here are some more types of poems that are subtypes of the three styles above: Ode: It is usually a lyric poem of moderate length, with a serious subject, an elevated style, and an elaborate stanza pattern. Elegy: It is a lyric poem that mourns the dead. [It's not to be confused with a eulogy.]It has no set metric or stanzaic pattern, but it usually begins by reminiscing about the dead person, then laments the reason for the death, and then resolves the grief by concluding that death leads to immortality. It often uses "apostrophe" (calling out to the dead person) as a literary technique. It can have a fairly formal style, and sound similar to an ode. Sonnet: It is a lyric poem consisting of 14 lines and, in the English version, is usually written in iambic pentameter. There are two basic kinds of sonnets: the Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnet and the Shakespearean (or Elizabethan/English) sonnet. The Italian/Petrarchan sonnet is named after Petrarch, an Italian Renaissance poet. The Petrarchan sonnet consists of an octave (eight lines) and a sestet (six lines). The Shakespearean sonnet consists of three quatrains (four lines each) and a concluding couplet (two lines). The Petrarchan sonnet tends to divide the thought into two parts (argument and conclusion); the Shakespearean, into four (the final couplet is the summary). Ballad: It is a narrative poem that has a musical rhythm and can be sung. A ballad is usually organized into quatrains or cinquains, has a simple rhythm structure, and tells the tales of ordinary people. Epic: It is a long narrative poem in elevated style recounting the deeds of a legendary or historical hero. Qualities of an Epic Poem: 

narrative poem of great scope; dealing with the founding of a nation or some other heroic theme requires a dignified theme requires an organic unity requires orderly progress of the action always has a heroic figure or figures involves supernatural forces



written in deliberately ceremonial style

Other types of poems include: Haiku: It has an unrhymed verse form having three lines (a tercet) and usually 5,7,5 syllables, respectively. It's usually considered a lyric poem. Limerick: It has a very structured poem, usually humorous & composed of five lines (a cinquain), in anaabba rhyming pattern; beat must be anapestic (weak, weak, strong) with 3 feet in lines 1, 2, & 5 and 2 feet in lines 3 & 4. It's usually a narrative poem based upon a short and often ribald anecdote. SOUND PATTERNS Three other elements of poetry are rhyme scheme, meter (ie. regular rhythm) and word sounds (like alliteration). These are sometimes collectively called sound play because they take advantage of the performative, spoken nature of poetry.

RHYME

Rhyme is the repetition of similar sounds. In poetry, the most common kind of rhyme is the end rhyme, which occurs at the end of two or more lines. It is usually identified with lower case letters, and a new letter is used to identify each new end sound. Take a look at the rhyme scheme for the following poem :

I saw a fairy in the wood, He was dressed all in green. He drew his sword while I just stood, And realized I'd been seen.

The rhyme scheme of the poem is abab. . Internal rhyme occurs in the middle of a line, as in these lines from Coleridge, "In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud" or "Whiles all the night through fog-smoke white" ("The Ancient Mariner"). that most modern poems do not have rhyme. RHYTHM AND METER

Meter: the systematic regularity in rhythm; this systematic rhythm (or sound pattern) is usually identified by examining the type of "foot" and the number of feet. 1. Poetic Foot: The traditional line of metered poetry contains a number of rhythmical units, which are called feet. The feet in a line are distinguished as a recurring pattern of two or three syllables("apple"

has 2 syllables, "banana" has 3 syllables, etc.). The pattern, or foot, is designated according to the number of syllables contained, and the relationship in each foot between the strong and weak syllables.Thus: __ = a stressed (or strong, or LOUD) syllable U = an unstressed (or weak, or quiet) syllable

In other words, any line of poetry with a systematic rhythm has a certain number of feet, and each foothas two or three syllables with a constant beat pattern . a. Iamb (Iambic) - weak syllable followed by strong syllable. [Note that the pattern is sometimes fairly hard to maintain, as in the third foot.]

b.

Trochee (Trochaic): strong syllable followed by a weak syllable.

c.

Anapest (Anapestic): two weak syllables followed by a strong syllable.

e.g. In her room at the prow of the house Where light breaks, and the windows are tossed... From "The Writer", by Richard Wilbur d.

Dactyl (Dactylic): a strong syllable followed by two weak syllables. DD

Here's another (silly) example of dactylic rhythm. DDDA was an / archer, who / shot at a / frog DDDB was a / butcher, and / had a great / dog DDDC was a / captain, all / covered with / lace DDDD was a / drunkard, and / had a red / face.

e. Spondee (Spondaic): two strong syllables (not common as lines, but appears as a foot). A spondee usually appears at the end of a line.

2. The Number of Feet: The second part of meter is the number of feet contained in a line. Thus: one foot=monometer two feet=dimeter three feet=trimeter four feet=tetrameter five feet=pentameter six feet=hexameter (when hexameter is in iambic rhythm, it is called an alexandrine) Poems with an identifiable meter are therefore identified by the type of feet (e.g. iambic) and the number of feet in a line (e.g. pentameter). The following line is iambic pentameter because it (1) has five feet [pentameter], and (2) each foot has two syllables with the stress on the second syllable [iambic]. That time | of year | thou mayst | in me | behold Thus, you will hear meter identified as iambic pentameter, trochaic tetrameter, and so on.

3. Irregularity: Many metered poems in English avoid perfectly regular rhythm because it is monotonous. Irregularities in rhythm add interest and emphasis to the lines. In this line:

The first foot substitutes a trochee for an iamb. Thus, the basic iambic pentameter is varied with the opening trochee. 4. Blank Verse: Any poetry that does have a set metrical pattern (usually iambic pentameter), butdoes not have rhyme, is blank verse. Shakespeare frequently used unrhymed iambic pentameter in his plays; his works are an early example of blank verse. 5. Free Verse: Most modern poetry no longer follows strict rules of meter or rhyme, especially throughout an entire poem. Free verse, frankly, has no rules about meter or rhyme whatsoever! [In other words, blank verse has rhythm, but no rhyme, while free verse has neither rhythm nor rhyme.] So, you may find it difficult to find regular iambic pentameter in a modern poem, though you might find it in particular lines. Modern poets do like to throw in the occasional line or phrase of metered poetry, particularly if they’re trying to create a certain effect. Free verse can also apply to a lack of a formal verse structure. How do I know if a poem has meter? How do I determine the meter?

To maintain a consistent meter, a poet has to choose words that fit. For example, if a poet wants to write iambic poetry, s/he has to choose words that have a naturally iambic rhythm. Words like betrayand persuade will work in an iambic poem because they are naturally iambic. They sound silly any other way. However, candle and muscle will work best in a trochaic poem, because their natural emphasis is on the first syllable. (However, a poet can use trochaic words if s/he places a one syllable word in front of them. This often leads to poetic feet ending in the middle of words - after one syllable - rather than the end.) It's not surprising that most modern poetry is not metered, because it is very restrictive and demanding. Determining meter is usually a process of elimination. Start reading everything in iambic by emphasizing every second syllable. 80 to 90% of metered poetry is iambic. If it sounds silly or strange, because many of the poem's words do not sound natural, then try trochaic, anapestic or dactylic rhythms. If none of these sounds natural, then you probably do not have metered poetry at all (ie. it's free verse). If there are some lines that sound metered, but some that don't, the poem has an irregular rhythm.

WORD SOUNDS Another type of sound play is the emphasis on individual sounds and words: Alliteration: the repetition of initial sounds on the same line or stanza - Big bad Bob bounced bravely. Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds (anywhere in the middle or end of a line or stanza) - Tilting at windmills Consonance: the repetition of consonant sounds (anywhere in the middle or end of a line or stanza) - And all the air a solemn stillness holds. (T. Gray) Onomatopoeia: words that sound like that which they describe - Boom! Crash! Pow! Quack! Moo!Caress... Repetition: the repetition of entire lines or phrases to emphasize key thematic ideas. Parallel Stucture: a form of repetition where the order of verbs and nouns is repeated; it may involve exact words, but it more importantly repeats sentence structure - "I came, I saw, I conquered". MEANING and POETRY I said earlier that poetry is not always about hidden or indirect meanings (sometimes called meaning play). Nevertheless, if often is a major part of poetry, so here some of the important things to :

CONCRETENESS and PARTICULARITY In general, poetry deals with particular things in concrete language, since our emotions most readily respond to these things. From the poem's particular situation, the reader may then generalize; the generalities arise by implication from the particular. In other words, a poem is most often concrete and particular; the "message," if there is any, is general and abstract; it's implied by the images. Images, in turn, suggest meanings beyond the mere identity of the specific object. Poetry "plays" with meaning when it identifies resemblances or makes comparisons between things; common examples of this "figurative" comparison include:  

ticking of clock = mortality hardness of steel = determination



white = peace or purity

Such as connotation, simile, metaphor, allegory, and symbol are aspects of this comparison. Such expressions are generally called figurative or metaphorical language. DENOTATION AND CONNOTATION Word meanings are not only restricted to dictionary meanings. The full meaning of a word includes both the dictionary definition and the special meanings and associations a word takes in a given phrase or expression. For example, a tiger is a carnivorous animal of the cat family. This is the literal or denotative meaning. But we have certain associations with the word: sinuous movement, jungle violence, and aggression. These are the suggestive, figurative or connotative meanings.

FIGURATIVE/CONNOTATIVE DEVICES 1. Simile is the rhetorical term used to designate the most elementary form of resemblances: most similes are introduced by "like" or "as." These comparisons are usually between dissimilar situations or objects that have something in common, such as "My love is like a red, red rose." 2. A metaphor leaves out "like" or "as" and implies a direct comparison between objects or situations. "All flesh is grass." For more on metaphor, click here. 3. Synecdoche is a form of metaphor, which in mentioning an important (and attached) part signifies the whole (e.g. "hands" for labour). 4. Metonymy is similar to synecdoche; it's a form of metaphor allowing an object closely associated (butunattached) with a object or situation to stand for the thing itself (e.g. the crown or throne for a king or the bench for the judicial system). 5. A symbol is like a simile or metaphor with the first term left out. "My love is like a red, red rose" is a simile. If, through persistent identification of the rose with the beloved woman, we may come to associate the rose with her and her particular virtues. At this point, the rose would become a symbol. 6. Allegory can be defined as a one to one correspondence between a series of abstract ideas and a series of images or pictures presented in the form of a story or a narrative. For example, George Orwell's Animal Farm is an extended allegory that represents the Russian Revolution through a fable of a farm and its rebellious animals. 7. Personification occurs when you treat abstractions or inanimate objects as human, that is, giving them human attributes, powers, or feelings (e.g., "nature wept" or "the wind whispered many truths to me"). 8. Irony takes many forms. Most basically, irony is a figure of speech in which actual intent is expressed through words that carry the opposite meaning. o o o o

Paradox: usually a literal contradiction of or situations Situational Irony: an unmailed letter Dramatic Irony: audience has more information or greater perspective than the characters Verbal Irony: saying one thing but meaning another  Overstatement (hyperbole)  Understatement (meiosis)  Sarcasm

Irony may be a positive or negative force. It is most valuable as a mode of perception that assists the poet to see around and behind opposed attitudes, and to see the often conflicting interpretations that come from our examination of life.

POETRY AS A LANGUAGE OF INDIRECTION Thus, if we recognize that much of the essential quality of our experience is more complex than a simple denotative statement can describe, then we must recognize the value of the poet's need to search for a language agile enough to capture the complexity of that experience. Consider this four-line stanza: O Western wind, when wilt thou blow That the small rain down can rain? Christ, that my love were in my arms, And I in my bed again! The center of the poem is the lover's desire to be reunited with his beloved (lines 3 and 4). But the full meaning of the poem depends on the first two lines also. Obviously, the lover associates his grief with the wind and rain, but the poet leaves to implication, to indirection, just how the lover's situation and the wind and rain are related. We note that they are related in several ways: the need for experiencing and manifesting love is an inherent need, like nature's need for rain; in a word, love, like the wind and rain, is natural. Secondly, the lover is living in a kind of drought or arid state that can only be slaked by the soothing presence of the beloved. Thirdly, the rising of the wind and the coming of the rain can neither be controlled nor foretold exactly, and human affairs, like the lover's predicament, are subject to the same sort of chance. Undoubtedly, too, there are associations with specific words, like "Western" or "small rain" that the reader is only half aware of but which nonetheless contribute to meaning. These associations or connotations afford a few indirections that enrich the entire poem. For example, "small rain" at once describes the kind of rain that the lover wants to fall and suggests the joy and peace of lover's tears, and "small" alone might suggest the daintiness or femininity of the beloved.