K. S. Joseph, M.A. (English); M.A. (Linguistics), M.Ed., Ph.D.,

teaches M.Ed. students at Titus II Teachers’ College, Tiruvalla,

Kerala. He has authored ten books and over sixty papers.

Check your answers

P

rose and poetry are the two main

forms of a language. Although

they are made of the same stuff,

they differ in quite a number of

ways. Poetry results when emotions

are recollected in tranquility. Poetry

is highly imaginative while prose

is often a matter of fact. Similarly,

poetry is designed more for the ear

than is most prose. While poetry

appeals to the emotions, prose

appeals to the intellect. While

sentences and paragraphs are the

main patterns of prose, lines and

stanzas are those of poetry. To make

poetry more appealing and effective,

poets generally make use of a

number of devices such as rhythm,

rhyme, alliteration, onomatopoeia,

repetition, and various kinds of

figurative expressions. As students,

if you know what these are and

how they are employed to embellish

poetry, you will be in a better

position to appreciate it.

1. Rhythm
   Rhythm is worked out through
   recurrence of weak and strong
   syllables in pre-specified patterns.
   This is managed through foot
   and meter. A foot consists of a set

Learning to

Appreciate

Poetry

learn it speaK it

number of long and short syllables. It

is the unit of measurement in poetry.

Meter indicates the number of feet

in a line. For example, trimeter

refers to lines having three feet and

pentameter refers to lines with five

feet. Poets choose rhythm that fit the

mood of the poem. They use long

lines to express moods of dignity,

grandeur, or sorrow while short lines

are used to express moods of gaiety,

lightness or delicacy.

2. Rhyme
   Rhyme is the
   repetition of identical
   sounds, at the end of
   lines. The following
   lines are an example of
   rhyme.
   Back into the chamber
   turning,
   All my soul within me
   burning.


3. Alliteration
   Alliteration has to do with
   repetition of identical consonantal
   sounds at the beginning of words in
   a line. The following are examples of
   alteration.
   Down the drains the donkey drive
   Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled
   pepper.


4. Onomatopeia
   Many words in English such as
   buzz, cuckoo, crack, hiss, babble
   have sound-sense relationship. When
   poets select and use such words
   in accordance with the situation
   in question, onomatopoeia takes
   shape. “The murmur of innumerable
   bees” can be taken up as example of
   onomatopoeia.


5. Repetition
   This has to do with repetition of
   certain words for the purpose of
   musical quality and for emphasis.

The following are examples of

repetition:

Fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen,

Fallen from the high estate.

Alone, alone, all, all alone,

Alone on a wide, wide sea.

6. Figures of speech
   Figures of speech involve skilful
   and artistic ways of expressing ideas
   for specific effect. Simile, metaphor,
   personification, transferred epithet,
   etc., are some of them.

Answer the following in a word or

a phrase:

1. What results when emotions are
   recollected in tranquility?


2. If sentences and paragraphs are
   patterns of prose, what do you think
   are those of poetry?


3. While prose appeals to intellect, to
   what does poetry appeal?


4. What does meter indicate in poetry?


5. What is the unit of measurement
   in poetry?


6. What do we call a set number of
   short and long syllables?


7. Which device in poetry does
   indicate sound-sense relationship?


8. What does repetition aim at in
   poetry?


9. By what name is repetition of
   identical consonantal sounds at the
   beginning of words in a line known?


10. What do we call skilful and
    artistic ways of expressing ideas for
    special effect in poetry?


11. poetry, 2. lines and stanzas, 3.
    emotions, 4. the number of feet in a
    line, 5. foot 6. foot, 7. onomatopoeia,


12. musical quality and emphasis, 9.
    alliteration, 10. figures of speech

DR K. S. JOSEPH