The Sunday News
Charles Dube
WHAT is a poem? Talk of learning going backwards — last week I just plunged on the subject helping learners appreciate poetry, but, when I looked back while researching for this week’s topic I discovered some attempts offered by some researchers or experts to define poetry, hence I went back to the basics to define what a poem is. You can take your pick from these few examples I came across: A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom. (Robert Frost) William Wordsworth, describes poetry as the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge.
C. Day Lewis says, “Every good poem in fact, is a bridge built from the known, familiar side of life over into the unknown.” T S Eliot says, “Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood. “. . . the best words in the best order”, says Samuel Taylor Coleridge.) In the dictionary it is defined as composition in verse or some comparable patterned arrangement of language in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by the use of distinctive style and rhythm . . .
This article is a follow-up to the subject discussed last week focusing on helping learners appreciate studying poetry. Poetry, when approached well, eliminates all the fears associated with it. The reason learners seem to dislike poetry is based on language restrictions, difficulty in expressing yourself in grammatically correct language kills all the interest in studying poetry. In addition to this, learners should be able to de-construct questions they answer.
It is essential for learners to consider the key words of any question they attempt to answer. They should pay close attention to the key words as they answer the questions. They might get key words like, “In what ways does . . . memorably convey the speaker’s thoughts and feelings in one of the chosen poems?” This means learners need to explore the ways in which the writer uses language and structure to capture the speaker’s voice.
Memorably, in this question this word reinforces the need to look at the detail of the poem and what is memorable about it.
The author’s name in the question reminds the learners that the poet is responsible for choosing the words. So an essential part of an essay is to focus on the particular poet’s craft: how he uses words, images, sounds and structure. Imagery plays a central role in poetry. On a straightforward level, you can picture in your head the literal images created by the words in the poem.
Remember like in any other key literary terms you need to explore the effects such devices create and how they help to convey the meaning. Learners, make sure you know these key literary terms: imagery, simile, metaphor, personification, oxymoron, alliteration, onomatopoeia, and assonance — the repetition of vowel sounds in words which are placed close together.
Remember that alliteration refers to the repetition of consonant sounds. You need to do more than merely spot and define these terms.
Please note that the two common sound devices used by poets are alliteration and onomatopoeia. The more poems you read, the more you will develop your understanding of the way poets use language and the effects they want to create. If you are studying more one poem by one poet in your anthology, do study them all carefully. Do not risk only studying half of them and hoping that one of those will turn up in examination, as it is very possible that the questions will turn out to be on the half you have not studied.
I always tell learners to read and understand the poems than cram them. Cramming poems leads to confusion as learners tend to mix up related ideas from different poems. Learners should read, study and know the different poems. When poems have been thoroughly understood there are high chances of scoring high marks in the examination. It is worth having a basic structure to follow when writing about a poem. Examiners are sometimes surprised when an answer begins with a long paragraph about some detail or style of the poem: for example, rhyming patterns where there has been no introduction or indication of what the poem is actually about.
Here is one possible structure you might find helpful to follow: You start by giving an overview of what the poem is about. You go on and explore how the poet treats the subject. As stated earlier find, define the sounds in the poem (alliteration/assonance/ onomatopoeia) and explain their effects on the reader and how they help convey the meaning.
Explore the language of the poem (similes, metaphors and others). Examine the structure of the poem, is it in verse form/line lengths, enjambment etc. Overall, give an assessment of the poem on the reader.
If you find all or some of the key terms discussed here in the poem you are studying, always try to show what it adds to the poem. It is important that you understand literary terms and that you are confident about using them. Poems like prose and drama have themes like prejudice, death, rebellion, divorce, growing up and many others as the choice is not limited to these mentioned here. Learners need to deduct the themes from the ones they are studying.
When exploring language and structure as you study a poem, consider the six key areas listed below: Consider words appealing to the senses. Comment on the effects of words appealing to sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. Consider imagery as shown earlier whereby you comment on the effects of similes, metaphors and personification. The same applies on sound where you comment on alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia, rhyme and rhythm.
Consider mood, and comment on the atmosphere of the poem. For instance, joyful, sad and menacing. The tone of any “voice” or voices in the poem changes in mood and changes in tone. Consider structure and comment on the organisation of content in stanzas/ stages of poem. Use of traditional, for example, sonnet, or other forms like free verse. Comment on the effectiveness of opening as well as ending.
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