There have been debates about what exactly makes a piece of writing poetry and what makes it different from a quote. It can be confusing as a writer sometimes, when you read over the words you have put down and they start looking a lot like quotes instead.
What makes a group of words poetry? What are the characteristics of a poem? What makes a poem a poem, as I usually like to frame my question?
Though there are different types of poems, over ten types actually, and though each type of poetry has specific features that differentiates it from the rest, there are characteristics that are common to all poems, or at least, most poems. I will be looking at five of these characteristics.
1. Specific Metrical Structure
This may be a little technical, but let’s get through this together, shall we?
A metrical structure is a poetic form that uses a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables to create a rhythmic effect. Stressed syllables sound longer, and unstressed, shorter, when read aloud.
Here is an example of a line with stressed and unstressed syllables to help you understand:
"I walk the line in peace and strife."
Here’s the breakdown:
I walk (unstressed, stressed)
the line (unstressed, stressed)
in peace (unstressed, stressed)
and strife (unstressed, stressed)
Many poems have a specific metrical structure that uses a combination of stressed and unstressed syllables to create a rhythm. A poem could have a number of sets of such stressed and unstressed syllables, creating a pattern of its own. The rhythmic nature of poetry can add musicality to the words.
Examples of metrical structures are iambic trimeter, iambic tetrameter and iambic pentameter. Now, stay with me. It’s not that complicated. Iambic simply means an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed one. The opposite is trochaic, which starts with a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one. There are other terms but these are the most commonly used terms you may come across when reading a material about poetry.
To help you have better understanding on metrical structure as one of the characteristics of poetry, I will explain iambic pentameter with an example. Iambic pentameter is like the fancy term for the rhythm Shakespeare liked to use in his plays and sonnets. It’s basically a pattern of syllables where each line consists of five pairs, or “feet,” with each foot containing an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one. A well-known example of iambic pentameter is the famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy from William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”.
"To be or not to be, that is the question."
To be (unstressed, stressed)
or not (unstressed, stressed)
to be, (unstressed, stressed)
that is (unstressed, stressed)
the ques- (unstressed, stressed)
tion (stressed)
Not all poems follow this metrical rule though. Free verses, which have become popular today do not follow a strict rhythm or structure, just as the name suggests. Though they seem limitless, they still follow a few rules, like the next three characteristics of a poem mentioned, which hence make them poems. If you want to learn more about the various types of poetry, you can check out my blog on 10 Types of Poetry
2. Organized Sections or Stanzas
Unlike stories, novels and plays where words, scenes and ideas are arranged in paragraphs of many sentences, dialogues, or acts and scenes (in the case of plays), poems are organized specifically into lines which are grouped in stanzas.
The stanzas and lines are written around a central theme and specific subject matter, and as you read, you are able to grasp, just by the few words or lines, what the writer is trying to talk about.
Some poems may have just one stanza, others, two or four or even more. But the most important thing is its organized structure.
Lines of poetry don’t necessarily have to end as complete sentences. That means, a sentence can be broken into a first line and a second line of a poem, with a break that makes sense. Poems also do not need to be punctuated. Punctuating a poem is optional though it does help guide your audience as they read.
Narratives on the other hand, involve paragraphs of continuous lines that end with periods or full stops. There is full use of punctuations as well.
3. Use of Literary Devices and Visual Imagery
Poems make use of a variety of literary devices to create deep expressions and strong imaginations in the reader. Literary devices such as personification, hyperboles and onomatopoeia are often seen in poetry.
Through few words, poems are able to create and paint facial expressions, moments and sceneries in the mind through visual imagery. There are times when a line or a stanza may give off two meanings. Many times, with these literary devices, lines have deeper meanings hidden beneath subtle expressions.
4. Emotional Power
Poems have the ability to evoke very deep and strong emotions in the reader with concise words. A poem can, for example, cause a reader to feel the pain of a heartbreak, the hurt of losing a loved one, or happiness just by the writer’s few words. The poet doesn’t need so many words to stir up such feelings in his or her reader, and that is the beauty of poetry.
Many poems evoke deeper meanings, aside the literal meanings to the words used. The words used express thoughts through condensed words
5. Rhyme Scheme
Lots of poems in literature history have specific rhyme schemes such as “aabb ccdd”, where the last words of the 1st lines of every stanza rhyme with the 2nd, and that of the 3rd lines rhyme with the 4th. Poems like Sonnets and Ballads have specify rhyme schemes that make them unique. A good example to explain rhyme scheme is Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” This excerpt shows an AABB CCDD rhyme pattern:
Whose woods these are I think I know. (A)
His house is in the village, though; (A)
He will not see me stopping here (B)
To watch his woods fill up with snow. (B)
My little horse must think it queer (C)
To stop without a farmhouse near (C)
Between the woods and frozen lake (D)
The darkest evening of the year. (D)
Rhyme schemes are not always used in poetry though. Free verses most of the time do not follow a strict rhyme scheme and free verse is a common style of writing poetry today.
It is hence not a general rule that every poem should have a rhyme scheme. But if you do see any form of writing with a rhyme scheme, it is likely to be a poem.
Does that mean poems without rhyme schemes aren’t actually poems? No. They don’t necessary have to have a rhyme scheme to qualify as poetry. The characteristics mentioned before do make free verses qualify as poems.
Summary
Poems are quite unique at creating vivid images in the minds of their audience with brevity. Use of literary devices is major in poetry and depending on the type of poetry, a poem may have a particular rhyme scheme or, in the case of free verses, have no strict rhyme. Poems have a metric structure, and are organized into lines and stanzas, and not sentences and paragraphs.
Thanks for reading! I hope this was helpful.
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