7/27/2019 Overview of Poetic Elements

1/14

Overview of PoeticElements

Part II

7/27/2019 Overview of Poetic Elements

2/14

5 More Poetic Elements

Symbol Paradox Overstatement

(hyperbole)

Understatement Irony

Verbal

DramaticSituation

7/27/2019 Overview of Poetic Elements

3/14

Figurative Language Part IISymbol

Symbol: Something that means more thanwhat it is.

Image: means what it is A shaggy browndog was rubbing its back against a white picketfence. Metaphor: means something other than what it

is Some dirty dog stole my wallet. Symbol: means what it is and something more,too You cant teach an old dog new tricks.

7/27/2019 Overview of Poetic Elements

4/14

The Road Not Taken (p. 734) is anexample of the use of symbol.

The literal meaning describes an experience bya traveler in a wood.The symbolic meaning describes any majorchoice in life and the feelings surrounding it.

7/27/2019 Overview of Poetic Elements

5/14

Other Poems Which Use Symbol

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost (p. 793)

To the Virgins to Make Much of Time byRobert Herrick (p. 742) Fire and Ice by Robert Frost (p. 746)

The Writer by Richard Wilbur (p. 751) Because I could not stop for Death by

Emily Dickinson (p. 752)

7/27/2019 Overview of Poetic Elements

6/14

7/27/2019 Overview of Poetic Elements

7/14

Examples of Paradox

Much Madness is Divinest Sense by EmilyDickinson (p. 757)

Batter my heart, three -personed God byJohn Donne (p. 766)

Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me. A Considerable Speck by Robert Frost

(p. 771) Also employs the use of irony

7/27/2019 Overview of Poetic Elements

8/14

Overstatement/Understatement

hyperbole = exaggeration Understatement = saying less than one

means Examples of hyperbole:

The Road Not Taken (p. 734) I shall be telling this ages and ages hence

Incident by Countee Cullen (p. 769) Thats all that I remember

7/27/2019 Overview of Poetic Elements

9/14

More Examples of Overstatement/Understatement

Fire and Ice by Robert Frost (p.746) for destruction/ice is also great/and will suffice

Understatement Sorting Laundry by Elisavietta Ritchie (p. 767)

Overstatement: a mountain of unsorted wash

The Sun Rising by John Donne (p. 759) Overstatementalso employs extended use of apostrophe

7/27/2019 Overview of Poetic Elements

10/14

Verbal Irony

Saying the opposite of what one means To every woman a happy ending.

Example Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy(p. 762)

7/27/2019 Overview of Poetic Elements

11/14

Dramatic Irony Discrepancy

between thespeakers meaningand the poemsmeaning

Example The

Chimney Sweeper by William Blake(p. 763)

7/27/2019 Overview of Poetic Elements

12/14

Another Example of Dramatic Irony

My Last Duchess by Robert Browning(p. 775)

Click on link for a full-screen version of the

poem

http://barney.gonzaga.edu/~jdavis6/poem.html

http://barney.gonzaga.edu/~jdavis6/poem.htmlhttp://barney.gonzaga.edu/~jdavis6/poem.html

7/27/2019 Overview of Poetic Elements

13/14

Irony of Situation

Something unexpectedhappens

Ozymandias (p. 764)

Poem on next slide

7/27/2019 Overview of Poetic Elements

14/14