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Welcome to part two of the AuthorHouse Poetry Writing Master Class. In this article I will continue in the spirit of NaPoWriMo and celebrate the beauty of the English language through poetry. We will be talking about Imagery, Tone and Irony in poetry and looking at examples of their usage by poetic genii as Mother Goose, Robert Frost and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 3.Imagery
Successful poets add new dimensions to common words by placing them in original or abstract contexts. There are a number of language techniques they use to transport and transfix their readers. The Metaphor: An implied equation between two objects or things. “A man is but a weak reed.”
The Simile: Uses either “like or “as” to denote a specific relationship between two things. “Hercules was strong as an ox” or “Whitney Houston had a voice like an angel.”
The Metonym: Substitutes one word with another associated word. In the instruction “all hands on deck” the word “hands” refers to the people attached to them.
The Personification: Attributing human traits or characteristics to inanimate objects. Here is a fine example, The Cat & The Fiddle By Mother Goose Hey diddle, Diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon;
The little dog laughed
To see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon. 4.Tone
A poet uses tone to elicit emotion within the reader. The best poets are those who can translate the emotions involved in their prose to their readers by showing them, rather than telling them. Read through the last stanza of Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken. Try reading it twice. First read the lines jovially. Then read them again with and actual sigh when he says “sigh” and the closing line in a gloomy fashion. See how this appears to change the whole essence of Frost’s choice of road. "I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference." 5.Irony
Irony is when the actual meaning is the exact opposite of the literal meaning. This often takes place when the situation or action described leads to an unexpected result. Below is a very famous example where, despite there being water everywhere, there is nothing to drink. Rime of the Ancient Mariner By Samuel Taylor Coleridge Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink. Part three will be the final instalment of this AuthorHouse Poetry Writing Master Class. We will discuss Rhythm and Rhyme in that article. I hope this AuthorHouse Poetry Writing Master Class will inspire you to take on the NaPoWriMo challenge this April.
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