Here we start into the technical, mathematical aspect of poetry. This is “art” in the old sense of the word–the sense that now remains in words like “artificial” and “artifice”–not the modern sense of the word, which has taken on the opposite of its ancient meaning.

Most people prefer to call this the craft of poetry or poetics. It is the association of rhythms and sounds–the lengths, ranges, and qualities of sounds–with desired effects:

What is the sound of sadness?

What is the sound of joy?

What is the sound of any emotional state?

Poets explore questions like these endlessly.

Our job this week is to see what they have found out.

This means that we are once again looking at poems more ahistorically than historically. 

So look at specific poems, ask what emotional (or “affective”) reaction the poet seeks, and then ask how she/he achieves that effect.

We’re exploring how the poem itself works on the page.

In other words, we’re exploring HOW what the poem says, DOES or DOES NOT look like what it does (or sounds like) on the page.

In reading and discussing the poems this week, begin to use some of the technical language of poetry you’re learning.

Consider a poem’s sounds, meter (or stresses/beats per line), and rhyme scheme.

Begin to see the way poets use elements like alliteration, assonance, anaphora, epistrophe, meter, rhyme scheme, stanza length & breaks, and line breaks in order TO create meanings or an affect in a poem.

 

Lecture: https://introtopoetry2019.pressbooks.com/chapter/chapter-7-the-technical-language-of-poetry/