Back to Literature or Elftown Academy or Poetry 101

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If you have a poem and want it evaluated by me, [Aristotle], or me, [shadow_of_life], or other people, post it on Poetry critique and commentary.

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Lesson 1: Grammar.

Yup, this is where you finally have some use for all that crap you learned in English class in grad school. What, you didn't listen? Well, I'll just have to take it all again, then.

Syllables
Every word has a certain number of syllables. Hopefully, you know what a syllable is. For example, the word 'cat' has one syllable, 'Frodo' has two, 'conciousness' has three, and 'naturalistic' has five. The concept of syllables plays an important part in poetry. Each line has a certain number of syllables, and the poem will sound weird and unorganized if the different lines have no syllabic organization whatsoever. We will talk more of this in the lesson on rhyme patterns.
In a poem, you sometimes can add an extra syllable to a word, or take away one, to make sure it fits the poem. Shakespeare was a master of this technique, and I will now show you a couple of examples from Romeo and Juliet, which is technichally not a poem, but a play, but it often follows all the rules of poetry, which is one reason for it's greatness.
The following passage is from the Wordswoth Classics edition of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo has slain Tybalt, the cousin of his wife Juliet, after that Tybalt had slain Mercutio, Romeo's friend. Romeo flees to friar Lawrece's cell, and the friar finds out what the judgement on Romeo is, for slaying Tybalt. This is where he tells Romeo of the judgement:

FRIAR: Hence from Verona art thou banishèd.
     Be patient, for the world is broad and wide.

ROMEO There is no world without Verona walls,
     But purgatory, torture, hell itself:
     Hence 'banishèd' is 'banished from the world',
     And world's exile is death. Then 'banishèd',
     Is death mis-termed. Calling death 'banishèd',
     Thou cut'st my head off with a golden axe,
     And smilest upon the stroke that murders me.

Note how Shakespeare with the 'è' in 'banishèd' suggests that the normally silent ending should be pronounced, thus having the same number of syllables in each line. Also note that he omits the sign in the second mentioning of the word in Romeo's third line, so it is not too many syllables.

He also at places removes one syllable. I'll give you a shorter passage this time. I kinda got carried away on the last one (I love Shakespeare. Does it show?). Juliet pretends that she accepts to marry Paris, and tells her father:

JULIET I met the youthful lord at Lawrence' cell
     And gave him what becomèd love I might,
     Not stepping o'er the bounds of modesty.

Not only does he use the 'è' again in this example (it's not as often used as it seems in these examples), but he writes 'o'er', signalling that the normally two-syllable word ('over') is to be pronounced as one syllable, by taking away the consonant and thereby producing a one-syllable diphtong ('oe'). Another example is the famous 'tis, which is actually short for 'it is'.
So, a poet can manipulate the language as (s)he wills, and mixturing with syllables is one way.

Emphasis
Of equal importance to a poem is emphasis. For example, 'terrible' and 'enormous' are both three-syllable words. However, in the worf 'terrible,' the emphasis is on the first syllable, while in the word 'enormous,' it is on the second syllable. Get it? It's simple. Not much more to say about it.

I'll go right on to the next lesson, because hopefully, you already knew most of that stuff.