Elements of Fiction: Setting
The Setting of a Story
I continue to write about the elements of fiction. In the last post, I wrote about plot and plot structure. In this post, I will write about the setting of a story.
What is the setting of a short story or novel? It is one of the elements of fiction. It refers to the time and place of the story. A setting can be historic, contemporary, or futuristic. But the setting also includes the historical period, political climate, and social conditions in which the story takes place.
The Purpose of Setting
What is the purpose of setting? The writer creates a setting for several reasons. First, the writer must decide whether the setting is an integral part of the story or just a backdrop.
Once the writer determines the role of setting in the story, he/she must create a setting that is believable in the mind of the reader. Otherwise the reader won’t suspend disbelief. Even though the story is fictional, it must be plausible. A good writer knows how to craft a fictional story that is believable.
Creating a realistic setting is one way the writer can make the story believable in the mind of the reader. To convince the reader, the fiction writer can include realistic details about time and place. The place might not actually exist, but the writer convinces the read it does.
The writer can also include actual facts about a real place, such as the name of a city, street name, or landmark.
Another way the fiction writer can create a realistic setting us to place the story within an actual social/political/historical context. Most stories can only take place under certain social, political, or historical condition. For instance, a historical novel takes place during a specific time in history. In Nineteen-Eighty four, George Orwell creates a story in which the main character exists within a totalitarian society. Without this political context, this story would not exist. The writer’s goal is to place the story in a particular context.
The fiction writer can also use setting to create a mood or atmosphere for the story. Mood is the underlying feeling of the story. For example, Cormac McCarthy, in “The Road”, creates a mood that is bleak, dark, gray, barren, and hopeless by creating a story that takes place in postapocalyptic American after a cataclysmic event.
The fiction writer can also use setting to create conflict in the story. For instance, in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the writer places the story on a deserted Island in the middle of the ocean. The boys are forced to engage in primitive behaviour to survive. In essence, the setting becomes a type of antagonist.
There are other reasons fiction writers create the setting for a story, including the following:
- To use the setting as a symbol. In other words, the setting is symbolic of something in the story.
- To provide historical or geographical background information that is essential to the story.
- To develop the plot.
- To illuminate characteristics about the protagonist, villain, or secondary characters.
How to Create a Setting
The fiction writer needs to create a setting that is believable in the mind of the reader. To do this, the writer must create a story that takes place in a realistic setting, such as the city of Toronto. Even if the place doesn’t exist, at the very least, the writer needs to make the reader believe that the time and place are real.
How does the writer go about creating a realistic setting for the short story or novel? There are several techniques, including:
- Journalistic questions. To help envision a setting for the story, the writer can use the following journalistic questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
- Concrete and specific details. The writer must describe the setting using concrete and specific language, not abstract and general details.
- Technique of show, don’t tell. The writer has a choice whether to narrate or to dramatize the time and place of the story. The most memorable stories are dramatized.
- Sensory details. The writer can create a setting that is believable by using language that appeals to the senses, such as the sense of smell, taste, sound, touch, sight.
- Realistic details. The writer can make the setting believable by making reference to actual places, historical time periods, and actual events. A good place to start is by reading the newspaper.
- Facts. The writer can create a believable setting by making reference to facts that are well known to the reader, such as the names of popular cities, street names, historical events, social problems.
- Research. Often the writer will need to do research about the setting, such as on the historical period, social conditions, or political climate.
- Personification. The writer can create a memorable setting by using the literary device of personification. To do this, the writer assigns human attributes or characteristics to different aspects of setting, like the weather.
The goal of the fiction writer is to provide just enough detail to create a memorable setting in the mind of the reader. To do this, the writer needs to decide which details of the setting are important and why. Only important details need to be included, not trivial details.
Resources for Writing Fiction
There are several good books available to help you learn about the elements of fiction. The following books—and resources that I recommend— were used to research this article:
- Writing Fiction: A Guide to the Narrative Craft by Janet Burroway
- Creative Writing: A Guide and Glossary to Fiction Writing by Colin Bulman
- The Art and Craft of Storytelling by Nancy Lamb
- How to Read Novels Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster
- The Art of Fiction by John Gardner
- A Passion for Narrative: A Guide for Writing Fiction by Jack Hodgins
Next, I will write about character and characterization.
The Elements of Fiction: Plot
The fiction writer uses the elements of fiction to create a fictional story, either a short story or novel. The nonfiction writer uses the elements of fiction to tell a real story. The casual reader uses these elements to gain a deeper appreciation of a novel or piece of literature. Students in English literature are required to learn the elements of fiction to analyze how the writer constructed a short story or novel. And the aspiring writer must have a good understanding of these elements to create his or her own stories, narratives that must be interesting and memorable.
The writer uses several elements of fiction to construct a story. These include:
- Setting
- Plot/plot structure
- Character
- Point of View
- Theme
- Literary devices, such as symbolism and imagery
- Style and tone
This article discusses one element of fiction: the plot and plot structure.
Plot/Plot Structure
What is the plot of a story? It is the series of events that give the story meaning and effect. A good story has several events that complicate, increase the tension, and create suspense within the story.
A typical story begins with an inciting incident. (For instance, a murder.) From this inciting incident, the rest of the story progresses to its conclusion.
All stories require a conflict. This conflict can be internal—within the mind or psyche of the main character or protagonist.
This conflict can also be external to the protagonist. The protagonist can confront another character, typically the villain of the story. The protagonist might also be at odds with society, or in conflict with technology, the setting (storm, desert, cosmos, desert island, ship wreck), something spiritual (ghosts), or religion, or the supernatural—such as God or an alien being.
A good story also has a plot structure. A good plot structure includes an inciting incident (the main event from which the rest of the story progresses), a goal or desire that the main character wants to achieve, challenges and obstacles that prevent the protagonist from achieving the desire or goal, a climax or turning point, and resolution of the story, where the writer ties up loose ends, answers all unanswered questions, and resolves the conflict.
Suspense
Suspense is often a common aspect of plot and plot structure of a story. The suspense is initiated with a threat: The protagonist is threatened by some event or character or other antagonist—such as the setting in which the story takes place. (E.g. lost in the woods) The reader then asks: What will happen next? Who did it? How did it happen? Will the protagonist survive? The threat to the protagonist results in a state of confusion: The protagonist may or may not know the origin or nature of the threat. Eventually, the protagonist or main character realizes the origin and nature of the threat. He/she must then take action to survive.
There are several ways a fiction writer can create suspense. One method is to use time constraints. Essentially, the writer creates a story in which the protagonist must work against the clock. For instance, the protagonist must defuse a bomb within a certain time, or it will detonate.
The writer can create suspense with a crisis. This crisis must be devastating to the world of the protagonist. For instance, the protagonist must save his wife and son from the burning family home. If they parish in the blaze, his life is irrevocably changed.
Another method the writer has to create suspense is by using insurmountable odds. The writer creates a story in which the protagonist must use all his/her resources—such as skill, expertise, knowledge—to deal with the challenges and obstacles. Otherwise, he/she will not survive.
Methods of Telling Story
The writer has several methods of telling the story. These include:
- Chronological order
- Total Flashback
- Combination: Flashforward and chronological
- Flash forward/ Foreshadowing
Many fiction writers tell their stories in chronological order. The story progresses in a linear fashion. First, there is the inciting incident. This is followed by all the events that are caused or related to the inciting incident. The most important event besides the inciting incident is the event which causes the climax or turning point in the story.
Another method of telling a story is to use total flashback. The writer can use total flashback to refer back in time to important events took place. Or he can use it to provide background information about the character. Often the writer begins the story in the present, and then tells a story that happened in the past.
The fiction writer can also tell a story by using both flashback and telling the story in chronological order—in the order that the events occurred. Often the fiction writer uses flashback to tell the reader about an important event that occurred in the past, and event that impacts or effects the current situation. However, the fiction writer tells the story in logical or sequential order, the order in which the events occurred, progressing to the climax and resolution of the story. Essentially, the writer tells the story by moving forward in time, but makes reference to important information that happened in the past.
The fiction writer will use flash-forward to move the narrative into the future. The writer uses this device to tell a story about imagined, expected, anticipated, or possible events. Foreshadowing is a literary device used by the fiction writer to provide “hints” or “clues” about might/will happen later in the story. Essentially, the writer “drops hints” about the plot or a possible outcome.
The fiction writer needs to ask himself/herself why the literary device of flashback is being used to tell the story. The foreshadowing can be explicit, such as dialogue, or implicit, in the form of a clue. Often, the writer uses foreshadowing to create suspense in the mind of the reader. Sometimes the writer provides a clue to mislead the reader. This is called a red herring. Other times the writer foreshadows a possible ending—but then ends the story with a plot twist. Sometimes the writer uses symbolism to foreshadow something that will occur later in the story. (A symbol represents something other than its literal meaning.)
Resources for Writing Fiction
There are several good books available to help you learn the art and craft of writing fiction. The following books—and resources that I recommend— were used to research this article:
- Writing Fiction: A Guide to the Narrative Craft by Janet Burroway
- Creative Writing: A Guide and Glossary to Fiction Writing by Colin Bulman
- The Art and Craft of Storytelling by Nancy Lamb
- How to Read Novels Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster
- The Art of Fiction by John Gardner
- A Passion for Narrative: A Guide for Writing Fiction by Jack Hodgins
For the next several posts, I will be writing about the other elements of fiction. Next, I will discuss “setting.”
If you have an questions or comments, please post them to this blog.
How to Analyze Fiction
By analyzing a short story or novel, you gain a better understanding of the story. You also acquire a better appreciation of fiction and literature. And, you can learn how the writer used the elements of fiction and various literary techniques, such as simile, metaphor, and imagery to create a memorable story. Analyzing fiction will also help you learn how to write your own stories.
Here is how to analyze a work of fiction:
1. Plot. It refers to the main events that take place throughout the story.
Questions to consider:
- What are the series of events in the story?
- Does the writer use flashback? If so, how?
- Does the writer use flashforward? If so, how?
- How does the writer create suspense?
- What types of conflict occur throughout the story?
- What is the turning point of the story?
2. Setting. It refers to the time, place, and social and historical context.
Questions to consider:
- What is the setting in the story?
- Does the setting function as an antagonist in the story? If so, how?
- How does the setting contribute to the story?
- How does the writer use setting to create a story that is believable?
- How does the setting impact the protagonist in the story?
- How does the setting impact the plot in the story?
- What is the mood throughout the story? How does the setting impact the mood of the story?
3. Characters. It refers to the protagonist, villain, and secondary characters in the story. The writer develop a character by what the character thinks, what the character does, what the character says, what the character looks like, and by what others say about the character. All stories include a protagonist. Many stories include an antagonist or villain. Many stories also include secondary or minor characters.
Questions to consider:
- What does the character say and do? What does their dialogue or behaviour tell you about their values, beliefs, interests, motives?
- What does the character look like? What does this suggest about the character?
- What conflicts does the character experience? How does the character deal with these conflicts?
- How does the character change as the story progresses?
- Who is the villain in the story? Why?
- Who is the protagonist in the story? Why?
4. Theme. It refers to the main idea of the story. It is the truth the writer reveals. Often, the writer doesn’t explicitly reveal the theme. Some stories don’t have a theme.
Questions to consider:
- What was the writer’s purpose in writing the story?
- What is the theme of the story? Is it implicit or explicit?
- Does the theme offer a new insight into the human condition or human experience?
- What message or lesson does the writer wish the reader to understand from the story?
5. Point of View. It refers to the person who is telling the story. This is the narrator of the story. For instance, the story can be told from the first-person perspective, such as the protagonist or eye witness. Or, the story can be told from the third-person perspective, which means the narrator is not a character in the story. Remember that the author and narrator are not the same. The narrator is the person who is telling the story.
Questions to consider:
- What point of view does the writer use?
- What does the narrator know about the characters in the story?
- How does the point of view impact the story?
- Does the author use point of view to reveal or conceal?
- How does the narrator impact the story? For instance, the first-person narrator only knows what he sees or hears. Bu the third-person-omniscient narrator is all knowing.
- Why did the author choose the particular point of view?
6. Imagery. It refers to the sensory images that the writer uses to develop the story. Sensory images are word pictures that appeal to one or more of the senses, such as sight, taste, smell, touch, and hearing.
Questions to consider:
- What types of imagery does the writer use? How does it make the story believable?
- Identify some passages where the writer uses imagery? What types of imagery does the writer use? Why does the writer use it?
- How does the imagery affect the mood of the story?
7. Symbolism. The author uses a symbol to mean something other than its literal meaning. For instance, an owl can represent wisdom.
Questions to consider:
- What sorts of symbols are used by the writer?
- Do any characters act as symbols? Why?
- Do elements of the story’s setting appear symbolic? Why?
- Is a one symbol used throughout the story? Or do the symbols change as the story progresses?
8. Style and Tone. Style refers to the writer’s choice of language and the sentence types and structures. The tone refers to writer’s attitude toward the subject and readers.
Questions to consider:
- What types of diction does the writer use? Slang? Formal? Profanity? How does it impact the story? How does it impact you as the reader?
- What types of sentences does the writer use? Fragments? Simple? Complex? Rhetorical? How does it impact the story?
- What is the writer’s attitude toward the events in the story?
- What is the writer’s attitude toward the readers? Condescending? Ironic? Comic?
- How does the tone of the story impact your reading? For instance, do you laugh?
9. Figurative Language. The writer uses language to mean something other than its literal meaning, in order to produce a special effect or new meaning. Popular types of figurative language are simile, metaphor, and personification.
Questions to consider:
- Does the writer use simile? Why is it used?
- Does the writer use metaphor? Why is it used?
- Does the writer use personification? Why is it used?
10. Other Questions: What does the title suggest about the book? What did you enjoy about reading the book? What did you dislike about the book? Would you recommend it?
Characteristics of a Good Story
Read a good novel, such as such “Nineteen Eighty-four” by George Orwell, “Portnoy’s Complaint” by Philip Roth, or “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, and you will discover that each of these novels has certain attributes that make these novels memorable reads. For starters, these books are well written. Second, each is based on a unique idea or subject. Next, the authors know how to use the elements of fiction. And finally, each of the authors knows how to tell a good story.
How do you write a good story? A good story has certain characteristics. These include the following:
- Hook. The beginning of the story grabs the reader’s attention and inspires him/her to read on.
- Desire. The author creates a protagonist to be to achieve a goal.
- Conflict. The author creates need conflict that the protagonist must deal with before he/she can achieve his/her goal.
- Challenge and Obstacles. The protagonist must face obstacles and setbacks throughout the story before he/she can achieve the goal.
- Climax. The story must include a turning point. Usually, the protagonist confronts the antagonist in the story.
- Resolution. In the ending, the author must tie up loose ends and answer any unresolved questions.
Telling the Story
When telling the story, use a hook, create desire, introduce conflict and challenges, include a turning point, and resolve your story.
- Always begin your story with a hook. A good story begins with a hook, something that grabs your reader’s attention and compels them to read on in the story to find out what happens next. Your hook might be a conflict or problem by which the protagonist must solve. Suppose you are writing a sci-fi novel, your hook might be an inciting incident, one in which aliens invade earth.
- Create desire in your protagonist. A good story includes a protagonist who must solve a problem or achieve a purpose. As well, the protagonist must be motivated, in some way, to achieve this goal or purpose. In writing the sci-fi about aliens invading the earth, your protagonist might have to fight to survive, protect his loved ones against the aliens, or struggle with his/her own fears about being exterminated.
- Include several types of conflict. A good story must include conflict. The conflict of the story might be man against himself (a psychological conflict), man against man (protagonist versus the antagonist), man against society, man against the environment (tornado, flood, catastrophic event), or man against the supernatural (ghost, demons, aliens). A good story has several conflicts. For instance, in your sci-fi novel, you need one conflict might be when the aliens begin to invade the earth, set up a civilization, and begin exterminating humans or transmitting a lethal virus.
- Include challenges and obstacles. A good story includes obstacles and challenges. Before the protagonist can achieve his purpose or goal, he must face challenges and obstacles. For instance, in writing a sci-fi story about an alien invasion, the challenge the protagonist might face is to outthink superior intelligence, conquer advanced technology, or survive an attack by the aliens.
- Include a climax. This is the high point or turning point in the story, at which the end result becomes inevitable. It is the dramatic high point. The climax occurs when the protagonist confronts the antagonist. For instance, if you are writing a sci-fi story, your climax might be when the hero finds a way to defeat the aliens.
- Resolve the story. Tie up loose ends and answer any questions that were raised earlier in the story. Be sure to make your ending believable. Be sure to make your ending a logical outcome of the casual events of the story. Be sure to dramatize your ending to make it memorable. For instance, in a sci-fi novel about aliens invading earth, you might conclude with the protagonist annihilating the aliens with a nuclear weapon.
How to Tell Your Story
When to Show and Tell
One of the most important rules of creative writing is the principle of “show, don’t tell.” Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, you need to write in a manner that allows the reader to experience the story. To do this, you must show, not tell your reader what is going on in the story. Instead of writing expositions, summaries, and descriptions, you allow the reader to experience the story through a character’s actions, words, thoughts, senses, and feelings. This article explains how to show and when to tell the reader what is going on in the story.
Showing the Reader
To show the reader, you must dramatize the story. When you dramatize your story, you allow the reader to experience the story through the actions, thoughts, feeling, and dialogue of the characters within the story. By dramatizing the story, the reader becomes an eye witness.
For most storytelling, you will want to dramatize what the characters or people in the story are feeling, thinking, and doing. Here is how to dramatize your story:
- Provide meaningful dialogue.
- Include concrete, specific, vivid details.
- Describe how the character/person is behaving.
- Describe what the character/person is thinking.
- Describe what the character/person is feeling.
Telling the Story
To tell your story is to narrate the story. You tell the story when you do the following:
- Use the verb “was”.
- Use declarative sentence.
- Provide information.
- Summarize parts of the story.
- Describe part of the story.
- Explain part of the story.
There are times when you will only want to tell the reader what is happening in the narrative. For instance:
- To summarize an event or experience.
- To provide insignificant information.
- To provide mundane information.
- To move quickly from one scene or experience or event to another.
- To refer back to something that has already been explained in depth.
Telling:
The assailant hit the woman with his fist.
Showing:
The attacker hammered the woman repeatedly with his bloody fist. As he plunged his fist into her contorted face, he screamed, “I hate you! You are the devil!”
Most of the time, you will want to dramatize your story by showing the reader what is happening in the story. When you dramatize your story, you make it more interesting in the eyes of the reader.
For more information on “Showing, Not Telling”, see the following:
- “The Art and Craft of Storytelling” by Nancy Lamb
- “The Making of a Story: A Norton Guide to Creative Writing” by Alice Laplante
The Short Story
What makes a short story? There are many definitions of a short story.
According to the American Heritage Dictionary, “a short story is a short piece of prose fiction having few characters and aiming at unity of effect.”
Many people base their definition of a short story on Aristotle’s view that a story must have a beginning, middle, and end.
Edgar Allen Poe suggested that a short story can be read in one sitting and achieve a “single effect.”
Others believe that a short story involves a protagonist who experiences a conflict, which leads to a crisis, and ends with resolution.
Some believe that a short story need not contain any identifiable components, such as a protagonist, conflict, climax, change, or epiphany.
There is still a great deal of debate about the question.
Attributes of a Short Story
All short stories have certain characteristics. A short story is a work of fiction. It is less than 20,000 words and can usually be read in one sitting.
Each word of the story should contribute the whole. In other words, each word needs to move the story forward to its conclusion.
The writer tells the story from a single point of view.
Most short stories include a protagonist, who is the central character in the story. A short story can include one or more secondary characters. But there must be a limited number of characters.
All short stories include a plot or series of events–often just a single event–that make up the story.
All short stories include a setting, such as the time and place in which the story takes place. Some stories also include the social or historical context.
Structure of the Short Story
Some stories use the conflict-climax-resolution model. Includes a conflict, climax, and resolution; conflict-crisis-resolution model doesn’t work for all short stories.
Some believe that every short story has a conflict which intensifies and culminates in a crisis. Some stories use the five stage model: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution.
In many short stories, the protagonist undergoes some sort of epiphany or insight or revelation. Yet, there is no rule that says this must occur.
Stories can have a linear or modular structure. Linear stories follow the conflict-climax-resolution model. Modular stories are made up of component parts. Is change necessary? In other words, must a character discover some truth and then act upon it?
Sometimes protagonist undergoes change and sometimes the protagonist doesn’t. Change isn’t a necessary element of a short story. The protagonist can decline the opportunity to change.
Effect on the Reader
A good short story should engage the reader and pique the reader’s interest. A memorable short story astonishes or moves the reader. A good short story also has closure. When the story ends, the reader understands why.
Final Thoughts
There are no set rules in writing short fiction, only conventions. The writer can break the rules. One of the best ways to write a short story is to begin writing it, taking into account the attributes of a short story as you write.
Most good short stories require a protagonist and conflict. Many good short stories include a protagonist who experiences conflict. Others include an epiphany or insight. A good short story is from a few pages to less than 20,000 words. It also must be interesting. In other words, the reader must be motivated to turn the page. And finally, the story must have closure. When the story is finished, the reader must know why.
Resources
If you want to read good short stories, even a few memorable ones, check out the following:
- Best American Short Stories. www.bestamericanshortstories.com
- The New Yorker. www.newyorker.com
- Harper’s. www.harpers.org
- The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com
- The Walrus. www.walrusmagazine.com
Humour Writing
Using Parody to Get Laughs
What is parody? It is a literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristics or style of another author or an artistic work for comic effect or ridicule. It is used to comment on or poke fun at an original work, the artist, or artistic style. It is a humour device used in all types of comedy—-from stand-up comedy to comedy films. Parody is also called a “send-up” or “spoof.”
In literature, the writer uses parody as a form of comic mockery or satirical criticism. The writer imitates the style and conventions of a particular writer to expose the weaknesses of the writer’s style or content. A writer can also use parody to mock or ridicule a particular school of writers.
The screenwriter can use parody to satirize other film genres or films. This is called a parody film. Conventions used include stereotyping, jokes, mockery, and sarcasm. The film “Scary Movie” parodied the horror genre. The film “Blazing Saddles” parodied the western genre. The British comedy group Monty Python parodied King Arthur in “The Holy Grail.”
The screenwriter for a sitcom can also use parody, often as a form of social and political criticism. Parody has been used in “The Simpson’s” episodes. The popular show, “The Daily Show”, is a parody of the news broadcast. The Colbert Show is a parody of a talk show. Throughout its history, “Saturday Night Live” has parodied popular culture, current events, and politics.
Parody has been used in music videos to mock the musical style of a performer. Weird Al Yankovic parodied the performance of Michael Jackson in the 80s.
In summary, a writer uses parody to imitate an artist or artistic work, in order to produce a comic effect or mock or ridicule the artist or artistic work. Parody is a popular humour device that writers use in sitcoms, comedy films, sketch comedy, and stand-up comedy.
Poetry Resources
Learning to Read and Write Poetry
To write good poetry, you first need to learn the art and craft of poetry. You can start be reading traditional, modern, and contemporary poems by some of the good poets. Then you can learn the “figures of speech” and various poetic devices that poets use to create poetry. Next, you can learn to analyze poetry to understand its meaning and emotional appeal. Finally, you can write your own poetry.
Here are a few resources to help you learn to read and write poetry:
Books
- Writing the Life Poetic: An Invitation to Read and Write Poetry by Sage Cohen
- Good Poems by Garrison Keillor
- How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry by Edward Hirsch
- Rules for the Dance Mary Oliver
- The Discovery of Poetry by Frances Mayes
- Good Poems for Hard Times by Garrison Keillor
- The Poet’s Companion by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux
- In the Palm of Your Hand: The Poet’s Portable Workshop by Steve Kowit
- The Best Poems of the English Language by Harold Bloom
- The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry by Richard Ellman, Robert O’Clair, and Jahan Ramazani.
- 2009 Poet’s Market by Editors of Readers Digest
Magazines and Journals
- The American Poetry Review. www.aprweb.org
- The Paris Review. www.parisreview.com
- Poetry Magazine. www.poetrymagazine.org
- The Writer Magazine. www.writermag.com
- Writer’s Digest. www.writersdigest.com
Poetry Organizations
- The Poetry Project. www.poetryproject.com
- Poets and Writers. www.pw.org
- Teachers & Writers Collaborative. www.twc.org
- The Academy of American Poets. www.poets.org
- The Poetry Society of America. www.poetrysociety.org
Websites
- The Poetry Foundation. www.poetryfoundation.org
- The Poetry Archive. www.poetryarchive.com
- The Academy of American Poets. www.poets.org
- Famous Poets and Poems. www.famouspoetsandpoems.com/
- The Poetry Market. www.thepoetrymarket.com
- Writing the Life Poetic. www.writingthelifepoetic.typepad.com
Elements of Poetry
Part II
This post is a continuation of a previous post.
A knowledge of the “elements of poetry” will enable you to analyze poetry and write your own poetry.
In this post, I discuss the following elements of poetry:
- Imagery
- Rhyme and rhyme scheme
- Diction
- Figures of speech, such as simile and metaphor
Imagery
Imagery refers to the words in the poem that enable readers to see with their imagination. You can create a “word picture” or image by using words and phrases that appeal to the senses, such as sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. Examples of imagery include the following: bare black branches, wind-swept barren field, sun-soaked beach, green leaves, and rusty car.
- Olfactory imagery. Use to stimulate the sense of smell.
- Tactile imagery. Use to stimulate the sense of touch.
- Visual imagery. Use to stimulate the sense of sight.
- Auditory imagery. Use to stimulate the sense of hearing.
- Gustatory imagery. Use to stimulate the sense of taste.
Preludes
By T.S. Eliot
The winter evening settles down
with smell of steaks in passageways.
Six o’clock.
The burnt-out ends of smoky days.
And now a gusty shower wraps
The grimy scraps
Of withered leaves about your feet
And newspapers from vacant lots;
The showers beat
On broken blinds and chimney-pots,
And at the corner of the street
A lonely cab-horse steams and stamps.
And then the lighting of the lamps.
Of faint stale smells of beer
From the sawdust-trampled street
With all its muddy feet that press
To early coffee-stands.
With the other masquerades
That time resumes,
One thinks of all the hands
That are raising dingy shades
In a thousand furnished rooms.
Rhyme and Rhyme Scheme
End-Rhyme. The end rhyme occurs at the end of lines of poetry. It is the most common type of rhyme. This type of rhyme is popular in traditional and modern poetry. Perfect rhyme is an example of end-rhyme—in that the ends of words sound the same and are spelled the same. (True/blue, mountain/fountain)
Internal Rhyme. The rhyme occurs within the line or lines of the poem. Example: “The Splendour falls on castle walls/And snowy summits old in story/and the snow summits old in story: /The long light shakes across the lakes/And the wild cataract leaps in glory by Alfred Lord Tennyson in “Blow, Bungle, Blow.”
Eye-Rhyme. The eye-rhyme is based on similarity of spelling rather than the sound of words. (Love/move/prove)
Diction
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Denotation. The dictionary definition of the word.
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Connotation. The implied meaning of the poem.
Figures of Speech
- Metaphor. A figure of speech in which you make an indirect comparison between two different things without using the words “like” or “as.” You take two unlike things and claim they are the same, as in “a” is “b.” Example: “She is a black window spider.
- Simile. A figure of speech in which you make a direct comparison between two different things by using “like” or “as.” Example: He dressed like a derelict.
- Personification. A figure of speech in which the animals, ideas, or inanimate objects are given human attributes, characteristics, or traits. Example: “The sky cried, the sun smiled, and the wind screamed…”
- Metonymy. A figure of speech in which a word replaces another word that is closely associated with it. Examples: pint for beer, skirt for women, press for journalism
- Synecdoche. A figure of speech in which you substitute a part of something for its whole. Examples: The White House for Federal government, cloth for member of the clergy, castle for home.
Next, I will identify a few resources that you can use to learn to read and write poetry.
Elements of Poetry
Part I
Speaker, Subject, Theme, Tone
Subject. The subject is the topic of the poem—what the write about. In modern and contemporary poetry, any topic is acceptable. You can write about love, death, abortion, sex, or a taboo subject.
Theme. The theme is one of the most important aspects of a poem. The purpose of the theme is to make an important point about the topic. For instance, if the subject is about “love”, the theme of the poem might be that “love is doesn’t last forever.” In modern and contemporary poetry, your poem can have almost any theme.
Tone. The tone of the poem refers to your attitude toward your subject and readers. Your tone can be informal or formal, serious or humorous, sad or happy. You can identify your tone by the way in which you use diction, syntax, rhyme, meter, and so forth.
Poetic Devices
Sound Devices
Symbolism
In the following poem, the poet, William Blake uses the “rose” to represent all that is beautiful, natural, and desirable. And he uses the “worm” to symbolize the evil that destroys natural beauty and love.
Example:
The Sick Rose
By William Blake
O rose, thou art sick!
The Invisible worm
That flies on the night
In the howling storm,
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy,
And his dark secret love
Line and Syntax
- Emphasis. The most emphatic positions on a line are at the beginning or end of the line. To emphasize an idea, place the idea at the beginning or end of the line.
- End stop. You can break a line of poetry with a period, comma, or semi-colon.
- Pause. You can break a line to create a brief pause.
- Enjambment. You can break a sentence, clause, or phrase into two parts, and then move the second part of the unit to the next line.
- Rhyme. You can break a line of poety to create an end rhyme.
- Meter. You can break a line of poetry to create a pattern of meter.
Find Your Creative Muse 