Graphical Elements of Literature
By: Kaitlin Washington & Esmeralda
Sonnet
Ballad
- A poem that tells a story in small stanzas
- A ballad is also a song
- A poem that has 14 lines and has a rhyme scheme.
- It's mostly common if a sonnet has only 10 syllables in each line
Structure
- Structure in poetry deals with the organization of the stanzas across the page, and how the poem sounds, such as the rhyme scheme.
Graphical Elements
Stanza
- a group of lines
- Stanzas are defined by there meter and rhythm scheme.
- Free verse uses stanzas to organize a poem
- Not all stanzas have to be the same length
Examples of Stanzas
- Couplets
- Tercets
- Quatrain
- Sestet
Punctuation
- the marks, such as period, comma, and parentheses, used in writing to separate sentences and their elements and to clarify meaning
- Punctuation in poetry isn't really regarded.
- Most poets don't use proper grammar or punctuation for the sake of flow.
Capitalization
- the act of printing capital letters
- most poets also disregard capitalizing
- the writer most famous for not using capitalization is E.E Cummings
Word Position
- shows relationships between words and ideas
- example: concrete poetry
Line Length
- Poets use graphical elements to enhance the sounds and visual appeal of the poem.
Aspects of Graphical Elements
- Structure
- Stanza
- Punctuation
- Capitalization
- Line Length
- Word Position
- shows the number of meters per line
- line length can indicate how the author feels about the subject. (concise or verbose)
Examples of line lengths:
- Monometer
- Dimeter
- Trimeter
- Tetrameter
- Hexameter
- Heptameter