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SESSION SEVEN
“POETRY, A FEW IMPORTANT BASICS”
Wednesday, December 10th, 2025

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“WHAT EVERY POETESS OR POET SHOULD KNOW”
by RW Jenkins, MFA ©2004

If one’s goal or wish is to ever master the true art of poetry (as in any art form), whether it’s in oils, watercolor, or acrylic painting, sculpting, being novel writier, boxer, guitarist, architect, mountaineer, farmer, police officer, karate or judo black belt, ballerina, mathematician, doctor, pianist, carpenter, pilot, etc;; even something as commonplace as becoming a safe, accomplished, and skilled driver will first require study, understanding rules of the road, practice, and the eventual skill required to perform the art of driving well … and, it “ALL” begins in any art by first studying, learning, understanding, and practicing the “basics”, the beginning foundation of that particular art form to build-on before true skill or mastery to do so is possible.

Regardless how brilliant their potential, no one picks up a pen or sits before a keyboard and composes masterful poetry by good luck or accident, without first knowing what they’re doing, anymore a than rank novice can read or write music. Unfortunately, poetry teachers seem to be a disappearing breed, leaving so many to try their hand knowing no better, and develop poor, very difficult to break habits.

Thanks to Google, et al; there are online lessons that may not be the best, but at least to help a beginner get started on the right track.

You may be surprised to know how few even realize the art of poetry is composed in forms, that each form has its own basic details and rules that must be followed to create true poetry, rather than common prose or talking, whether that form is Free Verse, Freestyle, a Sonnet, Ballad, or a Kyrielle, Haiku, Senryu, Blank Verse, Couplet, Quatrain, on and on through every format of poetry that exists. Each and every poetic form has its own basic foundation, rules, and details that make it part of the art of poetry … otherwise, they are merely scribbled words of expression, or something else entirely.

The following explains the basics of our art, rather than the particular details of any particular artistic form … yet, these basics, in some meaningful part or whole, pertains to each and every form of poetry.

SPEAKER VS POET:

The voice that “communicates” with the reader, similar to a narrator in fiction. 
The speaker is not necessarily the poet.
To understand a poem, you must learn who the speaker is and how he/she feels, what they mean, etc.
If the poem mentions certain experiences that occurred, it doesn’t mean they happened to the poet personally, or if it is still as true as when they wrote it.

ELEMENTS OF POETRY:

GRAPHIC ELEMENTS (capitalization, punctuation, alignment, line-breaks, white space, enjambments)

SENSORY DETAILS (5 senses)

RHYTHM (word choice, meter, and pacing)

SOUND PATTERNS (rhyme, onomatopoeia, alliteration, assonance, consonance, sibilance)

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE (capitalization/punctuation)
Poems may have commas, semi-colons, periods, question marks, dashes, ellipsis, and exclamation points, etc.
In classic poems, the first word in each line is often incorrectly grammatically capitalized and made where one line or thought ended and another began. Poets from the romantic eras were often terrible grammarians.
Now, when you see a more accomplished modern poet’s work, capitalizing the first letter may be used to create an effect of formality, strength, or emphasis, and is more commonly used grammatically correct, in that it is at the beginning of the first word in a new sentence/line, or the first letter in a proper noun.

LINE BREAKS & ENJAMBMENTS
Where the line of poetry ceases and a new line follows. Where the poem’s ongoing thoughts are divided by punctuation.
Some poems have a natural rhythm like a song. It’s easy to know where to break the line without punctuation that’s known as “enjambment”.
Sometimes, the line breaks where the thought ends, or where the reader or the poet naturally pauses.
Other times, the line breaks are in unexpected places. A poet can break a line in the middle of a poem to tease readers into going to the next line.  A thought can go from one verse or stanza to another (enjambment or run-on) in a line break.

WHITE SPACE
Lines are usually short enough that white space appears to the right or left of the poem, or both if the poem is in the center of the page.
Text can be anywhere on the page.
Words can be separated so they look like what they’re saying.
Indentions is another way to play with white space. In the poem about a walk, the poet might indent as if they’re going around a bend.

SENSORY DETAILS
Creates strong images or mental pictures for the reader.
These pictures formed in your mind are called imagery.
Uses the five senses: sight, smell, touch, taste, hearing.
The use of personification, simile, and metaphor can paint a vivid picture.

RHYTHM & REPETITION:

WORD CHOICE AND PACING
Poets can control the pace, or how quickly you read a poem. Some words are sharp and short.

RHYTHM
The pattern of stressed/unstressed syllables in a line of poetry. It’s the meter (rhythm that’s organized into specific patterns) of the poem.
  (brings out musical quality of language, emphasizes ideas, creates mood)
    A fast rhythm indicates ACTION, EXCITEMENT, TENSION, or SUSPENSE
    A slow rhythm suggests peacefulness, fullness, harmony, comfort, etc.
A fast rhythm implies excitement, aggression, emptiness, discordance, distress, etc.

SOUND DEVICES:

ALLITERATION
The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words. (Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.) and it must show a mental image.

ASSONANCE
Repetition of vowel sounds within a line of poetry:  power/hour, mild/child

CONSONANCE
When words share an ending consonant sound, but their vowels are different: live leave      crib  nab     give move

ONOMATOPOEIA (ăhnă-mŏdă-pēă)
When words sound like what they mean: chirp, slash, dart, crush, dash, creak, breeze, foam, crunch, ouch, smack, etc.

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE:

SIMILĒ
A simile uses the words like or as to compare two similar things:
I feel jumpy, like a frog.
I am as lonely as the last leaf on a tree.

METAPHŌR
A metaphor compares and represents like things, but do not use the word “like” or “as”.
She’s a sparrow in stature.
A web of snowflakes embraced us.
I felt I was a moth in its cocoon.
Musical notes fluttered softly down to dancing ground.

PERSONIFICATION
Sometimes, poets use words that make things and animals seem human.
I heard soft breezes call my name 
The trees whispered amongst themselves.
I was lonely as the last leaf on an Autumn tree.

SYNTAX & POETIC SYNTAX:

SYNTAX
Is the way in which words and punctuation are used and arranged to form phrases, clauses and sentences. This can mean the selection of a word or the word’s tense, the arrangement of the words and the selection of the punctuation, and so forth.
It refers to word order, and the way in which it works with grammatical structure. As we are used to hearing things in certain orders, the effect of breaking with normal syntax is to draw attention to what is being said and in the manner in which it is said.

POETIC SYNTAX
Refers to word order, and the way in which it works with grammatical structures in various poetical forms.
As we are used to hearing things in certain orders, the effect of breaking with normal syntax is to draw attention to what is being said and the way it is said.
P. J. Kavanagh’s “Beyond Decoration” has a speaker who says, rather than “I cannot go out”, “Go out, I cannot”, which … by shifting its syntax … seems to make the impossibility of “cannot” stronger, as well as creating a reversed echo with the second half of that line.
The opening of Dylan Thomas’ “A Refusal To Mourn the Death, By Fire, of a Child in London” is hypnotic, in part, because of its rhythm. The poem, itself, its rhythm and rhyming, but also in that its syntax is designed to put such distance between “Never until, shall I”. Or, his “Do not go gentle into that good night.”
Some poets will also deliberately fracture syntax beyond what is considered grammatically correct, which demands a lot of attention, but aims to repay this attention by revealing things that cannot be said within the habits of thought and limitations that grammatical language maintains or permits.

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A FUN BREAK
(a little Free Verse treat by one of my senior students)

😉
“The Strut of A Woman”

What more glorious than the strut of a 
woman in love,
as she strides wide her shapely legs,
in the latest stilettos.

Her swaying hips teasing the sensual breeze
as it streams through perfumed hair,
and lifts the hem of her
flimsy silk dress.

Her full-glossed lips smile mischievously
as she ignores wolf whistles,
and keeps striding wide,
leaving the scent of Clive Christian
perfume in her wake.

One hand rests on her thigh,
holding down her fluttering dress
as she swings the other in rhythm to the strut
that she has mastered
to perfection.

She walks proud, through imaginary showers
of rose petals, each a kiss from his warm
lips.

The breeze, his breath, finding its
way beneath her silk dress,
reminding her of his
loving hands.

What more glorious than the strut 
of a woman.

What more beautiful ~ than 
a woman in love.

Dorina Jolene Jenkins
© 19 June, 2011

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IN CLOSING:

Those of you who’ve never studied poetry writing or taken an instructor-guided course on the actual art of poetic composition may be experiencing an eye-opening epiphany.
Others amongst us might even tend to think this kind of (so-called) real, poetry is not for them, or that they’re satisfied with whatever, however they’re used to writing, deciding they simply don’t need to learn anything new or improve on their skills.
And, I guess that’s alright, too, because I believe one’s love, passion, respect, and dedication to the literally endless art of poetry is, somewhat, akin to religion … it’s every individual’s personal choice to make; some may even say, “chosen path to follow”.
But, one thing I know for certain is that every poetess or poet, regardless whether they are a novice or a veteran writer, deserves to be offered the choice, and the chance to learn and improve.
Still, take a moment and consider this: “Next time you read a poem that sweeps you up in the magic enthrallment of its moment, captivates and spellbinds your senses, and has you thinking in the honest privacy of your mind how wonderful it would be to write like “THIS!” in your own way. Don’t forget the chance you’re being offered here and now on StarsRite … and, it’s all for free.
Besides, everything aspired to impart in “Back to Poetry Basics” is endlessly flexible and can be applied to whatever your style of writing might be. You can simply add it, in part or whole, to your repertoire.
If you wish to, using any or all of what we’ve shared in this session, compose a poem and share it with us … make it a doozie we’ll drool over!

Just study and enjoy playing with this plethora of information between now and Wednesday, December 17th, 2025, and we’ll see ya at our next session on something else equally as surprising and adventurous.

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