Poetry- is as universal as language and almost as ancient.

The most primitive peoples have used

it, and the most civilized have cultivated it. Among the types of literature, poetry writing is the
most challenging for the following reasons: first, the choice of proper words or grammar;
second, the denotative and symbolical meaning of the chosen grammar and third, the limitation
imposed by the structure and rhythm of sounds. It is the last reason, however, that makes a
poem beautiful and appreciated by the reader:

ELEMENTS OF POETRY

Denotation/Connotation Denotation is the actual meaning of a word derived from the

dictionary. The word home for instance, by denotation means a place where one lives.
Connotation is the related or allied meanings of a word. The same word home suggests
warmth, comfort, security, love, and other meanings that are associated with its denotative
meaning.

Imagery - this may be defined as the representation of sense experience through language.
Images are formed as we see, hear, taste, smell, and touch; or we say that an image is the
mental duplication of a sense impression. The most common imagery is visual, as we are made
to see what the author is talking about. G. Burce Bunaos Change is filled with the poets own
personal imagery.

Figurative language the most commonly used and the most important of the figurative
language are the simile and the metaphor. Both simile and metaphor are used as a means of
comparing things that are essentially unlike.

The only distinction between them is that a simile the comparison is expressed by the
use of some word or phrase, such as like, as than, similar to, resemble or seem;
metaphor the comparison is implied, that is, the figurative term is substituted for or
identified with a literal term.
Rhythm and Meter - our appreciation of rhythm and mater is rooted even deeper in us than our
love for musical repetition. It is related to the beats of our hearts and the intake and outflow of
air from our lungs. Rhythm is a part of our lives as there is rhythm in the way we walk, the way
we talk, the way we swim and other similar activities. Meter, in language, is the accents that are
so arranged as to occur at apparently equal intervals of time. Metrical language is called verse.

Meaning and Idea the meaning of a poem is the experience it expresses. Here, we can
distinguish between the total meaning of a poem and its prose meaning.

Total meaning is the idea in a poem which is only a part of the total experience it
communicates. The value and worth of the poem are determined by the value of the
total experience, not by the truth or the nobility of the idea itself.
Prose meaning does not necessarily have to be an idea itself. It may be a story, a
description, a statement of emotion, a presentation of human character or a
combination of these.