The Study of Poetry:

1st Class
Prof. Nacira Ortiz lvarez

Poetry and the Senses

Denotative meaning
A words literal dictionary meaning. (ex:
springtime means the season between
winter and summer)

Connotative meaning
The additional meanings a word gains
because of its associations. Springtime
has connotations of youth, rebirth, and
romance

 Poetryis a form ofliteraturethat

usesaestheticand rhythmicqualities
oflanguagesuch
asphonaesthetics,sound symbolism,
andmetreto evoke meanings in
addition to, or in place of,
theprosaicostensiblemeaning.

 Poetry has a longhistory, dating

back to theSumerianEpic of
Gilgamesh.
Evolved from folk songs and oral
tradition such as the Sanskrit Vedas,
Homeric epics, gemanic Epics such
as the Poetic Eddas up to modern
poetry.

 A poem is open to many different

interpretations depending on the
reading that each individual will
atribute to the poem.
Each individual has his/her own
literary background that will affect
the reading of a text.

Poetic Devices

Assonance
Alliteration
Onomatopeia
Rhythm
Ambiguity
Symbolism
Irony
Synesthesia: one sensory perception
expressed in a different sense.I know the
seven fragrances of the rainbow

 Figures of speech such as:

metaphor: identifies something as being the same as some unrelated thing
forrhetoricaleffect, thus highlighting the similarities between the two. While
asimilecompares two items, a metaphor may compare or directly equate them, and so
does not necessarily apply any distancing words of comparison, such as "like" or "as".
Simile: directly compares two things through the explicit use of connecting words,
.comparing an inanimate and a living object.
hyperbole: use ofexaggerationas arhetorical deviceorfigure of speech. It is used in
poems to create emphasis on a situation. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to
create a strong impression
personification: attribution ofhumanform or other characteristics to anything other
than a human being. human physical traits, and ascribing humanemotionsor motives to
forces ofnature
Metonymy: a term naming an object is substituted for another. old salt for a sailor.
Synecdoche: a part of the whole represents the whole or a whole represents a part.call
the law (police).
Oxymoron: contrasting words are juxtaposed in order to encompass contrary
impressions or ideas.Sweet, sour experience
Paradox: A metaphorical statement that seems to be self-contradictory.

Four operations of figures of speech

addition (adiectio), also called
repetition/expansion/superabundance
omission (detractio), also called
subtraction/abridgement/lack
transposition (transmutatio), also called
transferring
permutation (immutatio), also called
switching/interchange/substitution/tran
smutation