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Postal History of Barbados in Poetry with Comments

Barbados postage stamps for you;

Plenty facts stuck with glue;

These sticky little squares do show;

Monarchy you should know;

What rates for the weights they must hold,

On papers new or old?

Postage stamps tell, tell true stories;

Not of Whigs and Tories.

Revenue sent to government

Stamps legal document;

We make love to sticky-paste squares

With kisses, glue adheres.

Queen Victoria days of yore;

Penny Post at the door;

World's first postmark known, who carved it?

Henry Bishop made it.

Who gave us the adhesive stamp?

Was Rowland Hill, the champ?

Barbados postage stamps left clues;

Of kings and queens infuse.

On this half penny stamp of green;

Historical facts seen;

A crown that floats above a head;

What message does it spread?

In the Victorian era,

He wore no crown never;

A consort he was her husband;

She proposed to this man.

Strong woman would make that occur;

He said yes, yes after;

Acrostics she did; he liked chess;

Both them played with success.

Queen Victoria on the throne;

Morality enthroned;

To every far flung colony;

Barbados, so tiny;

Growing sugar-cane island’s crop;

And slaves working non-stop;

No wage in pounds, shillings and pence;

Working fields, heat intense.

Cutting sugarcane filled dray-carts,

Feeding mills, black-poor hearts;

Bedchamber crisis in Palace;

Peel resigned from office;

Interesting review on this;

This postage stamp depicts

Britannia, Roman goddess,

Postage face does impress.

What are the images you see?

Neptune god of the sea;

Which Britannia personified;

And Romans canonized.

Female personification;

Britannia’s passion;

Brave waves did splash over England;

Britain, the great island.

Like Neptune she holds a trident;

Three prongs so evident;

Neptune rides waves with seahorses

Well; Britannia does.

For crying out loud hear this thing;

Barbados she acting

Like she is, Great Britain's England;

Called self "Little England".

Barbados stamps from the outset;

Mirrored England's stamp set;

Post photos alike during the

Victorian era.

Look at postage stamp one farthing;

Gives credence and backing;

Much more is on this postage plate;

So let's reiterate;

Barbados’ story of money,

Few words stated mintly;

Three and a half centuries ago,

Crown's grip on it did show.

Pounds shillings and pence, changeable;

British money table;

Four farthings, one penny it is;

Twelve pence one shilling, Chris.

Imagery on the stamps does say;

Victoria holds sway;

Eighteen thirty-seven young queen;

On the throne at eighteen.

How much those two pees worth today?

A reckoning would say

In Barbados money, six cents;

Inflation dents the pence.

Imperialist's grip on Bimshire

Postage stamps, front and rear;

Dubbed Barbados Britannia

Bags mail with carrier.

Britannia has many themes:

Sea, land, air, and dog scenes

Celebrations, and so much more;

Seen on each stamp photo.

Look at Britannia below,

And see how those themes glow;

In this postage stamp gallery;

Compiled for you gladly.

Did the Bajan Britannia

Suffer asthenia?

No, got too much power to stir

The colonial air;

Feeding the lungs of royalty,

And their entrenched army,

The largest Empire on earth;

With glory and self-worth.

Two centuries these British knaves;

Britannia ruled the waves;

Politics play on sticky squares;

Land owners billionaires;

Hindsight sees the bad and the good;

Sherwood hid Robin Hood;

Empire and George VI would die;

His daughter is not shy.

In the year nineteen sixty-six,

Elizabeth did fix

Imperial wrongs, she undressed;

Her Commonwealth cleaned mess;

Bajan Britannia in the dark;

Independence stamps spark;

Britain no longer holds this rock;

Forty-five years ticktock.

With the texture of an Afro,

The rock sat in Barrow;

Proudly wrapped in Broken Trident;

Union Jack silent.

A bold shift in Bajan postage;

The royal head abridge;

When Queen Elizabeth gave back,

Her pen did wave brave tact.

This rock, her ancestors sliced up

Lapping royal tea-cup;

In the year sixteen twenty five;

Human rights ere deprive;

More than three hundred years preserved;

Before new Queen observed;

Her reign brings to Bajans new hope,

And a new skipping rope.

Each postage stamp bears Bajan craft;

Drives postal photograph;

With themes, and scenes of our land;

Sir Garry from Bayland;

Cricketer from Police Sports Club;

Queen Elizabeth dubbed;

Sir Garfield Sobers on the field;

Greatest all-rounder kneeled.

Bajan's living hero knighted;

Captaincy accepted;

Sir Frank Worrell ere his mentor;

At the wicket we saw;

He pleased crowds growing round the ground;

On him, flowing around;

Sir Garfield St Auburn Sobers;

Collie’s death he ponders...

Traumatic time indeed for him;

Drinking tears kept him slim;

Hits six sixes in one over;

Pleasing crowds rolled-over.

Six successive balls in cricket,

From powerful wicket;

See him on postage Sir Gary

Hones cricket skillfully.

Pause we must on October nine;

This thought floods brain of mine

On postal anniversary;

Postage fraternity.

Eighteen hundred and sixty four,

This I recall and more;

The arrival of World Post Day

Mail stubs are here to stay.

Reflect we must on UPU;

Headquarters for mail crew

Of the Universal Postal;

A problem-solving hull.

Union taken for granted,

And benefits charted;

The UPU in zonal ways;

Hugs Bajan postal trays.

With pride and appreciation;

We in this small nation;

Celebrate World Post Day with hearts

In Bern's postal ramparts;

Such Swiss' confidence they instill

In our postal mill;

Impacting all living beings;

When Nations Seek postings.

Stuck on historic road’s outpost;

With alphabetic host;

Forty-eight quatrains count and score

Verses; one eighty-four.

Wikipedia asserts that historical poetry is a sub-genre of poetry that has its roots in history. Its aim is to delineate events of the past by incorporating elements of artful composition and poetic diction. Figurative devices such as alliteration, assonance, metaphor, and simile are invariably used to layer historical poems with expanding, enriching meanings.

This poem, “Postal History of Barbados in Poetry” highlights the assertion that postage stamps from any country have many functions besides their primary function. Stamp collectors, philatelists and historical poets eagerly lap-up the historical underpinnings of these sticky pictorial squares with corrugated edges.

Poets when writing historical poems evoke to a large degree a tool referred to as narrative license referred to by such names as artistic license, dramatic license, historical license, poetic license, and licentia poetica. This license gives them a slightly different responsibility than do historians. The historian is expected to present factually correct narratives.  A poet who writes historical poems adheres to this but is free to inject mythical or emotional truths in imagery mapping. Historical poets demonstrate the concern with keeping the voices of historical persons alive when writing persona poems or other intimate portrayals of persons who have passed on; no longer able to speak for themselves.

Historical poems can be a bonding agent because it is linked to poetic intention. The poet’s intention is what matters in serving various ulterior motives. Such motives might include the notions of:

Informing readers at the time of present events, in order to draw parallels and make a political statement;

Having a connection to historical events being recorded;

The relevancy of history to the poet which then becomes an emotional tool of expression like any other form of poetry.

The rhyme scheme in this historical poem is aabb. An aabb rhyme scheme is a poem in which the first two verses and second two verses rhyme creating a pattern.  How is the rhyme scheme arranged with the other verses in subsequent stanzas when the first two verses and second two verses in subsequent stanzas do not rhyme with the end-rhymes in the first stanza? The specialized rhyme scheme for this is to start each subsequent stanza with the alphabet letter that follows as shown in Table below. If a poem has three stanzas the rhyme scheme would be aabb ccdd eeff. If the poem has four stanzas the rhyme scheme would be aabb ccdd eeff gghh. However, since the poem has forty-eight stanzas the rhyme scheme would be very cumbersome indeed for all the letters of the alphabet to be on display. Therefore, stop at the end of the fourth stanza, gghh⁴⁸ and use the raised number forty-eight to indicate that the poem has forty-eight stanzas, so there is no need to continue with the alphabetic letters.

Many poetic devices are found in poems. Here is a partial list of what I have found in the poem, “Postal History of Barbados in Poetry”:

Alliteration                                                           

Assonance                                                           

Consonance                                                         

Double rhymes or disyllabic rhymes                       

Compound rhymes                                               

Falling rhymes                                                      

Identical rhymes                                                 

Masculine rhymes

Mosaic rhymes

Rich rhymes

Rising rhymes

Single rhymes

Slant rhymes

Triple rhymes                                               

Alliteration also called head rhyme or initial rhyme is the repetition of the initial sounds, usually consonants of stressed syllables in neighboring words or at short intervals within a verse, or passage usually at word beginnings.  Here is an example from “Postal History of Barbados in Poetry”:

Plenty facts stuck with glue;

These sticky little squares do show:                 (alliteration)         

Alliteration has a gratifying effect on the sound and gives reinforcement to stresses, and also can serve as a subtle connection or emphasis of key words in the verse.

Assonance is the relatively close juxtaposition of the same or similar vowel sounds, but with different end consonants.  This device repeats vowel sounds in stressed words place near each other rather than in vowel sounds that are unstressed. Here are some examples found in “Postal History of Barbados”:

For crying out loud hear this thing;

Britain no longer holds this rock;

Hits six sixes in one over;

Stuck on historic roads outpost;

Verses; one eighty-four.

Consonance repeats consonant sounds at the ending of words placed near each other, usually on the same or adjacent verse. These consonant sounds should be in sounds that are stressed, rather than in vowel sounds that are unstressed. Examples from “Postal History of Barbados in Poetry” are shown below:

Who gave us the adhesive stamp?

Was Rowland Hill, the champ?

Barbados postage stamps left clues

Of kings and queens infused

Acrostics she did; he liked chess;

Both of them played with success.

Cutting sugarcane filled dray-carts;

Feeding mills, black-poor hearts;

Neptune rides waves with seahorses;

Well; Britannia does.

No, got too much power to stir

The colonial air;

The largest Empire on earth;

With glory and self-worth.

Hindsight sees the bad and the good;

Sherwood hid Robin Hood;

Empire and George VI would die,

Bajan Britannia in the dark;

Independence stamps spark;

Britain no longer holds this rock;

Forty-five years tick tock.

What is apparent here is that rhyme is the combination of assonance and consonance as well as being the repetition of similar sounds in two or more words.

Compound rhymes also known as multisyllabic rhymes are rhymes that contain two or more syllables.  The examples here will feature two or more syllables taken from “Postal History of Barbados in Poetry” as shown below:

Revenue sent to government           Female personification                     On postal anniversary;

Stamps legal document;                    Britannia’s passion;                            Postage fraternity;

Did the Bajan Britannia                   To every far flung colony;

Suffer asthenia?                              Barbados, so tiny

Double or disyllabic rhymes form when two final syllables of words have the same sound. Here are some examples found in “Postal History of Barbados in Poetry”:

Postage stamps tell, tell true stories;

Not of Whigs and Tories.

Strong woman would make that occur;

He said yes, yes after;

Bedchamber crisis in Palace;

Peel resigned from office;

Brave waves did splash over England

Britain, the great island.

Look at postage stamp one farthing;

Gives credence and backing;

With the texture of an Afro,

The rock sat in Barrow;

Proudly wrapped in Broken Trident;

Union Jack silent.

A bold shift in Bajan postage;

The royal head abridge;

More than three hundred years preserved;

Before new queen observed;

Sir Garfield St Auburn Sobers;

Collie’s death he ponders...

Six successive balls in cricket,

From powerful wicket;

Union taken for granted,

And benefits charted;

Impacting all living beings

When Nations Seek postings.

Falling rhyme also known as feminine rhyme is when rhyme falls on an unstressed (ˬ) final syllable as shown in these examples: 

Identical rhyme uses the same word to rhyme with itself.  It should not be confused with identical sounding words with different meanings. Here is an example:

World’s first postmark known, who carved it?

Henry Bishop made it

Masculine rhyme makes up the bulk of rhymes in English Language poetry. It occurs in words of one syllable and in stressed final syllables. Here are some examples:

These sticky little squares do show;

Monarchy you should know;

Imperial wrongs, she undressed;

Her Commonwealth cleaned mess.

More than three hundred years preserved;

Before new Queen observed;

Mosaic rhyme occurs when two or more words produce a multiple rhyme, either with two or more other words, as go for/no more or in a larger word, as cop a plea/ monopoly (Glossary of Poetic Terms from Bob’s Byway). Here some examples taken from “Postal History of Barbados in Poetry”:

gave back;/ wave; brave tact (mosaic Rhyme)

When Queen Elizabeth gave back;                 

Her pen did wave; brave tact.

growing around ground;/ roving round. (mosaic Rhyme)

He pleased crowds growing around ground;

Loyal fans roving round.

zonal ways/ postal trays (mosaic rhyme)

The UPU in zonal ways

Hugs Bajan postal trays;

Rich rhymes also known as true rhymes, perfect rhymes and exact rhymes. They have the same number of syllables and sound exactly alike with the exception of one or more letters. Here are some examples taken from “Postal History of Barbados in Poetry”:

Barbados postage stamps for you;

Plenty facts stuck with glue;

Who gave us the adhesive stamp?

Was Rowland Hill, the champ?

Barbados postage stamps left clues;

Of kings and queens infuse.

 No wage in pounds, shillings and pence;

Working fields, heat intense.

Cutting sugarcane filled dray-carts,

Feeding mills, black-poor hearts;

Brave waves did splash over England;

Britain, the great island.

Rising rhyme is the rhyming of rhymes that utilize rising rhythm or masculine ending. This ictus (/) represents a rising rhythm. Here are examples taken from “Postal History of Barbados in Poetry”:

Postal History of Barbados in Poetry with Comments

Single rhymes occur when one-syllable words rhyme. One syllable words are known as monosyllables. Here are examples from “Postal History of Barbados in Poetry”:

Her reign brings to Bajan new hope;     

And a new skipping rope;

Sir Garfield Sobers on the field;

Greatest all-rounder kneeled;

Pause we must on October nine;  

This thought floods brain of mine;

Slant rhymes are also known as near rhymes, approximate rhymes, off rhymes, imperfect rhymes and half rhymes. This type of rhyme shows consonance on the final letters of words. Here are examples taken from “Postage History of Barbados in Poetry”:

These sticky little squares do show;

Monarchy you should know;

On this half penny stamp of green;

Historical facts seen;

A crown that floats above a head;

What message does it spread?

Triple rhymes are rhymes where the last three syllables of words rhyme as shown in the following examples:

Yes indeed, the task of duopoly

Surely, it will drives down monopoly.

In many forms,  it does operate;

Capital gang must cooperate;

He really; used the word incriminate!

No, his lips uttered recriminate.

When will they end this age of greediness?

It was all done with utter speediness.

References

Glossary of Poetic Terms from Bob’s Byway. Mosaic Rhymes. Retrieve March 14, 2013 from Google Search. http://www.poeticbyway.com/gl-m.html

Historical Poetry. Wikipedia. Retrieved March 14, 2013 from

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_poetry

Comments on Avian Christmas Dish

Avian Christmas Dish

Three days before Christmas of twenty ten;              

Strolling as usual under cherry tree;                           

I was on my wild hunting regimen;                           

Feline behavior really sets me free.                            

Killer instinct does dwell in feline mind;                   

Predatory drives hunting daily sport;            

Regardless of how well fed, teeth must grind,          

Domesticated in home at Bridgeport...

                       

On boughs my four padded feet stood supreme;                  

Among wet leaves and rising of the sun;                   

Birds among the green, I plotted my scheme;                       

Poultry dish wish my fearless plot was spun.            

Through cherry boughs I scaled through early morn,

With every climb my wish grew out of sight;            

"Come down Ginger, you are no leprechaun";          

 That voice in my head was stern and polite.

A Whiskas cat I am; I love to prey;                           

But church bells bellowed time for midnight mass;  

Trees sang “Silent Night” and I had no sway;           

Those black-birds chirped cherry-berry Christmas.

“Avian Christmas Dish” is structured around the terza rima. The terza rima consists of tercet verses in iambic pentameter in English poetry. The Italian poet Dante Alighiere invented the Terza Rima in the late 13th Century. Its inventor offered a series of five options on how to conclude the Terza Rima poem as follows:

1. Use a one-line verse after each stanza in which its end-rhyme, rhymes with the second verse of the preceding tercet;

2. Use a one-line verse at the end of the last stanza with its end-rhyme rhyming with the end-rhyme of the second verse of the preceding tercet;

3. Use a rhyming couplet at the end of each stanza with their end-rhymes rhyming with the second verse of the preceding tercet;

4. Use a rhyming couplet at the end of the last stanza, with the end-rhymes rhyming with the end-rhyme of the second verse of preceding tercet.

5.Use a rhyming couplet at the end of the last tercet, with the rhyming couplet not rhyming with the end-rhyme of the second verse of the preceding tercet. The rhyming of this couplet is independent, as it were.

“Avian Christmas Dish” uses option 1 which uses a one line verse after each stanza in which its end-rhyme, rhymes with the second verse of the preceding tercet. The rhyme scheme for this poem is aba b cdc d efe f ghg h iji j. As is evident in its rhyme scheme, the poem has five tercet stanzas (a stanza of three verses is called a tercet).

The substance, the impressions, facts and ideas contained in poem “Avian Christmas Dish” or any other poem is called content. The content of this poem falls in the category of a dramatic monologue, dramatic poem as well as a narrative poem. Here are the reasons to support the various categories into which the poem falls:

The poem reveals a one-way conversation by the persona to a second person, or an imaginary audience (dramatic monologue). Persona refers to the speaker or voice of literary work. Persona is the “I” or implied speaker of narrative and lyric poetry. Narrative, dramatic and lyric verses are the three main groups of poetry. It is possible for a poem to combine the characteristics of narrative, dramatic and lyric verses. “Avian Christmas Dish” is a dramatic poem because it portrays a story of life, with a persona steep in conflict and emotions, in a miniature plot evolving through action and dialogue. The poem is a narrative poem, because the story keeps on evolving throughout the five stanzas and codas. Coda is a noun and the singular form for codas. Coda refers to the additional section at the end of the stanza. It is somewhat lyrical because the poem’s mood is emotional and rhythmical.

Poets are limited in materials they can use in their poems. All they have are words to express their ideas and feelings. These words need to be precise on several fronts at once. Words selected “must sound right; must have meaning which might have been unanticipated, but seem to be the perfectly right one; must be arranged in a relationship and placed on the page in ways that are at once easy to follow and assist reader in understanding; they must probe the depths of human thought, emotions and empathy, while appearing simple, self-contained, and unpretentious. The English language contains a wide range of words from which to choose for almost every thought, and they are numerous methods of arrangement of these English words, called poetic devices” (Chaparral poets.org).

Chaparral Poets.Org arranged poetic devices into four broad areas with headings like arranging the words, the meaning of words, the images of words and the sound of words. The details of headings arranged in alphabetical order are shown as follows:

 

            

Poetic devices are many and don’t expect to find a poem depicting all them. Poets know this and only select those poetic devices that assist in the development of cogent expressions pleasing to readers and which are appropriate for shaping the imagery of the poem so essential for the understanding of the poem’s content and message. To point this fact out, the poem “Avian Christmas Dish” is revisited for the purpose of location poetic devices used in the poem. Of significance in this probe is that the poem utilizes all the four categories but shows only a few poetic devices taken from each category as shown in these examples:

Various ways of arranging the words in poems are to be found in certain terms poets apply to the process of creating poetry. Here are examples taken from “Avian Christmas Dish”; enjambment, form, fixed form, stanza form, stanza, verse, line, rhyme scheme, point of view.

Enjambment allows words to flow from verse to verse or stanza to stanza without any sort of end-verse punctuation.

Example:

Three days before Christmas of twenty ten

Strolling as usual under cherry tee

I was on my wild hunting regimen;

On boughs my four padded feet stood supreme

Among wet leaves at the rising of the sun;

Form is the arrangement or method used to convey content. It also means the details within the composition of the poem. Generally, it is used in reference to the structural characteristics shaping the poem as it compares to or differs from established modes of conventional arrangements in poetry. This definition is incomplete without giving examples in the following; open form, closed form, blank form, free verse, the couplet, heroic couplet and the quatrain.

Fixed Form poetry is when the structure of poems follows an established pattern of meter, rhyme scheme, stanza form and refrain, if there is a refrain. Examples of poetic structures which adhere to this definition are the ballad, ballade, concrete poetry, epigram, epitaph, haiku, limerick, lyric verse, ode, pantoum, rondeau, sestina, sonnet, terza rima, triolet and the villanelle.

The poem, “Avian Christmas Dish” is an example of a fixed form poem in stanza form. Stanza Form is the name given to describe poems composed on the number of verses in a stanza.  The stanza form is a factor in the categorization of whole poems describes as following a fixed form structure. Examples of stanza form types of poems are:

Couplet (2 verses in a stanza)

Tercet (3 verses in a stanza)

Quatrain (4 verses in a stanza)

Quintet (5 verses in a stanza)

Sestet (6 verses in a stanza)

Septet (7 verses in a stanza)

Octave (8 verses in a stanza)

The poem “Avian Christmas Dish” is also a stanza form type of poem because its stanzas are made of tercet verses. Stanza is a division of a poem established by arranging lines into a unit (free verse); arranging verses in metered poetry, in the same pattern of meter and rhyme throughout the poem . So, a stanza in metered poetry is a group of verses.

Verse is a single line of a poem arranged in a metrical pattern. In free verse there is no such thing as stanzas, this is replaced by units. Arranging lines in free verse is called a unit. Units are separated by blank lines. Stanzas within a poem are separated by blank lines as shown in “Avian Christmas Dish”, for example.

Line, therefore, is fundamental to the perception of poetry, marking an important visual distinction from prose. Poetry is arranged into a series of units or stanzas that do not necessarily correspond to sentences, but rather to a series of metrical feet and cadences as in the case of free verse or prose poetry.

Rhyme Scheme arranges rhyming words at the end of verses in each stanza  in an established pattern .This arrangement uses letters of the alphabet, as shown in this rhyme scheme aba b cdc d efe f ghg h iji j of the Terza Rima stanza form for poem “Avian Christmas Dish”.

When rhyming words are repeated in a rhyme scheme, capital letters are used. When words in a rhyme scheme do not rhyme, the alphabet letters x and y are used.  Here is an example taken from the poem “Bajan Conkies” shown below:

In quatrains, the popular rhyme scheme abab is called alternate rhyme or cross rhyme as seen in poem “Angie” shown below:

Point of View is where the poet concentrates on the vantage point of the speaker or teller of the poem. The speaker of teller of the poem is referred to as the poem’s “voice”.  Point of View is where the poet decides on whether to use a persona as the 1^st person, the 3^rd person limited or 3^rd person omniscient. The 1^st person is the speaker in the poem who tells it from the “I” perspective. The 3^rd person limited is the speaker in the poem who tells about the other characters through the limited perceptions of one other person. The 3^rd person omniscient is the speaker in the poem who is not part of the story, but is able to know and describe what all characters are thinking.

In poem “Avian Christmas Dish” it is clear that the persona is the 1^st person because of the many references to the pronoun “I” as seen in these examples:

Three days before Christmas of twenty ten;                 

Strolling as usual under cherry tree;                                

I was on my wild hunting regimen;                                 

Feline behavior really sets me free.                                

On boughs my four padded feet stood supreme;                         

Among wet leaves and rising of the sun;                       

Birds among the green, I plotted my scheme;              

Through cherry boughs I scaled through early morn,  

With every climb my wish grew out of sight;                

"Come down Ginger, you are no leprechaun";             

 That voice in my head was stern and polite.

A Whiskas cat I am; I love to prey;                                

But church bells bellowed time for midnight mass;     

Trees sang “Silent Night” and I had no sway;

Most words in the English Language convey several meanings or shades of meaning. This is why poets search for words in relation to other words to convey their innermost thoughts. Here are examples; allusion, ambiguity, apostrophe, contrast, personification, and pun found in poem “Avian Christmas Dish”:

Allusion is a brief reference to some person, historical event, work of art, biblical or mythological situation or character.

Example:

“Come down Ginger, you are no leprechaun”;

Ambiguity is a word or phrase that has multiple meanings, even in the surrounding conditions in which it is used.

Example:

That voice in my head was stern and polite.

Apostrophe occurs when the persona speaks directly to a real or imagined listener or inanimate object, by calling out the name of the person or thing.

Example:

“Come down Ginger, you are no leprechaun”;

Contrast is about things arranged closely, but with strikingly different features.

Example:

That voice in my head was stern and polite.

Personification accords human characteristics to objects, to non-humans and abstract ideas.

Example:

 But church bells shouted time for midnight mass;

Trees sang “Silent Night” and I had no sway:

Pun also refers to as paronomasia is all about word play in which words with different meanings have similar or identical sounds.

Example:

A Whiskas cat I am, I love to prey;

The imaging of words relies on such techniques as imagery, mood, tone and synesthesia; these techniques provide strong visual and sensory impact for poets when writing their poetry. In any poem, you are bound to come across imaging techniques in all types of poems read. Imagery is the language of the senses. Imagery allows poets to add depth and understanding of their creations. Imagery allows poets to use objects not really there to create comparison between one that     is, usually evoking more meaningful experiences for readers as readers retrieve physical experiences which they may have from sensory images. Imagery is a lot of things to a lot of different people; through the senses, poets draw in readers by painting mind pictures in their heads. What good is poetry without imagery? One would say a mere sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.

Synesthesia is a condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another.  Chaparralpoets define this condition as the fusing of different senses by describing one kind of sense impression in words normally used to describe another. As a poetic device, synesthesia attempts to express a linkage between imagery sensors such as; visual, auditory, olfactory, kinesthetic, organic, gustatory and tactile. An example of synesthesia taken from “Avian Christmas Dish” is shown below:

 Example:

Killer instinct does dwell in feline mind;                         

Predatory drives hunting daily sport;                              

Regardless of how well fed, teeth must grind,

Through cherry boughs I scaled through early morn,  

With every climb my wish grew out of sight;

It is amazing how these five verses as shown above depict four imagery sensors (kinesthetic, organic, tactile and visual) out of the seven types of imagery sensors.

Tone is about the attitude, feeling or emotion one gets after reading poems. A poem’s tone points in three directions; to the audience being addressed; he subject of the poem, and to the general emotional climate of the poem;

In order to extract the tone of the persona on the audience, the poem must be read as a whole. The persona’s feeling or attitude is a combination of the poem’s structure, meter, images, imagery, cadence, rhythm, figurative language, explicit meaning, implicit meaning, symbolism, content, subject matter and the topic. Take for example; poem “Avian Christmas Dish” the tone of the persona is polite and concise. Obviously, this is very important because the persona’s goal is that of keeping the audience motivated and not to drive away the audience. However, this does not mean that the tone in poems is static. On the contrary, tone has a way of shifting throughout the poem. The tone in the first stanza of a poem can shift to a different tone in any of the remaining stanzas. Now let’s test this theory on all the five stanzas of the poem, “Avian Christmas Dish” the results are shown below:

 


Tone can also refer to the overall mood of the poem aimed to influence the readers’ emotional response and reactions to the poem’s content. However, tone and mood are two separate qualities. That said; how is mood defined?

Mood is created by the tone of the poem filtered through the state of the mind. I like to say that it is the atmosphere or feeling and is like a blanket cozily wrapped around tone. If the tone is aggressive, the mood or state of mind is to attack or do harm. If the tone is optimistic, then the mood will portray a positive attitude. If the tone is low-spirited then mood will present an atmosphere of discouragement. The overall mood of a poem is aimed at influencing readers’ emotional response and reactions to the contents of the poem. Mood is influenced by the structure of the poem; such as its imagery, words chosen, punctuations used, sound of words, images of words, meaning of words and arrangement of words. If you have read the poem “Avian Christmas Dish”; do you share this similar mood? I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders; for common sense had one the day; no wanton killing was unleashed, and the joyous feeling of Christmas filled the air.

Poets shape their creations around imagery drawn from such broad areas as sound of words, meaning of words, the arrangement of words and images of words. However, only a few poetic devices from these broad areas are woven in each poem. This has been highlighted in previous discourse with respect to the arrangement of words, the meaning of words, and the images of words. Attention now is drawn to the sound of words which is achieved when portions of words are clustered or juxtaposed to achieve specific kinds of effects when they are spoken. Their sounds can be clever, pleasing or soothing. Words that are not pleasing to the ears, poets often avoid them. Of course, dark poetry writers cherish such words.

Poets of all persuasions draw from the sounds of words by using poetic devices like; alliteration, assonance, consonance, cacophony, euphony, onomatopoeia, repetition, rhyme and rhythm and sibilance. Not all of these poetic devices associated with the sounds of  words are to be found all at once in poems; for there is the tendency for poets to select some of these poetic devices deemed appropriate for each new poem created and is best suited for what the poem is to achieve. Take for example in “Avian Christmas Dish” seven out of the ten poetic devices are used such as; alliteration, assonance, consonance, sibilance, rhyme, rhythm and scansion are shown below:

Alliteration repeats the same consonant in any part of adjacent words.

Example:

With every climb my wish grew out of sight;

But church bells bellowed time for midnight mass;

Those black birds chirped cherry-berry Christmas.

Assonance repeats vowel sounds in stressed words placed near each other rather than in vowel sounds that are unstressed.

Example:

Strolling as usual under cherry tree;

Feline behavior really sets me free.

Regardless of how well fed, teeth must grind.

Poultry dish wish my fearless plot was spun.

Consonance repeats consonant sounds at the ending of words that are stressed rather than in vowel sounds that are unstressed.

Example:

Poultry dish wish my fearless plot was spun.

But church bells bellowed time for midnight mass;

Trees sang “Silent Night” and I had no sway;

We associate rhyme with poetry. It is about words that have different beginning sounds but whose endings sound alike, including the final vowel sound and everything following it.

Example:

Three days before Christmas of twenty ten;                 

Strolling as usual under cherry tree;                                

I was on my wild hunting regimen;

Feline behavior really sets me free.                                 

Killer instinct does dwell in feline mind;                         

Predatory drives hunting daily sport;                              

Regardless of how well fed, teeth must grind,

Domesticated in home at Bridgeport...

                               

On boughs my four padded feet stood supreme;                        

Among wet leaves and rising of the sun;                       

Birds among the green, I plotted my scheme;

Poultry dish wish my fearless plot was spun.                

Through cherry boughs I scaled through early morn, 

With every climb my wish grew out of sight;                

"Come down Ginger, you are no leprechaun";

 That voice in my head was stern and polite.

A Whiskas cat I am; I love to prey;                                               

But church bells bellowed time for midnight mass;     

Trees sang “Silent Night” and I had no sway;

Those black-birds chirped cherry-berry Christmas.

Rhythm helps distinguish poetry from prose. It is the metrical pattern mixed with rhymes fuelling the rhythmic beat of poems. In order to provide examples of the rhythmic beat in poetry, it is necessary to conduct to scan of verses in a poem as shown in the examples below taken “Avian Christmas Dish”:

Scansion shows where the pattern of stressed syllables and unstressed syllables occur in verses in a poem. Such patterns are referred to as meter. Meter organizes voice patterns, in terms of both the arrangement of stressed and unstressed as marked by ictus (/), the breve (ˬ) and the meter counter (׀). Poetry is organized by the division of each verse into “feet” metric units which consist of a particular arrangement of strong and weak stresses as shown in the above examples. Scansion, therefore, is the conscious measure of the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a verse of poetry. As seen in the examples five metrical feet in English Language poetry is called an iambic pentameter .If the five feet read only iambs, the meter gives off an unnatural rhythm or monotonous rhythm. Hence, the reason why metrical feet of any length in English Language poetry blend in other foot types like the trochee, spondee, dactyl, pyrrhic and anapest to counteract monotonous rhythm.

References:

Poetic Devices, Chaparralpoets. Retrieved March 9. 2003, from http://www.chaparralpoets.org/devices.pdf

Poetic Form: Terza Rima, Poets.org Academy of American Poets. Retrieved March 9, 2013, from Google search, http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5794

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