Poetic Structure and Themes

Poetic Structures and Themes
by catherine febriani

1. Theme and Structure
1. Recounts a experience/uses little anecdote in first few sections of the poem, final stanza is a philosophical reflection on the significance of the experience
2. Poet directly speaks to the reader with a persona of another person
3. Poet expresses many innermost feelings in an intimate way
4. Poet, in second person, addresses something and praises its qualities in an emotional, lyrical way
5. Poem presents two sides of an argument
6. Poem is a description from general experience to the particular
2. Layout
1. Concrete Poems: arrangement of words to symbolize the meaning they express while describing the poem’s character.

https://www.poetry4kids.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/smalltall.png

2. End-Stopped Lines, Open Lines, Enjambment and Caesura: less extreme layout that can also be very expressive.

Everyone Sang
BY SIEGFRIED SASSOON (1918)
Everyone suddenly burst out singing;
And I was filled with such delight
As prisoned birds must find in freedom,
Winging wildly across the white
Orchards and dark-green fields; on - on - and out of sight.

Everyone's voice was suddenly lifted;
And beauty came like the setting sun:
My heart was shaken with tears; and horror
Drifted away ... O, but Everyone
Was a bird; and the song was wordless; the singing will never be done.

3. Verse and Stanza

Regular verses/stanzas’ different length names

Number of Lines	Name
2	Couplet
3	Triplet/Tercet
4	Quatrain
5	Quintain
6	Sestet
7	Septet
8	Octave/Octet

1. The Sonnet: 14-line poem with particular variations of rhyme, rhythm and structure, derived from two main varieties: the Petrarchan/Italian sonnet and the Shakespearean/Elizabethan sonnet.
2. Poets usually follow one of two structures. For example, first form is an octave followed by a sestet which groups the ideas into these two sets of lines. A volta is usually done at this point to change the idea or mood.

1. Example and Analysis (by Catherine) :

“Each Moment Is Precious” is a modern poem written by Pat A. Fleming on October 29th, 2018. Little is known about the poet the poem is posted through a website that compiles poems submitted by anyone. Because of this, we are left to analyze the poem through how it is made, and not through its historical background (the poem is timeless, we cannot see any specific time markers in it), social background, cultural background, and most definitely not through the author’s background.
While there are other parts of the poem we can use to analyze, we are going to use poetic structures and themes as an example to this topic. To give you an overview, we are going to branch the topic into three parts: theme and structure, layout, then finally verse and stanza. But first, let us read the poem together:

Each Moment Is Precious
BY PAT A. FLEMING (OCT 29, 2018)

Live in the moment,
Just take it all in.
Pay attention to everything,
Right there and right then.

Don't let your mind wander
To what's coming next.
Cherish this moment
And give it your best.

Don't let tomorrow
Make you rush through today,
Or too many great moments
Will just go to waste.

And the person you're with,
In that moment you share,
Give them all of your focus;
Be totally there.

Laugh till it hurts,
Let the tears drop.
Fill up each moment
With all that you've got.

Don't miss the details;
The lesson is there.
Don't get complacent;
Stay sharp and aware.

It can take but a moment
To change your life's path.
And once it ticks by,
There is no going back.

In just 60 seconds,
You may make a new friend.
Find your true love,
Or see a life start or end.

You become who you are
In those moments you live.
And the growth's not in taking
But in how much you give.

Life is just moments,
So precious and few.
Whether valued or squandered,
It's all up to you!

Source: https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/each-moment-is-precious

So after reading the poem, we can conclude that this is a lesson poem that urges us to do something, to teach us a life lesson that is most likely experienced by the poet himself. In Each Moment Is Precious, the poet reaches out to the audience in second person view. He directly speaks to us, addressing us with “you”, but uses a persona of another person (as a person who has lived quite a long time and who is wise enough to give such a lesson). He writes as if he is dying, in a hurry to pass the last of his knowledge on to his successor as some lines (lines 20-24) can be interpreted as a “live as if tomorrow’s your last” type of message. But he did not specifically write his main message into the first few lines, the poet describes his poem from a general view to a particular topic (i.e. lines 32-36 where it gets more specific: to make a new friend, find true love, and to see a life start or end. He was much broader in the lines before but the poet chose these points to happen in the poem, out of the many possibilities of life such as getting ill, succeeding in your studies, etc.)
With this, we now know the theme and bits of the structure of the poem. Each Moment Is Precious is in the second point of view as the audience are addressed with the pronoun “you” (reference from https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/first-second-and-third-person?page=1). In the last part, he presents two sides of an argument (Life is just moments, so precious and few. Whether valued or squandered, it's all up to you!). The poem’s structure starts from a broad/general context which gets filtered into a much specific topic. For the theme, it is expressed in an intimate way which you can experience throughout the whole poem as the poet writes it lovingly, with a persona of a person who cares and who is wise.
Moving on to the layout, we have concrete poems and the usage of end-stopped lines, open lines, enjambment and caesura. Judging from its look, we can tell that this poem is not a concrete poem that arranges it words to symbolize the meaning they express (or else it would’ve looked different). Instead, Each Moment Is Precious uses the two particles in its poem.
The first particle used is the enjambment of lines. Enjambments are what breaks down full sentences into separate lines/clauses, punctuated with a series of commas, periods, semicolons, and colons. (referenced from https://www.deviantart.com/sparrowsong/journal/The-Breaking-Point-End-stopping-and-Enjambment-214197545 ). It helps to create a sense of motion or add more variation to the poem. Each Moment Is Precious uses this particle throughout the poem. This is because none of the lines are full sentences, ended directly in one line, but is ended in two lines as clauses. Just like how it is in lines 9-10 where the 9th line writes, “Don’t let your mind wander”. If we consider this as a full sentence, it would be a confusing one as it does not explain what to not wander on, on what context, which is why it is ended in the next line which writes, “to what’s coming next.” with a period in the end.
The second particle used in this poem is the caesura. Caesura is an external part of poems. It is merely the natural pause in lines that makes up the poem (https://study.com/academy/lesson/caesura-in-poetry-definition-examples-quiz.html ). It can take place in the middle line (medial caesura) i.e. line 4 “Right there//and right then), beginning of the line (initial caesura), and/or in the end of the line (terminal caesura). Every poem has caesura which is why Each Moment Is Precious has caesura too.
While the poem uses the two particles from four, the other two is proved not be used in the poem because: (1) there are no full sentences found in 1 line, they all end in two lines as clauses hence no end-stopping lines were used and (2) this poem strictly follows a guideline of four lines in each stanza (also as known as quatrain) which we will discuss after this in verses and stanzas.
After analyzing the poem’s theme, structure, and layout, we are left with verses and stanzas which is clearly in sets of four lines. Quatrain is the word for poems which consists of stanzas of four lines.
In conclusion, Each Moment Is Precious is a poem with the theme “life lesson” and the structure from general to specific, written in the second point of view with the persona of a wise person, presenting two sides of an argument in the last part. Its layout consists two particles which are enjambment and caesura while its verses and stanzas follows the pattern of four lines in a stanza (quatrain).