Ever wondered how to talk about poem structure? Like what’s a caesura, and how on earth do you pronounce enjambment? Well, worry no longer – this is the article for you!

Knowing how to talk about poem structure can be really challenging, especially as many schools neglect to teach it properly.  Even if you are lucky and your school does teach you about poetic structure, so many people still struggle.  I don’t blame them at all – this is one of the hardest parts of literary analysis!

As a private tutor myself (not to mention owner of a degree specialising in English Literature…), here is my take on writing about poetic structure.

You are going to learn about caesuras, enjambment, stanzas and iambic pentametre –  everything you need to know for your English Lit GCSE and A level (and beyond!).

This article is all about poem structure.

Poem Structure

Before we dive in, this article is only about poetic structure, not language analysis or form.  If you’d like something more general, have a look at this article:

How to Analyse a Poem

Also, scroll down to the bottom if you are looking for definitions of basically every poem structure term you need to know – you’ll find them in the glossary section.

Structure vs Form

The first thing we’d better clarify is the difference between structure and form, which is often quite blurry.  In fact, though, they’re quite distinct.  Form is the ‘type’ of poem – for example, limerick, sonnet or haiku – whilst structure is the fine detail of a poem (so, punctuation marks, line lengths, rhyme etc).

Essentially, form is the bigger picture, whilst structure is the minutiae.  You MUST talk about structure in any poetry essay (including unseen poetry!), but you don’t have to talk about form unless you have something interesting to say.  Which, to be honest, you rarely will!

Step-by-Step Structure Guide

Analysing poetic structure is actually very easy – when you follow this step-by-step guide of course!  There are just six things you need to mention when analysing a poem: stanza length, line length, rhyme scheme, metre, caesuras and enjambment.  Here’s are some examples of questions to ask yourself about each, as well as a few phrases or ideas you can “borrow” from me!

Remember, if you aren’t sure on definitions, have a look at the glossary at the end of this article.

Line length

Line length is the easiest place to start when talking about poetic structure.  Here are some questions to consider:

• Are all the lines the same length?
• Is any line particularly short or long?  Why might this be?  What’s going on in that line?
• Do the lines make a particular shape on the page?

Stanza length

The questions for stanza length, you’ll be pleased to hear, are the same as those for line length.  If something in particular stands out, there’s probably a reason!

Rhyme scheme

Rhyme and rhythm are all to do with how much control the poet is exerting over their work.  Here are some questions to think about:

• Is the rhyme scheme strict or loose?
• Is the level of strictness linked to the time in which the poem was written?  If it’s an old poem, it will naturally be stricter than recent poems
• Is there a particular word or stanza that breaks the pattern?
• Do two words in particular rhyme?  Are their meanings linked in some way?
• Are there any internal rhymes (within a line)?
• Are there any half rhymes (e.g. fun and tan, or with and wit)?

Metre

Again, a lot of the metre questions are similar to the rhyme scheme questions, though, of course, there are some differences.  Here are some examples:

• Is the rhythm strict?
• Does the rhythm mimic something that is happening in the poem (e.g. dactyllic rhythms often mimic running or horses galloping)?
• Are any words particularly or unusually stressed?
• Does the metre slow the pace, or make the pace speed up?

Caesuras

These are tricky to talk about, and it you’re not 95% confident, I would probably avoid talking about them!  Anyway, having said that, here are a few questions you could think about:

• What word precedes the caesura?
• What word follows the caesura?
• Are there lots of caesuras, or are they few and far between?
• Does the number of caesuras affect the pace of the poem at all?

A phrase you can borrow to talk about caesuras is that they ‘add weight’ or ‘add gravity’ to the surrounding words.  Very easy to write and applies to pretty much every caesura you’ll come across.

Enjambment

• Is enjambment used in every line, or is it rare?
• Does the enjambment flow between lines or between stanzas?

Another general enjambment analysis is to comment on how the meaning flows between the lines, ‘undermining any semblance of order’ the poet has established through strict metre, rhymes or stanza structure.

Poem Structure Glossary

Quick foreword: this glossary of course does not cover every single word you might ever need.  However, it does cover every word you absolutely must know at GCSE, A level and undegraduate level – beyond that, you can do your own research!

A ‘paragraph’ or ‘verse’ of poetry

A punctuation mark in the middle of a line of poetry.  For example:

Men marched asleep.  Many had lost their boots,

But limped on, blood-shod.  All went lame; all blind;

When there is no punctuation mark at the end of a line of poetry

The ‘pulse’ or ‘beat’ of a poem.  It’s a bit like how you can count ‘1, 2, 3, 4’ to some songs.  This is probably the hardest thing to spot, so try reading the examples below out loud.

A ‘heavy’ syllable.  For example, in the word ‘potato’ the stressed syllable is in the middle:

Po-tay-to

A type of metre that has an unstressed-stressed pattern.  For example:

I am inviting you to lunch.

(This is a particularly helpful example because it beings with ‘iam’ and is therefore easy to remember!)

A type of metre that has a stressed-unstressed-unstressed pattern.  For example:

Half a league, half a league, 

Half a league onward,

When a poem has five ‘beats’ in a line.  For example:

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

1        2            3        4        5

When two consecutive lines rhyme.  For example, to quote Paul McCartney:

And in the end, the love you take

Is equal to the love you make.

Poetry which has metre but no rhyme scheme.

Poetry which has neither metre nor rhyme scheme.

Well, there we have it!  Pretty much everything you need to know about poem structure from GCSE to degree level – and beyond!  It isn’t easy, but if you follow these simple steps analysing structure is much, much  more manageable.  Hop it helps!

This article was all about poem structure.

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