Poetry is an incredible genre of literature that is based on rhyme, that is, all lines in a poetic work rhyme with each other. However, poems and various similar works related to this genre would not be so impressive if not for the poetic syntax. What it is? This is a system of special speech construction tools that are responsible for improving its expressiveness. Simply put, poetic syntax is a combination of these poetic means, which are most often called figures. It is these figures that will be discussed in this article - you will learn about the different means of expression that can often be found in poetic works.
Replay
The poetic syntax is very diverse, it includes dozens of expressive means that can be used in various situations. However, this article will only discuss the most important and widespread figures of poetic speech. And the first thing without which it is impossible to imagine a poetic syntax is repetition. There are a large number of different repetitions, each of which has its own characteristics. You can find epanalipsis, anadiplosis in poetry and much more, but in this article we will talk about the two most common forms - anaphora and epiphora
Anaphora
Features of poetic syntax involve the use of various means of expression in combination with the rest, but most often poets use repetition. And the most popular among them is anaphora. What it is? Anaphora is a repetition of consonances or identical words at the beginning of each line of a poem or part thereof.
“No matter how oppressed the hand of fate,
No matter how tormenting people deception ... "
This is one of the ways of semantic and aesthetic organization of speech, which can be used to give one or another emphasis to what has been said. However, the figures of poetic speech can be varied, and even the repetitions, as you already learned, can differ from each other.
Epiphora
What is epiphora? This is also a repeat, however, it differs from anaphora. The difference is that in this case the words are repeated at the end of the lines of the poem, and not at the beginning.
"To the steppes and roads
Not finished account;
Stones and rapids
No account found. ”
As in the case with the previous figure, the epiphora is an expressive tool and can give the poem special expression. Now you know what epiphora is, but the means of expression in poetry do not end there. As mentioned earlier, the syntax of the poems is very extensive and provides unlimited possibilities.
Polysindeton
Poetic language is very harmonious just because poets use various means of poetic syntax. Among them, polysyndeton, which is also called multi-union, is often found. This is an expressive tool that, due to redundancy, gives the poem a special tone. Often polysyndeton is used together with anaphora, that is, repeating alliances begin at the beginning of the line.
Asyndeton
The poetic syntax of a poem is a combination of various poetic figures, which you already learned about earlier. However, you still do not know even a small fraction of the means used for poetic expression. You already read about multi-union - the time has come to learn about non-union, that is, asindeton. In this case, the lines of the poem appear without any unions, even in those cases where, by logic, they should be present. Most often, this tool is used in long rows of homogeneous members, which are eventually listed with a comma to create a certain atmosphere.
Parallelism
This expressive tool is very interesting, because it allows the author to beautifully and effectively compare any two concepts. As a matter of fact, the essence of this technique lies in the open and detailed comparison of two different concepts, but not just like that, but in the same or similar syntactic constructions. For instance:
“Day - as the grass spreads.
I wash my face with tears. ”
Anjanjan
Anjambeman is a rather complicated expressive tool that is not so easy to use correctly and beautifully. In simple words, this is a transfer, but far from the most ordinary. In this case, part of the sentence is transferred from one line to another, but in such a way that the semantic and syntactic part of the previous one appears on the other line. To better understand what is meant, it is easier to look at an example:
"Into the ground laughing first
I got up in the dawn of the crown. "
As you can see, the sentence “Into the earth, laughing that I got up first” is one separate part, and “in the dawn of the crown” is another. However, the word "got up" is transferred to the second line, while it turns out that the rhythm is observed.
Inversion
Inversion in poems is very common - it gives them a poetic connotation, and also provides the creation of rhyme and rhythm. The essence of this technique is to change the word order to atypical. For example, you can take the sentence "Lonely sail whitens in the blue fog of the sea." Is this a poem? Not. Is this a well-formed sentence with the correct word order? Absolutely. But what happens if you use inversion?
"The lone sail whitens
In the blue sea fog. ”
As you can see, the sentence was not drawn up correctly - its meaning is clear, but the word order does not correspond to the norm. But at the same time, the proposal has become much more expressive, and now also fits into the general rhythm and rhyme of the poem.
Antithesis
Another technique that is used very often is the antithesis. Its essence lies in the contrast of images and concepts used in the poem. This technique gives the poem drama.
Graduation
This technique is a syntactic construction in which there is a certain set of words arranged in a specific order. This can be either a descending order, or an order of increasing significance and importance of these words. Thus, each subsequent word either enhances the importance of the previous or weakens.
Rhetorical issue and rhetorical appeal
Rhetoric in poetry is used very often, and in many cases it is addressed to the reader, but often it is also used to appeal to specific heroes. What is the essence of this phenomenon? A rhetorical question is a question that does not imply an answer to it. It is used to attract attention, not to have someone come up with an answer and communicate it. Approximately the same situation with rhetorical treatment. It would seem that the appeal is used in order to be answered by the one to whom it is addressed. However, rhetorical treatment, again, is used only as a means of attracting attention.