Structural devices focus on how the poem is built. These devices shape the form and flow of a poem, helping poets organise ideas, create emphasis, and control the reader’s experience.
1. Refrain
Definition: A repeated phrase, line, or stanza for emphasis.
This about the line “life for me ain’t been no crystal stair” in the poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes.
2. Stanza
Definition: A grouped set of lines, like a paragraph in poetry.
Think about the four stanzas in the sonnet “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” by William Shakespeare.
3. Enjambment
Definition: Continuation of a sentence or phrase across multiple lines without a pause.
Look at these lines from the poem “Mother to Son”. They are one sentence written across multiple lines showing enjambment:
“It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare.”
4. Caesura
Definition: Caesura (pronounced as /si-ZYOO-ruh/) is a deliberate pause or break in a line, often marked by punctuation such as a comma, period, dash, or ellipsis. It allows poets to create rhythm, emphasize certain words or ideas, or mimic natural speech patterns.
Example:
The last two lines in the previous example
(And places with no carpet on the floor— / Bare)
is also an example of caesura.
Another famous example is when in the play ‘Hamlet’, Prince Hamlet says:
“To be, or not to be—that is the question”.