While you might think that it’s something magical, neuroscience offers a more rational point of view. In recent times, researchers have explained this using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and other advanced tools. They were used to study how the human brain responded to poetry. Among several other things, they discovered that the brain is wired to recognize rhythms and rhymes used by poets. 

The brain also differentiates them from ordinary prose or speech. Researchers also found that poetic imagery and a poem’s multiple layers of meanings activate certain areas of the brain. Some of these areas help us to interpret our everyday reality.

How your brain is wired for poetry

It seems that our brains are wired to recognize poetry. This explains why poems have such profound effects on us. A newly published study in the journal Frontiers of Psychology also offers an explanation. The researchers at the Bangor University in the United Kingdom read several sentences to Welsh-speaking individuals. 

Some of these sentences conformed to the rules of Cynghanedd for intricate poetic construction. This is a traditional form of Welsh poetry. Other individuals in the group didn’t follow the rules. Although the individuals didn’t know a thing about Cynghanedd, they categorized the sentences following the rules as ‘good’. The researchers also hooked up these individuals to EEG devices. 

They then observed a distinctive burst of electrical activity in the brains of these people. It occurred instantly after hearing the last word of a poetic line. Guillaume Thierry, a psychology professor at Bangor said that the results argued for a profoundly intuitive origin of poetry. Poetry affects certain areas of the brain, depending upon the degree of complexity and emotion of ideas and language. 

In 2013, a study was published in the Journal of Consciousness Studies. Researchers at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom had participants lay inside an fMRI scanner. Then the researchers read several texts on a screen. The selections deliberately included dull prose, such as an instruction manual, passages from novels, and samples of poetry. 

The subjects had told earlier that some of these poems were their favourites. The listeners had to rate the texts on qualities, such as how many emotions they aroused. The texts were also rated based on how difficult they were to contemplate.

The research findings

The scans showed more activation in areas on the right side of the brain when certain texts were read. These were the texts to which the subjects had assigned a higher degree of emotions. This was quite similar to the findings of a study that was conducted in 2001. In this case, these areas were activated by music that had moved listeners to a great extent. 

The favourite poems of the subjects had weakly activated a network in the brain, which was associated with reading. Strong activation was seen in the inferior parietal lobes, which is an area associated with recognition.

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Despite this, most of the poems possess some key characteristics. These are the choices that can vary from poem to poem. Some of the essential characteristics of poetry are as explained below:

1. Figures of Speech

The figurative language or figures of speech are ways, by which, things are explained in a non-literal manner. For instance, a metaphor describes a particular thing by linking it to something else. Let’s say, “His touch was a lightning strike”. Here, the author doesn’t mean to say that the touch was a lightning strike in the literal sense. It rather means that the touch produced feelings of heightened excitement and emotions. 

Another example of figures of speech is hyperbole. It is used frequently for a humorous exaggeration, which usually provides hints of a larger truth. Here, let’s say, “He ran faster than the wind”. In this sentence, the author means to say that the person in question ran at his fastest speed.

2. Format and Punctuation

The punctuation and format are all about how a poem is arranged on the page. It is also about how the author wants you to read the poem. If the poem contains short stanzas and frequent line breaks, you’re compelled to read it in a certain rhythm. 

You’ll read the poem in a different rhythm if it is arranged in longer stanzas and fewer line breaks. In order to understand this even better, you must try reading the poem aloud. This would help you gauge the impact of the format.

3. Imagery

Imagery is a description of what the author witnesses, hear, or senses. It can be something that exists in his or her mind or can be real. Imagery needs to be something concrete, such as sight, sound, taste, or smell. Visual imagery describes what the author sees. This is the most common type of imagery used in poetry. It creates a picture, which the listener or reader can see in his or her mind.

4. Sound and Tone

Authors of poems use various tones and sounds throughout the poetry. This is done to change the way it sounds. For example, the author may use alliteration. This is when many consecutive words begin with the same letter. Here, the author may write, “Pretty pugs prance playfully on the promenade”. 

The author may choose his or her letters to give a sharp or soft sound to the poem. For instance, using words with soft consonants like m, f, and w produces a certain sound. The sound would be entirely different when hard consonants like k, d, and z are used.

5. Meter choices

Meter refers to a poem’s rhythm or pattern of speech with which a reader reads it. This doesn’t happen by accident, as authors use different meters to produce different rhythms. They have some technical names like spondaic heptameter and iambic pentameter. These names act as measurements for poems. The rhythm and meter of a poem can be broken down and analyzed with the help of these measurements.

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Of course, you’ll be heartbroken upon hearing this as you might’ve poured out your heart into the poem. The world of poetry is varied and vast. Certainly, there are poems you’d love to read and the ones you’d enjoy writing. You might just need a quick introduction to several poetic forms to be on track. So, here are the most popular types of poems:

1. Sonnet

When you begin thinking about the poetic forms, the sonnet might be the first to surface in your mind. This is an old form, which originated during the 13th century in Italy. There are two common forms of a sonnet, namely the Petrarchan or Italian and the Shakespearean or Elizabethan. Both of them have several rules. Traditionally, there are 14 lines in sonnets and are often about different kinds of love. 

Lost love, married love, forgotten love, longing for love are some of the examples. Petrarchan sonnets have a rhyme scheme of ABBA ABBA CDE CDE. The Shakespearean sonnets are usually written in the ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme scheme.

2. Haiku

This is a Japanese form, which originated in the 17th century in the writings of Matsuo Basho. The Haiku are very short poems. Owing to their short length, they are perfect for writing exercises and school assignments. A Haiku typically has 17 syllables that are arranged in three lines. 

The first line has five syllables, the next has 7, and the third has 5. Such poems are commonly about nature and include a seasonal reference, usually containing two juxtaposed ideas or images.

3. Ballad

Ballad is for those who wish to tell a story or read one in the form of a poem. It is a traditional and old form, which were earlier passed down orally from one generation to the next. If you are someone who wants to take this form quite seriously, there are certain rules to be followed. 

Ballads are written in quatrains or groups of four lines. The rhyme scheme to follow is ABAB or ABCB. The lines usually alternate between having six syllables and eight. However, the ballad is a form that’s loose enough to make it into whatever you want.

4. Free Verse

This form of poetry gives you complete freedom to do whatever you want! There are absolutely no rules in free verse. You’re not required to follow the regular patterns of rhythm or rhyme. There’s no need for lines of a particular length or stanzas of a certain number. 

Free verse can be liberating and terrifying at the same time. Of course, you can do whatever you wish to, but you may keep thinking about where to begin. Nevertheless, you can still go ahead and try it, enjoying all the freedom that it offers.

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