The Grammar of Poetry: Analyzing the Language of Literature

Poetry is a literary genre that uses a unique way of writing an expressive composition and manipulating language structure by applying various stylistic features to evoke readers’ emotions and feelings. Archaic Words, Inverted Syntax, Colloquialism, Parallelism, and Tense Shift are the stylistic features added to poems to produce an emphatic effect. To further explore these features, this study utilizes an In-depth Textual approach, which analyzes not just the surface level of the selected poems but also delves deeper into the meanings. This method focuses on discussing how the aforementioned emergent themes are used in a poem and how some traditional poetic styles challenge readers’ comprehension. This study is anchored in Foregrounding Theory, which explains how the standard language usage in poetry can either enhance or complicate meanings. While these styles are essential in creating an impactful tone, they may also lead to confusion, especially for modern readers who are not familiar with complex poetic structure. Thus, it is important for writers to balance creative expression and clarity in their literary pieces.