POETRY ANALYSIS UNIT

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POETRY ANALYSIS UNIT

• The two most engaging powers of an author is to
  make new things familiar and familiar things
  new.
• - Samuel Johnson
  (1709-1784)

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Introduction to Poetry AnalysisWhat is It?

• Poetry is one of the oldest literatures - oral
  poetry existed before written literature
• The Greek root of the word poetry is poësis,
  meaning a making and a poet is a maker
• The word poetry is so venerable that the study of
  the principles of literature, as well as the
  study of principles of poetry, is still called
  poetics by many in the field of English

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Classical Definitions of Poetry

• SAMUEL JOHNSON (from Preface to Shakespeare)
• The end of writing is to instruct the end of
  poetry is to instruct by pleasing.

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Classical Definitions of Poetry

• WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (from Preface to Lyrical
  Ballads)
• Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful
  feelings it takes its origin from emotion
  recollected in tranquility the emotion is
  contemplated till, by a species of reaction, the
  tranquility gradually disappears, and an emotion,
  kindred to that which was the subject of
  contemplation, is gradually produced, and does
  itself actually exist in the mind.

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Classical Definitions of Poetry

• ROBERT FROST (The Letters of Robert Frost to
  Louis Untermeyer (1963)
• A poem begins with a lump in the throat, a
  home-sickness or a love-sickness. It is a
  reaching-out toward expression an effort to find
  fulfillment. A complete poem is one where the
  emotion has found its thought and the thought has
  found the words."

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Classical Definitions of Poetry

• MERRIAMWEBSTER.COM
• Poem A composition in verse
• Poetry 1 a metrical writing VERSE b the
  productions of a poet POEMS 2 writing that
  formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness
  of experience in language chosen and arranged to
  create a specific emotional response through
  meaning, sound, and rhythm3 a something
  likened to poetry especially in beauty of
  expression b poetic quality or aspect poetry of dance

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What is poetry? (contd)

• Poetry rewards a lot of reading and thinking. For
  all writers, of all forms, poetry study teaches
  the possibilities of words (their music, rhythm,
  sound) and the possibilities of language (the
  intensity and compression of language, the beauty
  and ugliness). Words stand bare in poetry.
• Poetry is nothing to be frightened of or
  automatically hate! We just need to learn ways of
  reading and understanding it.

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What is poetry? (contd)

• The level of language ranges from slang to the
  most formal standard English, the subjects
  include the forbidden/taboo, the
  marginal/alienated, the personal, the
  traditional, etc
• Poets (like all artists) have different agendas
  just like fiction and drama writers their form,
  content and conscious and unconscious agendas are
  present and reflect each other.

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Formal poetry Form and Quasi-Form

• Formal poems follow a fairly strict formula of
  "versification" - regular rhyme, meter, rhythm
  and/or division into stanzas.
• Formal poetry may be the most ancient of all
  literature - in oral cultures form is an aid to
  memory it is now accepted that Homer's Iliad
  and Odyssey were Greek oral forms with repeating
  patterns that aided the teller of the tale.
• Some poets don't write in a strict form, but use
  some formal devices, such as same-line stanzas,
  or occasional regular rhyme or rhythm to help
  organize the look and content of their poetry.
  We'll call this loose, arbitrary form Quasi-Form.

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Formal poetry free and anti-form

• Most contemporary poets find forms artificial and
  write in irregular lines, irregular stanzas, with
  no regular repeating rhythm or rhyme. Instead,
  their language is sculpted to follow the poet's
  own taste. We'll refer to these poems as open
  form or free form (also called vers libre ).
• Finally, some poets write in ways that challenge
  and confuse the whole idea of form as necessary
  to poetry. They may do this through parody or
  ridicule of a form, for example. We'll call this
  use of form Anti-Form.

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Subjects/themes of poetry

• Love poem
• Political poem
• Metaphysical poem (philosophical)
• Confessional Poem - Poem of self
  exploration/revelation
• Poem reflecting on death or other solemn themes
  (Elegy)
• Poem to praise a wedding (Epithalamion)
• Poem to impart wisdom, learning and aid memory
  (Proverb)
• Poems that are discovered in everyday life (found
  poetry)
• Puns - poems that depend on word play, humor,
  cleverness
• Epigram (short, witty, concise saying

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Where do we find poetry read?

• At funerals, graduations, wedding anniversaries,
  birthday parties, and at the inauguration of a
  president people gather to read They do not
  read stories, articles or plays. They read
  poems.
• The power of poetry comes partly from its
  brevity. Poems are short, but they say a great
  deal with a few well-chosen words.
• Poetry has evolved and now the most famous poems
  of all time are the songs you listen to on the
  radio.

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The Power of Brevity

• Forget-Me-Not
• I left one flower
• On Grandmas coffin
• A forget-me-not
• As if I could.
• - Ralph Fletcher

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What about Shakespeare?

• Did Shakespeare prefer to be known as a poet or
  playwright?
• A POET! Remember our discussion of the
  distillation of language in the fall?
• Poets can convey sweeping ideas about humanity
  and life in a few lines this impact is often
  more powerful and profound than entire novels
  which aim to do the same thing.

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POETIC TERMS TO KNOW

• These will be on your final exam, and you will be
  required to analyze these terms when applicable
  in both poems and lyrics during the next week.
• Be sure to take thorough notes (especially the
  examples!)

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Poetry The 3-D Literature

• All poetry is 3-dimensional and can be read,
  studied and analyzed with 6 elements in mind
• SOUND
• SPEAKER
• FORM
• FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
• IMAGERY
• THEME

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SOUND

• Repetition
• Onomatopoeia
• Meter
• Alliteration
• Consonance
• Assonance
• Connotation
• Refrain

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IMAGERY

• Sight
• Smell
• Touch
• Sound
• Taste

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FORM

• Point of view
• Free verse
• Haiku
• Lyric
• Rhyming
• Tercet
• Stanza
• Narrative
• Diamante
• Acrostic

• Cinquain
• Quatrain
• Limerick
• Concrete

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FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

• Metaphor
• Simile
• Personification
• Apostrophe
• Symbol
• Allusion
• Paradox
• Extended metaphor
• Hyperbole
• Oxymoron

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SPEAKER

• Point of view
• Not always the author
• Can be specific
• Can be general
• Write down whatever you know about the speaker!

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• Alliteration-The repetition of beginning
  consonant sounds. (Peter Piper picked a peck of
  pickled peppers)
• Allusion-A reference to a well known person,
  place, event, etc. (His idea sank like the
  Titanic)
• Apostrophe-Direct address to an inanimate object
  or idea (or something absent or no longer living)
  (Busy old fool, unruly sun/Why dost thou
  thus/Through windows/and through curtains call
  on us?)
• Assonance-The repetition of vowel sounds. (Do you
  know how soon the moon will rise over the woods?)
• Connotation-Emotions and ideas associated with a
  word. (Consider the following synonyms for fat
  portly, fleshy, plump, beefy, bulky, obese)

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• Consonance-The repetition of constant sounds
  within words. (The other part was better than we
  thought)
• Couplet-Any two lines working as a unit. (The
  plays the thing / In which Ill catch the
  conscience of the king.
• Denotation-Dictionary definition of a word.
• Figurative Language-The meaning goes beyond
  literal what is meant between the lines.
  (Similes and metaphors, for example)
• Free Verse-Poetry with no fixed rhyme or meter.

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• Hyperbole-An extreme exaggeration. (bat-sided
  mosquitoes)
• Imagery-Words and phrases that appeal to the five
  senses. (reference our lessons on sensory
  detail!)
• Lyric Poetry-Poetry that presents the thoughts
  and feelings of a single speaker.
• Metaphor-A direct comparison between two unlike
  objects. (John is a pigstated metaphor / John
  blew up at the kidsimplied John bomb)
• Meter-The rhythm of a piece of poetry.

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• Narrative Poetry-Poetry that tells a story. It
  has a plot (beginning, middle, end)
• Onomatopoeia-The sound of the word suggests its
  meaning (aka Batman words)
• Oxymoron-A figure of flat contradiction. (living
  dead / jumbo shrimp)
• Paradox-An apparent contradiction that conveys
  truth. (War is Peace / Freedom is Slavery /
  Ignorance is Strength)
• Personification-Giving human qualities to an
  animal, an idea, or an inanimate object. (The
  trees danced and swayed in the wind)

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• Point of View-The perspective from which a poem
  is told.
• Refrain-A line repeated at the end of each
  stanza.
• Repetition-The repeated use of identical or
  similar sounds. Oftentimes, repetition directs
  the audiences attention to the theme or larger
  message.
• Stanza-A group of lines that form a unit in a
  poem. Remember to evaluate how these divisions
  affect the meaning of the poem.
• Simile-Comparing two unlike things using like or
  as.

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• Symbol-An object which has meaning beyond itself.
• Theme-The abstract concept or message that the
  author conveys through the work.
• Triplet/Tercet-Any three line of poetry whether
  as a stanza or a poem.
• Tone/Atmosphere the feeling of the writers
  words this leads to understanding the writers
  attitude toward his or her subject.