POETRY

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POETRY

• Exploring the Genre

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Poetry Exploring the Genre

• Whether telling a story, capturing a single
  moment, or describing nature in a whole new way,
  poetry is the most musical of all literary forms.
  

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Poetry Exploring the Genre

• Definition
• Main Entry poetry
• Pronunciation \'po-?-tre, -i-tre also
  'p?(-)i-tre\
• Function noun
• Date 14th century
• 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
  rhythm
• 3 a something likened to poetry especially in
  beauty of expression b poetic quality or aspect
  ltthe poetry of dance
• Source Merriam-Webster
• VIEW BRAIN POP ON POETRY

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Poetry Strategies for Reading

• Reading poetry is like solving a mystery. The
  poet provides you with clues in the form of words
  and phrases. Studying the clues carefully helps
  you put pieces together to form a complete
  picture. Use these strategies to help you in your
  poetic detective work (Prentice Hall 705).

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Poetry Strategies for Reading

• 1. Interpret Figurative Language
• Figurative language is language not meant to be
  taken literally.
• Helps to create vivid, clear mental pictures.
• Think What is the writer trying to SHOW you
• 2. Read lines according to punctuation
• Keep reading when a line has no punctuation at
  the end.
• Pause at commas, dashes, and semicolons.
• Stop at end marks, like periods, question marks,
  or exclamation points.

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Poetry Strategies for Reading

• 3. Paraphrase
• Look up any words that you do not know and
  replace them with familiar synonyms.
• Use the language you use in everyday speech in
  place of formal language.
• REREAD the passage to see if your new
  interpretation makes sense when read with
  surrounding text.
• Use your senses
• Poets LOVE to use sensory details!!

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Poetry Narrative and Lyric

• The Cremation of Sam McGee
• Washed in Silver
• Winter

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Poetry Narrative and Lyric

• Narrative Poetry
• Poetry that tells a story. Like a story,
  narrative poetry has a plot, characters, and a
  setting.
• Unlike a story, a narrative poem makes use of
  sound devices, such as rhythm and repetition.
• Lyric Poetry
• Verse that expresses a poets thoughts and
  feelings about a single image or idea.
• Lyric poetry is written in vivid, musical
  language.

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Poetry Common Figures of Speech

• SIMILE
• A comparison between two unlike things using like
  or as
• Example The old man walked as slowly as a turtle
  creeping uphill.
• Example She sang like an angel.
• METAPHOR
• A comparison between two unlike things without
  using like or as
• Example The horses coat was a sheet of velvet.
• Example Life is a broken-winged bird that
  cannot fly.

• HYPERBOLE
• Exaggeration meant to produce a particular
  effect.
• Example I tried a thousand times.
• Example The guard was twelve feet tall with
  muscles of steel.
• PERSONIFICATION
• Giving human characteristics to a nonhuman
  subject
• Example The tree waved happily at us as we
  walked along the road.
• Example The washing machine danced across the
  floor.

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The Cremation of Sam McGee

• The only society I like is that which is rough
  and toughand the tougher the better. Thats
  where you get down to bedrock and meet human
  people.
• Robert Service
• (1874-1958)

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The Cremation of Sam McGee

• Robert Service was born in England and raised in
  Scotland.
• He was sent to the Yukon Territory by the bank he
  worked for.
• There, he came face to face with the rough world
  of fur trappers and gold prospectors.
• Soon, he began to write poems about these lively
  rough and tumble characters.
• Eventually, Service left the bank for a full
  time life of writing. He traveled to the Yukon
  and other Artic areas for eight years recording
  his adventures.

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The Cremation of Sam McGee

• Historical Background
• In 1896, George Carmack, Tagish Charlie, and
  Skookum Jim discovered gold on the Bonanza Creek.
  This discovery marked to beginning of the
  Klondike Gold Rush.
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vYFflJCrZtGE

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The Cremation of Sam McGee

• This is a narrative poem.
• Like a narrative written in prose, The Cremation
  of Sam McGee will follow the events of the plot
  diagram.
• This poem will use exaggeration, humor, and
  fantasy to tell the tale of two gold prospectors
  and the promises made, promises kept.
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v1cmmuQ8wYV0

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Comparing Literary Works
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Comparing Literary Works
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Literary Analysis
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Literary Analysis Questions

• 2. The central conflict is Caps promise to
  cremate Sam even when he is tired from carrying
  the body and doesnt have any fuel to start a
  fire with.
• 3. The poem is different from a story in that it
  is structured like a poem and it rhymes.

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Washed in Silver

• James Stephens grew up in a poor neighborhood in
  Dublin, Ireland.
• He was a veracious reader and read everything he
  got his hands on.
• His writing and poetry often includes his love of
  Irelands powerful legends and fairy tales.
• Washed in Silver captures the magical quality
  of Irish legends.

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Winter

• Nikki Giovanni (b. 1943) is a world-renowned
  poet, writer, commentator, activist, and
  educator.
• Over the past thirty years, her outspokenness, in
  her writing and in lectures, has brought the eyes
  of the world upon her.
• One of the most widely-read American poets, she
  prides herself on being "a Black American, a
  daughter, a mother, a professor of English."
• Giovanni remains as determined and committed as
  ever to the fight for civil rights and equality.
• The author of some 30 books for both adults and
  children, Nikki Giovanni is a University
  Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech in
  Blacksburg, Virginia.

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Literary Analysis Washed in Silver
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Literary Analysis Questions

• 4. Winter and Washed in Silver both focus on
  nature. The feelings that are expressed in each
  poem are also similar in that they both
  communicate a feeling of awe about their
  surroundings.
• 5. Answers will vary--be sure you provide an
  explanation

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Literary Analysis Form in Poetry

• Form refers to the physical structure of the
  poem. It also refers to the rules the poet
  follows to achieve a particular structure.
• There are many different forms of poetry
  including stanza, concrete poem, and haiku.
• Stanza
• A group of lines that might be thought of as
  corresponding to a paragraph in prose. Most
  traditional English poems are divided into
  stanzas.

• Concrete Poem
• A poem in which the shape of the words suggests
  its subject. The poet arranges the letters and
  lines to create a visual image.
• Haiku
• A traditional form of Japanese poetry. A haiku
  always has three lines and seventeen syllables.
  There are 5 syllables in the first and third
  lines and 7 syllables in the second.

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Poetry Concrete and Haiku

• Seal
• The Pasture
• Three Haiku

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Seal

• Born in Louisiana, William Jay Smith (b. 1918)
  has had a very busy life--teaching college
  students, writing poetry and essays, translating
  Russian and French, and even serving in the
  Vermont State Legislature.
• Many of Smiths poems are made for young people
  and can be described as being pure, simple, and
  fun.

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Concrete Poetry

• A poem in which the shape of the words suggests
  its subject.
• The poet arranges the letters and lines to create
  a visual image.
• In Seal, the poet uses a seals shape to
  describe the animal as he dives and swims through
  water.

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The Pasture

• Born in 1874, Frost spent most of his life in New
  England.
• At different times in his life, he worked as a
  framer and as a part time teacher.
• Frost had a long and distinguished career as a
  poet, winning the Pulitzer Prize four time--more
  than any other poet.
• In The Pasture, the speaker describes spring
  cleaning on a farm. Instead of avoiding his
  duties, the speaker looks forward to the signs of
  the new season.

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Three Haiku

• Matsuo Basho is known as the first great poet in
  the history of haiku.
• Basho's haikus are dramatic, and they exaggerate
  humor or depression, ecstasy or confusion. These
  dramatic expressions have a paradoxical nature.
  The humor and the despair which he expressed are
  not implements to believe in the possibility of
  the human being and to glorify it.
• If anything, the literature of Basho has a
  character that the more he described men's deeds,
  the more human existence's smallness stood out in
  relief, and it makes us conscious of the
  greatness of nature's power.

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Haikus

• A traditional form of Japanese poetry. A haiku
  always has three lines and seventeen syllables.
  There are 5 syllables in the first and third
  lines and 7 syllables in the second.
• The three haiku by Matsuo Basho express different
  images and feelings a view of a mountain path,
  mist on a mountain, the smell of flower blossoms.
  In addition to describing these images, the
  haiku evoke surprise and wonder.

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Comparing Literary WorksSeal, The Pasture,
Three Haiku
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Comparing Literary WorksSeal, The Pasture,
Three Haiku

• Who do you think is being addressed as you in
  Seal and The Pasture? Name at least two
  details from each poem to support your answer.
• Seal-the readeryou
• you and your in lines 18 and 27 could be
  addressed to anyone
• The Pasture-someone the speaker lives with
  you
• going out and shant be gone long
• 2. What do you think Bashos favorite season was?
  Support your answer.
• Spring because he talks about flowers and asks if
  spring has come

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Poetry Rhythm and Rhyme

• Annabel Lee
• Martin Luther King

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Rhythm in Poetry

• Rhythm is a poems pattern of stressed () and
  unstressed (u) syllables.
• It is the accents of the syllables in the words
  falling at regular intervals like the beat of
  music.
• u u
  u
• He came/upon/an age
• de dumm de dumm de dumm

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Meter in Poetry

• The meter of a poem is its rhythmical pattern.
• The BEAT of poetry FEET is called its meter.
• Feet in poetry is single units of stressed ()
  and unstressed (u) syllables
• A poems meter is made up of what kind of feet
  are used and how many feet are in each line.
• u u u
  
• Beset/ by grief,/ by rage
• This line of poetry has three feet.
• Each foot has two syllables an unstressed
  followed by a stressed

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Rhyme in Poetry

• Rhyme is the repetition of a sound at the ends of
  nearby words
• Example age/rage dame/same
• Types of rhyme
• SINGLE RHYME- love/dove
• DOUBLE RHYME- napping/tapping
• TRIPLE RHYME- mournfully/scornfully

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Annabel Lee Martin Luther King

• Both of these poems have a regular rhythm, but
  the number of feet in the lines creates a
  different effect in each poem.
• Both poems also use pairs of rhyming words at the
  ends of lines but the arrangement is different.

• Questions to Consider
• How do the rhythm and rhyme schemes differ?
• How do the rhythm and rhyme give both poems a
  musical quality?
• Which poems sound is more appealing to you?

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Annabel Lee

• In Annabel Lee, Poe explores the unknown realm
  of death. The narrator mourns his lost love,
  Annabel Lee, who was taken from him at a young
  age, but whom he will never forget.

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Martin Luther King

• Raymond Richard Pattersons (1929-2001) poety
  shows his passion for sharing his knowledge of
  African American history.
• In just ten lines, Martin Luther King captures
  the essence of Kings life and his contribution
  to America.

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The Civil Rights Movement

• The Civil Rights Movement sought to abolish the
  barriers caused by racism in America. The
  movement lasted from 1945 through the late 1960s.
  At that time, African-Americans were denied many
  rights and were segregated in public places
  including schools, restaurants, and public
  facilities. This movement focused on making
  change through nonviolent protests including
  marches and sit ins.

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vIxEkj40bRII

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Comparing Literary Works and Literary
Analysis Questions

• Both poems have a rhyming pattern that is
  repeated throughout the poem.
• Every other line rhymes in Annabel Lee. In
  Martin Luther King, each stanza consists of two
  lines that rhyme. Martin Luther King has the
  same pattern of stress in each line Annabel
  Lee does not.
• In Annabel Lee, the narrator mourns his lost
  love, who was taken from him at a young age, but
  whom he will never forget. Martin Luther King
  captures the essence of Kings life and his
  contribution to America.

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Comparing Literary Works and Literary
Analysis Questions

• The speaker and Annabel Lee were soul mates. They
  shared a love so strong that it seemed to last
  beyond this world. The speaker says that nothing
  can separate him from her.
• The poet uses the present tense rather than the
  past. Also, he describes his grief as a feeling
  that goes on with no remedy in sight.
• He brought love and passion.
• Kings personal qualities resulted in people
  finding their worth and their freedom.

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Poetry Sound Devices

• Full Fathom Five
• Onomatopoeia
• Maestro

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Sound Devices Onomatopoeia

• Onomatopoeia
• The use of words whose sounds suggest their
  meaning
• Example sputter, drip, whisper, hiss, hoot,
  meow, murmur

• Crack an Egg
• Crack an egg.
• Stir the butter.
• Break the yolk.
• Make it flutter.
• Stoke the heat.
• Hear it sizzle.
• Shake the salt,
• just a drizzle.
• Flip it over,
• just like that.
• Press it down.
• Squeeze it flat.
• Pop the toast.
• Spread jam thin.
• Say the word.
• Breakfast's in .

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Sound Devices Alliteration

• Alliteration
• Repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of
  words
• Example
• Full fathom five they father lies
• In a summer season, where soft was sun

• Often the sounds and meanings of the words
  combine to create a mood.
• Here, repetition of b and t stresses a feeling of
  urgency.
• Hear the loud alarum bells--  
• Brazen bells!
• What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency
  tells!
• -Edgar Allen Poe, "The Bells"

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Sound Devices Assonance

• This selection uses the repetition of the o sound
  and then the a sound.
• Slow things are beautiful
• The closing of the day,
• The pause of the wave
• That curves downward to spray.
• --Elizabeth Coatsworth, "Swift Things are
  Beautiful

• Assonance
• The repetition of the same vowel sound in
  different words
• Example would blend again and again
• O harp and alter, of the fury fused

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Sound Devices Assonance

• Consonance
• The repetition of similar final consonant sounds
  at the ends of words or accented syllables.

• Examples
• splatters, scatters, spurts
• lady lounges lazily
• dark deep dread crept in

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Full Fathom Five

• Many people consider William Shakespeare to be
  the greatest writer in the English language. He
  wrote 37 plays many of which are still being
  performed today.
• In this excerpt, a song from the play The
  Tempest, we learn that the young princes father
  has drowned and has undergone a change on the sea
  floor. He has become part of the coral life
  there.

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Onomatopoeia

• Eve Merrimans facination with words began at an
  early age.
• This poem describes the sounds and look of water
  flowing from a rusty faucet.

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Maestro

• Pat Mora grew up in El Paso, Texas on the border
  between the USA and Mexico. Many of her writings
  speak of her experiences as a Mexican-American.
• She has won many awards for her stories and
  poetry.
• In Maestro when a musician bows to the audience
  after a performance, he hears not the clapping
  but only his mothers singing. He recalls the
  rich musical experiences of his childhood.

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Comparing Literary Works Questions
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Literary Analysis Questions

• Full Fathom Five involves water drowning a man.
  Onomatopoeia involves water coming out of a
  rusty spigot.
• A man drowns and turns into part of the sea in
  Full Fathom Five. In Onomatopoeia, water
  comes out of a rusty spigot.
• Lunas, amor, voz, guiterra, and violin. Are the
  Spanish words used in the poem. The words give
  the reader a sense of the Mexican songs and
  cultural background that influenced the
  performers feelings toward music.