Poetry

1
Poetry
Dead Poet's Society - Find your own voice

• SPI 3002.8.5 Determine the significance/meaning
  of a symbol in poetry or prose.
• SPI 3002.8.6 Differentiate between mood and tone
  in poetry or prose.
• SPI 3002.8.9 Demonstrate knowledge of sound and
  metric devices.
• SPI 3002.8.10 Demonstrate knowledge of the
  characteristics of various types of poetry.
• SPI 3002.8.14 Identify classical, historical, and
  literary allusions in context.
• SPI 3002.8.16 Analyze how form relates to meaning
  (e.g. compare a poem and a newspaper on the same
  theme or topic).

2
Fun examples

• Haiku
• A Japanese poem composed of three unrhymed lines
  of five, seven, and five morae, usually
  containing a season word.
• As the wind does blow
•         Across the trees, I see the
•                 Buds blooming in May          
•  
• I walk across sand
• And find myself blistering
• In the hot, hot heat
•  
• Falling to the ground,
•        I watch a leaf settle down
• In a bed of brown. 

• Alphabet Poetry
• Snowflakes
• Astonishingly beautifulCold, dartingExciting fro
  stGraceful heavensIcy jewelsKeen laceMajestic 
  needles of pretty, quiet,    Raining snowTurning
   underVibrant WindsXciting,yearlyZany

3

• Limerick
• A short sometimes vulgar, humorous poem
  consisting of five anapestic lines. Lines 1, 2,
  and 5 have seven to ten syllables, rhyme and have
  the same verbal rhythm. The 3rd and 4th lines
  have five to seven syllables, rhyme and have the
  same rhythm.
• There once was a man from PeruWho had a lot of
  growing up to do,Hed ring a doorbell,then run
  like hell,Until the owner shot him with a .22.-
  Anonymous
• There was a Young Lady whose chin
• Resembled the point of a pinSo she had it made
  sharp,And purchased a harp,And played several
  tunes with her chin.- Edward Lear

4
(No Transcript)
5

• Name
• Poetry that tells about the word. It uses the
  letters of the word for the first letter of each
  line.
• NickybyMarie Hughes
• Nicky is a NurseIt's her chosen careerChildren
  or Old folksKindness in abundanceYear after year

6
Shape Poetry written in the shape or form of an
object. This is a type of concrete poetry.
7
Ballads

• Tell a story
• Subjects can be heroic, satirical, romantic, or
  political.
• Focus on the actions and dialogue of a story, not
  on the characters.
• Usually end in tragedy.

Bonny Barbara Allan
8
On Wednesday nightWhen the moon was shining
brightThey robbed that Glendale trainAnd the
folks from miles about (yeah they can)They all
said without a doubtIt was done by her Frankie
and Jesse James (yes it was)Oh Jessie had a
wife, to mourn for his lifeThree children they
were so braveBut that dirty little cowardThat
shot Mr. HowardHas laid (poor) Jesse James in
his grave (instrumental)Well the people held
their breathWhen they heard about jesses death
(yeah)And they wondered how poor Jesse came to
die (how did he die? )It was one of his guys,
called little Robert fordAnd he shot Jessie
James on the slyOh Jessie had a wife to mourn
for his lifeThree children they were so
braveBut that dirty little cowardThat shot Mr.
HowardHas laid Jesse James in his graveHas laid
poor Jesse in his graveHe laid Jesse James in
his grave
The Ballad of Jesse James
Jesse James was a manAnd he killed many menHe
robbed the Glendale trainAnd he took from the
richerAnd he gave that to the poorerHed a hand
and a heart and a brainOh Jesse had a wife to
mourn for his lifeThree children they were so
braveBut that dirty little cowardThat shot Mr.
HowardHas laid Jesse James in his
grave(instrumental)
9
Dramatic Poetry

• Also called verse drama.
• Mix of drama and poetry
• Shakespeares plays
• Look for figurative and stage directions for full
  meaning of this poetry

10
PUCK If we shadows have offended,Think but this,
and all is mended,That you have but slumber'd
hereWhile these visions did appear.And this
weak and idle theme,No more yielding but a
dream,Gentles, do not reprehendif you pardon,
we will mendAnd, as I am an honest Puck,If we
have unearned luckNow to 'scape the serpent's
tongue,We will make amends ere longElse the
Puck a liar callSo, good night unto you
all.Give me your hands, if we be friends,And
Robin shall restore amends
11
Epic Poems

• Long, complicated story-poems
• Tell about extraordinary deeds of heroes and
  villains
• Uses invocation asking a god of muse for help
  and Epithet naming a characters qualities
• The Odyssey, Beowulf, Gilgamesh

Epic Heroes Today
12
Lyric Poetry

• Conveys an exact mood or feeling
• Poet speaks directly to the reader and asks for
  sympathy
• Sonnet 14 line poem with strict formatting

Iambic pentameter
Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day
sonnet formulas
13

• Lyric Poem -
• O Captain! My Captain!                      
    
• O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is
  doneThe ship has weather'd every rack, the
  prize we sought is wonThe port is near, the
  bells I hear, the people all exulting,While
  follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and
  daringBut O heart! heart! heart!O the bleeding
  drops of red,Where on the deck my Captain
  lies,Fallen cold and dead.O Captain! my
  Captain! rise up and hear the bellsRise up--for
  you the flag is flung--for you the bugle trills
  10For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths--for you
  the shores a-crowdingFor you they call, the
  swaying mass, their eager faces turningHere
  Captain! dear father!This arm beneath your
  headIt is some dream that on the deck,You've
  fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and
stillMy father does not feel my arm, he has no
pulse nor willThe ship is anchor'd safe and
sound, its voyage closed and doneFrom fearful
trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won
20Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!But I,
with mournful tread,Walk the deck my Captain
lies,Fallen cold and dead. Walt Whitman 
14
Narrative Poetry

• Tells a story
• Narrative Poetry is found in different types of
  poetry such as Ballads, Epics, and Lays. All of
  these examples are different kinds of narrative
  poems some of which are the length of a book such
  as the Song of Hiawatha or the Iliad.

15

• Example of Narrative Poetry - Excerpt
• John BarleycornbyRobert Burns
• There were three kings into the east, Three
  kings both great and high, And they have sworn a
  solemn oath John Barleycorn should die.

On Turning Ten The whole idea of it makes me
feellike I'm coming down with something,somethin
g worse than any stomach acheor the headaches I
get from reading in bad light--a kind of measles
of the spirit,a mumps of the psyche,a
disfiguring chicken pox of the soul.You tell me
it is too early to be looking back,but that is
because you have forgottenthe perfect simplicity
of being oneand the beautiful complexity
introduced by two.But I can lie on my bed and
remember every digit.At four I was an Arabian
wizard.I could make myself invisibleby drinking
a glass of milk a certain way.At seven I was a
soldier, at nine a prince.But now I am mostly
at the windowwatching the late afternoon
light.Back then it never fell so
solemnlyagainst the side of my tree house,and
my bicycle never leaned against the garageas it
does today,all the dark blue speed drained out
of it.This is the beginning of sadness, I say
to myself,as I walk through the universe in my
sneakers.It is time to say good-bye to my
imaginary friends,time to turn the first big
number.It seems only yesterday I used to
believethere was nothing under my skin but
light.If you cut me I could shine.But now when
I fall upon the sidewalks of life,I skin my
knees. I bleed.  Billy Collins
The Raven
Goblin Market
16
Interpreting poetry Example of Narrative Poetry
The Road Not Taken Two roads diverged in a yellow
wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be
one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as
far as I couldTo where it bent in the
undergrowthThen took the other, as just as
fair,And having perhaps the better claimBecause
it was grassy and wanted wear,Though as for that
the passing thereHad worn them really about the
same,And both that morning equally layIn
leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I marked
the first for another day!Yet knowing how way
leads on to wayI doubted if I should ever come
back.I shall be telling this with a
sighSomewhere ages and ages henceTwo roads
diverged in a wood, and I,I took the one less
traveled by,And that has made all the
difference. Robert Frost

• To an extent, reading literature is a subjective
  process because different pieces of writing can
  be interpreted in different ways by the reader.
  In this example, Frost is commonly interpreted as
  looking back on his experience with joy. That is
  true, if he were to speak those lines cheerfully.
  However, imagine that he actually sighs when he
  says "sigh" and he appears sullen when he says
  "And that has made all the difference." The
  entire meaning of the poem is changed, and Frost
  is, indeed, not thrilled with the choice he made
  in the past.

17
Poetic Devices

• Poets use a variety of techniques to make their
  words more effective.
• Alliteration the repetition of consonant sounds
  at the beginnings of words.
• Example Before I built a wall Id ask to
  know/what I was walling in or walling out.
  Mending Wall Robert Frost
• Repetition repeating sounds, syllables, lines,
  and stanzas in literature.
• Example The rain is falling all around, / It
  falls on field and tree, /It rains on the
  umbrellas here. Rain by Robert Stevenson
• The woods are lovely, dark and deep. /but I have
  promises to keep, / And miles to go before I
  sleep, and miles to go before I sleep. Stopping
  by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost.

18

• Onomatopoeia using words to suggest how
  something sounds. The word will sound like the
  intended sound.
• Boom Boom Pow
• Examples Whoosh, splash, buzz, hiss.
• How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, /In their icy
  air of night. /By the twanging, /And the
  clanging, /How the danger ebbs and flows. The
  Bells by Edgar Allan Poe

19

• Allusion reference to specific place,
  historical event, famous literary figure, or work
  of art within a literary work.
• Classical classical art, religion, mythological
  figures, poetry, and the like.
• Brandon is beginning to think hes so powerful
  that he belongs on Mount Olympus.
• Historical reference some important person or
  event from history.
• I would never betray my team. Im no Benedict
  Arnold.
• Literary reference famous literary works, their
  characters, or their authors.
• Marcus was sure Jessica had passed the test when
  he saw her Cheshire-Cat smile.

20
Poets often use Rhythm and rhyme scheme to
complement the mood and tone of their work

• Fixed forms appear in poetry such as sonnets,
  odes, and ballads.
• Blank verse lines that have a definite rhythm,
  but no rhyme.
• Iambic pentameter, often used by Shakespeare
• Free verse has no regular meter or rhythm.

21
Blank verse

• Excerpt from MacbethbyWilliam Shakespeare
• Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,Creeps in
  this petty pace from day to day, To the last
  syllable of recorded time And all our
  yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty
  death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a
  walking shadow, a poor player That struts and
  frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard
  no more it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of
  sound and fury, Signifying nothing.

22
Free verse

• Song of MyselfbyWalt Whitman
• I celebrate myself, and sing myself,And what I
  assume you shall assume,For every atom belonging
  to me as good belongs to you.I loaf and invite
  my soul,I lean and loaf at my ease observing a
  spear of summer grass.

23
Rhythm

• Arrangement of sounds or movement, in a definite
  pattern, over a period of time.
• Rhythm appears in music, athletics, dance, and
  some fiction.
• Our minds and bodies react to rhythm.
• Meter
• A word pattern of stressed and unstressed
  syllables.

24
Rhythm

• Stressed syllable Unstressed
• Shall I compare thee to a summers day
• METER OR FOOT
• Shall I compare thee to a summers day
• Iambic pentameter This poem excerpt has 5
  feet/meters of unstressed and stressed syllables
  per line.

5
25
Rhyme

• Internal rhyme found inside a single line of
  poetry
• Poor Jesse had a wife to mourn for his life
• Slant rhyme/half rhyme words that almost but
  not quite rhyme.

When have I last looked on (a) The round green
eyes and the long wavering bodies (b) Of the
dark leopards of the moon (a) All the wild
witches, those most noble ladies, (b) For all
their broom-sticks and their tears, (c) Their
angry tears, are gone. (d) The holy centaurs of
the hills are vanished (e) I have nothing but
the embittered sun (d) Banished heroic mother
moon and vanished, (e) And now that I have come
to fifty years (c) I must endure the timid sun.
(d)
Internal rhyme Occurs at the end of lines
26
Mood and Tone
Mood the feeling the work conveys. How the
reader is supposed to feel while reading. Tone
the authors attitude toward the work. Tone
gives shape and life to literature, because it is
through tone that the attitude and mood of a work
are created and presented. Tone gives voice to
the characters, both literally and figuratively.
Through tone, the reader is able to learn about
a character's personality and disposition.
However, the tone also shapes the work as a
whole, and whether the piece should be read as a
serious, funny, dramatic or upsetting. Both are
made clear through the style of writing, word
choice, rhythm, meter, etc.
27
QUIZ

• With only butterflies to brood, and bees to
  entertain From The Grass by Emily Dickinson
• This is an example of -
• Alliteration C. Mood
• Onomatopoeia D. Epithet

28

• To FannyJohn Keats (1795-1821)I cry your
  mercypitylove!aye, love!
• Merciful love that tantalizes not,One-thoughted,
  never-wandering, guileless love,Unmasked, and
  being seenwithout a blot!O! let me have thee
  whole,allallbe mine!That shape, that
  fairness, that sweet minor zestOf love, your
  kiss,those hands, those eyes divine,That warm,
  white, lucent, million-pleasured
  breast,Yourselfyour soulin pity give me
  all.Withhold no atoms atom or I die,Or living
  on perhaps, your wretched thrall,Forget, in the
  mist of idle misery,Lifes purposes,the palate
  of my mindLosing its gist, and my ambition
  blind!

• Which type of poem is this?
• Narrative poem C. Free verse
• B. Dramatic Poem D. Sonnet

29
What type of poetry is this?A. dramatic B.
blank verseC. free verse D. lyric

• Dying (aka I heard a fly buzz when I died
  )byEmily Dickinson
• I heard a fly buzz when I diedThe stillness
  round my formWas like the stillness in the
  airBetween the heaves of storm.

30
What type of poetry is this?A. dramatic B.
ballad C. free verse D. lyric

• Song of MyselfbyWalt Whitman
• I celebrate myself, and sing myself,And what I
  assume you shall assume,For every atom belonging
  to me as good belongs to you.I loaf and invite
  my soul,I lean and loaf at my ease observing a
  spear of summer grass.

31
What type of poetry is this?A. dramatic B.
ballad C. epic poem D. lyric

• The MermaidbyAuthor Unknown
• 'Twas Friday morn when we set sail, And we had
  not got far from land, When the Captain, he
  spied a lovely mermaid, With a comb and a glass
  in her hand. Chorus Oh the ocean waves may
  roll, And the stormy winds may blow, While we
  poor sailors go skipping aloft And the land
  lubbers lay down below, below, below And the
  land lubbers lay down below. Then up spoke the
  Captain of our gallant ship, And a jolly old
  Captain was he "I have a wife in Salem
  town, But tonight a widow she will be." Chorus

Then up spoke the Cook of our gallant ship, And
a greasy old Cook was he "I care more for my
kettles and my pots, Than I do for the roaring
of the sea." Chorus Then up spoke the
Cabin-boy of our gallant ship, And a dirty
little brat was he "I have friends in Boston
town That don't care a ha' penny for
me." Chorus Then three times 'round went our
gallant ship, And three times 'round went
she, And the third time that she went
'round She sank to the bottom of the
sea. Chorus
32
What mood does this poem convey?A. relaxing B.
melancholy C. serene D. Nostalgic

• The poem Nocturne by Eugene O Neill
• The sunset gun booms out in hollow roar Night
  breathes upon the waters of the bay The river
  lies, a symphony in grey, Melting in shadow on
  the further shore. A sullen coal barge tugs its
  anchor chain A shadow sinister, with one faint
  light Flickering wanly in the dim twilight, It
  lies upon the harbor like a stain. Silence.
  Then through the stillness rings The fretful
  echo of a seagull's scream, As if one cried who
  sees within a dream Deep rooted sorrow in the
  heart of things.