Title: Poetry Analysis
1Poetry Analysis
2Did I Miss AnythingTom Wayman
- Nothing. When we realized you werent here
- we sat with our hands folded on our desks
- in silence, for the full two hours
-
- Everything, I gave an exam worth
- 40 percent of the grade for this term
- and assigned some reading due today
- on which Im about to hand out a quiz
- worth 50 percent
-
- Nothing. None of the content of this course
- has value or meaning
- Take as many days off as you like
- any activities we undertake as a class
- I assure you will not matter either to you or me
- and are without purpose
-
- Everything. A few minutes after we began last
time - a shaft of light suddenly descended and an angel
3The First Things, First
- Title- the name of the poem may not be very
informative - Speaker- the who in the poem may not be the
poet - Occasion- the what of the poem tells where and
when - Stanza- the paragraph of the poem grouping of
lines
4The Parts of a Poem
- Cinderella
- The prince leans to the girl in scarlet heels,
- Her green eyes slant, hair flaring in a fan
- Of silver as the rondo slows now reels
- Begin on tilted violins to span
- The whole revolving tall glass palace hall
- Where guests slide gliding into light like wine
- Rose candles flicker on the lilac wall
- Reflecting in a million flagons' shine,
- And glided couples all in whirling trance
- Follow holiday revel begun long since,
- Until near twelve the strange girl all at once
- Guilt-stricken halts, pales, clings to the prince
- As amid the hectic music and cocktail talk
- She hears the caustic ticking of the clock.
- Title
- Stanza 1
- Stanza 2
- Stanza 3
- Stanza 4
5Poetry Analysis
View the title What does it mean? It may not be
100 correct.
Read the poem aloud more than once
Identify the speaker and occasion Who? Where?
When?
Paraphrase/Summarize the stanzas Put in your own
words
6Language
- Diction-the actual meaning of a word and the
choice and arrangement of words by the poet - Ex. scarlet (shade of red) rose (shade of red)
- Connotation-the implied feelings/emotions
associated with a word - Ex. scarlet (negative, evil) rose (happy,
good) - Tone-the feeling/attitude of the speaker/poet
- Ex.
7Poetry Analysis
View the title What does it mean? It may not be
100 correct.
Read the poem aloud more than once
Identify the speaker and occasion Who? Where?
When?
Paraphrase/Summarize the stanzas Put in your own
words
Look at diction (meaning) and connotation
(feelings).
Identify the tone Whats the attitude of the
speaker/poet?
8Figurative Language/Figures of Speech
- Figurative language- language which means
something different than what is literally stated - Simile-compares two things uses like or as
- Ex.
- Metaphor-compares two things that are basically
unlike that have something in common does not
use like or as - Ex.
- Personification-giving human characteristics to
ideas, animals, objects - Ex.
- Hyperbole- over exaggeration for effect or humor
- Ex.
9Poetry Analysis
View the title What does it mean? It may not be
100 correct.
Read the poem aloud more than once
Identify the speaker and occasion Who? Where?
When?
Paraphrase/Summarize the stanzas Put in your own
words
Look at diction (meaning) and connotation
(feelings).
Identify the tone Whats the attitude of the
speaker/poet?
Look for figurative language Simile Metaphor Hyper
bole Personification
10Surgeons must be very carefulEmily Dickinson
- Surgeons must be very careful
- When they take the knife!
- Underneath their fine incisions
- Stirs the culprit Life!
11MetaphorEve Merriam
- Morning is
- a new sheet of paper
- for you to write on.
- Whatever you want to say,
- all day,
- until night
- folds it up
- and flies it away.
- The bright words and the dark words
- are gone
- until dawn
- and a new day
- to write on.
12The WriterRichard Wilbur
- I remember the dazed starling
- Which was trapped in that very room, two years
ago - How we stole in, lifted a sash
- And retreated, not to affright it
- And how for a helpless hour, through a crack of
the door, - We watched the sleek, wild, dark
- And iridescent creature
- Batter against the brilliance, drop like a glove
- To the hard floor, or the desk top,
- And wait then, humped and bloody,
- For the wits to try it again and how our spirits
- Rose when, suddenly sure,
- It lifted off from a chair-back,
- In her room at the prow of the house
- Where light breaks, and the windows are tossed
with linden, - My daughter is writing a story.
- I pause in the stairwell, hearing
- From her shut door a commotion of typewriter-keys
- Like a chain hauled over a gunwale.
- Young as she is, the stuff
- Of her life is a great cargo, and some of it
heavy - I wish her lucky passage.
- But now it is she who pauses,
- As if to reject my thought and its easy figure.
- A stillness greatens, in which
- The whole house seems to be thinking,
13Incident in a Rose GardenDonald Justice
- The gardener came running.
- An old man, out of breath.
- Fear had given him legs.
- Sir, I encountered Death
- Just now among the roses.
- Think as a scythe he stood there.
- I knew him by his pictures.
- He had his black coat on,
- Black gloves, a broad black hat.
- I think he would have spoken,
- Seeing his mouth stood open.
- Big it was, with white teeth.As soon as he
beckoned, I ran. - I ran until I found you.
- Sir, I am quitting my job.I want to see my sons
- Once more before I die.
- I want to see California.
- We shook hands he was off.
- And there stood Death in the garden.
- Sir, you must be the stranger
- who threatened my gardener.
- This is my property,, sir.
- I welcome only friends here.
- Death grinned, his eyes lit up
- With the pale glow of those lanterns
- That workman carry sometimes
- To light their way through the dusk.
- Now with great care he slid
- The glove from his right hand
- And held that out in greeting,
- A little cage of bone.
- Sir, I knew your father,
- And we were friends at the end.
- as for your gardener,
- I did not threaten him.
- Old men mistake my gestures.
- I meant only to ask him
14Imagery
- Descriptive words or phrases that create a
sensory experience for the reader - Appeals to the five senses
- Hearing
- Sight
- Smell
- Taste
- Touch
15Poetry Analysis
View the title What does it mean? It may not be
100 correct.
Read the poem aloud more than once
Identify the speaker and occasion Who? Where?
When?
Paraphrase/Summarize the stanzas Put in your own
words
Look at diction (meaning) and connotation
(feelings).
Identify the tone Whats the attitude of the
speaker/poet?
Look for figurative language Simile Metaphor Hyper
bole Personification
Look for images Sight Smell Sound Touch Taste
16The Seven Ages of Man (from As You Like
It)William Shakespeare
- All the world's a stage,
- And all the men and women merely players,
- They have their exits and entrances,
- And one man in his time plays many parts,
- His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
- Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
- Then, the whining schoolboy with his satchel
- And shining morning face, creeping like snail
- Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
- Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
- Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
- Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
- Jealous in honour, sudden, and quick in quarrel,
- Seeking the bubble reputation
- Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice
- In fair round belly, with good capon lin'd,
- With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
- Full of wise saws, and modern instances,
- And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
17OrangesGary Soto
- The first time I walked
- With a girl, I was twelve,
- Cold, and weighted down
- With two oranges in my jacket.
- December. Frost cracking
- Beneath my steps, my breath
- Before me, then gone,
- As I walked toward
- Her house, the one whose
- Porch light burned yellow
- Night and day, in any weather.
- A dog barked at me, until
- She came out pulling
- At her gloves, face bright
- With rouge. I smiled,
- Touched her shoulder, and led
- Her down the street, across
- A used car lot and a line
- Of newly planted trees,
- Of her mouth. I fingered
- A nickel in my pocket,
- And when she lifted a chocolate
- That cost a dime,
- I didn't say anything.
- I took the nickel from
- My pocket, then an orange,
- And set them quietly on
- The counter. When I looked up,
- The lady's eyes met mine,
- And held them, knowing
- Very well what it was all
- About.
- Outside,
- A few cars hissing past,
- Fog hanging like old
- Coats between the trees.
- I took my girl's hand
- In mine for two blocks,
18Rhyme
- End rhyme-the end of the lines rhyme
- Ex.Roses are red
- Violets are blue
- Sugar is sweet,
- And so are you!
- Rhyme scheme-the pattern of end rhyme
- Label the word at the end of the first line with
a, anything that rhymes with it will also be
labeled a. When there is a new word that
doesnt rhyme, label it and all the words that
rhymes with it b and so on until the end of the
poem.
19Rhythm
- Meter- organization of verbal stresses/speech
rhythms into regular patterns - Foot- one set of metrical markings
20Rhythm
- Consonance- repetition of ending consonant sounds
- Ex Susan won a ribbon for her green bean
casserole. - Alliteration- repetition of beginning consonant
sounds - Ex Wild Wild West, Beautiful Baby Boy
- Assonance- repetition of vowel sounds within non
rhyming words - Ex My grandmothers are full of memories
- Smelling of soap and onions and wet clay
21Free Verse
- If a poem does not have a regular pattern of
rhyme and meter, we call it a free verse poem.
22Poetry Analysis
View the title What does it mean? It may not be
100 correct.
Read the poem aloud more than once
Identify the speaker and occasion Who? Where?
When?
Paraphrase/Summarize the stanzas Put in your own
words
Look at diction (meaning) and connotation
(feelings).
Identify the tone Whats the attitude of the
speaker/poet?
Look for figurative language Simile Metaphor Hyper
bole Personification
Look for images Sight Smell Sound Touch Taste
Identify the rhyme scheme and rhythm
23The Road Not TakenRobert Frost
- Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
- And sorry I could not travel both
- And be one traveler, long I stood
- And looked down one as far as I could
- To where it bent in the undergrowth.
- Then took the other, as just as fair,
- And having perhaps the better claim,
- Because it was grassy and wanted wear
- Though as for that the passing there
- Had worn them really about the same.
- And both that morning equally lay
- In leaves no step had trodden black.
- Oh, I kept the first for another day!
- Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
- I doubted if I should ever come back.
- I shall be telling this with a sigh
- Somewhere ages and ages hence
- Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
- I took the one less traveled by,
24Annabel LeeEdgar Allan Poe
- The angels, not half so happy in heaven,Went
envying her and me-Yes!- that was the reason (as
all men know,In this kingdom by the sea)That
the wind came out of the cloud by night,Chilling
and killing my Annabel Lee.But our love it was
stronger by far than the loveOf those who were
older than we-Of many far wiser than we-And
neither the angels in heaven above,Nor the
demons down under the sea,Can ever dissever my
soul from the soulOf the beautiful Annabel
Lee.For the moon never beams without bringing
me dreamsOf the beautiful Annabel LeeAnd the
stars never rise but I feel the bright eyesOf
the beautiful Annabel LeeAnd so, all the
night-tide, I lie down by the sideOf my darling-
my darling- my life and my bride,In the
sepulcher there by the sea,In her tomb by the
sounding sea.
- It was many and many a year ago,In a kingdom by
the sea,That a maiden there lived whom you may
knowBy the name of ANNABEL LEEAnd this maiden
she lived with no other thoughtThan to love and
be loved by me.I was a child and she was a
child,In this kingdom by the seaBut we loved
with a love that was more than love-I and my
Annabel LeeWith a love that the winged seraphs
of heavenCoveted her and me.And this was the
reason that, long ago,In this kingdom by the
sea,A wind blew out of a cloud, chillingMy
beautiful Annabel LeeSo that her highborn
kinsman cameAnd bore her away from me,To shut
her up in a sepulcherIn this kingdom by the sea.
25Voice
- A writers unique use of language that allows a
reader to hear a human personality in his/her
writing
26Poetry Analysis
View the title What does it mean? It may not be
100 correct.
Read the poem aloud more than once
Identify the speaker and occasion Who? Where?
When?
Paraphrase/Summarize the stanzas Put in your own
words
Look at diction (meaning) and connotation
(feelings).
Identify the tone Whats the attitude of the
speaker/poet?
Look for figurative language Simile Metaphor Hyper
bole Personification
Look for images Sight Smell Sound Touch Taste
Identify the rhyme scheme and rhythm
Identify the voice Is there a personality? What
is it saying?
27since feeling is firste.e. cummings
- since feeling is first
- who pays any attention
- to the syntax of things
- will never wholly kiss you
- wholly to be a fool
- while Spring is in the world
- my blood approves,
- and kisses are a better fate
- than wisdom
- lady i swear by all flowers. Dont cry
- the best gesture of my brain is less than
- your eyelids flutter which says
- we are for each other then
- laugh, leaning back in my arms
- for lifes not a paragraph
28Theme for English BLangston Hughes
- The instructor said,
- Go home and write
- a page tonight.
- And let that page come out of you-
- Then, it will be true.
- I wonder if its that simple?
- I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston- Salem.
- I went to school there, the Durham, then here
- to this college on the hill above Harlem.
- I am the only colored student in my class.
- The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem
- through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,
- Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,
- the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
- up to my room, sit down, and write this page
- Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in
love. - I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
- I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
- or records---Bessie, bop, or Bach.
- I guess being colored doesnt make me NOT like
- the same things other folks like who are other
races. - So will my page be colored when I write?
- Being me, it will not be white.
- But it will be
- a part of you, instructor.
- You are white---
- yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
- Thats American.
- Sometimes perhaps you dont want to be a part of
me. - Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
- But we are, thats true!
- As I learn from you,
29Another Reason Why I Don't Keep A Gun In The
HouseBilly Collins
- The neighbors' dog will not stop barking.He is
barking the same high, rhythmic barkthat he
barks every time they leave the house.They must
switch him on on their way out.The neighbors'
dog will not stop barking.I close all the
windows in the houseand put on a Beethoven
symphony full blastbut I can still hear him
muffled under the music,barking, barking,
barking,and now I can see him sitting in the
orchestra,his head raised confidently as if
Beethovenhad included a part for barking
dog.When the record finally ends he is still
barking,sitting there in the oboe section
barking,his eyes fixed on the conductor who
isentreating him with his batonwhile the other
musicians listen in respectfulsilence to the
famous barking dog solo,that endless coda that
first establishedBeethoven as an innovative
genius.
30Child DevelopmentBilly Collins
- As sure as prehistoric fish grew legs
- and sauntered off the beaches into forests
- working up some irregular verbs for their
- first conversation, so three-year-old children
- enter the phase of name-calling.
- Every day a new one arrives and is added
- to the repertoire. You Dumb Goopyhead,
- You Big Sewerface, You Poop-on-the-Floor
- (a kind of Navaho ring to that one)
- they yell from knee level, their little mugs
- flushed with challenge.
- Nothing Samuel Johnson would bother tossing out
- in a pub, but then the toddlers are not trying
- to devastate some fatuous Enlightenment hack.
- They are just tormenting their fellow squirts
- or going after the attention of the giants
- way up there with their cocktails and bad breath
- talking baritone nonsense to other giants,
- waiting to call them names after thanking
- them for the lovely party and hearing the door
- close.
- The mature save their hothead invective
- for things an errant hammer, tire chains,
- or receding trains missed by seconds,
- though they know in their adult hearts,
- even as they threaten to banish Timmy to bed
- for his appalling behavior,
- that their bosses are Big Fatty Stupids,
- their wives are Dopey Dopeheads
- and that they themselves are Mr. Sillypants.
31I Chop Some Parsley while Listening to Art
Blakeys Version of Three Blind MiceBilly
Collins
- And I start wondering how they came to be
- blind.
- If it was congenital, they could be brothers and
- sister,
- and I think of the poor mother
- brooding over her sightless young triplets.
- Or was it a common accident, all three caught
- in a searing explosion, a firework perhaps?
- If not,
- if each came to his or her blindness separately,
- how did they ever manage to find one another?
- Would it not be difficult for a blind mouse
- to locate even one fellow mouse with vision
- let alone two other blind ones?
- And how, in their tiny darkness,
- could they possibly have run after a farmer's
- Just so she could cut off their tails
- with a carving knife, is the cynic's answer,
- but the thought of them without eyes
- and now without tails to trail through the moist
- grass
- or slip around the corner of a baseboard
- has the cynic who always lounges within me
- up off his couch and at the window
- trying to hide the rising softness that he feels.
- By now I am on to dicing an onion
- which might account for the wet stinging
- in my own eyes, though Freddie Hubbard's
- mournful trumpet on "Blue Moon,"
- which happens to be the next cut,
- cannot be said to be making matters any better.
32On Turning TenBilly Collins
- The whole idea of it makes me feel
- like I'm coming down with something,
- something worse than any stomach ache
- or 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 forgotten
- the perfect simplicity of being one
- and 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 invisible
- by 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 window
- watching the late afternoon light.
- Back then it never fell so solemnly
- against the side of my tree house,
- and my bicycle never leaned against the garage
- as 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 believe
- there 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.