poetry unit -...
Post on 02-May-2018
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TRANSCRIPT
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the wall for a light switch.
I want them to water ski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
~Billy Collins
Introduction to
Poetry
Paraphrase
Translate the poem into your own
words.
Focus on one syntactical unit at a
time, not necessarily on one line at a
time.
Or write a sentence or two for each
stanza of the poem.
Connotation
Contemplate the poem for meaning
beyond the literal.
What do words mean beyond the
obvious?
What are the implications, the hints,
the suggestions of these particular
word choices?
Devices (part of Connotation)
Examine any and all poetic devices.
How do they contribute to the
meaning, the effect, or both, of the
poem?
Especially note anything that is
repeated.
Attitude
Observe both the speaker’s and the
poet’s attitude (tone).
Diction, images, and details suggest
the speaker’s attitude and contribute
to understanding.
Shifts A poet rarely begins and ends the poetic experience in the same place.
Look for the following: Key words: but, yet, however, although
Punctuation: dashes, periods, colons, ellipsis
Stanza and/or line divisions: change in length
Irony
How the poem is built
Changes in sound
Changes in diction (slang to formal, positive to negative)
The crux
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