an introduction poetry reader text meaning writer
TRANSCRIPT
An Introduction
Poetry
Reader
TextMeaning
Writer
What do you know?
What do you know about poetry?What is your definition of poetry?What are your impressions of poetry?
What are your fears about poetry?What do you like about poetry?What is your experience with poetry?
Introduction to PoetryBilly Collins
I ask them to take a poemand hold it up to the light like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poemand watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem's roomand feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterskiacross the surface of a poemwaving at the author's name on the shore.
But all they want to dois tie the poem to a chair with ropeand torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hoseto find out what it really means.
Introduction to Poetry
What is Billy Collins suggesting about studying poetry in the classroom?
What downfalls are there to studying poetry in a formal manner?
What benefits are there?How do you think Collins wants us to experience poetry?
Can you do both (study formally and experience it)?
What is Poetry?
Poetry:
Uses figurative rather than literal language
Does what it saysCreates or recreates an experience
Cannot be summarized without changing the experience
this is just to say william carlos williams
I have eatenthe plumsthat were inthe icebox
and whichyou were probablysavingfor breakfast
Forgive methey were deliciousso sweetand so cold
What’s in a poem?
Was this a poem?What if I told you that it began as a note to his wife left on the refrigerator?
What makes a poem a poem?
Kinds of Poetry: Lyric
Expresses intense personal emotions
Usually written in 1st personHas musical qualities
Derived from Greek lyre, a musical instrument used for songs about these subjects
What is your favorite lyric poem (i.e., song)?
Kinds of Poetry: Narrative
Tells a storyEpic: a long, narrative poem
Has a conflict that starts and resolvesIs not a short story because it doesn’t
develop things like motivation, character
Narrative poems have been mostly replaced by short stories and novels
Some Poetry Genres and Forms
SonnetsHaikusBalladsEpicsFree Verse
Sonnets, Petrarchan/Italian
14 linesSpecific rhyme and meter Italian/Petrarchan
Octave: abbaabbaSestet: cdecde or cdcdcd
Unrequited, unrealistic lovePetrarchan conceit
Sonnets, English/Shakespearean
14 linesSpecific rhyme and meter English/Shakespearean
Three quatrains and couplet: ababcdcdefefgg
Anti-petrarchan sentiments and truer, more lasting love
Epic PoetryLong, narrative poemExamples include The Illiad and The OdysseyWere usually memorized; therefore they are
repetitiveDevelops poetic language and elementsHeightened language b/c it’s about heroes and
godsTells a story from start to finish
Has character development, unlike other narrative poems Hero is called on a journey, battles elements, returns a hero
Different than novels because of its often lyrical qualities; however, some novels and movies are considered “epics.”
Beginning of The Odyssey
Tell me, O Muse, of that ingenious hero who travelled far and wide after he had sacked the famous town of Troy. Many cities did he visit, and many were the nations with whose manners and customs he was acquainted; moreover he suffered much by sea while trying to save his own life and bring his men safely home; but do what he might he could not save his men, for they perished through their own sheer folly in eating the cattle of the Sun-god Hyperion; so the god prevented them from ever reaching home. Tell me, too, about all these things, oh daughter of Jove, from whatsoever source you may know them.
Ballad
Often has a refrain. Usually a pattern of quatrains of alternating lines
of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, the trimeter lines rhyming.
occasionally employ incremental repetitionThe subjects are frequently noble, usually about
love, often tragic. By contrast, the folk ballads tend to be more plain-folksy in scope.
The simple language and the impersonal tone often seem to cover deep feeling and the refrain often adds either a note of solemn ritual or a lyrical contrast to the start tale.
Tend to be rural, dramatic, heroic, and inclined to the supernatural.
Folk Ballad
Usually passed down through generationsTells a story (is a kind of narrative)
Uses very little imagery or character developmentUsually accompanied by music (a kind of lyric) and a dance
Usually has refrains or repetitionFolk ballads come from oral traditionTold from 3rd personUsually tragic or sensational (like supernatural, wars, etc);
sometimes tragi-comic (as in this example)About community life or local characters and events (folklore)Traditional patterns (rhyme and meter)
Get Up and Bar the Door
The wind blew high, the wind blew cold, It blew across the moor,
When John Jones said to Jane, his wife, "Get up and bar the door."
"Oh, I have worked all day," said she, "I've washed and scrubbed the floor, You lazy man, get up, I say, Get up and bar the door.”
"Oh, I have worked so hard," said he, "I know I can't do more; So come, my own, my dearest wife, Get up and bar the door.”
Then they agreed between the two,
A solemn oath they swore,
That the one who spoke the very first word
Would have to bar the door. The wind blew east, the wind blew west,
It blew all over the floor,
But neither one would say a word
For barrin' of the door.
Three robbers came along that way,
They came across the moor;
Cont.
They saws Light and walked right in, Right in through the open door.
"Oh, is the owner of this house A rich man or a poor?"
But neither one would say a word
For barrin' of the door.
They ate the bread, they drank the ale,
Then said, "Come, give us more."
But neither one would say word
For barrin' of the door.
"Let's pull the old man's beard" said one,
"Let's beat him till he's sore." But still the old man wouldn't speak
For barrin' of the door.
"I'll kiss his pretty wife," said one, "Oh, her I could adore."
And then the old man shook his fist And gave a mighty roar.
"Oh, you'll not kiss my wife," said he, "I'll throw you on the floor.
Said she, "Now, John, you've spoken first, So get up and bar the door.”
Dramatic MonologueBy Robert Vaux, eHow Contributor
A piece of poetic verse, spoken by a single character
conveys his inner thoughts and emotions. must come from a single character (not the
writer himself) and constitute the entire poem;
it must be directed at an existing listener, whether present or inferred;
must reveal some aspect of the character to the listening audience.
often takes on an assertive or argumentative tone
develops the character’s perspective/viewpoints
