Introduction to Poetry

Introduction to Poetry

Goals for Poetry I unit:

Discuss poetry using poetic terminology.

Use TPCASTT as a tool for deeper understanding

Demonstrate knowledge of the sonnet’s structure by writing one

Become familiar with the AP multiple choice poetry test

Demonstrate the ability to explicate poetry in the essay format

Poetry and the AP Test Forty-five percent of the test is comprised of

poetry related questions and writing. AP readers do not expect a 5 paragraph essay.

(This structure can shackle your thoughts.) Spend at least 20 minutes reading the poem

and annotating before you begin writing the essay.

A line number means little to a reader. Don’t waste precious time to count and insert the line. Instead use an apt reference in quotation marks.

Six Basic Areas of Study

1. Meter—syllables & stress2. Rhyme—creates humor or enhances meter

(Meter and rhyme are the music of poetry)3. Poetic structure—lines and stanzas4. Imagery—established through figures of

speech and diction5. Intent—to tell a story (narration), to honor

a person or thing (lyric), or portray another POV (dramatic)

6. Tone—established by diction

Upon His Departure

Thus I (1 metrical foot)Pass byAnd die:As One,Unknown,And gone:I’m madeA shadeAnd laidI’th’ grave;There haveMy cave.Where tellI dwell,Farewell. (Trochee meter)

Money

Workers earn it, (2 metrical feet)Spendthrifts burn it,Bankers lend itWomen spend it,Forgers fake it,Taxes take it,Dying leave it,Heirs receive it,Thrifty save it,Misers crave it,Robbers seize it,Rich increase it,Gamblers lose it…I could use it. (Iambic

dimeter)

1. METER (two syllables)

Lengths of metrical feet

MeterDimeterTrimeterTetrameterPentameterHexameter

2 syllables4 syllables6 syllables8 syllables10 syllables12 syllables

Match the stress pattern with these three examples of tetrameter (4 feet).

A. Iambic tetrameter (da DUM)

B. Trochaic tetrameter(DUM da)

C. Anapestic tetrameter(da da DUM)

D. Spondee(DUM, DUM)

1. "And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea"

2. "Because I could not stop for Death"

3. "Peter, Peter , pumpkin-eater"

4. “Babes sleep, teens dream, men sigh--we die.”

KEY

1. "And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea”

C. Anapestic

2. "Because I could not stop for Death" A. Iambic

3. "Peter, Peter, pumpkin-eater”B. Trochaic

4. “Babes sleep, teens dream, men sigh—we die.”D. Spondee

2. Rhyme—gives resolution

Feminine—2 syllables (can create comic tone as in limericks or add to rhythm as in rap.)

Dreaming with a watering mouth, Wishing for a better life for my daughter and spouse, In this slaughtering house, caught up in bouts… --Eminem

Masculine—final syllable rhymesThe boy found a dog.It was really a hog.

Internal rhyme—words within line rhymeThe boy had a toy.

Near rhyme—close but not perfectOne short sleep past, we wake eternally,And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

3. Poetic Structure(Stanza Forms &Syntax)

Assignment Cut up your words. Create a poem by gluing the words

to a sheet of paper. You can work alone or with a partner. We will share a few poems on the

board.

Original Poem

Cocoon

The little caterpillar creepsAwhile before in silk it sleeps.It sleeps awhile before it flies.And flies awhile before it dies.

And that’s the end of three good tries.

Thinking about the Structure: Stanza Forms & Syntax How does the line length affect the poem? Is there enjambment?

(Run-on clauses draws us to next line—creates flow.) Does the line length change dramatically? What has the poet done with stanza breaks, or stanza

length? Look for spacing, punctuation and capitalization

choices. Does the poem use rhyme? How so? Is there a

pattern? Are there omissions or repetitions of sounds, letters

or words? (Anaphora—repetition of the initial word in several successive lines: “I have a dream…”)

William Carlos Williams (How does the structure of the poem enhance meaning?)

The Red Wheel Barrow

so much dependsupon

a red wheelbarrow

glazed with rainwater

beside the whitechickens.

4.ImageryApplying human traits to an object:

“the house shut its eyes”Personification with an abstraction or

someone dead—”Death, be not proud…”Likening one thing to another

Extended metaphor—ship in Creon’s speech

Unlikely extended metaphor—kings are buckets

A single name stands for more—”press”

stands for journalism, “golden arches”—McDonalds

A more specific type of metonomy: the part means the whole. “A set of wheels, all hands on deck, the redneck”

*Personification

Apostrophe

Metaphor/Simile

Analogy

Conceit

Metonymy (mə-tä-nə-mē)

Synecdoche (sə-nek-də-kē)

Figurative Language:Creativity with Words

Imagery (cont.)

Reference to famous person or art

A seemingly contradictory statement

A contradictory phrase: “icy heat”

Overstatement or—exaggeration -minimizing (Litotes)

Opposite of what’s expected

An object takes on greater meaning.

Mixing of senses (color/sound or taste/touch) “screaming yellow tie” or “sour wind”

Allusion

Paradox Oxymoron

Hyperbole & Understatement

Irony

Symbol Synesthesia (si-nəs-thē-zhē-ə)

Imagery Exercise--Synesthesia Place the concept of “fear” into the following

categories: Color Sound or instrument Taste or food Animal Body of water Piece of furniture Famous Person Article of clothing Country

Adding to Imagery

The word’s sound imitates the actual sound: “ululating” or “pop”

Repetition of initial consonant sound: “sails did sigh like sedge”

Repetition of vowel sounds:“Be near me when my light is low.”

Repetition of internal consonant sounds:“Linger no longer with anger.”

A complete pause in a line of poetry.

Onomatopoeia

Alliteration

Assonance

Consonance

Caesura

in small ways

5. Intent Narrative

Tells story, has crisis or turning point, uses formula or stock phrases repeated, images lead toward a crisis and give consequence

Dramatic Writer adopts another’s voice and portrays character

(soliloquy, dramatic monologue, epistolary) (Or the narrator may not be a person at all.)

Lyric (Ode) A private, visionary or emotional poem, love poem,

encomium (poem of praise), elegy (death song), meditative poem

“To An Athlete Dying Young” Lyric

6. Tone

Writer’s attitude toward subject shown through Rhythm Sounds Images and mostly--Word selection

Identifying tone in diction Group the following words into two groups of

six according to tone.

freedom skullrodents sparkling sheltered wrathtorrid curse lovesleek veins tiller

freedom, love, sleek, sparkling, sheltered, tiller

skull, wrath, rodent, veins, curse, torrid

Practicing using tone

Group 1—write a 3 line poem reflecting humility

Group 2—write a 3 line poem reflecting humor

Group 3—write a 3 line poem reflecting rage

Group 4—write a 3 line poem reflecting silly love

Group 5—write a 3 line poem reflecting arrogance

Assignment Please read each poem before class. Orange book. Write a 3 sentence analysis for each due on _____. 1. “Sir Patrick Spence” (546). 2.“May He Lose His Way” (570). 3. The River Merchant’s Wife” (600). 4. “Then” (654). 5. “In Absence from Becchina” (676). 6. “Seeing Hsia Chan Off by River” (679). 7. “Olympian II” (758).8. “Six Tanka” (763). 9. “The Complaint of Chaucer to His Purse” (808).

Common Structures

The Ballad

4 line stanza, iambic tetrameter, short lines to give speed, good for narration, one scene per quatrain

Ballad Of A Thin Man by Bob Dylan

You walk into the roomWith your pencil in your handYou see somebody nakedAnd you say, “Who is that man?”

Shakespearean Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?Thou art more lovely & more temperate;Rough winds do shake the darling buds of MayAnd summer’s lease hath all too short a date;Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimmed’And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed.But thy eternal summer shall not fadeNor lose possession of that fair thou owest;Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade.When in eternal lines to time thou growest—So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,So long lives this, & this gives life to thee.

--Shakespeare

The Italian Sonnet: DeathDEATH

Death be not proud, though some have called theeMighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so,  For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures bee,Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,And soonest our best men with thee doe go--Rest of their bones, and souls’ delivery!Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, & desperate men,And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,And better then thy stroke; why swell'st thou then;One short sleep past, we wake eternally,And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

----John Donne

The Sonnet Assignment

Three quatrains (4 lines) followed by a couplet (2 rhyming lines).

The rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg Use iambic pentameter—five accented

beats per line (da Dum). Focus on a specific subject (your assigned

classmate), but keep the name a secret. We will share these sonnets with the class

to see if your peers can guess whom your sonnet describes.

Answer these Questions for the sonnet assignment.

1. What is your favorite article of clothing?2. Where is your favorite place to hang out?3. What actor, teacher, athlete, politician, musician, or

animal would you like to be?4. Where do you shop? 5. What is your best physical feature?6. What is your best character quality?7. What actor would portray you in a movie?8. What do you grab if there’s a fire?9. What’s your ultimate goal in life?10. It’s your last meal—what do you order?11. What is something few people know about you?12. What do you love most in others?13. What are you pretty good at doing?14. What activities do you like and why?

TPCASTT Strategy Title—What does the title suggest? Paraphrase—After reading the poem through

once, translate each line to ensure close reading. Connotation—In this context, what words take on

unique meanings? Attitude—Who is the speaker? Shift—Where is the climax, the kicker, the

surprise, the clue to theme, the break in pattern? Title—Does the title now take on new meaning? Theme—What message did you discover?

Other Forms Blank verse—iambic pentameter, no rhyme Free verse—no rhyme or meter, emphasis on

diction Ode—a poem of praise in which the poet designs

his/her own stanza form and then holds to it Asian verse— Haiku: 3 lines, emphasis on imagery

Tanka: 5 lines (31 words) Clerihews—4-lined funny rhyme about a person

Our art teacher, Mr. Shaw,/Really knows how to draw. /But his sexy paintings/ Have caused many faintings.

Epigram—Short poem (writing on a tombstone)

Villanelle—19 line dance song sung by troubadour

Villenelle of ChangeSince Persia fell at Marathon,    The yellow years have gathered fast:Long centuries have come and gone.

And yet (they say) the place will don    A phantom fury of the past,Since Persia fell at Marathon;

And as of old, when Helicon    Trembled and swayed with rapture vast(Long centuries have come and gone),

This ancient plain, when night comes on,    Shakes to a ghostly battle-blast,Since Persia fell at Marathon.

But into soundless Acheron    The glory of Greek shame was cast:Long centuries have come and gone,

The suns of Hellas have all shone,    The first has fallen to the last:—Since Persia fell at Marathon,Long centuries have come and gone.

5 triplets and a quatrain

2 rhymes 1st line

repeated 3times

3rd line repeated 3times

1st line and 3rd line conclude poem

Am. Literary Movements (Before multiple choice poetry test)

Classicism (c.1750)—reason—Thomas Paine

Romanticism (c.1800)—emotion—Poe

Realism (c.1850)—reality—Twain

Naturalism (c.1850)—nature—Darwin, Jack London

Existentialism (c.1900)—individual—

Dostoyevsky