Lyric Poetry

Lyric poetry is the mostmost common form of poetry

Lyric Poetry is poetry that expresses a moodmood, feeling, idea, or any other personal thought

Lyric Poetry does not tell a story

Lyric Poetry does have rhyme and meter

Sub-genres of Lyric poetrySong: The most common is the song, including popular

songs that are heard frequently on the radio. The words to songs are often inaccurately referred to as “lyrics.” The entire song is the lyric.

• Sonnet: The next best-known lyric is the sonnet, which may be in the Petrarchan or Italian form, Elizabethan or Shakespearean or English form, or the American or innovative form.

• Villanelle: The villanelle is a widely used form. The most widely read and studied villanelle is without a doubt Dylan Thomas’ “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night.”

• Ode: The ode usually exalts it subject. It is dedicated to one theme to honor its subject usually an important person or idea such a freedom.

• Elegy: The elegy is a highly formal verse focusing on death or any other solemn subject.

We Do It!• Read “A Time to Talk”• Answer q’s 1, 3, 5, do rhyme scheme, identify literary

elements

• Read “Fire and Ice”• Answer question 6, do rhyme scheme, identify literary

elements

• Read “Dust of Snow”• Answer question 4, do rhyme scheme, identify literary

elements

• Read all three poems• Answer q’s 2, 8, 10, and Literary Elements 1 and 2

The Road Less Traveled ByTwo 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,

And that has made all the difference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUaQgRiJukA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu8YKMVV648

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZGiEGAa3c8

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.My little horse must think it queerTo stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lakeThe darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shakeTo ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweepOf easy wind and downy flake.

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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Cpr5pLoxGo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRmT9zP2vKk

Sitting by the Fire on a Snowy Eveningby Robert Frost’s Cat (Henry Beard)

• Whose chair this is by now I know.• He’s somewhere in the forest though;• He will not see me sitting here• A place I’m not supposed to go.

• He really is a little queer• To leave his fire’s cozy cheer• And ride out by the frozen lake• The coldest evening of the year.

• To love the snow it takes a flake:• The chill that makes your footpads ache,• The drifts too high to lurk or creep,• The icicles that drip and break.

• His chair is comfy, soft and deep.• But I have got an urge to leap,• And mice to catch before I sleep,• And mice to catch before I sleep.•

Stealing Thy Words on a Slow Evening

• Whose words these are I think I know.• His poems are on the Internet though.• He will not see me browsing here• to have my words sound like a pro.

• My little mouse must think it queer• to be clicked with no thought near• between the words and fraudulent take• this dubious evening of the year.

• I give his rubber cord a shake• to ask if there are more to make.• The only other sound’s the sweep• of cut and paste and dowdy fake.

• My words aren’t lovely, dark or deep,• but I have publishing stats to reap.• And poems to write before I sleep.• And poems to write before I sleep.

• © Paul Dickey

Poetry Response

• Use the Copy Change Organizer to create your own poem with the same rhyme scheme as the original poem.