Teaching & Performing Poetry

1. Professional Development Activity for “Enhancing the Interface between the Junior Secondary and the Three-year Senior Secondary Curricula through Promoting the Learning and Teaching of Language Arts” Teaching & Performing Poetry February 25, 2005

2. What is POETRY? How do you define it? What do you think of teaching and learning poetry? Before We Start: Workshop activity 1

3. Getting startedUnderstanding poetry

4. Word music, the dance of language The spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings Criticism of life A.D. Hope William Wordsworth Matthew Arnold Poetry is the lava of the imagination Lord Byron Blood, imagination and intellect running together W.B. Yeats What is Poetry?

5. Getting ready to teachUnderstanding poetry

6. Understanding the poem Whatis happening in the poem? • What idea and theme does the poet want to deliver? Howis it presented by the poet? • Techniques : language, sound, imageries, punctuation, pattern on the page Whydid the poet write this poem? • What is his message or purpose? • Why do I teach this poem?

7. POETRY

8. Poetic Language Visual imagery Mental pictures created with words

9. Explicit comparison, using ‘like’, ‘as’, ‘similar to’, ‘resembles’ Simile Metaphor Personification Implied comparison Giving human qualities to an animal, object or abstract idea

10. The Wind Is Angry The wind is angry --- He’s been in a rage all night, Stamping his feet, bellowing and finally breaking out. … … … Personification

11. The Sea The sea is a hungry dog, Giant and grey. He rolls on the beach all day. With his clashing teeth and shaggy jaws The rumbling, tumbling stones, And ‘Bones, bones, bones, bones!’ The giant sea-dog moans, Licking his greasy paws. … … … James Reeves Metaphor

12. The Laundry Basket My shirtsleeve hangs Over the rim of the laundry basket Like a limp human arm From the jaws of a crocodile. Chris Hereward Simile

13. Poetic Language Sound imagery Feelings and moods created by sounds

14. Alliteration Repetition of initial consonant sounds in words Onomatopoeia Use of words that sound like the objects or actions they describe Around the rugged rock, theragged rascal ran Glass Breaking I flung out my arms Clatter Clash Crinkle Crunch Now a broom Swish Swoosh Sweep Swoop

15. I rose and told him of my woe Assonance Repetition of vowel sounds Consonance Repetition of consonant sounds anywhere in the lines He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there issome mistake. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (Robert Frost)

16. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Whose woodsthese 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 queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woodsand frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He giveshisharness bellsa shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound's the sweep Of 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. Robert Frost Consonance S (32 times) H (10 times) W (8 times) Assonance long vowels Alliteration Effect: soft hissing sound

17. Have a Go! Workshop Activity 2

18. Study the quotations and identify the visual and sound imageries

19. Visual Imagery: Key • Metaphor(world = stage; men & women = players) • Personification(night = person creeping) • Metaphor(life = dream; soul = sleeping man) • Simile (soldiers = wolf; spears = stars) • Personification(Autumn and Sun areconspiring friends) • Personification(sea = laughing man; cliff = frowning man)

20. Sound Imagery: Key 1. Onomatopoeia (choo-choo puff-puff Pull, pull, pull) 2. Consonance([s] sound) 3. Onomatopoeia(boom, crash) Consonance([r] sound in second line) • Alliteration([b] sound) • Assonance([ai] sound) • Alliteration([r] sound)

21. Poetic Language Rhythm

22. Rhythm • Regular recurrence of stressed and unstressed sounds in the lines The attributes of rhythm • Meaning • Metrical patterns (regular alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables) • Grammatical structure • Punctuation • Pitch • Pace • E.g. • Iambic --- x / (about) • Trochaic --- /x (poem)

23. THE SONG OF THE SEA WIND Austin Dobson How it sings, sings, sings, Blowing sharply from the sea-line, With an edge of salt that stings; How it laughs aloud, and passes, As it cuts the close cliff-grasses; How it sings again, and whistles As it shakes the stout sea-thistles --– How it sings! How it shrieks, shrieks, shrieks, In the crannies of the headlands In the gashes of the creeks; How it shrieks once more, and catches Up the yellow foam in patches: How it whirls it out and over To the corn-field and the clover –-- How it shrieks! How it roars, roars, roars, In the iron under-caverns, In the hollows of the shores; How it roars anew, and thunders, As the strong hull splits and sunders: And the spent ship, tempest driven, On the reef lies rent and riven –-- How it roars! How it wails, wails, wails, In the tangle of the wreckage, In the flapping of the sails; How it sobs away, subsiding, Like a tired child after chiding; Sit back and listen to the rhythm

24. Poetic Language Rhyme

25. RhymeThe matching of final vowel or consonant sounds in two or more words Rhyming / Rhyme scheme A pattern of the end rhymes within the poem

26. What’s the rhyming scheme? Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul. a b a b Rain, rain, go away Come again another day Little children want to play So rain, rain, go away. a a a a Write a poem About a lion they said, So from memories Of lions in my head I wrote about Tawny eyes and slashing claws, Lashing tail and sabred jaws Twinkle, twinkle little star How I wonder who you are Up above the world so high Like a diamond in the sky. a b c b d e e a a b b

27. Types of poems Traditional classification

28. Blank verse Unrhymed ten-syllable lines Ballad A narrative poem written in four-line stanzas, with swift action and direct style The Highwayman Free verse A poem without a regular pattern of metre or rhyme Ode A long stately poem in stanzas of varied length, meter and form Limerick A five-lined rhymed poem that makes fun Ode to Autumn Sonnet A fourteen-lined lyrical poem that conforms to a set rhyme scheme Elegy A poem expressing grief, of subjective or meditative nature Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?

29. Types of poem Modern classification

30. Diamond poem A seven-lined diamond-shaped poem that specifies the part of speech in each line, sometimes with contrasting ideas Acrostic poem A poem in which the first letter of each line, when read vertically, spell out a word, which is usually the subject of the poem. Haiku A Japanese-style poem of three lines, each with a fixed number of syllables (5,7,5 or 4,8,4) -- mainly about nature and feelings Shape poem Words are placed to make the shape of an object or ideas described

31. Acrostic poem

32. H G U H H O S S N F I I O R F O R N O T E F O U V O R O N E D R Y O N E Anonymous shape poem

33. shape poem

34. Smelly Tofu Yummy! Spicy, savoury Delicious, heavenly, mouth-watering A brown crispy square of deep-fried bean curd Disgusting, unpleasant, repulsive Stinky, greasy Yucky! Diamond poem

35. Have a Go! Workshop Activity 3

36. Read and identify the form of poem in each item.

37. Types of Poems (Key) A: Shape poem B: Free verse C: Diamond poem D: Acrostic poem E: Limerick F: Haiku G: Prose

38. Teaching the Poemin Class

39. Consider the following… • Is the poem thematically related to the lesson? • How can you help your students to understand the poem? • How can you help students to appreciate some important poetic devices? • How can you help students to respond to the poem? What kind of response will you aim for?

40. Teaching strategies • Use pictures, realia, situations, context etc to help students visualise the meaning of the poem. • Use different strategies and activities to • encourage students to respond to the poem • Commenting on the ideas, themes and events • Relating these to their own experience • Acting out or writing something related to the poem • extend their language learning experience • teach about features of poetry • Let students hear the poem and follow it • Familiarize them with the intonation, stress and inflection patterns

41. Lesson Examples • “The Sound Collector” by Roger McGough • onomatopoeia, • vocabulary development • support understanding • “My Friend Through My Eyes” by Amy Poon • teaching about metaphor • framework for students’ own writing • “Dreams” by Langston Hughes(for reference)

42. The Sound Collector A stranger called this morning Dressed all in black and grey Put every sound into a bag And carried them away The whistling of the kettle The turning of the lock The purring of the kitten The ticking of the clock The popping of the toaster The crunching of the flakes When you spread the marmalade The scraping noise it makes The hissing of the frying pan The ticking of the grill The bubbling of the bathtub As it starts to fill The drumming of the raindrops On the window-pane When you do the washing up The gurgling of the drain The crying of the baby The squeaking of the chair The swishing of the curtain The creaking of the chair A stranger called this morning He didn’t leave his name Left us only silence Life will never be the same.

43. Step One: • Students match words and pictures • Step Two • Students listen to sounds and match them with the pictures. • They then match the item that makes the sound with the word for that sound • Objective: • To pre-teach vocabulary

44. www.findsounds.com Sounds • Sound 1 • Sound 2 • Sound 3 • Sound 4

45. Step three: students identify vocabulary in the poem. They list their favourite sounds

46. Step Four: • Students make poems listing the sounds which they hear in particular locations. • They may use the sounds to tell a story if they wish.

48. MY FRIEND – THROUGH MY EYES You are a star in the sky, Bright and shining, Guiding me with your light, With you, I know the way. You are an umbrella in the rain, Loving and protecting, You help me so much, With you, I know I am safe. You are a candle on a dark night, Warm and comforting, You make me strong, With you, I am never alone. You are a rainbow after a storm, Beautiful and colourful, You always give me hope, A promise that will last Friendship is a precious gift A gift to treasure and keep forever.

49. Step One: students see pictures, some of which are related to the poem. They write down words which they associate with the pictures, including sounds, smells, feelings – not only names of objects

50. Objectives of this activity to prepare students for reading the poem by pre-teaching some vocabulary to introduce the concept of metaphors as “word pictures” to generate some ideas for students to use in their own writing