February 4, 2014 Introduction to Poetry H omework:

1. February 4, 2014 Introduction to Poetry Homework: Bring in a random object - one that you can keep in your locker until we need to use it. NO ELECTRONICS!!! Objective: I can analyze how the structure of poetry is different from other texts. Warm Up (in your composition book) Take out your Embedded Assessment and put items in the following order: ON TOP - appropriate rubric with your name on it UNDER RUBRIC - final draft UNDER FINAL DRAFT - rough draft UNDER ROUGH DRAFT - completed graphic organizer Take out your Literature book and answer the two questions at the bottom of pg. 576 under the "What makes a POEM a poem?" section.

2. Poems that you already know...

3. What do all your poems have in common?

4. What makes a group of words in a poem? How is a poem different from prose (a news article, short story, play, etc.)?

5. Now let's take a look at pg. 578 Reading Poetry

6. Let's take a look at a very current example of poetry in use today... http://bgr.com/2014/01/22/ipad-air-sound-light-verse-tv-ads/

7. What line was repeated over and over?

8. O Me! O Life! BY WALT WHITMAN Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring, Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish, Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?) Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d, Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me, Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined, The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here—that life exists and identity, That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse. Source: Leaves of Grass (1892)

9. Working in your groups, write a summary of what you think is the message of this poem.

10. What makes poetry different?

11. structure the way a poem looks on the page

12. made up of lines can be a single word, a sentence or a part of a sentence.

13. lines arranged in stanzas the way a poet chooses to arrange these lines and stanzas can affect a poem's meaning.

14. poetry also sounds different

15. Read "A Fine Head of Lettuce" and answer the five questions about it...

16. I'm a fine head of lettuce, a handsome romaine. I haven't a cranium made for a brain. I'm simple and shy. I remain on my own. I'm known in the garden as lettuce alone.

17. Who is the speaker?

18. How many stanzas does the poem have?

19. How many lines are in each stanza?

20. What words rhyme in this poem? Is there a pattern to the rhymes?

21. Poets like playing with words. What verbal joke do you find in the last line?

22. Now let's read "Losing Face"

23. Finally Mother is proud of something I have done. "My girl won the art contest," she tells the world, smiling so big and laughing so loud her gold tooth shows. I'm the only one who knows how I drew so well, erasing the perfect lines I traced, drawing worse ones on purpose in their place. I feel awful. I want to tell. But I don't want to lose Mother's glowing proud face.

24. Who is the speaker of the poem? Describe the conflict she is having.

25. Where does Wong use rhyme in the first stanza?

26. The poem is structured so that each stanza helps you understand the speaker's feelings. In your own words, summarize what each stanza is about.

27. Reread the boxed section. It is the only place where each line contains a complete sentence. Why might the poet have chosen to emphasize these lines?

28. Reread the last stanza. Why doesn't the speaker want to admit what she has done?

29. Homework: Bring in a random object - that you can keep in your locker until we need to use it. NO ELECTRONICS!