Poetry

Poetry English I: Grammar & Composition Poetry Unit

What is a poem? A poem is an artful arrangement of words that expresses an idea or a feeling in extremely condensed language. A poem expresses the inexpressible in words. A poem not only tells the feelings of the poet; it recreates them for the reader. A poem says a great deal with a very little. A poem expresses beauty of thought and sound through the medium of human language.

What is the purpose of poetry? Every poem has a topic, and many poems have a theme. Sometimes the poet reflects on death… or life… or love… Often the purpose is to transport the reader… to make the reader know that she is not alone. What is the purpose of poetry for you?

To analyze poetry, you look at the parts. To understand poetry, you look at the whole in light of what you know about the parts. The Reading Process

The Title What does the title tell you about the poem? “Sonnet 116” “The Charge of the Light Brigade” “The Old Violin” Note: Usually you need to read the whole poem for the meaning of the title to make sense!

Reading 1:The poem as a whole. Go at a steady pace. Just read it all. Just be introduced.

Reading 2:Questioning the poem. • What words did you not know? • Look them up. • Where are the sentences? • Find the subjects and verbs. • Find the periods. • Note the semicolons and colons and commas.

Reading 3, 4, 5, 6… • Look for everything we’re going to talk about in the next 2 sections: “The Elements of Poetry” “The Poem as a Whole”

Different ways to categorize the poems that you read and write. The poem as a whole

Context: who wrote the poem, and when; where the poem is from • Form: how the poem is structured • Content: what the poem is about

2. CONTEXT Where does the poem come from? The life / personal history of the poet… The philosophy / beliefs of the poet… The personality / attitudes of the poet… The politics of his or her place and time… The culture of his or her place and time…

“Dreams” by Langston Hughes (p. 73) • Langston Hughes was a black poet who wrote during the 1920s / 1930s as part of the Harlem Renaissance. “The Pulley” by George Herbert (p. 74) • Herbert was a contemporary of Shakespeare; he was also English, and was a devout (Protestant) Christian. How does knowing this about the poet effect how you read the poems? Can you read the poems without this information?

Categories of poems based on context include: By author: “The works of _____________.” By era: Classical, Anglo-Saxon, Medieval, Renaissance, Neo-Classical, Romantic, Victorian, Modern By place: English, French, American, Spanish, etc. By philosophy: transcendentalist, existentialist, naturalist, Christian, etc.

2. FORM Title Words & Phrases Diction is word choice. artful diction = TROPES Syntax is word arrangement. artful syntax = SCHEMES Sentences & Clauses Lines Stanzas Quatrains, Couplets, Octets, etc. Length Here we will talk about the form of the poem as a whole. The discussion of rhyme and meter occurs later in this PPT.

Haiku A form of Japanese lyric verse that encapsulates a single impression of a natural object or scene, within a particular season, in 17 syllables arrange in 3 unrhymed lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables An old silent pond...A frog jumps into the pond,splash! Silence again. - Bashō http://www.haiku-poetry.org/famous-haiku.html

Epic a book-length story poem of a great hero Examples: Milton’s Paradise Lost, Homer’s The Iliad; Virgil’s The Aeneid “Sing, O goddess, the anger of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades, and many a hero did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures, for so were the counsels of Jove fulfilled from the day on which the son of Atreus, king of men, and great Achilles, first fell out with one another.” – The first lines of Homer’s Iliad, translated from the Greek http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.html

Ballad a story told in stanzas, usually quatrains The quatrains of a ballad typically have ababrhyme scheme, and is stressed like this - 4 stresses: “O art thou blind, Lord Thomas?” She said, 3 stresses: “Or canst thou not very well see? 4 stresses: Or does thou not see my own heart’s blood 3 stresses: Runs trickling down my knee?”

Sonnet 14 lines + iambic pentameter Petrarchan (Italian) 8 lines (2 quatrains): abbaabba + 6 lines: cdecde or cdcdcd Shakespearean: 3 quatrains: ababcdcdefef + turn to final couplet / epigram: gg Spenserian: ababbabccdcdee

Petrarchan SonnetWilliam Wordsworth: “London, 1802” Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour: - A England hath need of thee: she is a fen – B Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen, - B Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, - A Have forfeited their ancient English dower – A Of inward happiness. We are selfish men; - B Oh! raise us up, return to us again; - B And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. – A Octave - Introduces the theme or problem Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart; - C Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea: - D Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, - D So didst thou travel on life's common way , - E In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart – C The lowliest duties on herself did lay. – E Sestet - Solves the problem

Spenserian Sonnet Amoretti LXVII: Like as a Huntsman– Edmund Spenser (1552-1599) Like as a huntsman after weary chase, Seeing the game from him escap'd away, Sits down to rest him in some shady place, With panting hounds beguiled of their prey: So after long pursuit and vain assay, When I all weary had the chase forsook, The gentle deer return'd the self-same way, Thinking to quench her thirst at the next brook. There she beholding me with milder look, Sought not to fly, but fearless still did bide: Till I in hand her yet half trembling took, And with her own goodwill her firmly tied. Strange thing, me seem'd, to see a beast so wild, So goodly won, with her own will beguil'd.

Limerick English verse form consisting of 5 anapaestic lines rhymingaabba, the third and fourth lines having 2 stresses and the others three. See p. 73 for examples Writing a Limerick's absurd, 1 Line one and line five rhyme in word, 2 And just as you've reckoned 3 They rhyme with the second; 4 The fourth line must rhyme with the third. 5

Free Verse Free verse: a kind of poetry that does not conform to any regular meter: the length of its lines is irregular, as is its use of rhyme; was established in the late 19th and early 20th century See “Knoxville, Tennessee”

3. CONTENT A poem can be categorized based on what the poem is about. Does the poem focus on something in nature? Does it talk about love? Does it honor someone who has died?

Topic / Subject • What is the poem about?

Voice From whose point of view is the poem written? What do we know about the writer of the poem, if anything? What is the “voice” of the poet? How does this voice manifest itself?

Tone • How does the author feel about his or her subject matter? • Tone is always an emotion, or a combination of emotions.

Mood • How does the author make you feel about the subject? • (This might be different than the tone!)

Theme • In what sentence: what is the poet (not the narrative voice, but the poet – be it Robert Frost or Emily Dickinson or any other poet) – what is the poet saying about his or her subject? • The answer is always a full sentence.

For example: Carpe Diem: “Seize the day!” Elegy: Honors and mourns someone who has died Narrative: Tells a story Pastoral: celebrates the innocent life of shepherds and shepherdesses Dream Vision: tells the story of an author’s dream of going to Heaven ETC….

Diction (word choice). Syntax (word arrangement). Prosody (rhyme & meter). THE ART of POETRY

1. Diction (word choice)Clues to Voice, Tone & Mood What is conveyed with these kinds of diction? • Formal • Informal • Colloquial • Archaic: no longer used • Latinate: derived from Latin words • Slang • Jargon: the language of a particular group

Tropes See handout. The ones you need to know are: • Metaphor • Simile • Pun • Synechdoche • Onomatapeia

2. Syntax (word arrangement)Sentences are Thoughts. Remember: it’s all about finding the subjects & verbs, and counting up independents & subordinate clauses. Simple: 1 independent clause Compound: 2 or more independent clauses Complex: 1 independent clause w/ 1 or more subordinate clauses Compound-complex: 2 or more independent clauses w/ 1 or more subordinate clauses

Schemes See handout. The ones you need to know are: • Parallel Structure • Antithesis • Alliteration • Assonance • Anaphora • Epistrophe • Rhyme

Rhyme • Rhyme Scheme: ababcdcd etc. • End rhyme – when words rhyme at the end of lines • Internal rhyme – when words in the lines rhyme • Masculine rhyme: love / dove • Feminine rhyme: whether / together • Triple rhyme: glamorous / amorous • Eye rhyme: love / prove • Half rhyme: love / have or love/ leave

3. Prosody Rhythm = Meter It’s all about the number and pattern of syllables!

RHYTHMThe foot. A poetic “foot” is a syllable group of 2, 3, or 4 syllables. ¯ = stressed/long syllable, ˘ = unstressed/short syllable Meter is … well, we’ll get there! 

Feet of 2 Syllables Disyllables • ˘ ˘pyrrhus, dibrach • ˘ ¯iamb – deDUM: Iambic: “That time of year thoumayst in me behold…” (Shakespeare) • ¯ ˘trochee, choree (or choreus) – DUMde Trochaic: “Tell me not in mournful numbers…” (Longfellow) • ¯ ¯spondee – DUMDUM Spondaic: “Break, break, break/ On thy coldgraystones, O Sea!”

Feet of 3 Syllables Trisyllables • ˘ ˘ ˘tribrach • ¯ ˘ ˘dactyl – DUMdede Dactylic: “This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the hemlock” (a trochee replaces the final dactyl) • ˘ ¯ ˘amphibrach • ˘ ˘ ¯anapest, antidactylus – dedeDUM Anapestic: “And the sound of a voice that is still” • ˘ ¯ ¯bacchius • ¯ ¯ ˘antibacchius • ¯ ˘ ¯cretic, amphimacer • ¯ ¯ ¯molossus

Feet of 4 Syllables(This is just interesting.You don’t need to know this. ) Tetrasyllables • ˘ ˘ ˘ ˘tetrabrach, proceleusmatic • ¯ ˘ ˘ ˘primus paeon • ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘secunduspaeon • ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘tertiuspaeon • ˘ ˘ ˘ ¯quartuspaeon • ¯ ¯ ˘ ˘major ionic, triple trochee • ˘ ˘ ¯ ¯minor ionic, double iamb • ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ditrochee • ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯diiamb • ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯choriamb • ˘ ¯ ¯ ˘antispast • ˘¯ ¯ ¯first epitrite • ¯ ˘ ¯ ¯second epitrite • ¯ ¯ ˘ ¯third epitrite • ¯ ¯ ¯ ˘fourth epitrite • ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯dispondee

Meter Each line of a poem contains a certain number of feet of iambs, trochees, spondees, dactyls or anapests. The number of syllables in a line varies therefore according to the meter. monometer (1) dimeter (2) trimeter (3) tetrameter (4) pentameter (5) hexameter (6) heptameter (7) octameter (8) A good example of trochaic monometer, for example, is this poem: “Fleas” Adam Had’em

Imagery • Sensory images • Metaphorical language • Similes ALMOST ALL POEMS USE IMAGERY. IMAGERY IS ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL WAYS TO USE LANGUAGE!

Theme: Again A poet chooses words and sounds to create a certain effect. When you are done analyzing a poem, you should understand how all the words have been chosen to create a certain effect in you, to feel that effect, and (if the poem is worthy of admiration!) to admire the poet’s skill and creativity.

The St. Cecilia Girl & Poetry 1.) will read and memorize poems all her life; 2.) will know the difference between better and worse poems; 3.) will find at least one poet that she especially loves, and buy a book of that poet’s poems; 4.) will at times express herself by writing poems; 5.) will write poetry with awareness of her choices in diction, syntax and prosody

Your Assignment A portfolio of poems! Due on December 13.

Poem #1: A Song 8 lines divided into 2 quatrains Abab rhyme scheme A consistsent meter, preferrably tetrameter

Poem #2: A Lyric

Poem #3: A Haiku 2 lines

Poem #4: A Sonnet 14 lines

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