Understanding Poetry

“Pure poetry is thought, foolish you who do not know it, you know your sciences.

But in every word light is poetry.

That vault that braces itself around you and widens yearning, gives the heart life, is vision and thought, won from bloodfire. Creative flames from a struggle, like chieftain’s duel.

Pure poetry is duty’s life and thought’s temperance and those wild perspective.”

–Gunnar Bjorling

Understand every word in a poem.

My heart is fraught with woe.My heart is fraught with woe.

fraught – filled or fullwoe – great sadness or sorrow

drink - swallowing liquid through the mouthdrink - swallowing liquid through the mouth

Look into my eyes with love.

Her beauty demanded the world.

Her beauty the world demanded.

(for she was vain)

(for she was popular)

Elisions are the omission of letters and words.

In this case, the sentence construction of this prose has elision.

He had the patience of Job.

An allusion is often called a reference to

other circumstance from an external

context.

A metaphor is a thing regarded as

representative or symbolic of something else,

especially something abstract.

A statue I was when he smiled at me.

Whither, midst falling dew,While glow the heavens with the

last steps of day,Far, through their rosy depths,

dost thou pursueThy solitary way?

-William C. Bryant

Paraphrase: Where, while the dew is falling and the sky is red with the sunset, are you going all by yourself?

Summary: Where does your lonely way lead you at nightfall?

HOWEVER...

Remember that a

paraphrase or

summary is NO

substitute for the poem itself.

EXERCISE!Paraphrase then summarize the following

passages.

“Stone walls do not a prison make,Nor iron bars a cage;Minds innocent and quiet takeThat for a hermitage.”

-Richard Lovelace

A thing of beauty is a joy forever:Its loveliness increases;It will never pass into nothingness.

-John Keats

Well done!

Prepared by:Clarice Anne D. Talaboc