AP Literature and Composition

“It’s a □ or √ Tuesday!” 3/3/09

Mr. Houghteling

Agenda:

1. Quickwrite 3.3 on the synthesis essay.

2. Turn in the synthesis essay.

3. Poetic Meter: 1. An introduction to scansion.

2. Experiment with marking the text.

4. Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18”

Quickwrite 3.3 on the synthesis essay:

You have just finished the initial draft of the synthesis essay.

In a five-minute quickwrite, please explain how you felt writing this essay. You might address:

-What did you like about writing this essay?

-What problems do you have?

-What would you like me to focus on as I read your initial draft?

-Anything else you think I should know…

Poetic Meter • In poetry, the meter (or metre) is the

basic rhythmic structure of a verse.• The scansion of a poem is the analysis

of its metrical structure.• In most Western classical poetic

traditions, the meter of a verse can be described as a sequence of feet, each foot being a specific sequence of syllable types (stressed or unstressed).

• Stressed = /, unstressed = ˘

Poetic Meter continued…

• The most common meter in English poetry, the so-called iambic pentameter, is a sequence of five iambic feet or iambs, each consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one ("da-DUM").

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee,

da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM

Poetic rhyme structure:

Just like we need to know how to annotate rhythm, so do we need to understand rhyme structure.

Unthrifty loveliness why dost thou spend, a

Upon thy self thy beauty's legacy? b

Nature's bequest gives nothing but doth lend, a

And being frank she lends to those are free: b

Scansion example: Line 7

˘ / ˘ / ˘ /

And ev / ery fair / from fair / ˘ / ˘ /

sometime / declines /

Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18”Complete the following steps to annotate and

unpack Shakespeare’s sonnet:Step One: Using the breve mark and forward slash, note the scansion of the poem above.Step Two: Using alphabetical letters, note the rhyme structure of the poem above. Step Three: Use the rhyme and meter to help make your overall interpretations of the poem. What does it all mean? Make your interpretations in the space below.

HOMEWORKComplete the unpacking of

Shakespeare’s sonnet 18. Review the most common poetic terms:

What do you know? What do you need to study? Can you think of examples for these terms?

What are these examples?