LGA 3102: SONGS AND POETRY LECTURE WEEK 2

Definition

“A good poem is a contribution to reality. The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it. A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe, helps to extend everyone’s knowledge of himself and the world around him.” (Dylan Thomas)

“Poetry is the language in which man explores his own amazement.” (Christopher Fry)

“Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.” (Edgar Allan Poe)

“Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds.” (Percy Bysshe Shelley)

“A poem begins with a lump in the throat, a home-sickness or a love- sickness. It is a reaching-out toward expression; an effort to find fulfillment. A complete poem is one where the emotion has found its thought and the thought has found the words.” (Robert Frost)

“Poetry is the revelation of a feeling that the poet believes to be interior and personal which the reader recognizes as his own.” (Salvatore Quasimodo)

“Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity.” (William Wordsworth)

“The poem is a little myth of man’s capacity of making life meaningful. And in the end, the poem is not a thing we see—it is, rather, a light by which we may see—and what we see is life.” (Robert Penn Warren)

LGA 3102: SONGS AND POETRY LECTURE WEEK 2

Identify, analyse and compare the various forms of poetry suitable for children.

1. Acrostic

o A poem, usually in verse, in which the first or the last letters of the lines,

or certain other letters, taken in order, form a name, word, phrase, or motto.

o Example - Here is an example in English, an Edgar Allan Poe poem titled

simply An Acrostic:

Elizabeth it is in vain you say "Love not" — thou sayest it in so sweet a way:

In vain those words from thee or L.E.L. Zantippe's talents had enforced so well: Ah! if that language from thy heart arise,

Breath it less gently forth — and veil thine eyes. Endymion, recollect, when Luna tried

To cure his love — was cured of all beside — His follie — pride — and passion — for he died.

2. Cinquain

A cinquain consists of 5 unrhymed lines.

Each line has a set number of syllables see below:

Line 1 – 2 syllables - has one word (the title).Line 2 – 4 Syllables - has two words that describe the title.Line 3 – 6 Syllables - has three words that tell the action.Line 4 – 8 syllables - has four words that express the feelingLine 5 – 2 Syllables - has one word which recalls the title.

An example of a cinquain poem

My mum 2Is so caring 4She is always helpful 6She is so beautiful and kind 8Love you. 2

LGA 3102: SONGS AND POETRY LECTURE WEEK 2

3. Clerihew

A Clerihew (or clerihew) is a very specific kind of short humorous verse, typically with the following properties: It is biographical and usually whimsical, showing the subject from an unusual point of view; but it is hardly ever satirical, abusive or obscene; It has four lines of irregular length (for comic effect); The first line consists solely (or almost solely) of a well-known person's name.

Example

Sir Humphrey Davy Abominated gravy.

He lived in the odium Of having discovered sodium.

4. Concrete

A concrete poem is one that takes the shape of the object it describes. This is different from a Shape poem, in that a Shape poem does NOT have to take the shape of the object it describes.

Example

Triangle

I am

a very special

shape I have three points and

three lines straight. Look through my words

and you will see, the shape that I am meant to be. I'm just

not words caught in a tangle. Look close to see a small triangle. My angles

add to one hundred and eighty degrees, you learn this at school with your abc's. Practice your

maths and you will see, some other fine examples of me.

LGA 3102: SONGS AND POETRY LECTURE WEEK 2

5. Epic

An extensive, serious poem that tells the story about a heroic figure. A broadly defined genre of poetry, and one of the major forms of narrative literature. It retells in a continuous narrative the life and works of a heroic or mythological person or group of persons.

Example

The Iliad, ascribed to Homer (Greek mythology) The Odyssey, ascribed to Homer (Greek mythology)

6. Free Verse

A term describing various styles of poetry that are not written using strict meter or rhyme, but that still are recognizable as 'poetry' by virtue of complex patterns of one sort or another that readers can perceive to be part of a coherent whole.

Example

Fog by Carl Sandburg

THE FOG comes on little cat feet.

It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on.

7. Haiku

A haiku poem is a Japanese poem which can also be known as a hokku. A haiku poem is similar to a tanka but has fewer lines. A haiku is a type of poetry that can be written on many themes, from love to nature.

A haiku consists of 3 lines and 17 syllables.

Each line has a set number of syllables see below:

Line 1 – 5 syllables Line 2 – 7 syllables Line 3 – 5 syllables

An Example of a Haiku Poem The sky is so blue. 5

LGA 3102: SONGS AND POETRY LECTURE WEEK 2

The sun is so warm up high. 7

I love the summer. 5

Haiku poems don't need to rhyme, but for more of a challenge some poets try to rhyme lines 1 and 3.

8. Limerick

o Limerick is a five-line, often humorous and ribald poem with a strict meter. Lines 1, 2, and 5 of have seven to ten syllables (three metrical feet) and rhyme with one another. Lines 3 and 4 have five to seven (two metrical feet) syllables and also rhyme with each other. The rhyme scheme is

usually "A-A-B-B-A".

o Example

There once was a man from Nantucket Who kept all his cash in a bucket.

But his daughter, named Nan, Ran away with a man

And as for the bucket, Nantucket.

9. Narrative

Narrative poetry is poetry that tells a story. In its broadest sense, it includes epic poetry; some would reserve the name narrative poetry for works on a smaller scale and generally with more direct appeal to human interest than the epic.

Example: The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

10. Nursery Rhyme

A nursery rhyme is a short rhyming story, often set to music and usually designed for young children. Typically, a nursery rhyme has simple vocabulary and a catchy rhyme. Children can quickly learn to sing along with a nursery rhyme, and nursery rhymes are often used to help young children build their vocabulary.

Look at the example below:

Baa, baa, black sheep,Have you any wool?Yes sir, yes sir,Three bags full.

LGA 3102: SONGS AND POETRY LECTURE WEEK 2

One for my master,One for my dame,And one for the little boyWho lives down the lane.

Baa, baa, black sheep,Have you any wool?Yes sir, yes sir,Three bags full.

One for my master,One for my dame,And one for the little boyWho lives down the lane.

11. Dramatic

A narrative poem in which one or more characters speak.

The dramatic poem consists of the thoughts or spoken statements (or both) of one or more characters other than the poet himself in a particular life situation.

It is dramatic rather than narrative since the character is not "written about" by the poet; rather, the poem consists of the character's own thoughts or spoken statements. He may be thinking (or talking) to himself; a poem recording his thoughts or speech to himself is called a soliloquy. Or a character may be speaking to one or more other characters in a given situation; a poem recording his speech is called a dramatic monologue.