Poetry

Poetry is not a rose, but the scent of the rose . . . Not the sea, but the sound of the sea.

Eleanor Farjeon

What is Poetry?

Poetry is “a kind of language that

says more and says it moreintensely than ordinary language.”

Laurence Perrine

What is Good Poetry?It withholds something from the reader at first.

A good poem sounds special.A good poem is memorable.Good poems speak to unanswerable questions.

A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.

Robert Frost

The Vocabulary of Poetry

Verse – a metric line of poetry

Stanza – little paragraphs of poems

Meter – the patterned repetition of stressed and unstressed syllable in a line of poetry

The Vocabulary of Poetry

Couplet – poems with two line stanzas

Triplet – poems with three line stanzas

Quatrain – poems with four line stanzas

The Vocabulary of PoetryBlank Verse – unrhymed poetry

that normally consists of ten syllables in which every other syllable, beginning with the second is stressed.

Free Verse – poetry that doesn’t have a regular meter or rhyme scheme.

How do you measure the quality of a poem? Is there a formula to tell whether a poem is good or not?

Standards of Evaluation• Concise• Clarity • Imagery• Show Don’t Tell• Originality• Sound• Structure• Control

Standards of Evaluation

Concise: Is the poem tight, clean, and free of unnecessary words? Is every word in the poem there for a good reason?

Standards of Evaluation

Clarity of thought: Is the poem clear to the reader? Does the poem appeal to a universal audience?

Standards of Evaluation

Imagery: Do the words draw a picture for the reader? Do the words appeal through detail and images?

Standards of Evaluation

Show not Tell: Does the poem have strong action verbs and specific nouns? Does the poem avoid colorless, abstract adjectives and adverbs? Does the poem avoid telling the reader? Does it show the reader through detail?

Standards of Evaluation

Fresh and Original: Does the poem offer fresh, unexpected comparisons; original metaphors, vivid word choice? Does the poem avoid clichés; vague and generally old idea.

Standards of Evaluation

Sound: Does the poem employ rhythm and poetic devices to create an identifiable flow? Is it a pleasure to hear?

Standards of Evaluation

Structure: Does the poem demonstrate effective word placement and line control? If a line is broken with a certain word, is there a reason?

Standards of Evaluation

Control: Does the poem demonstrate simplicity and singleness of purpose. Is the subject of the poem treated from experience or observation? Does the poem avoid abstract concepts?

Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.

T. S. Eliot

Reading Poetry

A poem may take days, weeks, sometimes years to produce. Reading a poem is also a process.

Give a poem three readings!

The Process

1st Reading – Read all the way through simply to get a general impression of the poem.

The Process

2nd Reading – Read out loud, if possible. Pay attention to the “sound effects.” Read slowly, word by word, observing punctuation and spacing. Try to understand what each word or phrase means.

The Process

3rd Reading - Determine the literal meaning of the poem. What is the poem about? What does the poem seem to say about its subject?

http://www.poetryoutloud.org/news/nationalfinals.html

A poem begins in delight and

ends in wisdom.

Robert Frost

Types of PoetryNarrative – tells a storyLyric – expresses thoughts and

feelings of poet◦ Elegy – on the subject of death◦ Sonnet – a fourteen line poem◦ Ode – in praise of somethingElegies, odes, and sonnets are types of lyric poems.

Conceit – an extended metaphorHaiku – small poem about natureLimerick – funny five line poem

Elegy O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weather'd every rack,

the prize we sought is won, The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring; But O heart! heart! heart!

O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; Rise up- for you the flag is flung- for

you the bugle trills,  

O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman

For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths- for you the shores

a-crowding, For you they call, the swaying

mass, their eager faces turning; Here Captain! dear father! This arm beneath your head! It is some dream that on the

deck, You've fallen cold and dead.

 

O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,

The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,

From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;

Exult O shores, and ring O bells! But I with mournful tread, Walk the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.

Sonnet 43by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.I love thee to the depth and breadth and heightMy soul can reach, when feeling out of sightFor the ends of Being and ideal Grace.I love thee to the level of everyday'sMost quiet need, by sun and candle-light.I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.I love thee with the passion put to useIn my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.I love thee with a love I seemed to loseWith my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath,Smiles, tears, of all my life!—and, if God choose,I shall but love thee better after death.

From the Allen Tate poem “Ode to the Confederate Dead”

Row after row with strict impunity The headstones yield their names to the

element,The wind whirrs without recollection; In the riven troughs the splayed leaves Pile up, of nature the casual sacrament To the seasonal eternity of death; Then driven by the fierce scrutiny Of heaven to their election in the vast

breath,They sough the rumour of mortality.

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?by William Shakespeare Conceit

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate.Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer's lease hath all too short a date.Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimmed;And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed.But thy eternal summer shall not fadeNor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Haiku

A poem is never finished, only

abandoned. Paul Valery

Figurative Language and Sound DevicesFigurative Language – speech or

writing that departs from literal meaning in order to achieve a special effect or meaning. Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/figurative+language

Sound Devices – use of specific words based on the effect given to the sound of a line of verse.

Elements of PoetryAphasia is a disorder that robs

you of the ability to communicate.

Coma is a state of prolonged unconsciousness that can be caused by a wide variety of problems

APHASIA

COMA

Allusion

An indirect reference to a historical, Biblical, or literary event.

Personification

Assigning human qualities to non-

human things.

The harmonica grinned with rust.

Hyperbole

A gross exaggeration to make a point

Her mouth was as big as the grand canyon.

Apostrophe

To address something inanimate as if it could respond.

Sky why do you drown me with your tears?

Simile

Comparing two unlike things using

like or as

Their voices crossed over like braids.

ImageryUse of sensory details to create an

experience in the reader’s mind.Visual - something seen in the mind's eyeAuditory - represents a soundOlfactory - a smell Tactile - touch, for example hardness,

softness, wetness, heat, cold Gustatory - a taste  

andOrganic - internal sensation: hunger, thirst,

fatigue, fear Kinesthetic - movement or tension

Heat by H.D.O wind, rend open the heat, cut apart the heat, rend it to tatters. Fruit cannot drop through this thick air— fruit cannot fall into heat that presses up and blunts the points of pears and rounds the grapes. Cut the heat— plough through it, turning it on either side of your path.

Assonance

Repeated vowel sounds within a

line of verse.

I calculated the capacity of the class based

on their academic performance.

Consonance

Repeated consonant sounds within

a line of verse

They are chestnuts shining in the rain.

Onomatopoeia

Imitation of sound in words: words

that imitate the soundassociated with something

The hiss of steam from the engine signaled trouble for the driver.

Metaphor

A comparison of two unlike things

saying one is another

The toads sitting on the road were baked

potatoes huddled against one another.

Alliteration

The repeated initial sound of a

word within a line of verse

We walked carefully around the rough and ragged rock.