START LESSON 1

Lesson 1You will

• read and discuss the genre of poetry.

• read and analyze an Emily Dickinson poem.

• read and discuss a color poem.

• write a poem for WA 37.• write a report on

Emily Dickinson for Home WA 38.

465Student Textbook Level 6

Learn It: POETRY

PoetryReference 208

Artistic writing includes many literary genres—essays, poems, short stories, plays,etc. A genre identifies what type of writing a piece of literature is. One of theoldest forms of literature is poetry. Throughout history, people have used poetryto pass along news, create songs and stories, and record historical events.

Poetry is a very compact and focused form of writing that spurs the imaginationand calls up sensory images and emotional responses. Poetry says a lot in a fewwords. It allows you to share your thoughts and feelings in a unique way. With itsmultiple images, poetry relates to the heart as well as to the mind. A poem is adelicate juggling act of rhythm, figurative language, and sometimes rhyme.

The poem, whether it rhymes or not, is probably the most artistic of all genres.The poem, as an art form, is both visual and auditory. Poetry looks different.Without reading words, you can look at a poem and know it is a poem by itsappearance on the page. Most poetry is pleasing to the ear. You can hear apoem read aloud and know it is a poem because it sounds like one. A poemshould be read aloud in order to be fully appreciated and enjoyed. By reading a poem silently, you miss its music and, perhaps, even its meaning.

Poetry often says things in a special way by using figurative language. Figurative language uses words to draw pictures of things being compared.There are three figures of speech that create images that compare one thing to another. They are simile, metaphor, and personification.

1. Simile compares two or more things by using the words like or as.Example: Jeff is as tall as a giraffe. She is as quiet as a mouse. My brotherjumps like a frog.

2. Metaphor compares things by stating that one thing is something else. It uses linking verbs such as am, is, are, was, and were.Example: The fog was a curtain during the morning hours. The soldiers were ants marching in a row.

3. Personification compares things by giving human qualities to something nonhuman.Example: The door eyed the visitor with contempt and refused to open.

Poems sometimes contain sound devices. The four principal sound devices arealliteration, assonance, repetition, and rhyme.

1. Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds (at the beginning of words).Example: Five feathered fowls (f sounds)

2. Assonance is the repetition of internal vowel sounds (within words). Example: Long, low moan (o sounds)

3. Repetition refers to the repeating, or restating, of any words, phrases, or sentences. Words, phrases, or sentences can be repeated anywhere within the poem.

4. Rhyme is the sound-alike quality of words, regardless of their spellings(do/few, made/paid). Rhyme may be of two types: end rhymes and internalrhymes. End rhymes are rhymes at the end of lines whereas internal rhymesare rhymes within lines.

A poem will most often be organized into sections called stanzas.

CHAPTER 18

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Lesson 1

Level 6 Student Textbook

Chapter 18

LISTENING AND SPEAKING:Discuss It: POETRY

1. What genre of writing is one of the oldest forms of literature?

2. What is figurative language?

3. What are three figures of speech?

4. Which figure of speech uses the words like or as to make acomparison?

5. Which figure of speech makes a comparison by stating that one thing is something else?

6. Which figure of speech gives human qualities to something nonhuman?

7. What are four sound devices used in poetry?

8. Which sound device repeats beginning consonant sounds?

9. Which sound device repeats vowel sounds within words?

10. How are poems organized?

Read It:

Discuss It: ANALYZING “I’M NOBODY”

1. In this poem, whom does Emily Dickinson celebrate?

2. According to the narrator, people who like to brag on themselvesa. resemble a croaking frog.b. sound like passing freight trains.c. are a model for others.

3. Does the poem use figurative language?

4. Which line in the poem contains the figurative language?

5. Is the figurative language a simile, metaphor, or personification?

6. How do you know it is a simile?

7. Which sound devices are used?

8. What are some examples of rhyme?

9. What picture do you have of “a somebody” after reading the last stanza?

10. What does this poem mean to you?

Emily DickinsonReference 209

I’m NobodyI’m nobody! Who are you?Are you nobody, too?Then there’s a pair of us—don’t tell!They’d banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!How public like a frogTo tell your name the livelong dayTo an admiring bog!

— Emily Dickinson

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Chapter 18

Color PoemsReference 210

Directions: Pick a color as your title. Tell about your color in complete sentences.Your sentences do not have to rhyme.

Purple is…Purple is a cluster of grapes.Purple is a royal kingly robe.It’s plums and pens, and pretty paint.It’s pansies, violets, and eggplants.Purple is an angry face.Purple is the circus clown’s hair.Purple is a hard word to describe.

Yellow and the SensesYellow looks like daffodils.Yellow smells like lemons.Yellow tastes as good as a banana.Yellow sounds like children laughing.Yellow feels like warm sunshine.

Learn It: COLOR POEMS

Writing Assignment Choose one of the options below about which to write your poem.

1. Emily Dickinson’s poem, “I’m Nobody,” is critical of people who advertise theirimportance. The second stanza could be rewritten in a number of ways, using anequally graphic comparison. Rewrite the second stanza. Use at least one simile ormetaphor in your poem.

2. Write a companion piece to Emily Dickinson’s poem. Instead of “I’m Nobody,” titleyour poem, “I’m Somebody.” Use at least one simile or metaphor in your poem.

3. Write a color poem, using similes or metaphors.

4. Make up a poem of your own. Use at least one simile or metaphor in your poem.

Activity:

Look up poems by poets Jack Prelutsky and Carl Sandburg. Pick out the poem youlike the best. Why do you like this poem? What is your interpretation of the poem?Read and discuss it with a partner. What does your partner think about the poem?

Special Instructions:

1. Type this assignment on the computer or write it neatly on notebook paper.

2. Illustrate your poem with your own artwork, clip art, or magazine pictures.

3. Read your poem to a family member or a friend.

4. Give the finished poem to your teacher in the next lesson.

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Write It: WRITING ASSIGNMENT 37

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Level 6 Student Textbook

Chapter 18

Home Writing Assignment Purpose: To inform

Type of Writing: Expository paragraph or essayAudience: Classmates

Writing Topic: Emily DickinsonSpecial Instructions:

1. You have been studying a poem by Emily Dickinson. Look up more informationabout her, using the Internet, a poetry reference, and/or an encyclopedia.

2. Write a paragraph or essay that includes the following information.Introduction: Tell who Emily Dickinson was and what she did.Body: Tell one or more important or unusual facts about Emily Dickinson’s earlylife. Tell one or more important or unusual facts about Emily Dickinson’s later life.Mention one or more important works written by Emily Dickinson.Conclusion: Give a summation, or wrap-up, of what the paragraph/essay is about.

3. Type your paragraph or essay on the computer or write it neatly on notebookpaper. Everyone’s report will be compiled into a classroom booklet.

4. Use standard, time-order, or transition writing form. See Reference 69 on page 103.

5. Write in third person. See Reference 70 on page 104.

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Student Tip…If you need to improve your handwriting, refer to the ResourceTools Section on pages 529–530 for information on writing legibly.

Write It: HOME WRITING ASSIGNMENT 38

End ofLesson 1

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