THE BARE BONES

OF POETRY

THE BASICS

I CAN USE EXAMPLES FROM THE POEM TO SUPPORT

MY ANSWER RL7.1

I CAN DETERMINE THE THEME OR LESSON FROM A

POEM RL7.2

I CAN DETERMINE HOW WORDS ARE USED IN A POEM

USING FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE RL 7.4

“I CAN” STATEMENTS

Poetry is a type of

literature, or artistic

writing, that attempts

to stir a reader's

imagination or

emotions.

Poetry isn’t “throw away writing” like a

newspaper. It requires more thought,

and it offers more with each reading.

MEANING

“You never really

understand a

person until you

consider things

from his point of

view... Until you

climb inside of

his skin and walk

around in it.”

Empathy is the

ability to

understand and

share the feelings

of another.

The Speaker

is the voice

(or narrator)

of the poem.

The Poet is the

writer (or

author) of the

poem.

VS.

From “In Flanders Fields”

Poet: John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

FLANDERS FIELD

A Line refers to an arrangement of words

(on a single line)

No man is an island entire of itself;

every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;

if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less,

LINE

LINE

LINE

A Stanza is a group of

lines that create a

verse (the poetry

version of a paragraph)

A Stanza Break is a

space left in between

stanzas

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

The Subject is the surface appearance of

the poem. What does the poem look like it

is about “at first glance”

The Theme is the

lesson that the poet

wants you to learn by

reading their poem.

How can this lesson

apply to the BIG

WORLD around you?

"Cowards die many times before their

deaths; The valiant never taste of death

but once. Of all the wonders that I yet

have heard. It seems to me most strange

that men should fear; Seeing that death,

a necessary end, Will come when it will

come.” From Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

The Tone is the

speaker’s attitude

toward the subject or

the theme of the

poem.

Denotation is the

dictionary definition of

a specific word.

Connotation is the

feeling created by the

word itself.

The kid that sits in the back of the

classroom is a very unique individual.

These are synonyms for each other,

but dramatically change the feeling of the

entire line as it is read.

The kid that sits in the back of the

classroom is a very weird individual.

The girl arrived at the party wearing

vintage clothing.

These are synonyms for each other,

but dramatically change the feeling of the

entire line as it is read.

The girl arrived at the party wearing

old clothing.

Diction is the word

choice made by the

poet.

Word choice can

change the entire tone

of the poem.

"You can choose your friends but you sho' can't

choose your family, an' they're still kin to you no

matter whether you acknowledge 'em or not, and it

makes you look right silly when you don't.“

"They're certainly entitled to think that, and they're

entitled to full respect for their opinions... but before

I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself.

The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a

person's conscience."

What differences do you notice in the examples???