What is Poetry?

In Class Assignment

There are two poems up for you to copy. Copy these two poems onto a piece of paper from you reading section. Be sure to think about them as you copy them. After you have copied them, write a single sentence to the following question:

What is a Poem?

Death of the Ball Turret GunnerFrom my mother's sleep I fell

into the State,And I hunched in its belly till

my wet fur froze.Six miles from earth, loosed

from its dream of life,I woke to black flak and the

nightmare fighters.When I died they washed me

out of the turret with a hose.

Shall I Compare Thee to A Summer’s Day?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 dimm'd;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,    By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,    Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,    When in eternal lines to time thou growest;

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,    So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Poetry’s Definitions"Traditional poetry is language arranged in

lines, with regular rhythm and often a definite rhyme scheme..." (Textbook, 874).

Broader Definition: Poetry is a written or spoken piece where the

form in which it is written is as important to the meaning of the poem as what is said.

The Purpose of Poetry

The Odyssey (Ancient Greek) Beowulf (Anglo-Saxon)

Poetry is the oldest form of literature we have. In every culture, the culture’s first piece of literature is a poem.

Why?

Why Write a Story as a Poem?

Poetic elements allow us to remember vast amounts of information. They are, in effect, memory aids.

Rhyme, Meter, Repetition, Line-breaks all work to separate information within our minds helping us to "File" information in our heads.

By studying poetry, we study the way in which the human brain works.

Tools of Poetry

Why Write Philosophy As A Poem?

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant—Success in Circuit liesToo bright for our infirm DelightThe Truth’s superb surprise

As lightening to the Children eased With explanation kindThe Truth must dazzle gradually Or every man be blind—

This poem answers the question why don’t poets just say what they mean. Your challenge is to figure out what this poet’s answer to this question is.