Introduction to Poetry

1. Introduction to Poetry Adapted by Mr. Griffin

2. Poetic expression is hard to define and even harder to label since in itself it can comprise so many styles, ideas, lengths and forms. • In this class we will focus on these poetic aspects: • Idea and Emotion • Type and Form • Style of the Line • Concise Word Choice

3. Why study poetry? • Poetry is the most ancient form of keeping history. • In ancient times the elders were venerated and told stories of the tribe, and great people in their history. Rhyming often made it easier to remember. • When we read, recite and write poetry, we are taking part in one of the oldest traditions in human history. • Understanding poetry can also help us write better in all other forms of writing.

4. IT is not uncommon for students to write poetry for their own enjoyment. Why is this so? Why do some teens write and/or read poems?

5. “We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering - these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love - these are what we stay alive for.” Mr. Keating, played by Robin Williams in the movie Dead Poet’s Society

6. Idea and Emotion Poetry is the one type of writing that truly comes from an emotional response to an image, an event or experience, or a memory. Most poets say they are inspired to write a poem. "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 an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found the words.”-Robert Frost “If you know what you are going to write when you’re writing a poem, it’s going to be average.”–Derek Walcott

7. Emotion- Some poets begin writing a poem for an emotional release. Idea- Some poets begin writing a poem because they are inspired by something they’ve experienced.

8. What are typical emotions and topics shown in poetry? Are there bad poetry topics?

9. Answer on paper: What does a poem need to look like and contain to be a poem? Things to think about in your answer: Do most poems rhyme? Are poems about emotions? Are poems a certain length? What is the goal of a poem? Can poets ignore grammar rules like capital letters and punctuation? Can poems be funny? What types of word choice or language do you see in poems?

10. IS THIS A POEM? A Supermarket In California by Allan Ginsberg What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache self-conscious looking at the full moon. In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations! What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes! --and you, García Lorca, what were you doing down by the watermelons? http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15306

11. Is this a poem?

12. Coming Up by Ani DiFranco Our father who art in a penthouseSits in his 37th floor suiteAnd swivels to gaze downAt the city he made me inHe allows me to stand andSolicit graffiti untilHe needs the land I stand onI in my darkened thresholdAm pawing through my pocketsThe receipts, the bus schedulesThe urgent napkin poemsThe matchbook phone numbersAll of which laundering has renderedPulpy and strangeLoose change and a keyAsk meGo ahead, ask me if I careI got the answer hereI wrote it down somewhereI just gotta find it Is This A Poem?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY2VYg-qKWU

13. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;Then took the other, as just as fairAnd having perhaps the better claim,Because it was grassy and wanted wear;Though as for that, the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I kept the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted if I should ever come back.I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:two roads diverged in a wood, and I --I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG24ohpacDk Is This A Poem? The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

14. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein There is a place where the sidewalk endsAnd before the street begins,And there the grass grows soft and white,And there the sun burns crimson bright,And there the moon-bird rests from his flight To cool in the peppermint wind.Let us leave this place where the smoke blows blackAnd the dark street winds and bends.Past the pits where the asphalt flowers growWe shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,And watch where the chalk-white arrows goTo the place where the sidewalk ends.Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,For the children, they mark, and the children, they knowThe place where the sidewalk ends

15. The answer ? • They are all poems. • When you write a poem, it should have a subject, a goal, a tone, and a flow. It should contain specific, condensed word choice and literary devices like metaphor, simile and imagery.

16. If I asked you to write a poem right now, how would you write a poem?

17. One way is to follow a specific formula. Another way is to just write. On the next five slides pick one or more pictures and write what comes to mind. Try to write it as a poem.

23. Type and Form There are MANY different types or forms of poems. Some fit a specific format and some fit a specific theme. Some examples of format poems: Acrostic: a word or set of words is written down the page and each line starts with that letter. Sonnet: 14 lines of iambic pentameter, with a specific rhyme scheme and intro/conclusion style. Sestina: Each stanza must use the same end words as the first stanza, but in a different pattern each time.

24. More Formats Haiku- A three line poem with specific syllable lengths of 5-7-5. Limerick- Usually a funny poem with a AABBA rhyme scheme and specific syllable length. Villanelle- A poem where certain lines are repeated to make more of a refrain Pantoum: Each stanza reuses different lines in a specific pattern from the previous stanzas.

25. “Sonnet 18” by William Shakespeare 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 fade,Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,Nor shall death brag thou wander'st 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.

26. Haiku: Falling to the ground, I watch a leaf settle down In a bed of brown. Limerick: There once was a lady named Cager,Who as the result of a wager,Consented to fartThe entire oboe partOf Mozart's quartet in F-major.

27. Types of poems written based on themes: Elegy: A poem about something lost Ode: A poem celebrating something Road: A poem about a time of travel Metaphor: The whole poem is a metaphor Object Obsession: A poem written about an object Narrative: A poem that tells a story Ballad: A narrative poem with a refrain, usually about love Prose: A poem written more like a paragraph

28. O Captain, My Captain – An Elegy 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 anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done; From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won; Exult Oh shores, and ring Oh bells! But I, with mournful tread, Walk the deck by Captain lies, Fallen Cold and dead Walt Whitman – Any guesses on who this was about?

29. Ode on a Grecian Urn Thou still unravished bride of quietness,Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,Sylvan historian, who canst thus expressA flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shapeOf deities or mortals, or of both,In Tempe or the dales of Arcady? What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?

30. Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; Not to the sensual ear, but, more endeared,Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leaveThy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,Though winning near the goal — yet, do not grieve;She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,Forever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

31. Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;And, happy melodist, unwearied,Forever piping songs forever new; More happy love! more happy, happy love! Forever warm and still to be enjoyed,Forever panting, and forever young;All breathing human passion far above,That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloyed,A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.

32. Who are these coming to the sacrifice?To what green altar, O mysterious priest,Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,And all her silken flanks with garlands dressed? What little town by river or sea shore,Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?And, little town, thy streets for evermoreWill silent be; and not a soul to tell Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.

33. O Attic shape! Fair attidude! with bredeOf marble men and maidens overwrought,With forest branches and the trodden weed; Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thoughtAs doth eternity: Cold Pastoral! When old age shall this generation waste,Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woeThan ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,"Beauty is truth, truth beauty, — that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." John Keats

34. What does all that mean? • "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is based on a series of paradoxes and opposites: • the discrepancy between the urn with its frozen images and the dynamic life portrayed on the urn, • the human and changeable versus the immortal and permanent, • participation versus observation, • life versus art.

35. Metaphor Poem Master of PuppetsHatfield/Ulrich (altered) End of passion play Crumbling away I'm your source of self-destruction Veins that pump with fear Sucking darkest clear Leading on your death's construction Taste me you will see More is all you need Dedicated to How I'm killing you

36. Come crawling faster Obey your master Your life burns faster Obey your master MasterMaster of puppets I'm pulling your strings Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams

37. Pain monopoly Blinded by me You can't see a thing Just call my name 'cause I'll hear you scream Needlework the way Never you betray Life of death becoming clearer Ritual misery Chop your breakfast on a mirror

38. Taste me you will see More is all you need Dedicated to How I'm killing you Blinded by me You can't see a thing Just call my name 'cause I'll hear you scream Master, master Where's the dreams that I've been after?

39. Master, master Promised only lies Laughter, laughter All I hear or see is laughter Laughter, laughter Laughing at my cries FIX ME!

40. Master of Puppets analysis What is the “Master of Puppets” the song refers to?

41. Style of the Line • As a poet you want to think about how you will write your lines: • Are you following a formula? • If not do you want it have a “beat” or more natural flow? • When will you make a new line? • How will you divide your poem?

42. Some poems, and especially songs will have a specific rhythm. You can feel it (like the beat in music). Many rhyming poems have a rhythm or beat. “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe is an example of a poem that relies heavily on a specific rhythm and rhyme. It is also a narrative poem (one that tells a story). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXU3RfB7308 Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -Only this, and nothing more.‘ Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrowFrom my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore -For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore -Nameless here for evermore.

43. Poems without a specific rhythm or beat are called Free Verse. • Invented in the 1800s by Walt Whitman • Usually Non-rhyming • Line breaks and line lengths are up to the poet. • It is the most popular form used by contemporary poets today.

44. From “Song of Myself” from the book Leaves of Grass http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm-n9wFZMiE I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun, I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags. I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles. You will hardly know who I am or what I mean, But I shall be good health to you nevertheless, And filter and fibre your blood. Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged, Missing me one place search another, I stop somewhere waiting for you.

45. The ideas in a poem are organized by line breaks and stanzas. Stanza- is like a poetry paragraph. Following is an example of a poem with stanzas “Momma Chopped Off Her Toe” By C. S. Griffin

46. Momma chopped off her toe! what do I do? what should I say? Well, she's runnin around cussin', I guess she’s okay I always thought choppin' wood was men’s work anyway but she said it was America circa ninteen hundred eight two and whatever a man could do, a woman could certainly do too So she wore polyester pants, floral blouse and flip flop shoes She said she could do it, and she proved she really could A regular lumber-jill she was, out there choppin’ that wood She looked fine, from in the air conditioning, where I stood. It’s been three decades or more and I still just don’t rightly know how a body could let an axe head drop down on their own big toe From the porch, to the bathroom, to the kitchen I watched her go I didn’t know what she was doing, but then again, neither did she it has to be a shock to see linoleum where a toe is supposed to be "Told you girls don’t chop wood", I managed to say finally My lashed hide reminds me never to say that again That day I learned something about women and men 'I told ya so' feels real good; but silence is golden

47. Lets talk about that There were six stanzas in this poem Each stanza all rhymed with each other, though this is not required of a stanza. What do you think the author was trying to say with this poem?

48. Concise Word Choice “Poets must seek “complex” thoughts and feelings and compress such complexity into a single moment.” –Ezra Pound Some people write out their feelings when they are having a hard time. Pretend you can take all of those words and feelings into your hand. Squeeze them as hard as you can. What leaks through your fingers is the essence; that is what you use to write a poem. -Ms. K

49. Sensory Language and Visual Imagery Since most poems express emotions and ideas, a writer must SHOW what is being written about. Poets and song writers use visual imagery and sensory language to show ideas. Sensory language is using words that appeal to the five senses. Showing what something sounds, smells, tastes, looks, and feels like. Visual imagery is “painting a picture with words.” Visual imagery uses aspects of sensory language, specifically sight, to recreate images, ideas and emotions. Strong verbs and specific adjectives/ adverbs are used.

50. Blue- personification Gold – visual imagery Example of Sensory Language and Visual Imagery “The Round” by Stanley Kunitz Light splashed this morningon the shell-pink anemonesswaying on their tall stems;down blue-spiked Veronicalight flowed in rivuletsover the humps of the honeybees;this morning I saw light kissthe silk of the rosesin their second flowering,my late bloomersflushed with their brandy.A curious gladness shook me…