Poetry Collection: A Garden of Verses from Different Eras

1. Unit 4 A garden of Poems 忻州师院附中 卫治锋

2. Rain The rain is raining all around, It falls on field and tree. It rains on the umbrellas here, And on the ships at sea.                                                                                                        R..L.Stereson 雨 细雨飘飞满天涯， 田野树林雨丝斜。 淅淅沥沥敲我伞， 朦朦胧胧罩海船。

3. 谁曾见过风？ 罗塞蒂 谁曾见过风？ 你和我都不曾见过。 但是当树叶颤抖时， 见正在穿过。 谁曾见过风？ 你和我都不曾见过。 但是当群树低头时， 见正在吹过。 Who Has Seen the Wind? Who has seen the wind? Neither I nor you. But when the leaves hang trembling, The wind is passing through. Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I. But when the trees bow down their heads, The wind is passing by.

4. Do you like poetry? • What makes you shy away from poetry? • Is it difficult language? • Is it difficult grammar? • Is it the unusual way poets say things?

5. Why does people enjoy reading poetry? • Because of the magic of it,the long-forgotten words you can find in it and the original way of saying things ,which makes you think and remember those sentences for a long time.

6. 门前一只狗， 在啃肉骨头， 又来一只狗， 双双打破头！ 打油诗 limerick

7. A large lady from Corfu, Wished to travel to Peru. But whether buses or trains Or boarding aeroplanes, There wasn’t a door she’d get through. A teacher from Singapore. Taught at middle school No 4. It didn’t take students long To see something was wrong: The man was as mad as a door!

8. Corfu is an island that belongs to Greece.Peru is a country on the northeast coast of Lartin Amercia. The meaning of this limerick is that there once was a very fat lady,who wanted to travel from Corfu to Peru. But she was so fat,that she could not get on any bus,train or aeroplane. So in fact,she could not go anywhere . The expression “as mad as a door” means crary. The meaning of this limerick is that there once was a foreign teacher from Singapore ,who came to teach in China,but after a short while the students found out that this man was crary.

9. A limerick is made up of 5 lines.Usually ,lines 1,2 and 5 rhyme,while lines 3 and 4 also rhyme. The first two lines often have about 7 syllables,the next two lines fewer and the last line more,but the numbers are not fixed.The first line always introduces a certain person from a certain place.The second line usually gives some special information or a wish of that person.The third and the fourth line describe some complication or difficulty and the last line is the punch line: it reveals what’s wrong .Although fun is made about people from different places,limericks never have the intention ,nor are they ever thought,to insult people from those places.In most cases the humour displayed in limericks is absurd.

10. Sample limericks • There was a young girl from Tianjin • Who was extremely thin • She didn’t drink wine • Wouldn’t breakfast nor dine. • And slept in a pencil box tin.

11. There once was a girl from Nanchang Who swallowed a phone when it rang She would smile and reply To friends asking why? Why not and she left with a bang.

13. Listens to the dialogue happening in the library and finish the exercise.

14. Answers to exercise 2: • The dialogue is about a student who is looking for some poems to read. • It’s a collection of poems. • From 1914 to 1918. • You should not read all the poems but go through them and only read those which you like from looking at the title, the topic or the first or last line. • She likes reading about nature.

15. Answers to exercise 3: Names Period of time Topic • English Poems of the Early 17th Century • Poetry between the World Wars • The Earth is Painted Green • A Garden of Poems • 1001 Songs and Poems in English

16. Song Dynasty Romantic 18th Century Classical Modern Du Fu Li Bai George Gordon Byron Women poets Robert Frost John Keat Shakespeare Japanese African American Periods Fantasy The sea Drinking wine World War Ⅰ Friendship Pets The countryside Peace Nature Love Death Happiness Loneliness Sadness Humour Broken hearts Groups & names Topics Human feelings

17. Fantasy:Poems about dreams,magic,mythological animals The sea:Poems about the sea,the ocean, dolphins, mermaids Drinking wine:Poetry that celebrates good life,drinking songs World war 1:Poetry written by poets who fought during that war,1914-1918 Friendship:Poetry about friendship,companionship Pets:Poems about cats,dogs,birds and all other pet animals

18. The countryside:Poems about the countryside, farming, trees and birds Peace:Poetry about peace and friendship between countries Nature:Poetry about nature Song dynasty:Anthologies of Chinese poetry from that period eg.Lu You Romantic poetry: Poetry from 1800-1860 eg.Keats Classical poetry:Poetry from ancient times eg.Tang dynasty,European Greek and Roman times Modern poetry:Poetry from 1910-the present

19. Examples A: I’m interested to read some Romantic poetry about love and friendship. B:Why are you interested in that kind of poetry. A:Because I think Romantic poetry is about real passion. B:I see. What kind of poetry would you not like to read? A:I don’t want to read English poetry about death and World War I, because I think it is so good.

20. Homework Prepare the reading passage.