Chapter 11- Meeting Poetry: An Overview; Chapter 12-Words: The Building Blocks of Poetry

1. Chapter 11- Meeting Poetry: An Overview; Chapter 12-Words: The Building Blocks of Poetry World Literature LAP 4 Day 2

2. Meeting Poetry: An Overview • Poetry is a form of literature that uses aestheticand rhythmic qualities of language. From the mid-20th century, poetry has sometimes been more generally regarded as a fundamental creative act employing language. Poetry uses forms and conventions to suggest differential interpretation to words, or to evoke emotive responses. • Italicized slides denotes that no note-taking is required.

3. How to Read a Poem • Read with a pencil • Read a poem with a pencil in your hand. • Mark it up; write in the margins; react to it; get involved with it. Circle important, or striking, or repeated words. Draw lines to connect related ideas. Mark difficult or confusing words, lines, and passages. • Read through the poem, several times if you can, both silently and aloud.

4. How to Read a Poem (continued) • Read straight through to get a general sense of the poem. • Try to understand the poem’s meaning and organization. • Read the poem aloud, sounding each word clearly.

5. How to Read a Poem (cont.) • Examine the basic subject of the poem • Consider the title of the poem carefully. What does it tell you about the poem's subject, tone, and genre? What does it promise? • What is your initial impression of the poem's subject? Try writing out an answer to the question, "What is this poem about?"--and then return to this question throughout your analysis. Push yourself to be precise; aim for more than just a vague impression of the poem. What is the author's attitude toward his or her subject?

6. How to Read a Poem (cont.) • Examine the basic subject of the poem • What is the poem's basic situation? What is going on in it? Who is talking? To whom? • Is the poem built on a comparison or analogy? If so, how is the comparison appropriate? How are the two things alike? How different? • What is the author's attitude toward his subject? Serious? Reverent? Ironic? Satiric? Ambivalent? Hostile? Humorous? Detached?

7. Overview • Be sure to focus on the poem’s: • Title • Speaker • Meanings of ALL words (both familiar and unfamiliar) • Setting and situation • Basic form and development • Subject and theme

8. Words: The Building Blocks of Poetry • Words are the spoken and written signifiers of thoughts, objects, and actions. They are also the building blocks of both poetry and prose, but poetry is unique because by its nature it uses words with the utmost economy. The words of poetry create rhythm, rhyme, meter and form. They define the poem’s speaker, the characters, the setting and the situation, and they also carry its ideas and emotions.

9. Terminology • Diction: the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing. • Jargon: special words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group and are difficult for others to understand. • Syntax: the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language. • Denotation: the literal or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests. • Connotation: an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.

10. Partner Poetry Puzzle • In poetry, it is essential to understand the diction, jargon, syntax, and denotation or connotation being used. In doing so, one must understand the strategy the author used in writing their poem. The order in which a poem is written is either sequential or chronological. • As a reader, identifying an order and purpose for the poem will help the reader to understand the meaning and overall themes of the poem. • PARTNER POETRY PUZZLE: With a partner, you will try to unscramble the poem. Organize the poem in a logical way.

11. Because I could not stop for death • Focus on the words of the poem. • After listening to each poetry circle “puzzle poem” can we all agree that each poem still incorporates the theme of _________? • When does the atmosphere surrounding the ride begin to change? • In what direction are the horses’ heads? • Who is riding in the carriage? • Death • The speaker • Immortality • What does the speaker set aside when Death stops by? • What image in the poem suggests a person becoming old and dying?