POETRY

1. POETRY

2. Poetic GENRES

3. Poetic GENRES To begin with, let’s remember that most poetry does NOT rhyme.

4. Poetic GENRES Lyric poetry DEFINITION: highly musical verse that expresses the observations and feelings of a single speaker. It creates a single, unified impression. • Short • Usually in 1st person point of view • Expresses emotion or describes a scene • Does NOT tell a story • No syllable requirements • No rhyme scheme requirements

5. Poetic GENRES Acrostic poetry DEFINITION: a poem in which the first letter of each line spells a word or phrase that is the topic of the poem. • Oftentimes done about a name • No syllable requirements • No rhyme scheme requirements

6. Poetic GENRES Ballad poetry DEFINITION: a poem that tells a story in a musical way or with a musical feeling • Can be as long as the story requires • Odd-numbered lines longer than even-numbered lines • Even-numbered lines should rhyme

7. Poetic GENRES Epic poetry DEFINITION: a long narrative poem about the adventures of gods or a hero. Serious in tone and broad in theme. • Very long • No syllable requirements • No rhyme scheme requirements

8. Poetic GENRES Concrete or Form poetry DEFINITION: a poem with a physical shape that suggests the subject/topic. The poet arranges the letters, punctuation, and lines to create an image, or picture, on the page. • Length – must fit into the shape • No syllable requirements • No rhyme scheme requirements

9. Poetic Forms

10. Poetic Forms Haiku DEFINITION: a Japanese poem about nature.

11. hAIKU NOTE: not technically a haiku because it’s not about nature NOTE: But that’s not the right syllables! How is it a haiku? by Rolf Nelson Haikus are easy But sometimes they don’t make sense Refrigerator 5 SYLLABLES 7 SYLLABLES 5 SYLLABLES by Jonathan Stephens Tell me I'm like light, light that reflects off windows right into your eyes 5 SYLLABLES 7 SYLLABLES 5 SYLLABLES by Jonathan Stephens I long for summer Swinging in my green hammock The oak leaves whistling 5 SYLLABLES 7 SYLLABLES 5 SYLLABLES by Matsuo Basho Spring rain leaking through the roof dripping from the wasps' nest. 2 SYLLABLES 5 SYLLABLES 6 SYLLABLES

12. Poetic Forms Haiku DEFINITION: a Japanese poem about nature. • Length – 3 lines • 5-7-5 • No rhyme scheme requirements

13. Poetic Forms Cinquain DEFINITION: can be about anything

14. Cinquains “November “by Adelaide Crapsey Listen . . . With faint dry sound, Like steps of passing ghosts, The leaves, frost-crisp’d, break from the trees And fall. 2 SYLLABLES 4 SYLLABLES 6 SYLLABLES 8 SYLLABLES 2 SYLLABLES “Snow” by Adelaide Crapsey Look up . . . From bleak’ning hills Blows down the light, first breath Of wintry wind . . . look up, and scent The snow! 2 SYLLABLES 4 SYLLABLES 6 SYLLABLES 8 SYLLABLES 2 SYLLABLES “Guarded Wound” by Adelaide Crapsey If it Were lighter touch Than petal of flower resting On grass, oh still too heavy it were, Too heavy! 2 SYLLABLES 4 SYLLABLES 8 SYLLABLES 9 SYLLABLES 3 SYLLABLES

15. Poetic Forms Cinquain DEFINITION: can be about anything • Length – 5 lines • 2-4-6-8-2 • No rhyme scheme requirements

16. Poetic Forms Tanka DEFINITION: can be about anything

17. Tankas by Margaret Chula hazy autumn moon the sound of chestnuts dropping from an empty sky I gather your belongings into boxes for the poor 5 SYLLABLES 7 SYLLABLES 5 SYLLABLES 7 SYLLABLES 7 SYLLABLES by Lenard D. Moore The night is too long A tavern just off the road With only one car, But the man and woman hug To the song on the jukebox 5 SYLLABLES 7 SYLLABLES 5 SYLLABLES 7 SYLLABLES 7 SYLLABLES by David Rice yellow daffodils in both our growing gardens I worship mine most, more than my neighbor's practice though they look the same as mine 5 SYLLABLES 7 SYLLABLES 5 SYLLABLES 7 SYLLABLES 7 SYLLABLES

18. Poetic Forms Tanka DEFINITION: can be about anything • Length – 5 lines • 5-7-5-7-7 • No rhyme scheme requirements

19. Poetic Forms Villanelle DEFINITION: highly specialized 6-stanza, 19-line poem that features two repeating lines

20. Villanelle A1 The flashlight almost hit us again Guards patrol the hill to keep us from our goal We are going to get the flag We dart from rock to tree in pursuit of the dream Crawling through bushes and pine trees, clothes black as coal The flashlight almost hit us again We have to get the flag before the other four teams Red and white striped on the hill, in a field, atop a pole We are going to get the flag Snaking like snipers through the trees avoiding the beams We crawl, one behind the other, through brush and through holes The flashlight almost hit us again An open field is our last obstacle but all around flashlights gleam We military crawl through the foot-high grass barely avoiding a patrol We are going to get the flag We have to grab the flag before we are seen Across the shining moonlit grass field we can see the flag, our goal The flashlight almost hit us again We are going to get the flag B C1 D B A1 D B C1 D B A1 D B C1 D B A1 C1

21. Poetic Forms Villanelle DEFINITION: highly specialized 6-stanza poem that features two repeating lines • Length – 19 lines • No syllable requirements • Rhyme scheme: A1 B C1 D B A1 D B A1 D B A1 C1 D B C1 D B C1

22. Poetic Forms Shakespearean Sonnet DEFINITION: a type of sonnet made famous by William Shakespeare • Length – 14 lines • 10 syllables per line • Rhyme scheme: A B A B C D C D G G E F E F

23. Romeo & Juliet the Prologue

24. Shakespearean Sonnet A B A B C D C D E F E F G G Two households, both alike in DIGNITY (In fair Verona, where we lay our SCENE), From ancient grudge break to new MUTINY, Where civil blood makes civil hands UNCLEAN. From forth the fatal loins of these two FOES A pair of star-crossed lovers take their LIFE; Whose misadventured piteous OVERTHROWS Doth with their death bury their parents’ STRIFE. The fearful passage of their death-marked LOVE And the continuance of their parents’ RAGE, Which, but their children’s end, naught could REMOVE Is now the two hours’ traffic of our STAGE; The which, if you with patient ears ATTEND, What hear shall miss, our toil shall strive to MEND.

25. Shakespearean Sonnet A B A B 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Two households, both alike in DIGNITY 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (In fair Verona, where we lay our SCENE), 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 From ancient grudge break to new MUTINY, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Where civil blood makes civil hands UNCLEAN.

26. Shakespearean Sonnet ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Two households, both alike in DIGNITY ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (In fair Verona, where we lay our SCENE), ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 From ancient grudge break to new MUTINY, ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Where civil blood makes civil hands UNCLEAN. A B A B

27. Poetic Forms Shakespearean Sonnet DEFINITION: a type of sonnet made famous by William Shakespeare • Length – 14 lines • 10 syllables per line • Rhyme scheme: A B A B C D C D G G E F E F

28. Romeo & Juliet the first kiss

29. Act 1 | Scene 5 Party A B A B C D C D E F E F G G If I profane with my unworthliest hand This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much Which mannerly devotion shows in this For saints has hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch And palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too? Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer. O then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do. They pray: grant thou, lest faith turn to despair. Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake. Then move not while my prayer’s effect I take.

30. I Sat & Pondered by Jonathan Stephens A B A B C D C D E F E F G G I sat and pondered the way I would die wishing a death fit for history books hoping to someday fight a tall grizzly on a bridge by a small creek in the woods. It would be a heroic death for me to battle the brute of a bear like this, His instinct, my mind, his power, my speed, my courage and strength will stand against his. My last crusade of great valor and moves. Think of the death, the sharp paws bludgeoning, swatting, pawing, the roar of the bear proves this death’s valor, the makes of a legend. My thoughts can yet determine my ending. In sleep? Passive? My death is my sending.

31. Poetic Forms Limerick DEFINITION: a humorous, musical-feeling poem that oftentimes makes fun of or tells a story about a specific person.

32. LImerick There once was a Thingamajig Like a Whatsis, but three times as big. When it first came in view, It looked something like you But it stayed and turned into a pig.

33. Poetic Forms Limerick DEFINITION: a humorous, musical-feeling poem that oftentimes makes fun of or tells a story about a specific person. • Length – 5 lines • 3 beats – 3 beats – 2 beats – 2 beats – 3 beats • Rhyme scheme: A-A-B-B-A

34. LImerick There was a young fellow who thought Very little, but thought it a lot. Then at long last he knew What he wanted to do, But before he could start, he forgot.

35. LImerick There once was an ape in a zoo Who looked out through the bars and saw YOU! Do you think that it’s fair To give poor apes a scare? I think it’s a mean thing to do.

36. LImerick I've been studying all night and I'm tired, But I can't sleep because I'm so wired. So I'll play on the net 'Stead of going to bed, And my tests will seem a quagmire.

37. Poetic Forms Ode DEFINITION: a formal lyric poem with a serious theme. It is usually long and may be written for a private occasion or a public ceremony. Odes often honor people, commemorate events, or respond to natural scenes. • Length – usually long • No syllable requirements • No rhyme scheme requirements

38. Ode William Wordsworth’s “Ode Composed on a May Morning” While from the purpling east departs The star that led the dawn, Blithe Flora from her couch upstarts, For May is on the lawn. A quickening hope, a freshening glee, Foreran the expected Power, Whose first-drawn breath, from bush and tree, Shakes off that pearly shower . . .

39. Poetic Forms Elegy DEFINITION: a solemn and formal lyric poem about death. It may mourn a particular person or reflect on a serious or tragic theme, such as the passing of youth, beauty, or a way of life • No length requirements • No syllable requirements • No rhyme scheme requirements

40. Elegy Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” . . . Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth A youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown. Fair Science frowned not on his humble birth, And Melancholy marked him for her own. Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere, Heaven did a recompense as largely send: He gave to Misery all he had, a tear, He gained from Heaven ('twas all he wish'd) a friend.

41. Poetic Techniques

42. Poetic TECHNIQUES Line DEFINITION: basic structural component of a poem. Literally, a row of words that ends somewhere.

43. Poetic TECHNIQUES Stanza DEFINITION: a formal division of lines in a poem that is considered as a unit. Separated by spaces. Like prose paragraphs, only for poetry. Conveys a single idea.

44. Poetic TECHNIQUES Types of Stanzas Couplet Triplet (tercet) Quatrain Quintet (cinquain) Sestet (sextet) Septet (heptastich) Octave = = = = = = = 2-line stanza 3-line stanza 4-line stanza 5-line stanza 6-line stanza 7-line stanza 8-line stanza

45. Poetic TECHNIQUES Meter DEFINITION: the rhythmical pattern of the poem. Determined by the number of stresses or beats in each line.

46. Poetic TECHNIQUES Foot DEFINITION: a basic unit of a meter. Normally contains either two or three syllables with varying patterns of stress.

47. Poetic TECHNIQUES Types of Meter monometer dimeter trimeter tetrameter pentameter hexameter heptameter octometer = = = = = = = = 1 foot per line 2 feet per line 3 feet per line 4 feet per line 5 feet per line 6 feet per line 7 feet per line 8 feet per line

48. Poetic TECHNIQUES Now practice them aloud… monometer dimeter trimeter tetrameter pentameter hexameter heptameter octometer = = = = = = = = mon – ah – meh – ter dih – meh – ter trih – meh – ter teh – tra – meh – ter pen – ta – meh – ter hex – a – meh – ter hept – a – meh – ter oct – ah – meh – ter

49. Poetic TECHNIQUES Types of Feet iambic – trochaic – anapestic – dactylic – unstressed, stressed ˘ / stressed, unstressed / ˘ unstressed, unstressed, stressed ˘ ˘ / stressed, unstressed, unstressed / ˘ ˘ ˘ / / ˘ ˘ ˘ / / ˘ ˘ before listen in a jiff run in a [iambic] [trochaic] [anapestic] [dactylic]

50. Shakespearean Sonnet FOOT FOOT FOOT FOOT FOOT 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Two households, both alike in DIGNITY 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (In fair Verona, where we lay our SCENE), ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / A B ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / Type of foot = iambic Type of meter = pentameter