AP Literature and Composition

1. AP Literature and Composition “It’s Scansion-Tryout Tuesday!” April 6, 2010 Mr. Houghteling

2. Agenda: • What did you say about yesterday’s essay? • Poetic Meter: • An introduction to scansion. • Experiment with marking the text. 4. Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18”

3. Poetic Meter: • In poetry, the meter (or metre) is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse. • The scansion of a poem is the analysis of its metrical structure. • In most Western classical poetic traditions, the meter of a verse can be described as a sequence of feet, each foot being a specific sequence of syllable types (stressed or unstressed).

4. Your name in metrical feet! • Print your full name, including your middle name and leaving space between each word. • Count the syllables for each name. • Mark which syllables of your name are stressed ( / ) and which syllables are unstressed ( ˘ ).

5. Metrical Feet: Poetic lines are divided into metrical feet of either two or three syllables. • Two-syllable feet: • iamb: ˘ / • “believe” “Marie” • trochee: / ˘ • “talking” “Mary” • spondee: / / • pyrrhic: ˘ ˘ • Three-syllable feet: • anapest: ˘ ˘ / • “Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house” • dactyl: / ˘ ˘ • “grocery” • “Picture yourself on a boat on a river with/ Tangerine tree-ees and marmalade ski-ii-ies.

6. Poetic Meter continued… • The most common meter in English poetry, the so-called iambic pentameter, is a sequence of five iambic feet or iambs, each consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one ("da-DUM"). So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM So long lives this, and this gives life to thee, da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM

7. Poetic rhyme structure: Just like we need to know how to annotate rhythm, so do we need to understand rhyme structure. Unthrifty loveliness why dost thou spend, a Upon thy self thy beauty's legacy? b Nature's bequest gives nothing but doth lend, a And being frank she lends to those are free: b

8. Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18” Complete the following steps to annotate and unpack Shakespeare’s sonnet: Step One: Using the breve mark and forward slash, note the scansion of the poem above. Step Two: Using alphabetical letters, note the rhyme structure of the poem above. Step Three: Use the rhyme and meter to help make your overall interpretations of the poem. What does it all mean? Make your interpretations in the space below.

9. HOMEWORK • Recall and write down one nursery rhyme, short poem, or song that you know by heart. • Copy down the words of the selection, and then perform scansion on the selection. • Be prepared to share with the rest of the class tomorrow. • REVIEW the Metrical Terms!