What is Poetry?

1. What is Poetry? A short piece of imaginative writing, of a personal nature and laid out in lines

2. What is poetry? • Poetry is artistically rendering words in such a way as to evoke intense emotion or an Ah Ha! experience from the reader. • Intense emotion • Surprise • Revelation http://contemporarylit.about.com/od/poetry/a/poetry.htm

3. Famous Poets say Poetry is… • “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” ~William Wordsworth • “If I read a book and it makes my body so cold no fire ever can warm me, I know that is poetry” ~Emily Dickinson • “Poetry is what makes me laugh or cry or yawn, what makes my toenails twinkle, what makes me want to do this or that or nothing.”~Dylan Thomas http://contemporarylit.about.com/od/poetry/a/poetry.htm

4. Poetry is… • Imaginative • Can employ meter & rhyme • Ancient form • Individual mode of expression • Almost impossible to define! http://contemporarylit.about.com/od/poetry/a/poetry.htm

5. Characteristics • Carefully selected words • Emotive qualities • Musical value • Spacing

6. Poetic Terms • Poet - is one who writes poetry. • Poem - is a written expression of emotion or ideas in an arrangement of words/verse most often rhythmically. • Bard - a poet. • Muse - a channel of inspiration for a poet. http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/intro.html

7. Poetic Terms • Alliteration Repetition of the initial sounds of stressed syllables in neighboring words • Antonym Words that are opposite in meaning • Form Arrangement, manner or method used to convey the content

8. Poetic Terms • Homonym Two or more distinct words with the same pronunciation and spelling but with different meanings • Homophone Two or more words with the same pronunciation but with different meanings and spellings • Hyperbole Exaggeration of the truth

9. Poetic Terms • Imagery Figurative language used to create particular mental images • Metaphor Association of two completely different objects as being the same thing • Meter Used to measure poetry, unit used is the metric “foot,” determined by a series of stressed and unstressed syllables, number of feet determines the meter

10. Poetic Terms • Onomatopoeia Use of words with sounds suggestive of their meaning, like buzz, clang, whoosh • Pause Intervals between syllables of verse • Simile Comparison of two completely different objects using “like” or “as” • Stress Special emphasis on a word, syllable, or phrase with a line of verse

11. Poetic Terms • Synonym One or two or more words that have the same or nearly the same meaning • Triplet Unit or group of three lines of verse which are rhymed together • Wordsmith Person who works with words; a skillful writer

12. Misconceptions • Poetry must rhyme • Poetry must have shape • Poetry must have rhythm • Poetry must have a lot of words • Poetry must be beautiful

13. Examples of Poetry • Acrostic Poem The first letters of each line form a word or message relating to the subject. Emma Eager to learn Makes time to read Marvelous artist Adores her white poodle ~Paul B Janeczko Teaching 10 Fabulous Forms of Poetry by Paul B. Janeczko

14. Cinquain • A five-line stanza of syllabic verse, the successive lines containing two, four, six, eight and two syllables. Oh, cat Are you grinning Curled in the window seat As sun warms you this December Morning? ~Paul B Janeczko Teaching 10 Fabulous Forms of Poetry by Paul B. Janeczko

15. Couplet • Two successive lines of poetry with end-words that rhyme. Whose woods these are I think I know His house is in the village though He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake ~Robert Frost Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

16. Free Verse • Written without proper rules. • The writer makes his/her own rules. • The writer decides how the poem should look, feel, and sound. Winter Poem once a snowflake fellon my brow and i lovedit so much and i kissedit and it was happy and called its cousinsand brothers and a webof snow engulfed me theni reached to love them alland i squeezed them and they becamea spring rain and i stood perfectlystill and was a flower ~Nikki Giovanni http://cuip.uchicago.edu/~adarice/cwsite/poems/free%20verse.htm

17. Haiku • A Japanese form of poetry. • Gives a brief description of nature. • Consists of three unrhymed lines of five, seven and five syllables. A Rainbow Curving up, then down. Meeting blue sky and green earth Melding sun and rain. ~ Donna Brock http://cuip.uchicago.edu/~adarice/cwsite/poems/poemhaiku.htm

18. Limerick • Light or humorous verse form of five lines • Lines one, two and five are of three feet. • Lines three and four are of two feet. • Rhyme scheme of aabba. A flea and a fly in a flue Were caught, so what could they do? Said the fly, "Let us flee.“ "Let us fly," said the flea. So they flew through a flaw in the flue. -Anonymous Click Here for more Limericks! http://cuip.uchicago.edu/~adarice/cwsite/poems/poemlimerick.htm

19. Nursery Rhyme • Short poem for children • Written in rhyming verse • Handed down in folklore Humpty Dumpty Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the King's horses, And all the King's menCouldn't put Humpty together again! http://www.rhymes.org.uk/humpty_dumpty.htm

20. Bio Poems • A Biopoem is a poem that describes a person in 11 lines. There is a specific formula to use when writing a bio poem. Teresa Nelson Teresa Mother, Artist, Grandmother, Teacher Sister of Cindy and Jill Lover of animals, music, and football Who feels pain, love, and excitement Who gives tickles, hugs, and advice Who fears failure, deep water, and war Would like to see Paris, Venice, and Barcelona Resident of Denton, Texas Nelson Click here for the Bio Poem Worksheet

21. Bio Poem Worksheet • (First name)- • (Four adjectives that describe the person) • Son or Daughter of (your parents names) • Lover of (three different things that the person loves) • Who feels (three different feelings and when or where they are felt) • Who gives (three different things the person gives) • Who fears (three different fears the person has) • Who would like to see (three different things the person would like to see) • Who lives (a brief description of where the person lives) • -(last name) http://cuip.uchicago.edu/~adarice/cwsite/poems/poembio.htm

22. What is Poetry? • If you really want to know what poetry is, read it. • Read it carefully. • Pay attention. • Read it out loud. • Now read it again. http://contemporarylit.about.com/od/poetry/a/poetry.htm

23. Poetry is… • the chiseled marble of language; it's a paint-spattered canvas - but the poet uses words instead of paint, and the canvas is you. http://contemporarylit.about.com/od/poetry/a/poetry.htm