Introduction to Poetry

1. Introduction to Poetry

2. Poetry is arguably the purest form of writing. Poetry is a sense of the beautiful; characterized by a love of beauty and expressing this through words. It is art. Like art it is very difficult to define because it is an expression of what the poet thinks and feels and may take any form the poet chooses for this expression. Poetry is a creative use of words which, like all art, is intended to stir an emotion in the audience. Poetry generally has some structure that separates it from prose.

3. The basic unit of poetry is the line. It serves the same function as the sentence in prose, although most poetry maintains the use of grammar within the structure of the poem. Most poems have a structure in which each line contains a set amount of syllables; this is called meter. Lines are also often grouped into stanzas. The stanza in poetry is equivalent or equal to the paragraph in prose. Often the lines in a stanza will have a specific rhyme scheme. Some of the more common stanzas are: Couplet: a two line stanza Triplet: a three line stanza Quatrain: a four line stanza Cinquain: a five line stanza

4. Meter is the measured arrangement of words in poetry, the rhythmic patternof a stanza, determined by the kind and number of lines. Meter is an organized way to arrange stressed/accented syllables and unstressed/unaccented syllables. Whose woods / these are / I think /I know

5. Rhyme Scheme Rhyme is when the endings of the words sound the same. Read the poem with me out loud. Dust of Snow by Robert Frost The way a crow Shook down on me The dust of snow From a hemlock tree Has given my heart A change of mood And save some part Of a day I had rued.

6. Rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyming words at the end of each line. Not all poetry has a rhyme scheme. They are not hard to identify, but you must look carefully at which words rhyme and which do not. Dust of Snow by Robert Frost The way a crow Shook down on me The dust of snow From a hemlock tree Has given my heart A change of mood And save some part Of a day I had rued. Poems of more than one stanza often repeat the same rhyme scheme in each stanza. A B A B C D C D

7. Repetition Repetition is the repeating of a sound, word, or phrase for emphasis. Inside Inside the house (I get ready)Inside the car (I go to school)Inside the school(I wait for the bell to ring) ☺ ☺ ☺

8. Figures of Speech (Literary Terms): Whenever you describe something by comparing it with something else, you are using figurative language. Figurative language is any language that goes beyond the literal (most basic) meaning of words in order to provide new effects or fresh insights (ability to notice & understand a lot about people or situations)into an idea or a subject. The most common figures of speech are simile, metaphor, personification and alliteration. Figurative language is used in poetry to compare two things that are usually not thought of as being alike.

9. 1. Simile: A simile is a figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by like or as. The clouds looked like cotton candy. Grandpa was asstubborn as amule Tom's head is ashard as arock.

10. 2. Contrast: A contrastis a figure of speech in which two words or phrases are opposite to each other. Sad - Happy Go up – Come Down

11. 3. Metaphor: A metaphor is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something important in common. Clouds are cotton candy. Grandpa was a mule. Tom is a rock. They are fluffy. They are stubborn. They are hard.

12. 4. Personification: A figure of speech, which gives the qualities of a person to an animal, an object, or an idea is called personification. It is a comparison, which the author uses to show something in an entirely new light, to communicate a certain feeling or attitude towards it and to control the way a reader perceives it. A brave handsome tree fell with a creaking rending cry. The author is giving a tree the human quality of bravery and the abilityto cry.

13. Winter Poem By Nikki Giovanni Once a snowflake fell on my brow and I loved it so much and I kissed it and it was happy and called its cousins and brothers and a web of snow engulfed me then I reached to love them all and I squeezed them and they became a spring rain and I stood perfectly still and was a flower

14. 5. Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables, as in "on scrolls of silver snowy sentences"(Hart Crane).To find an alliteration, you must look the repetitions of the same consonant sound through out a line. Silvery snowflakes fall silently Softly sheathing all with moonlight Until sunrise slowly shows Snow softening swiftly. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

15. SOUND OF NATURE by Marie Josephine Smith Ticking, tocking.Head is rocking.Tippy toeing.Quietly.Snap, crack.Crushing branch.Helter, skelter.Run for shelter.Pitter, patter.Rain starts to fall.Gathering momentum.Becomes a roar.Thunder booms. ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____

16. POET: Sir Cecil Spring-Rice (1859-1918) DAY - He was the second son of the Honourable Chas Spring-Rice. • He began his education at Eton and later studied at Balliol College in Oxford. • He became a clerk in the War Office and the Foreign Office. • He became Assistant Private Secretary to the Earl of Roseberry in 1885.

17. - Later, in 1901, he became the British Commissioner of Public Debt in Cairo. - His awards included the KCMG in 1906 and GCMG in 1916.

18. Stanza 1: • ‘ I am busy,’ said the sea. • ‘ I am busy, think of me. • Making continents to be. • ‘ I am busy,’ said the sea. • Paraphrase: • The poet speaks about the work the sea does, building continents that will exist in the future.

19. Stanza 1: • ‘ I am busy,’ said the sea. • ‘ I am busy, think of me. • Making continents to be. • ‘ I am busy,’ said the sea. • Figures of Speech (Literary Terms): • - ‘I am busy,’ said the sea. • Personification: The poet is giving the sea the human ability to talk (personifies the sea) so that it can describe its job.

20. Stanza 2: • ‘ I am busy,’ said the rain. • ‘When I fall it’s not in vain. • Wait and you will see the grain. • ‘ I am busy,’ said the rain. • Paraphrase: • The poet speaks about the work the rain does, helping the grain to grow to feed the world. It doesn't fall uselessly.

21. Stanza 2: • ‘ I am busy,’ said the rain. • ‘When I fall it’s not in vain. • Wait and you will see the grain. • ‘ I am busy,’ said the rain. • Figures of Speech (Literary Terms): • - ‘I am busy,’ said the rain. • Personification: The poet is giving the rain the human ability to talk (personifies the rain) so that it can describe its job.

22. Stanza 3: • ‘ I am busy,’ said the air. • ‘Blowing here and blowing there, • Up and down and everywhere, • ‘ I am busy,’ said the air. • Paraphrase: • The poet describes the air and its job, just blowing here, there and everywhere.

23. Stanza 3: • ‘ I am busy,’ said the air. • ‘Blowing here and blowing there, • Up and down and everywhere, • ‘ I am busy,’ said the air. • Figures of Speech (Literary Terms): • - ‘I am busy,’ said the air. • Personification: The poet is giving the air the human ability to talk (personifies the air) so that it can describe its job.

24. Stanza 3: • ‘ I am busy,’ said the air. • ‘Blowing here and blowing there, • Up and down and everywhere, • ‘ I am busy,’ said the air. • Figures of Speech (Literary Terms): • - Contrast: “here” and “there”. • “ up” and “ down “

25. Stanza 4: • ‘ I am busy,’ said the sun. • ‘All my planets, every one, • Know my work is never done. • ‘ I am busy,’ said the sun. • Paraphrase: • The sun has an important job to do and all the planets know this as they journey around the sun. Its job is endless (never finished), if it were, nothing would exist.

26. Stanza 4: • ‘ I am busy,’ said the sun. • ‘All my planets, every one, • Know my work is never done. • ‘ I am busy,’ said the sun. • Figures of Speech (Literary Terms): • - ‘I am busy,’ said the sun. • Personification: The poet is giving the sun the human ability to talk (personifies the sun) so that it can describe its job.

27. Stanza 5: • Sea and rain and air and sun • Here’s a fellow toiler-one, • Whose task will soon be done. • Paraphrase: • The poet says that he is a fellow worker, but unlike the sea, rain, air and sun, his task will soon be done because he will die one day. His work is not as important or as unending as that of the sun’s or the other elements of nature mentioned.

28. Commentary • - The poem consists of five stanzas. - The rhyme scheme is aaaa, bbbb, cccc, dddd, eee. - The stanzas are short and simple. It is a short, simple children's poem. It's similar to a song. - Each stanza begins in the same way with the same statement "I am busy" so that a clear and easy comparison is made.

29. Commentary • - There’s no alliteration. - The poet depends strongly upon the meter in his poem to create a chanting sound.

30. Main Idea (concept): • - Man's work is not as important as that of the elements of Nature because he will die one day, but the elements of nature won’t as without them there is no life. They build the earth and help us to live on it.