Introduction to Poetry

1. Introduction to Poetry “In a poem the words should be as pleasing to the ear as the meaning is to the mind.” -- Marianne Moore Honors English 9

2. The Human Brain • Divided into 2 parts called hemispheres • Each half has its own function Left Brain: Logic Reality Right Brain: Creativity Emotions

3. When you’re looking at clouds in the sky. . . Your right brain tells you, “Hey! That one looks like Ms. McGlynn’s dog.” While your left brain tells you . . . It’s a cloud, Stupid!

4. What is a poem? • Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic (beauty) and rhythmic (beat) qualities of language to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, literal meaning

5. Rhyme • the matching of vowel or consonant sounds at the end of two or more words (hat, cat, brat, fat, mat, sat) • Not all poems rhyme • Ex. “Richard Cory” by Edwin Robinson employs alternate rhyme, with the third line rhyming with the first the fourth line rhyming with the second: “Whenever Richard Cory went down town, We people on the pavement looked at him; He was a gentleman from sole to crown Clean favored and imperially slim.”

6. Rhythm • The effect(s) of the poem’s combinations of sounds • The recurrence of accent or stress in lines of verse. • Ex. “Same in Blues” by Langston Hughes “I said to my baby, Baby take it slow… Lulu said to Leonard I want a diamond ring”

7. Unstressed vs. Stressed Strong syllables (stressed) or softer syllables (unstressed) iambic: But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? trochaic: unstressed Tyger Tyger, burning bright stressed spondee: Downtown, hog-wild

8. Here’s a line to try… • Write this line of poetry in your notes • My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun • Consider the meaning of this comparison. Which words are most important?

9. Identifying meter My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun Use an accent mark ( / ) to indicate syllables that get emphasized, and a shallow ( u ) symbol to indicate unstressed syllables. In a single syllable word, that’s easy. What about two syllable words?: / U / / U / / My mistress’ eyes are nothinglike the sun

10. Stanza • a recurring unit of a poem • poem version of a paragraph

11. Stanza Lengths • Tercet: stanza of three lines • Quatrain: a four line stanza • Quintet: five line stanza • Sestet: six line stanza • Octave: eight line stanza

12. Refrain The repetition of one or more phrases or lines at the end of a stanza.

13. Couplet • A pair of rhyming lines in a poem often set off from the rest of the poem. Shakespeare’s sonnets all end in couplets. }

14. End Rhyme • Rhyming words that are at the ends of their respective lines—what we typically think of as normal rhyme.

15. Internal Rhyme • Rhyming words that occur in the middle of their respective lines

16. Allusion • A reference to something or someone often literary, religious, or historical • For instance, if you were trying to instill confidence in a friend and said, “Use the force,” that would be an allusion to Stars Wars. The verb form of allusion is to allude.

17. Anaphora • repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginnings of successive clauses, establishing emphasis for emotional effect

18. Apostrophe • a figure of speech sometimes represented by exclamation “O”. A writer or a speaker, using an apostrophe, detaches herself from the reality and addresses an imaginary character in his speech

19. Assonance • The repetition of vowel sounds • “Days wane away.” Assonance: The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain

20. Consonance • The repetition of consonantsounds with changes in intervening vowels • “linger” “longer” “languor” • sometimes fits definition of slant rhyme

21. Caesura • a strong pause in a line of poetry • the pause can be indicated by punctuation, or the grammatical construction of the sentence, or the placement of lines on the page

22. Cacophony • a harsh, discordant combination of sounds , often used to create a sense of disorder or an unpleasant feeling in the reader

23. Enjambment • When there are no strong punctuation marks to end each line of verse and one line runs over onto the next without a pause • from the French word meaning “to stride”

24. Elegy • lyric poem mourning the dead • often delivered in a closed form poem

25. Epigraph • a brief quotation preceding prose or poetry that often sets the tone or highlights a particular theme of the text to follow I saw with my own eyes the Sibyl at Cumae hanging in a cage, and when the boys said to her: “Sibyl, what do you want?” she answered: “I want to die.”

26. Metapoetry • poetry that self-consciously takes poetry (the writing or reading of poetry) itself as its central theme

27. Free Verse Fog The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then, moves on. No Rhyme No Rhythm No Meter This is free verse.

28. Fixed Form • a traditional form of verse with predetermined length, rhyme scheme, and meter, also called a closed form (sonnets, sestinas, villanelles, etc)

29. Euphony All euphony examples share the following features: 1. Euphony involves the use of long vowels that are more melodious than consonants.2. Euphony involves the use of harmonious consonants such as “l, m, n, r” and soft “f” and “v” sounds.3. Euphony uses soft consonants or semi-vowels “w”, “s”, “y” and “th” or “wh” extensively to create more pleasant sounds. Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;Conspiring with him how to load and blessWith fruit the vines that round the thatch -eves run;To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,(Ode to Autumn by John Keats)

30. Villanelle • a nineteen line lyrics poem that relies heavily on repetition • the first and third lines alternate throughout the poem, which is structured in six stanzas of five tercets and a concluding quatrain

31. Sonnet • a stanza of fourteen lines of iambic pentameter • of Italian origin

32. Petrarchan Sonnet • a stanza of fourteen lines of iambic pentameter

33. Elizabethan/Shakespearean Sonnet • a stanza of fourteen lines of iambic pentameter • of Italian origin

34. Sestina

35. Ode • a long, stately poem in stanzas of varied length, meter, and form • Usually a serious poem about an exalted (praiseworthy) subject

36. Ballad • a narrative poem written in four line stanzas, characterized by swift action and narrated in a direct style

37. Free Verse • Poetry with no set meter (rhythm) or rhyme scheme.

38. Unstressed vs. Stressed Strong syllables (stressed) or softer syllables (unstressed) pyrrhic: unstressed stressed of the anapestic: When I widen the rent in my wind-built tent dactylic: FAB-u-lous or PO-et-ry

39. Meter The length of a line of poetry, based on what type of rhythm is used. • The length of a line of poetry is measured in metrical units called “FEET” • Each foot consists of one unit of rhythm. • If the line is iambic, trochaic, or spondaic, a foot of poetry has 2 syllables • If the line is anapestic or dactylic, a foot of poetry has 3 syllables

40. Line Lengths Each set of syllables is one foot, and each line is measured by how many feet are in it. The length of the line of poetry is then labeled according to how many feet are in it. 1: Monometer 5: Pentameter there are rarely more than 8 feet 2: Dimeter 6: Hexameter 7: Heptameter 3: Trimeter 8: Octameter 4: Tetrameter

41. She Walks in Beauty She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that’s best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes: Thus mellowed to that tender light Which Heaven to gaudy day denies. Reading this poem out loud makes the rhythm evident. Which syllables are more pronounced? Which are naturally softer? ˘ ΄ ˘ ΄˘ ΄ ˘ ΄ One shade the more, one ray the less, Had half impaired the nameless grace Which waves in every raven tress, Or softly lightens o’er her face; Where thoughts serenely sweet express, How pure, how dear their dwelling-place. Count the syllables in each line to determine the meter. And on that cheek, and o’er that brow, So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, The smiles that win, the tints that glow, But tell of days in goodness spent, A mind at peace with all below, A heart whose love is innocent! Examination of this poem reveals that it would be considered iambic tetrameter.

42. Blank Verse • unrhymed iambic pentameter. • The term iambic pentameter refers to the METER (the pattern of rhythm) in line of poetry. • Iamb describes the unit of rhythm and pentameter describes the number of units

43. Why Blank Verse? • Many playwrights chose to write in iambic pentameter in part because it is the natural rhythm of native English speakers most of the time. • Blank verse is unrhymed iambic pentameter—most of us don’t speak in rhyme! • Pay attention to when Shakespeare breaks form—characters who speak in rhyme or lines written in prose. Do you see any patterns?

44. Fill in missing syllables U / U / U / U / U / My mistress’ eyes are nothinglike the sun U / = an iamb: an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable How many iambs do you see?

45. Iambic pentameter 1 2 3 4 5 U / U / U / U / U / My mistress’ eyes are nothinglike the sun 5 units = pentameter iamb describes the unit (U /)