Introduction to Poetry

1. Introduction to Poetry Creative Writing

2. Why write poetry? Because poetry is one way of telling the truth, a way often superior to others. How so?

3. One argument goes back to Aristotle, to his famous distinction between history and poetry. “Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.” History reports what happened! Tells the details of the event as we see it. Poetry is reporting the world around us AND the world within us.Poetry uses words in their fuller potential, and creates representations that are more complete and meaningful.

4. What to do with that knowledge? Learn to look at poetry differently. How?

5. THINGS TO CONSIDER WHILE READING • Words have intentions, associations, and histories of usage, which in poetry are given power. • Rhythm, segregation into lines, metaphors, etc. are not decorations, but are a more exact commentary and powerful expression. • Poetry is not exempt from the requirements of the other literary arts. • It is not mere fancy, but an attempt to tell the truth in a fuller and more authentic manner.

6. WORDS, WORDS, WORDS…. PAY ATTENTION TO WORDS!!!! • Poetry is individually crafted words or syllables. Everything counts — content, story, genre, diction, imagery, metaphor, syntax, rhythm — • Poetry is not EASY. Everything is compact — you must focus on tiny details and differences.

7. Terms for Poetry Analysis

8. Know the Difference!!! POET • The poet is the author of the poem. SPEAKER • The speaker of the poem is the “narrator” of the poem

9. Know the Difference!!! • FORM - the appearance of the words on the page • LINE - a group of words together on one line of the poem • STANZA - a group of lines arranged together

10. Kinds of Stanzas Couplet = a two line stanza Triplet (Tercet) = a three line stanza Quatrain = a four line stanza Quintet = a five line stanza Sestet (Sextet) = a six line stanza Septet = a seven line stanza Octave = an eight line stanza

11. Rhythm Meter occurs when the stressed and unstressed syllables of the words in a poem are arranged in a repeating pattern. • FOOT - unit of meter. • A foot can have two or three syllables. • Usually consists of one stressed and one or more unstressed syllables.

12. Types of FEET The types of feet are determined by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables. iambic - unstressed, stressed trochaic - stressed, unstressed anapestic - unstressed, unstressed, stressed dactylic - stressed, unstressed, unstressed

13. Kinds of Metrical Lines • monometer = one foot on a line • dimeter = two feet on a line • trimeter = three feet on a line • tetrameter = four feet on a line • pentameter = five feet on a line • hexameter = six feet on a line • heptameter = seven feet on a line • octometer = eight feet on a line

14. Sound Devices

15. Rhyme • Words sound alike because they share the same ending vowel and consonant sounds. • LAMP • STAMP • Share the short “a” vowel sound • Share the combined “mp” consonant sound

16. End Rhyme • A word at the end of one line rhymes with a word at the end of another line (check for rhyme scheme) • Hector the Collector • Collected bits of string. • Collected dolls with broken heads • And rusty bells that would not ring.

17. Rhyme Scheme Use the letters of the alphabet to represent sounds to be able to visually “see” the pattern. • The Germ by Ogden Nash • A mighty creature is the germ, • Though smaller than the pachyderm. • His customary dwelling place • Is deep within the human race. • His childish pride he often pleases • By giving people strange diseases. • Do you, my poppet, feel infirm? • You probably contain a germ. a a b b c c a a

18. Near/Slant Rhyme • a.k.a imperfect rhyme, close rhyme • The words share EITHER the same vowel or consonant sound BUT NOT BOTH • ROSE • LOSE • Different vowel sounds (long “o” and “oo” sound) • Share the same consonant sound

19. Eye Rhyme • A rhyme which looks like a rhyme but does NOT actually sound alike. • Ex. • Seat, great • Wind, kind • Some are only eye rhymes today because we have changed the way we pronounce the word. • Ex. Love, prove.

20. Onomatopoeia • Words that imitate the sound they are naming • BUZZ • OR sounds that imitate another sound “The silken, sad, uncertain, rustling of • each purple curtain . . .”

21. Alliteration • Consonant sounds repeated at the beginnings of words • If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

22. Consonance • Similar to alliteration EXCEPT . . . • The repeated consonant sounds can be anywhere in the words • “silken,sad, uncertain, rustling . ..”

23. Assonance • Repeated VOWEL sounds in a line or lines of poetry. • (Often creates near rhyme.) Lake Fate Base Fade (All share the long “a” sound.)

24. Figurative Language

25. Simile • A comparison of two things using “like, as than,” or “resembles.” • “She is as beautiful as a sunrise.”

26. Metaphor • A direct comparison of two unlike things • “All the world’s a stage, and we are merely players.” - William Shakespeare

27. Implied Metaphor • The comparison is hinted at but not clearly stated. • “The poison sacs of the town began to manufacture venom, and the town swelled and puffed with the pressure of it.” • from The Pearl • by John Steinbeck

28. Hyperbole • Exaggeration often used for emphasis. Opposite of Litotes. • “Your jokes really kill me” • “I have been waiting forever.”

29. Litotes • Understatement - basically the opposite of hyperbole. Often it is ironic. • Ex. Calling a slow moving person “Speedy” or • Mount Everest is just a little foothill.

30. Idiom • An expression where the literal meaning of the words is not the meaning of the expression. It means something other than what it actually says. • Ex. It’s raining cats and dogs.

31. Personification An animal given human-like qualities or an object given life-like qualities. -The sun reached out and hugged me. -The sidewalk groaned under the heavy man’s weight. -The elephant laughed when I tripped over my shoelace.

32. Symbolism • When a person, place, thing, or event that has meaning in itself also represents, or stands for, something else. Innocence America Peace

33. Allusion • Allusion comes from the verb “allude” which means “to refer to” • A reference to a well-known work of literature, famous person, or historical event with whcich the reader is assumed to be familiar A tunnel walled and overlaid With dazzling crystal: we had read Of rare Aladdin’s wondrous cave, And to our own his name we gave. From “Snowbound” John Greenleaf Whittier

34. Imagery • Language that appeals to the senses. • Most images are visual, but they can also appeal to the senses of sound, touch, taste, or smell. then with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather . . . from “Those Winter Sundays”

35. Types of Poetry you may study

36. Free Verse (Form) • Unlike metered poetry, free verse poetry does NOT have any repeating patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables. • Does NOT have rhyme. • Free verse poetry is very conversational - sounds like someone talking with you. • A more modern type of poetry.

37. Blank Verse (Form) • Written in lines of iambic pentameter, but does NOT use end rhyme. from Julius Ceasar Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once. Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, It seems to me most strange that men should fear; Seeing that death, a necessary end, Will come when it will come.

38. Lyric • A short poem • Usually written in first person point of view • Expresses an emotion or an idea or describes a scene • Do not tell a story and are often musical • (Many of the poems we read will be lyrics.)

39. Narrative Poetry • A poem that tells a story. • Generally longer than the lyric styles of poetry because the poet needs to establish characters and a plot.

40. Haiku A Japanese poem written in three lines Five Syllables Seven Syllables Five Syllables An old silent pond . . . A frog jumps into the pond. Splash! Silence again.

41. Cinquain A five line poem containing 22 syllables Two Syllables How frail Four Syllables Above the bulk Six Syllables Of crashing water hangs Eight Syllables Autumnal, evanescent, wan Two Syllables The moon.

42. Concrete Poems The arrangement on the page recreates a graphic image such as a heart, bell, cross, etc. l(a le af fa ll s) one l iness By e.e. cummings

43. Epitaph • A brief inscription in prose or verse on a tombstone. Good friend, for Jesu’s sake forbear. To dig the dust enclosed here. Blest be the man that spares these stones. Cursed be he that moves my bones.