What is poetry? In the dull, cheerless garden, overlooked by so many windows that were ready to open with a message not to do this or that, or a reminder that medicines were due, he found little attraction. The few fruit-trees that it contained were set jealously apart from his plucking, as though they were rare specimens of their kind blooming in an arid waste; it would probably have been difficult to find a market-gardener who would have offered ten shillings for their entire yearly produce. In a forgotten corner, however, almost hidden behind a dismal shrubbery, was a disused toolshed of respectable proportions, and within its walls Conradin found a haven, something that took on the varying aspects of a playroom and a cathedral. He had peopled it with a legion of familiar phantoms, evoked partly from fragments of history and partly from his own brain, but it also boasted two inmates of flesh and blood.

The way we speak (normally) and write is not poetry but prose. Other examples of prose would be biography, autobiography, folktale, myth, legend, fable, parable, novel, short story, essay

Drama SCENE I. A desert place. Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches First Witch When shall we three meet again In thunder, lightning, or in rain? Second Witch When the hurlyburly's done, When the battle's lost and won. Third Witch That will be ere the set of sun. First Witch Where the place? Second Witch Upon the heath. Third Witch There to meet with Macbeth.

I’m Nobody! Who are you? by Emily Dickinson Are you- Nobody- too? Then there’s a pair of us! Don’t tell! they’d advertise, you know! How dreary- to be- Somebody! How public- like a Frog- To tell one’s name- the livelong June To an admiring Bog!

Poetry has Lines A horizontal group of words in a poem, similar to a sentence Some lines will have numbers at the end to identify them. This usually happens in lengthy poems. Stanzas A vertical group of lines in a poem, similar to a paragraph Speaker The person/thing in a poem who is expressing an idea.

Rhyme repeating the same sound in 2+ words (ex.: thought/brought, trying/crying)

SARAH CYNTHIA SYLVIA STOUT by Shel Silverstein   Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would not take the garbage out. She'd wash the dishes and scrub the pans Cook the yams and spice the hams, And though her parents would scream and shout, She simply would not take the garbage out. And so it piled up to the ceiling: Coffee grounds, potato peelings, Brown bananas and rotten peas, Chunks of sour cottage cheese. It filled the can, it covered the floor, It cracked the windows and blocked the door, With bacon rinds and chicken bones, Drippy ends of ice cream cones, Prune pits, peach pits, orange peels, Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal, Pizza crusts and withered greens, Soggy beans, and tangerines, Crusts of black-burned buttered toast, Grisly bits of beefy roast. The garbage rolled on down the halls, It raised the roof, it broke the walls,  

I mean, greasy napkins, cookie crumbs, Blobs of gooey bubble gum, Cellophane from old bologna, Rubbery, blubbery macaroni, Peanut butter, caked and dry, Curdled milk, and crusts of pie, Rotting melons, dried-up mustard, Eggshells mixed with lemon custard, Cold French fries and rancid meat, Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat. At last the garbage reached so high That finally it touched the sky, And none of her friends would come to play, And all of her neighbors moved away;

And finally, Sarah Cynthia Stout Said, "Okay, I'll take the garbage out!" But then, of course it was too late, The garbage reached across the state, From New York to the Golden Gate; And there in the garbage she did hate Poor Sarah met an awful fate That I cannot right now relate Because the hour is much too late But children, remember Sarah Stout, And always take the garbage out.

Clerihew Poetic form of four lines with an AABB rhyme scheme about a famous person, often humorous The Road Runner always almost a goner; when attacked in manner dread, Wile E. suffers intended fate instead .... Copyright © 2004 Alan McAlpine Douglas

Limerick A poetic form of five lines with an AABBA rhyme scheme and is very often humorous Limerick:  There was an Old Man with a Beard by Edward Lear   There was an Old Man with a beard, A Who said, "It is just as I feared! -- A     Two Owls and a Hen, B     Four Larks and a Wren, B Have all built their nests in my beard.” A

Rhythm A pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem Kinds or rhythm: There are four major types…but there are many others too! Two syllables (think of the word IT) Iambic (unstressed stressed) Iambic starts with a vowel and so does the word, unstressed. Trochaic (stressed unstressed) Trochaic starts with a consonant and so does the word, stressed. Three syllables ( think of the word ADD) Anapestic (unstressed unstressed stressed) Anapestic starts with a vowel and so does the word, unstressed Dactylic (stressed unstressed unstressed) Dactylic starts with a consonant and so does the word, stressed. One of the rhythmic combinations is called a foot!

Let’s practice! Most commonly written rhythm pattern of poetry is called Iambic (unstressed, stressed) pentameter (five feet of a pattern). Feet are measured in repeating rhythmic patterns. I have been one acquainted with the night. I have walked out in rain -- and back in rain. I have outwalked the furthest city light. I have looked down the saddest city lane. -Robert Frost “Acquainted with the Night

Let’s see how you did 1. The repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables is called______________ 2.The two syllable rhythms (remember the word ____) 3. unstressed, stressed ________________ 4. stressed, unstressed ________________ 5.The three syllable rhythms (remember the word __________) 6. unstressed, unstressed, stressed ______________________ 7. stressed, unstressed, unstressed ______________________ 8. Iambic pentameter looks like this:

Do all poems have to rhyme? Beachhead By Derek Wolcott   the beach is hot, the fronds of yellow dwarf palms rust, the clouds are close as friends the sea has not learned to rest…

Kinds of POEMS Narrative poem/ballad poem- poem that tells a story Example : “The Highwayman” Persona poem- Poet becomes someone/something else Example: “One of the Seven Has Somewhat to Say”

NEW terms today Onomatopoeia Words that make the sound of their action or definition. Buzz, Buzz went the bee. Repetition- Repeating a word or a phrase for emphasis Refrain Repeating whole lines/phrases at the SAME PLACE in each stanza

repeating initial consonant sound Alliteration repeating initial consonant sound

Add to our list: Diction You should have all sound effects done on page 15 Diction Personification- something non-human is given human qualities Comparison of two unlike objects If you use “like” or “as,” then it is a Simile If you do not, then it is a Metaphor

Last word on Form Line Break- Where a line ends

More definitions Kinds of poems:  free verse: poetry that does not rhyme or follow a predictable pattern  apostrophe: speaker of poem addresses something not living  imagist poem: a snapshot of a moment in time  dramatic poem: characters talk concrete poem: a poem that takes the shape of the subject ode: poetic form in which one describes how/why someone/something is to be revered   Haiku: Japanese style poem of 3 lines and 17 syllables (5-7-5) usually about nature.

More of page 8. Writer’s choice of words MOOD: the feeling associated with a poem, such as happy, angry, hopeful, etc. POETIC LICENSE: creating new words, sometimes by combining existing words INVERSION: changing the usual order of words (ex: Inside, I live rather than I live inside.) IMAGERY: details that appeal to the senses (more than one!)

Inversion Placing an adjective after the noun it qualifies e.g. the soldier strong Placing a verb before its subject e.g. shouts the policeman Placing a noun before its preposition e.g. worlds between