Poetry 7.4 A: Students understand, make inferences, and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of poetry. Students will analyze the importance of graphical elements (ie. Use of capitalization, line length, and word positioning) and how they effect the meaning of the poem.

Poetry Literature written in verse (short lines) Divided into stanzas (paragraphs in poetry) Typically shorter than other works of literature The author has to use fewer words to create meaning and express their thoughts and feelings, so they are very specific about their word choice Requires imaginative use of words and a careful way of placing them on the page.

Structure – line length Authors/Poets can show meaning through the structure of their poem. Use of regular lines with a fixed length that brings rhythm and flow to the poem Break lines in unconventional places to suggest an idea or create a pattern Use line length to guide the reader to read the poem in a certain way Rhyme (repetition of sounds at the ends of the lines) to fit lines together – used in regular length lines usually

Visual Appearance EXAMPLE: Oft seems the Time a market-town Where many merchant-spirits meet Who up and down and up and down Cry out along the street Their needs, as wares’ one THUS, one SO: Till all the ways are full of sound: - But still come rain, and sun, and snow, And still the world goes round. Using capital letters in unusual ways is another way poets add meaning to poems. Traditionally, each line of a poem starts with a capital letter If a poet deviates from the traditional capitalization or adds other capitalization besides the start of a line you can guarantee it was on purpose. This can also be said of punctuation Notice that the words thus and so are capitalized. This gives these words more emphasis, as if they are being shouted. Is that the effect the author intended? Yes, the author wants to give the feeling of merchants shouting out their wares to sell

Word Positioning Beat! beat! drums! – Blow! bugles! blow! Remember a poet chooses their words very carefully to convey as much meaning as they can… However to enhance meaning, poets will sometimes position words specifically to show feelings or enhance ideas Beat! beat! drums! – Blow! bugles! blow! Through the windows – through doors – burst like a ruthless force Walt Whitman does this through his use of positioning of through doors – using hyphens and positioning to create almost a visual of doors within the poem.

Explain how the poet uses line breaks in the poem. Practice The words whoosh and shush are repeated and centered in the poem. The poet positioned the words in this way to emphasize the continuous sounds the trees make as they sway. I love the sound of falling rain. I love the singing of the pines with their whispering and their whines – whoosh, shush – as they sway their supple spines Explain how the poet uses line breaks in the poem.