Poetry Unit

What is poetry? A type of literature… Where words are selected for their beauty, sound and power to express feelings That uses a kind of language that is more intense and expressive than everyday speech That presents the speaker’s emotions as they are aroused by beauty, experience and attachment That provides a fresh, unexpected way of looking at common, ordinary, everyday things That gives pleasure through the senses, emotions and intellect That deals with highly concise, musical, and emotionally charged language That contains a lot of figurative language and follows a specific form

“Poetry is life distilled.”- Gwendolyn Brooks “Poetry is the search for syllables to shoot at the barriers of the unknown and the unknowable.”- Carl Sandburg

Why write poetry? It is crucial to your progress as a creative writer You learn to work within strict forms You learn to work with effective rhythms You learn how to select and use words properly Carefully constructing poems will make you a better creative writer in any genre

Poem about Poetry Assignment In your notebook, write a poem about EITHER your own definition of a poem OR your view of the importance of a poem (Max of 15 lines).

Free Writing What is free writing? DEFINITION: an exercise that many poets use when they feel “blank” about what to write The Importance of Free Writing It gets you to physically begin writing It helps you to get in the “mood” An idea you come up with while free writing may become a great topic for a poem It helps writer’s block

Writer’s Block Why might I get writer’s block? Fear of failure Fear of rejection Fear of success Fear of offending Fear of running dry How can I defeat writer’s block? Brainstorm Free write Share with friends Write the easiest part first Change your point of view Tie yourself to a chair until an idea comes to you?!?

Free Write Assignment Free write for 10 minutes. It can be about anything and in any format. Don’t pick up your pen. You must write for the entire time. ASSIGNMENT: Pick 1 idea you came up with during your free writing and write a 5 line poem about it.

Simile Poem Remember, a simile is a comparison of 2 normally unlike things using “like” or “as.” Fill in the blanks to write the most imaginative similes you can think of--- but be sure you can explain how the two things are similar. For example: “The blankets were wrinkled like my uncle’s face when he opens his mouth to speak.”

The shirt was as soft as _______________________________ The shirt was as soft as _______________________________. I wanted to yell at him like ____________________________. She danced as if ____________________________________. The coat felt like ___________________________________. The noise got on my nerves like ________________________. My mother’s hair smelled like __________________________. The classroom sounded as if ___________________________. DIRECTIONS: Pick 1 of the sentences above and make it the first line of a poem. Your poem should be at least 10 lines long.

Metaphor Poem Remember, a metaphor is a comparison of two essentially unlike things, like a simile, written by saying one thing is the other. For example, “the sun is an egg yolk in the morning.” Fill in the blanks below to creative imaginative, descriptive metaphors. You can extend the metaphor if you’d like, like, in the example above, “The sun is an egg yolk in the morning, dropped into the bowl of the sky without a speck of shell.”

The window is ____________________________________________ The window is ____________________________________________. My family is ______________________________________________. A mountain is ____________________________________________. The fog is ________________________________________________. My personality is __________________________________________. Life is __________________________________________________. DIRECTIONS: Pick one of the above metaphors and make it into the first line of a poem with an extended metaphor. Your poem should be at least 10 lines.

Imagery Remember, imagery is the use of words that evoke a picture or image by utilizing the senses. Imagine a door that leads to a place no one has been for 500 years. Describe the 5 senses (taste, touch, smell, sound, sight) that occur when the door is opened. DIRECTIONS: Write a poem describing what you find behid the door that nobody has opened for 500 years. You must use at least 2 EXAMPLES OF IMAGERY in your poem and it must be at least 15 lines long.

Repetition Remember, repetition is the repeating of a word, phrase or line I a poem. Repetition of one line throughout the poem can make the poem sound more musical—although it is a challenge to repeat a line and keep the poem interesting. For example: The mountain up above me And my feet are nervous I start the twisty climb Soon it will be below me DIRECTIONS: Write a 6 line poem in which three of the lines are the same, or nearly the same. Your poem should be about some type of journey.

Super Poem Life is….. Life is getting faster, (REPETITION) Speeding like a train running out of track. (SIMILIE) My eyes are tearing waterfalls (METAPHOR) As I try to grasp onto what is left. How do I spend my days? Do I make a difference? Life is getting faster; (REPETITION) I am rushing to my grave, Always pushing toward the weekend And missing the weekday bliss. There is more to life than weekends.   Life is getting faster, (REPETITION) Melting like April snow. (SIMILIE) My memories are fading Like photos in the newspaper. (SIMILIE) I am forgetting where I’ve been before And I don’t know where I’m going.  Moving quicker still. It’s rushing down the sides of my head, (IMAGERY) To my feet and hitting the floor. It runs right out onto the street And I will not see Life more. Directions: Pick your own topic. Write a poem that is at least 20 lines long. It must have at least 1 example of each in it: Metaphor Imagery Simile Repetition   You must underline each example and label it.

Acrostic Poem Any poem that uses the 1st letter of a name, motto or phrase to begin each line Some variations

“An Acrostic” by Edgar Allen Poe Elizabeth it is in vain you say “Love not”- thou sayest it in so sweet a way In vain those words from thee or L.E.L Zantippe’s talents had enforced so well: Ah! If that language from thy heart arise Breathe it less gently forth- and veil thine eyes. Endymion, recollect, when Luna tried To cure his love- was cursed of all beside- His folly- pride- and passion- for he died.

Anaphora Comes from the Greek for “a carrying up or back” Refers to a type of parallelism created when successive phrases or lines begin with the same words The repetition can be as simple as a single word or as long as an entire phrase

From William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet No. 66” Tired with all these, for restful death I cry, As to behold desert a beggar born, And needy nothing trimm'd in jollity, And purest faith unhappily forsworn, And gilded honour shamefully misplaced, And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted, And right perfection wrongfully disgraced, And strength by limping sway disabled And art made tongue-tied by authority, And folly, doctor-like, controlling skill, And simple truth miscalled simplicity, And captive good attending captain ill:    Tired with all these, from these would I be gone,    Save that, to die, I leave my love alone.

Haiku Many centuries old, Japanese form Evokes a mood that usually has to do with nature 17 syllables in 3 lines Five syllables Seven syllables Try: http://www.everypoet.co m/haiku/default.htm Example: Jumping like a fish Out of water. The young boy Writhes in agony.

Senryu A haiku that does NOT concentrate on nature It concentrates on HUMAN EMOTIONS 17 syllables in 3 lines Five syllables Seven syllables

Ode Comes from the Greek “aeidein,” meaning to sing or chant A formal address to an event, a person, or a thing not present

From “Ode to Aphrodite” by Sappho Deathless Aphrodite, throned in flowers, Daughter of Zeus, O terrible enchantress, With this sorrow, with this anguish, break my spirit Lady, not longer! Hear anew the voice! O hear and listen! Come, as in that island dawn thou camest, Billowing in thy yoked car to Sappho Forth from thy father's Golden house in pity! ... I remember: Fleet and fair thy sparrows drew thee, beating Fast their wings above the dusky harvests, Down the pale heavens…

any poem written in letter form usually found in the Bible Epistle any poem written in letter form usually found in the Bible may sound better if rhyming should start with “Dear…”

follows the rhyme scheme ABA, BCB, CDC, DD Terza Rima follows the rhyme scheme ABA, BCB, CDC, DD indefinite amount of tercets ends in couplet

“Acquainted with the Night” by Robert Frost 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. I have passed by the watchman on his beat And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain. I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet When far away an interrupted cry Came over houses from another street, But not to call me back or say good-bye; And further still at an unearthly height, One luminary clock against the sky Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. I have been one acquainted with the night.

Sonnets A 14-line rhyming poem Usually uses iambic pentameter Usually serious in manner 3 types of sonnets Petrarchan (Italian) Shakespearean (English) Spenserian

Petrarchan Sonnet (Italian Sonnet) 2 quatrains (groups of 4 lines) ABBA 1 sestet (group of 6 lines) CDCDCD There is usually a change of view between th octave and the sestet

From “Sonnets of the Portuguese” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. I love thee to the level of everyday's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. I love thee with a passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.

Shakespearean Sonnet (English Sonnet) 3 quatrains ABAB CDCD EFEF 1 couplet GG

“Sonnet 30” by William Shakespeare When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought, And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste: Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow, For precious friends hid in death's dateless night, And weep afresh love's long since cancell'd woe, And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight: Then can I grieve at grievances foregone, And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan, Which I new pay as if not paid before. But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, All losses are restored and sorrows end.

Spenserian Sonnet 3 quatrains ABAB BCBC CDCD 1 couplet EE The view usually changes between the quatrains and the couplet

“Sonnet LXXV” by Edmund Spenser ONE day I wrote her name upon the strand,   but came the waves and washed it away:   again I wrote it with a second hand,   but came the tide, and made my pains his prey. Vain man, said she, that dost in vain assay,   a mortal thing so to immortalize,   for I myself shall like to this decay,   and eke my name be wiped out likewise. Not so, (quod I) let baser things devise,   to die in dust, but you shall live by fame:   my verse your virtues rare shall eternize,   and in the heavens write your glorious name.   Where when as death shall all the world subdue,   our love shall live, and later life renew.

first and third lines rhyme Villanelle first and third lines rhyme composed of five stanzas with three lines each and the sixth stanza has four lines AbC dbA dbC dbA dbC dbAC

“Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night. Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night. Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Companion Poem Consists of 2 separate poems OR 2 separate stanzas Each of the 2 is an opposite of the other The two must be equal in length and rhyme scheme Pick 1 of these approaches to your topics Each opposite defends why it is better or best (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXQMoyhPNJA) Can be one asking the other questions and the other responding Can be simply describing each topic using imagery

“Men and Women” by Anonymous (class of 2007) We are sometimes shallow Other times loyal We often receive complaints Our lives are never straight But we can’t get enough Of that woman stuff We are men We’re caring and loving We’re often looking for husbands We try to keep our minds right Always in the spotlight It’s too hard to hate us You must love us We are women

Renga A form of Japanese linked poetry A GROUP poem Members of the group alternate adding lines to the poem Each line in a stanza relates to each other