Miss Shepski English 9

 What makes poetry scary and intimidating? What DON’T you like about it?

 Poetry is boring  Tupac Shakur, The Beatles and even 5SOS are poets When I was young me and my mama had beef Seventeen years old kicked out on the streets Though back at the time, I never thought I'd see her face Ain't a woman alive that could take my mama's place Blackbird singing in the dead of night Take these broken wings and learn to fly All your life You were only waiting for this moment to arise I remember the day you told me you were leaving I remember the make- up running down your face And the dreams you left behind you didn’t need them Like every single wish we ever made “Dear Mama” by 2PAC “Blackbird” by The Beatles “Amnesia” by 5SOS

 Poetry is ridiculously difficult  Poetry is like any other form of art ▪ It’s meant to be enjoyed! Claude Monet - Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge  Attempt to capture feelings and emotions

 Every poem has some sort of “deep meaning”  Not necessarily true ▪ Frank O’Hara and William Carlos Williams  You can like a poem, but not understand it, and THAT’S OKAY!

“Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful” – Rita Dove “I think that we’re beginning to remember that the first poets didn’t come out of a classroom, that poetry began when somebody walked off of a savanna or out of a cave and looked up at the sky with wonder and said, “Ahhh.” That was the first poem.” – Lucille Clifton “Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat” – Robert Frost “Poetry is ordinary language raised to the Nth power. Poetry is boned with ideas, nerved and blooded with emotions, all held together by the delicate, tough skin of words” – Paul Engle “One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose” - Voltaire “Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought. The farthest horizons of our hopes and fears are cobbled by our poems, carved from the rock experiences of our daily lives.” – Audre Lorde

“When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of a man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses” – John F. Kennedy “Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas” – Albert Einstein “We don’t read and write poetry because we think it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race and the human race is filled with passion” – Dead Poets Society (1989)

 Partner up! Make sure at least one of you has a smartphone/device that can access the internet!  With your partner, visit the stations around the room and fill out your Poetry Terminology worksheet. I have given you the word, definition and an example. Using your device, come up with another example of that word. These will be handed in at the end of class.  Even though you are working with a partner, everybody will hand in their own completed worksheet!