Introduction to Poetry

You cut me down a tree And brought it back to me And that's what made me see Where I was going wrong You put me on a shelf And kept me for yourself I can only blame myself You can only blame me And I could write a song A hundred miles long Well, that's where I belong And you belong with me And I could write it down or spread it all around Get lost and then get found Or swallowed in the sea You put me on a line And hung me out to dry And darling that's when I Decided to go to sea Swallowed In The Sea Performed by Coldplay Songwriters: Guy Berryman, Jon Buckland, Will Champion, Chris Martin

RHYTHM

RHYTHM is…  A pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry.  Poets use rhythm to: bring out the musical quality of language Emphasize ideas Create moods Unify works Heighten emotional responses

What Creates Rhythm in Poetry? Devices such as… Alliteration Assonance Consonance Repetition Rhyme

Alliteration Repetition of initial (first) consonant sound “ like lake water lapping”

A ssonance Repetition of vowel sounds Poor vaunt of life indeed, Were man but formed to feed On joy, to solely seek and find and feast --Robert Browning, Rabbi Ben Ezra

Late August was a pressure drop, rain, a sob in the body… Bruce Smith, Obbligato

Consonance The repetition of consonant sounds anywhere in the word. Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, The last of life, for which the first was made. --Robert Browning  "All mammals named Sam are clammy"

Repetition  …And not one will know of the war, not one Will care at last when it is done.  Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree If mankind perished utterly;

RHYME

End Rhyme: Words that have identical end sounds  “bad” “sad”  I will not eat green eggs and ham, I will not eat them…SAM I AM! Words can have different letters but still rhyme:  Grocer/closer

Slant Rhyme Close, but not exact rhyme For example: Low, prow

RHYME Internal Internal rhyme is rhyme that occurs within a line of poetry …the grains beyond age, the dark veins of her mother

Rhyme Scheme  The pattern of end rhymes in a poem.  Ex: a a b b OR  a b a b OR  a b c c b a

METER  Some common types of METER include Iambic Trochaic Anapestic Dactylic

 Foot = measurement of rhythm  Iamb = smallest foot, “Rising”  U / unstressed & stressed  5 iambs = u/ u/ u/ u/ u/ Remember: rhythm is counted out in syllables

Blank Verse Poetry that has METER but does not have RHYME. Shakespeare used blank verse when he wrote his plays in iambic pentameter: “Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus, and we petty men Walk under his huge legs, and peep about To find ourselves, dishonorable graves. “

 Foot = measurement of rhythm  Iamb = smallest foot, “Rising”  U / unstressed & stressed  5 iambs = u/ u/ u/ u/ u/ Remember: rhythm is counted out in syllables

Rhymed Verse Verse with both rhyme and meter Two roads diverged in a yellow wood. And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth. Robert Frost

 Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost  Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer (strange) To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound's the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep. And miles to go before I sleep.

Free Verse Poetry not written in regular rhyme pattern or meter Dominant form in contemporary (modern) poetry

Oxymoron Connecting two words with opposite meanings. Icy-Hot jumbo shrimp alltogether separate anxious patient loose tights The living dead (dun duh!)

Denotation  The dictionary meaning of a word  Example: “snap” means to make a sudden, sharp, distinct sound.

Connotation Implied meaning associated with a word “OH, SNAP!”

Metaphor  Direct comparison of unlike objects “All the world’s a stage.” “She had too much on her plate.”

Extended Metaphor A metaphor that is carried throughout a piece of literature. Example: the “crystal stair” in Langston Hughes’ Mother to Son.

Langston Hughes' Mother to Son Well, son, I'll tell you: Life for me ain't been no crystal stair. It's had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor - Bare. But all the time I'se been a-climbin' on, And reachin' landin's, And turnin' corners, And sometimes goin' in the dark Where there ain't been no light. So boy, don't you turn back. Don't you set down on the steps 'Cause you finds it's kinder hard. Don't you fall now -- For I'se still goin', honey, I'se still climbin', And life for me ain't been no crystal stair. In this poem, Hughes writes about a mother speaking to her son about life's experiences. He uses the metaphor of a crystal stair.

 A metaphor that has been used so much that it doesn’t have an impact anymore. Dead Metaphor

The End That’s a wrap… The fat lady has sung… Let’s put this puppy to bed!