Sound & Sense Chapter 1 & 2

Ch. 1 - What Is Poetry?

Poetry exists to communicate significant experience Ch. 1 - What Is Poetry? Definition: Poetry is a kind of language that says more and says it more intensely than does ordinary language Poetry exists to communicate significant experience

Function: A. Gives pleasure B. Central to existence Ch. 1 - What Is Poetry? Function: A. Gives pleasure B. Central to existence Poetry is universal - all people, all places, all ages, all times

The Eagle Example Encyclopedia definition of an “eagle”: Belonging to the family Falconidae, characterized by imperforate nostrils, legs of medium length, hooked bill, the hind toe inserted on a level with the front three ones, the claws roundly curved and sharp, who usually build their nests in inaccessible cliffs, their eggs are spotted and don’t exceed three in number, and its flight pattern is often described as soaring.

The Eagle Example Lord Tennyson’s definition of an “eagle”: He clasps the crag with crooked hands Close to the sun in lonely hands, Ringed with the azure world, he stands. The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls; He watches from his mountain walls, And like a thunderbolt he falls.

Poetry exists to communicate significant experience What Is Poetry? Poetry exists to communicate significant experience Its function is not to tell us about experience but to allow us to imaginatively participate in it Broadening experience Deepening experience

What Is Poetry? Broadening experience B. Deepening experience Making the reader aquainted with a greater range of experience with which, in the ordinary course of events, he might have no contact B. Deepening experience Making the reader feel more deeply and more understandingly the everyday experiences he has

What Is Poetry NOT? Poetry is NOT always beautiful The function of poetry maybe to share something ugly. The words maybe cold and unpleasant, but it is poetry. B. Poetry does NOT always have a moral Moral-hunters see poetry as a kind of sugar-coated pill - a wholesome truth or lesson made palpable by pretty words. A poem does not have to have a lesson, message, or noble truth about life

The Radio Example In radio two devices are required: a transmitting station and a receiver The completeness of the communication depends both on the clarity of the transmitter and the tuning and sensitivity of the receiver The purpose of this book is to help you be a better receiver!

Poetry is Multidimensional Ordinary language is one-dimensional - it is aimed solely at the intelligence Poetry is multidimensional - it is aimed at the whole person (four dimensions) Intelligence Senses Emotions Imagination

William Carlos Williams The Red Wheelbarrow so much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens. William Carlos Williams

Ch. 2 - Reading the Poem

FIRST STEP IN THIS PROCESS IS TO LEARN TO READ POETRY Ch. 2 - Reading the Poem This book is designed to help you understand and better appreciate poetry FIRST STEP IN THIS PROCESS IS TO LEARN TO READ POETRY

1. READ A POEM MORE THAN ONCE STEPS TO READING A POEM 1. READ A POEM MORE THAN ONCE 2. KEEP A DICTIONARY BY YOU AND USE IT 3. READ SO AS TO HEAR THE SOUNDS IN YOUR MIND 4. ALWAYS PAY CAREFUL ATTENTION TO WHAT THE POEM IS SAYING 5. POEMS MUST BE READ ALOUD

The Man He Killed Thomas Hardy Had he and I but met By some old ancient inn, We should have sat us down to wet Right many a nipperkin! But ranged as infantry, And staring face to face, I shot at him as he at me, And killed him in his place. I shot him dead because - Because he was my foe, Just so: my foe of course he was; That’s clear enough; although He thought he’d ‘list, perhaps, Off-hand-like - just as I - Was out of work - had sold his traps No other reason why, Yes; quaint and curious war is! You shoot a fellow down You’d treat, if met where any bar is, Or help to half-a-crown. Thomas Hardy

Questions to Ask a Poem 1. Who is the speaker? 2. What is the occasion? 3. What is the central purpose of the poem? 4. By what means is that purpose achieved?