1. UGRC 160 – Introduction to Literature
SESSION 7

2. Poetry -An Introduction- Tone, Voice, Point of View

3. Session Objectives At the end of the session, the student will
Understand the poet’s craft and how poetry functions
Be able to approach an unseen poem with some level of confidence.
Learn the techniques in identifying and connecting figurative/literary devices to thematic content or subject matter of the poem.

4. POETRY
What is Poetry?
Have you ever written a poem?

5. “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings recollected in tranquility.” (William Wordsworth)

6. How to Analyze a Poem
First of all, PLEASE GET RID OF THE IDEA THAT POETRY IS:
Boring

7. Scary
Difficult to Understand

8. Analyzing a Poem- Let’s Use ART WARS
A- About – Finding out what the poem is about, after a first or second reading is useful in interpreting what the poem is about. Eg. Love, Betrayal, War, etc.
R- Repeated Ideas – Identifying the Repeated Ideas in the poem is useful in establishing an interpretation of the poem.
T- Tone – What is the Tone of the poem? What emotion do the words in the poem suggest? Eg. Anger, Frustration, Pity etc.
W- Words (Diction) – A careful/close-reading of the poem helps to establish an interpretation, as the reader looks for the denotative and connotative meanings of words and establishes some relationship between the words in the poem.
A- Alliteration – Identifying sound devices such as Alliteration and other figurative devices in the poem is useful in establishing an interpretation.
R- Rhyme and rhythm – Do the lines of the poem rhyme? Is there a consistent rhyme pattern or is the rhyme inconsistent? The presence or absence of a rhyme pattern can sometimes be linked to the poet’s message in the poem
S- Structure – Does the poem have an identifiable structure? Is it organized in Stanzas? Are the stanzas of ordinate length? Finding answers to these questions may help to establish an interpretation of the poem. For instance, a poem may de divided into stanzas where the short stanzas are about moments of joy and the longer stanzas about pain and sorrow. This may suggest that life is constituted of brief moments of joy and longer periods of pain.

9. How about a round of applause A standing ovation
This just looks like a re-run
But you put on quite a show
Curtains finally closing
That was quite a show
Very entertaining
But it’s over now
And the award for the best liar goes to you
Let’s hear your speech now
Rihanna, Take a Bow
In this excerpt of Verse, the highlighted sections seem to suggest a particular Repeated idea. The idea of Theatre/Performance seems to be repeated or recurs in the Verse. This may suggest that whatever relationship the persona had with the addressee was just a “performance.” It was not real, just like a performance on a stage/theater.

10. I’d catch a grenade for you
Throw my hand on a blade for you
I’d jump in front of a train for you
You know I’d do anything for you
I would go through all this pain
Take a bullet straight through my brain
Yes, I would die for you baby,
But you won’t do the same.
Bruno Mars, Grenade
Similarly, in this excerpt of Verse, the Repeated Ideas: grenade, throw, blade, pain, bullet and die, seem to convey VIOLENCE AND PAIN. Thus, we can infer that the persona’s relationship with the addressee is perhaps a violent one or full of struggle and strife. Also, whereas the persona is willing to endure all forms of fatal scenarios for the addressee, he/she is unwilling to do same.

11. “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes

12. After studying Langston Hughes’ poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, what do you think is:
The Tone of the Persona?
The Point of View/ Voice – What does the poet’s use of the “I” persona contribute to the interpretation of the poem?
Can you identify any Repeated Ideas in the poem? Eg. The repetition of the line “I’ve Known rivers”.