1. Poetry… and how to enjoy it.

2. Poetry is… Words arranged in a rhythmic pattern with regular accents (like beats in music) Words carefully selected for sound, accent, and meaning Words that express imaginatively ideas and emotions I’ve come to the end of my rope. In conversation… L-O-V-E is a many-splendored thing. In songs… A nation conceived in liberty… In speeches…

3. A Poet is… A person more endowed with imagination who tries to express an idea with words that give it form and beauty looking at the same thing… POET I see a dark hand is tearing the vault of night… NON-POET What do I see? A big tree. And it’s getting dark!

4. A Quote “Poetry lifts the veil from hidden beauty. It makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar and creates anew the universe.” Percy Bysshe Shelley

5. Underlying Structures Each poem has: 1. RHYTHM 2. MELODY 3. IMAGERY 4. FORM

6. Rhythm (Metric Pattern) The accents of the syllables in the words fall at regular intervals, like the beat of music. The four most-used metric patterns are: 1. IAMBIC aka de DUMM; EX: a WAY to PAY 2. TROCHAIC aka DUMM de; EX: COMing 3. ANAPESTIC aka de de DUMM; EX: can non ADE 4. DACTYLIC aka DUMM de de; EX: VIC tor ies

7. Rhythm The beat of poetry feet is called METER. The number of feet in a line of poetry is expressed as follows: 1. Monometer 2. Dimeter 3. Trimeter 4. Tetrameter 5. Pentameter 6. Hexameter

8. Scansion Marking lines to show feet or meter is called scansion. The stag / at eve / had drunk / his fill This is a foot. de DUMM de DUMM de DUMM de DUMM This line is iambic tetrameter.

9. Melody (Sound Devices) The principal sound device in poetry is rhyme. Some rhyming terms include: 1. Single rhyme (love/dove) 2. Double rhyme (napping/tapping) 3. Triple rhyme (mournfully/scornfully) 4. Imperfect rhyme—two words look alike but don’t sound alike (love/Jove) 5. Internal rhyme—the rhyme occurs inside a line (Let’s beat the heat) Like music, each poem has

10. Other Sound Effects Assonance—resemblance of sound in words or syllables, such as “O harp and altar, of the fury fused.” Onomatopoeia—where words sound like meanings, such as drip, whisper, hiss, hoot, meow, murmur, etc. Alliteration—words beginning with same consonant sound, such as In a summer season, where soft was sun.

11. Imagery Includes figures of speech representing sense experience. Most imagery uses either comparison or exaggeration.

12. Comparison Simile is two unlike things compared using “like” and “as,” such as “The man paced like a hungry lion.” Metaphor is two unlike things directly compared (without using “like” and “as”), such as “The river is a snake which coils on itself.” Personification is giving human qualities to things, such as “The trees danced in the breeze.” Literary allusions are referring metaphorically to persons, places, and things from history or previous literature.

13. Exaggeration Hyperbole is saying more than is true, such as “He worked his fingers to the bone.” Understatement is saying less than is true, such as “Losing his job meant he could sleep late.” Irony is saying opposite to what is true, such as “War is kind.” Antithesis is using contrasts for effect, such as “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

14. Form What does a poem look like? A long poem usually consists of a number of lines grouped into sets of lines called stanzas. Rhyme schemes are indicated by the use of letters: abba abba

15. Special Stanzas Rhymed couplet is two lines with identical rhymes. A heroic couplet is two lines of iambic pentameter with identical rhymes. Quatrain is four lines with any rhyme scheme and any length and meter. Sonnet is a complete poem of 14 lines of iambic pentameter. Blank verse is usually iambic pentameter but no rhyme, i.e. William Shakespeare. Free verse is no regular rhythmic pattern or use of rhyme.

16. Types of Poems NARRATIVE 1. Epic—a long poem about a hero, i.e. Odyssey or Beowulf 2. Ballad—a very short story, i.e. Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” or folk music 3. Fable—a short story (usually about animals) with a moral. LYRIC 1. Ode—in praise or memory of someone 2. Elegy—a lament or in memory of someone 3. Epigram—a satirical poem ending with a witticism 4. Sonnet—a popular form of lyric poetry having 14 lines