1. Poetry – an Introduction Mr. Wilson - English

2. Origins Poetry comes from the Greek term for “making” – specifically, it was seen as a way of communicating with the Gods. Poetry pops up in many religious texts, but was most notably used by story tellers in songs in order to remember lines. The most famous of these was the Greek story-teller: Homer

3. Homer Although he is recognized as the “Legendary Poet” there is little or no evidence of his biography, so much of his story is sceptical. It is said he was blind and he could remember stories as long as books, which of course, rhymed.

4. The Iliad and the Odyssey Some of the oldest “stories” we have to date. They are the only two of Homer’s work that survived. Although they were not written by him, the legend goes that he had many daughters who wrote down his work – The Odyssey is 12 110 lines long! So how does the story go?

6. The Italian Renaissance After Greece fell to the Romans, Poetry was still an important part of song-writing but would never see the likes of Homer. Then the middle-ages came, people regressed, stopped bathing, basically we all got dumber. But along came a bunch of Italian artists and philosophers who found and translated the old Greek texts…

7. Petrarch (1304-1374) Based on his work, his is considered the founder of “Humanism” and the modern Italian language. He was an extremely learned man who translated many texts…Until he fell in love.

8. Laura Unfortunately, Laura was already married! So, he started writing her “love notes” in the form of Rime Sparse (scattered rhymes). He wrote 366 of them. As a result, Poetry has often been associated with romance.

9. Poetry on the move… The Italian Renaissance was a long process, and because communication was difficult, it took a long time for ideas to be shared. Only after many, many years did their philosophical (originally Greek) and artistic ideas sift across Europe. By then, writing was starting to become a very powerful tool, and Poetry was seen as the definitive artistic expression using words.

10. Types of Poetry Narrative or Epic Poetry Dramatic Satire Lyrical Elegy Prose Closed form (sonnets) Haiku Song Limerick Pastourelle and Rondeau Ode

11. Things to look for… 1. Alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds. 2. Allusion: hinting at a connection to something else…History? Literature? 3. Metaphor: A comparison or an expression that is representative. 4. The Persona: the “voice” of he poem – think Point-of-view!

12. Continued… 5. Oxymoron or Juxtaposition: two words that ordinarily would not go together. 6. Repetition: when a word or a sound is repeated to get your attention. 7. Imagery: look for intense description, which involves all of your senses! 8. Personification: giving human attributes to inanimate objects or animals.

13. Continued… 9. Symbolism: a really BIG metaphor. 10. Themes: look for common ideas throughout the poem, what kinds of images or metaphors keep popping up? What is the overall message? 11. Rhyming: there are two different types of rhymes masculine and feminine. Examples? 12. Meter: very complicated – will get into that shortly!

14. Deliberate Art Remember! Poets are like artist – they pay attention to details! Every word, every line break, every punctuation has been thought about and is there ON PURPOSE. Sometimes poems are re-written several times just to get them exactly right.