Bradford High School Mrs. Adkins POETRY PACKETmrsadkinsbhs.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/74270480/Poetry Packet... · Bradford High School English Department Mrs. Adkins Poetry ... dark

Bradford High SchoolEnglish DepartmentMrs. Adkins

Poetry• Billy Collins (1941--)-- “Introduction to Poetry”• Frank Finale - “Terrorist Poem”• Robert Frost (1874-1963)-- “The Road Not Taken”; “Fire and Ice”• Walt Whitman (1819-1892)-- “When I Heard the Learn’d

Astronomer”; “O Me! O Life!”; “On the Beach at Night Alone”• Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000)-- “We Real Cool”

• Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)-- “I’m Nobody! Who are you?”; “Hope is the thing with feathers”

• Langston Hughes (1902-1967)-- “Mother to Son”• William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)-- “The Ivy Crown”; “The

Red Wheelbarrow”• John Donne (1572-1631)-- “Death Be Not Proud--Holy Sonnet X”• George Herbet (1593-1633)-- “The Altar”

POETRY PACKET

Name: _____________________________Period: __________

In order for us to read and discuss intelligibly, we must all speak the same language. If we’re to discuss football, you and I must both know what first down or intentional grounding means. We may speak the same language in a conversational sense, but we must speak the same language in the realm and tradition of academia. It is much like speaking a new language, so prepare yourself by familiarizing yourself with these terms for this new language of academia.

• Diction - the choice of words and phrases in speech or writing In the work of experienced writers, every single word counts and is chosen specifically to deliver some particular meaning to the reader or audience. Writing and speaking is about manipulation; words are the tools and therefore become specialized to whatever the purpose of the occasion.• Punctuation - marks used to clarify meaning and relationships in written expression Punctuation helps deliver your thoughts to your reader or audience in an ordered, clear manner; it is also the master of the music of your words--or how it sounds to the reader or audience. Don’t make choppy, chaotic, jumbled music! Learn your punctuation.• Clause - a group of words containing a subject (a noun or noun phrase) and a predicate (verb)

• Independent clause - a clause that creates its own complete thought and can stand on its own• Dependent clause - a clause that can not stand on its own because it doesn’t create a complete thought; it must be attached to an Independent clause to

survive and have purpose Think about the movie The Santa Clause with Tim Allen. Santa Claus, the person, isn’t spelled with the ‘e’ because the title is referring to a statement. Clauses are statements (with nouns and verbs), either dependent or independent.• Phrase - a group of words that work together somehow, but don’t create a complete thought A phrase is a half-thought like “After that” or “Oh joy!” These don’t contain much meaning on their own.• Periodic sentence - a complex sentence in which the main clause comes last and is preceded by the dependent clause(s) You’ll see this type of sentence in political speeches or letters. Usually, the writer or speaker is building up to some great idea or burning criticism, stacking clause atop clause atop clause until the final idea is so supported that no one could argue against it. Look for examples of this sort of sentence in “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” Martin Luther King, Jr. does this well by building a case for the suffering of African Americans.• Passive/Active Voice - Passive voice is when the subject of the sentence seems to receive the action of the verb: The pen is being held by me. Active voice is

when the subject is doing the action: I am holding the pen. Active-voice sentences are stronger, usually shorter, and more direct than passive-voice sentences.

• Rhyme - correspondence of sound between words or the endings of words, especially when these are used at the end of lines of poetry.• End rhyme - rhyming that happens at the end of a line of poetry• Internal rhyme - rhyming that happens within lines of poetry

• Parallel structure - a balance within one or more sentences of similar phrases or clauses that have the same structure Example: “… and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” (Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address). You will see this sort of structure within sentences and paragraphs in most political speeches or writings. Because ideas are presented in the same structure, our brains can more easily comprehend what is being said. Because we can understand what is said, ideas are transferred from one to another. Because of this, we have a society of human beings. Keep your eyes pealed for this structural design in “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, and Henry’s Speech to the Second Virginia Convention.• Comma - a punctuation mark that has the power to connect phrases to clauses, independent clauses to dependent clauses, words in a list, set information off

for emphasis, and modify a preceding noun, among other things. The comma is the speed bump of the punctuation world. With its power to pause, the comma controls the ebb and flow of a sentence, its rhythm, its speed. The comma can be used to divide. “The word comma is derived from Greek komma (clause), which came from koptein (to cup off). Indeed, a comma normally does ‘cut off’ one part of a sentence from another,” says Harry Shaw in Punctuate It Right! In this sense, the comma can control meaning itself, since the same sentence cut in different ways takes on entirely new meaning. (Lukeman, A Dash of Style)• Semi-colon - The primary function of a semi-colon is to connect two complete (and thematically similar) sentences, thereby making them one. I like to think of the semi-colon as the stronger brother of the comma. While commas cannot hold together two complete sentences (or independent clauses), semi-colons can. Semi-colons leave the weak stuff--like attaching phrases to clauses or dependent clauses to independent clauses--to the comma and just tackle the tough jobs; however, semi-colons don’t stop sentences in their tracks like periods; they show that two sentences or clauses relate in some way.• Dash - a horizontal stroke in writing to indicate a pause or an elaboration of a prior thought “The dash is built to interrupt--it can strike with not warning. It can cut you off, stop conversations in its tracks, and redirect content any way it pleases. In fact, the word “dash” aptly derives from “to dash,” or to shatter or strike violently. Dashes--a strong punctuation mark--should be used sparingly because it interrupts flow. Flow is helpful to communication; sometimes, though, a splash of an idea set off by a dash can emphasize a point, but if you emphasize too many things, meaning gets lost and confused.• Figurative language - language that uses words or expressions with a meaning that is different from the literal interpretation; it often includes a comparison Simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole are all examples of figurative language. This sort of language adds art to our speech otherwise we’d sound like robots (see what I did there!), stating dryly expressed facts without imagination or surprise. Let your tongue twist the world into unexpected images ready to please and seduce the ears of your listeners--it is through the art of figurative language that you will capture souls as well as minds.

• Simile - the comparison of two dissimilar things using like or as (“...otherwise we’d sound like robots…”)• Metaphor - the comparison of two dissimilar things by implying one thing is the other and not just like it (Her voice is music to his ears.)• Personification - a figure of speech when a thing, object, or animal is given human characteristics (“Let your tongue twist the world into unexpected

images…”)• Hyperbole - an exaggeration for effect (I have a million things to do after school!)

• Imagery - language that activates the senses in order to create a reality of sense in written expression; if it seems more real, it will stick. It is often said that people can “picture” a book in their minds as if they were watching the book flash across their eyes like a movie. This is achieved by imagery without the reader ever stepping in to the large, dark cave of a theater, breathing in a mixture of stale buttery popcorn and the cigarette stench from the guy from a few seats down. Imagery makes it so that the jarring splash of someone’s grandmother’s cell phone doesn’t cut into the most important part of the movie. Imagery brings the movie theater to your own skull.• Rhetorical question - a statement that is formulated as a question but is not supposed to be answer. (How long do we have to put up with this treatment until

we do something about it?) These questions are really statements meant to provoke someone to think about a topic in a new or specific way. They don’t necessary always have clear answers, nor do their users want one; what they do want is the reader or audience to think carefully about the ideas they are proposing or criticizing.

DUE EVERY MONDAY | Using one of the words above, analyze how the assigned texts exhibits this word. Your purpose is to analyze and discuss how the word is used throughout the assigned text. Your writing should form a whole, focused thought with a clear thesis. Consider this assignment an essay. Highlight or bold the word when used. Length: 1000 words. (You may not exceed 1000 words. For every word beyond 1000, one point will be taken off your grade. Make every word count. Use active voice!)

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Learning Goal

Students will analyze the language techniques (diction and structure) poets employ to further the purpose and meaning of specific poetry.

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Learning Scale Where are you?

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Introduction to Poetry Billy Collins

I ask them to take a poemand hold it up to the lightlike a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem 5and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem's roomand feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterskiacross the surface of a poem 10waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to dois tie the poem to a chair with ropeand torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose 15to find out what it really means.

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Notice that this poem doesn’t rhyme at all! Go back and reread it. This isn’t a mistake or laziness on the part of the poet; instead, this poem conforms to the rules of a type of poetry written in free verse. Free verse is exactly what you

think it is: poetry written without rules, that is free to present itself as the author would like. The real magic of this poem is its abundant use of metaphors--or

comparisons--to express different ways of reading a poem. This poem also satirizes, or pokes fun at, the way that some people read poetry with the comparison of

reading poetry to torture.

Vocabulary ApplicationIt’s time to apply one of our vocabulary

words to this poem. Reread the definition of simile on page 2. Now, briefly describe how simile is used to make meaning in this poem.

Ready. Set. Go!

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Terrorist Poem Frank Finale

This poem is dangerous. This poem wears a ski mast & carries a banana clip full of cliches. It is not afraid

to die for a cause. This poemdisguised itself & slipped pastyour security. Itholds you hostage in yourown office & will not release youtill demands are met. This poem is part of an undergroundnetwork of poems trained to infiltrate& disrupt. You can not escape it. If this poem can not getwhat it wants, there are a thousand more to take its place.

Already it has killed your time.

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The Road Not Taken Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,And having perhaps the better claim,Because it was grassy and wanted wear;Though as for that the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I kept the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.

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Check for Understanding

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1. What type of figurative language is used throughout the majority of the poem?

3. What does Frost use the two diverging roads to symbolize?

2. How is one path different from the other? 4. What season does the poem take place?

The following questions measure your basic comprehension of the text. Textual evidence is not required to respond to these questions. You must write in complete sentences. Any response that is not in a complete sentence will not be counted.

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Fire and Ice Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice.From what I've tasted of desireI hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice,I think I know enough of hateTo say that for destruction iceIs also greatAnd would suffice.

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1. What is the speaker favor? 3. What is ice compared to in the poem?

2. What is fire compared to? 4. What is the speaker’s second choice?


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When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer Walt Whitman

WHEN I heard the learn’d astronomer; When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me; When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them; When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick; Till rising and gliding out, I wander’d off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

ON the beach at night alone,As the old mother sways her to and fro singing her husky song,As I watch the bright stars shining, I think a thought of the clef of the universes and of the future. A vast similitude interlocks all,All spheres, grown, ungrown, small, large, suns, moons, planets, All distances of place however wide,All distances of time, all inanimate forms,All souls, all living bodies though they be ever so different, or in different worlds,All gaseous, watery, vegetable, mineral processes, the fishes, the brutes,All nations, colors, barbarisms, civilizations, languages, All identities that have existed or may exist on this globe, or any globe,All lives and deaths, all of the past, present, future,This vast similitude spans them, and always has spann'd,And shall forever span them and compactly hold and enclose them.

On the Beach at Night Alone Walt Whitman

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1. What does “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” suggest about the astronomers approach to his subject?

3. In “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”, what does the speaker do in lines 6-8?

2. In “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”, what techniques does the astronomer use to present information?

4. In “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”, what conclusions can you draw based on his actions in lines 6-8?


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O Me! O Life! Walt Whitman

O me! O life! of the questions of these recurring,Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me, Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer.That you are here—that life exists and identity,That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.

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We Real Cool Gwendolyn Brooks

The Pool Players. Seven at the Golden Shovel.

We real cool. We Left school. We

Lurk late. We Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We Die soon.

from “Gwendolyn the Terrible,” A Life Distilled: Gwendolyn Brooks, Her Poetry and Fiction Hortense J. Spillers

“We Real Cool,” “illustrates the wealth of implication that the poet can achieve in a very spare poem: . . .” The simplicity of the poem is stark to the point of elaborateness. Less than lean, it is virtually coded. Made up entirely of monosyllables and end-stops, the poem is no non-sense at all. Gathered in eight units of three-beat lines, it does not necessarily invite inflection, but its persistent bump on "we" suggests waltz time to my ear. If the reader chooses to render the poem that way, she runs out of breath, or trips her tongue, but it seems that such "breathlessness" is exactly required of dudes hastening toward their death. Deliberately subverting the romance of sociological pathos, Brooks presents the pool players--"seven in the golden shovel"--in their own words and time. They make no excuse for themselves and apparently invite no one else to do so.

“Brooks’ We Real Cool,” Explicator Barbara B. Sims

Until the last line, the element of bravado in the diction and rhythm has made the activities of the street people seem somehow defensible, if not downright desirable. A certain pride in being outside the conventions, institutions, and legal structures of the predominant society is conveyed. Escaping the drudgery and dullness of school and work has left the lives of these drop-outs open to many romantic possibilities. However, the tone changes dramatically when the reader learns the street people "Die soon." At once their defiant and complacent attitudes seem quite pathetic, and the reader wonders whom the cool people are trying to kid about the desirability of their disordered lives.

The Period EffectReread the poem after reading the analyses below. Then write a reflection discussing how Brooks’ use of short sentences stopped by periods abruptly in the middle of her lines. What effect does this add to the poem and to your understanding and experience of it? Use evidence from the poem and the texts to the right in your response._______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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1. What is significant about the final line of the poem?

3. Why does Brooks put “We” at the end of almost every line?

2. Who is most likely the speaker of the poem? 4.In the lines "We / lurk late," the poet suggests that he and his friends


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I’m Nobody! Who Are You? Emily Dickinson

I’m nobody! Who are you?Are you nobody, too?Then there’s a pair of us--don’t tell!They’d banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!How public, like a frogTo tell your name the livelong dayTo an admiring bog!

Hope is the thing with feathersThat perches in the soul,And sings the tune without the words,And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;And sore must be the stormThat could abash the little birdThat kept so many warm.I’ve heard it in the chillest land,And on the strangest sea;Yet, never, in extremity,It asked a crumb of me.

Hope is the Thing with Feathers Emily Dickinson

Vocabulary ApplicationIt’s time to apply one of our vocabulary words to this poem. Reread the definition of comma on page 2. Now, briefly describe how the comma is used to enhance meaning in “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” Ready. Set. Go!

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1. What is the reader assumed to be in "I'm Nobody! Who are you?"

3. In “Hope is the Thing with Feathers”, how does hope get you through a rough spot?

2. Provide an example of figurative language in “I’m Nobody! Who are you?”. What type of figurative language is it?

4.In “Hope is the Thing with Feathers”, what does hope do? What will hope never do?


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Mother to Son Langston Hughes

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 darkWhere 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.

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1. What is meant by lines 3 & 4? 3. What is the advice given in this poem?

2. What type of figurative language is used in line 2? 4. Who is honey?


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The Ivy Crown William Carlos Williams

The whole process is a lie, unless, crowned by excess,It breaks forcefully, one way or another, 5 from its confinement—or finds a deeper well. Antony and Cleopatra were right;they have shown 10 the way. I love you or I do not liveat all.

Daffodil time is past. This is 15 summer, summer!the heart says, and not even the full of it. No doubtsare permitted— 20 though they will come and maybefore our time overwhelm us. We are only mortal 25but being mortal can defy our fate. We mayby an outside chance even win! We do not 30 look to seejonquils and violets come again but there are,still, 35 the roses!

Romance has no part in it. The business of love is

cruelty which,by our wills, 40 we transform to live together.It has its seasons, for and against, whatever the heart 45fumbles in the dark to assert toward the end of May.Just as the nature of briars is to tear flesh, 50 I have proceededthrough them. Keep the briars out,they say. 55 You cannot live and keep free ofbriars.

Children pick flowers. Let them. 60 Though having themin hand they have no further use for them but leave them crumpledat the curb's edge. 65

At our age the imagination across the sorry facts lifts usto make roses stand before thorns. 70 Surelove is cruel and selfish and totally obtuse—at least, blinded by the light, 75 young love is.

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But we are older,I to love and you to be loved, we have, 80no matter how, by our wills survived to keepthe jeweled prize always 85 at our finger tips.We will it so and so it is past all accident.

The Red WheelbarrowWilliam Carlos Williams

so much dependsupona red wheelbarrow

glazed with rain 5water

beside the whitechickens.

“Vers Libre,” William Carlos Williams: Selected PoemsCharles Tomlinson

ON HIS LATER POETIC FORM often described as free verse (otherwise known as vers libre), Williams writes: “This is the conception of the action that I want. In the other direction, inward: Imagination creates an image, point by point, piece by piece, segment by segment--into a whole, living. But each part as it plays into its neighbor, each segment into its neighbor and every part into every other, causing the whole--exists naturally in rhythm, and as there are waves there are tides and as there are ridges in the sand there are bars and bars of music.”

“The Gap Between Words and Form,” William Carlos Williams: Selected PoemsCharles Tomlinson

J. HILLIS MILLER in his book Poets of Reality has argued that Williams marks an historic moment for modern poetry in that his work sees the disappearance of all dualism. If it is not from dualism it is yet from a duality that much of the interest of his work arises: the words “accurately accompany” a perception of the forms of reality, they dance over or with these forms, but it is the gap between words and forms that gives poetry its chance to exist and to go on existing. Williams’s most truncated and Zen-like expression of this fact comes in the tiny poem “The Red Wheelbarrow.” What depends on the red wheelbarrow for Williams is the fact that its presence can be rendered over into words, that the perception can be slowed down and meditated on by regulating, line by line, the gradual appearance of these words. The imagination “accurately accompanies” the wheelbarrow, or whatever facets of reality attract Williams, by not permitting too ready and emotional a fusion with them.

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Reading Response

First-draft Reading | Summary

Second-Draft Reading | ApplicationScatter-BrainedWhen you first look at Williams’ poem you immediately think: “This guy’s so scatter-brained!” The words appear to be everywhere without order or structure or reason like other poems; instead, however, Williams describes his intent in the little excerpt above: “Imagination creates an image, point by point, piece by piece, segment by segment--into a whole, living.” Pick 5 or 10 lines from the poem above and describe how the structure and spacing helps your imagination create the image and the meaning. Is the structure and short lines meant to emphasize or just slow our reading down so that we can fully digest the poet’s images and meaning?

In the space below, please write a clear and concise summary of “The Ivy Crown.” Be sure to answer as many of the following questions as possible: Who? What? Where? When? Why? And How?

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1. What is the primary subject of Williams’ poem? 3. What do lines 37-42 suggest about love?

2. Who does the speaker seem to be talking to? 4. What is the jeweled prize in line 84?

5. Relate the last three lines of the poem to your answer to question three. How do they relate?

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Death Be not Proud - Holy Sonnet X John Donne

DEATH, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; For those, whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow, Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, 5Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee do go, Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery. Thou'rt slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, 10And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well, And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then? One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

from “An Apostrophe to Death,” The Classic Hundred Poems William Harmon

OF THE NINETEEN POEMS by Donne called “Holy Sonnets,” three have made it into the elite company of the present selection: this one as well as “Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God” and “At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners.” After a youth devoted to the life of a lawyer, diplomat, soldier, courier, and hell-raiser, Donne became in his mid-forties a famous preacher. His poetry also became much more serious and pious, although he kept up some of the same practices as a writer. What had worked for secular love poems could work as effectively for sacred love poems--such as “Go and Catch a Falling Star”-- could also sound the keynote of otherworldly poems. In fact, all three of the Holy Sonnets here begin with imperatives: “be not proud, batter my heart, blow your trumpets.” In this poem death is no remote abstraction. No: it is Death, to whom a person can talk. The poem begins with a stern warning and then passes on to subtle fake sympathy for “poor” Death. The tone then changes again to a hush with talk of rest and sleep. The climax comes in a jam-packed line: “Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men.”

Composed: around 1609Published: 1633Form: Italian sonnet rhyming abbaabbacddcee.

Vocabulary ApplicationIt’s time to apply one of our vocabulary words to this poem. Reread the definition of personification on page 2. Now, briefly describe how personification is used to make meaning in this poem. Ready. Set. Go!

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The Altar George Herbert

A broken ALTAR, Lord thy servant rears,Made of a heart, and cemented with teares:

Whose parts are as thy hand did frame;No workman’s tool hath touch'd the same

A HEART aloneIs such a stone,As nothing butThy pow'r doth cut.Wherefore each partOf my hard heartMeets in this frame,To praise thy name:

That if I chance to hold my peace,These stones to praise thee may not cease.

O let thy blessed SACRIFICE be mine,And sanctifie this ALTAR to be thine.

Vocabulary ApplicationIt’s time to apply one of our vocabulary words to this poem. Reread the definition of diction on page 2. Now, briefly describe how diction is used to make meaning in this poem. Ready. Set. Go!

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Reading Response

First-draft Reading | Summary

Second-Draft Reading | ApplicationOn page 6 you read about the qualities that metaphysical poetry are defined by. Then you read to famous metaphysical poems. Using all of these experiences, write your own poem in the metaphysical style. Refer back to the types of themes or topics that metaphysical poems focus on. Don’t worry about being perfect or being a terrible writer; just get something down with great effort. If you’d like, your poem may take a shape like Herbert’s “The Altar.”

In the space below, please write a clear and concise summary of both “Death Be Not Proud--Holy Sonnet X” and “The Altar.” Be sure to answer as many of the following questions as possible: Who? What? Where? When? Why? And How?

Documents

Bradford High School Mrs. Adkins POETRY PACKETmrsadkinsbhs.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/74270480/Poetry Packet... · Bradford High School English Department Mrs. Adkins Poetry ... dark