Grade 9 Unit 3 : Poetry

Grade 9 Unit 3 : Poetry

Table of Contents

Introduction 2

Unit Objectives 2

Lesson 1: Types and Features of Poetry 3 Warm-up! 3 Learn About It! 4 Check Your Understanding 9 Let’s Step Up! 10

Lesson 2: Literary Devices and Techniques to Craft Poetic Forms 11 Warm-up! 11 Learn About It! 12 Check Your Understanding 16 Let’s Step Up! 17

Performance Task 18

Self-Check: How Well Did I Learn? 20

Wrap Up 20

Bibliography 21

GRADE 9 |English

UNIT 3

Poetry The English Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge once stated that poetry is “the best words in the best order”. People can express their thoughts and feelings in various ways, but in poetry, these have to be conveyed by showing, not merely telling. Thus, poets have to deliberately and creatively use words and arrange them in lines to best deliver what they mean, but in a subtle yet concrete way. This unit will introduce you to the different features and types of poetry as well as the literary devices that poets use to put forward their sentiments and insights done differently in writing prose.

Unit Objectives

In this unit, you should be able to:

● identify types and features of poetry; and ● use literary devices and techniques to craft poetic forms.

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Lesson 1: Types and Features of Poetry

Poetry is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, forms of literature that is still existing and popular today. In the ancient period, it was recited and sung by people to remember their history, their hero’s adventures, their laws, and their everyday experiences. Recently, printed forms of poetry have been complimented and spread further by digital platforms, making it available for almost everybody. Since then, poetry has evolved into different forms, influenced by the changing times, philosophies, and values of people. However, some of its features remain the same and will perhaps be forever marks of true poetry.

Warm-up!

Read Archibald Macleash's poem, Ars Poetica (roughly translates as "The Art of Poetry"). A copy can be found online. Share your thoughts on the following questions with a partner:

1) What does the poem say about poetry writing itself? 2) Does it give a meaningful standard in writing poems? Cite lines from the poem

that prove your point. 3) After reading the poem Ars Poetica, is there a change in the way you look at

poems?


Learn About It!

1. Elements of Poetry The following are the classic features or elements of poetry that make it distinct from prose:

A. Persona Readers must consider the characteristics, traits, perspective, and values of the persona to understand why the persona expresses their thoughts and feelings that way. Look at the first stanza of the poem “Gretel in Darkness” by Louise Gluck:

This is the world we wanted. All who would have seen us dead are dead. I hear the witch's cry

break in the moonlight through a sheet of sugar: God rewards.

Her tongue shrivels into gas . . .

The persona is the helpless, and distressed Gretel after she and Hansel escaped the

house of the witch.

B. Dramatic Situation The dramatic situation is the story behind the poem. It is the equivalent of the features of setting (where and when the situation happens), plot (what event or experience is being described in the poem), and conflict in fiction (what conflict is happening), combined. For example, the persona can be expressing his/her sadness upon the death of a loved one while being beside his/her lover’s tomb.


C. Images These are the mental pictures in a poem that make the poet’s ideas concrete for the readers. The following are the kinds of images directly related to people’s senses:

Senses Meaning Examples of Images

visual what we see brightly-colored lights, tall skyscrapers, etc. olfactory referring to the smell of things the pungent smell of the trash, the

fragrant roses, etc. auditory what we hear the loud racket of market-goers, the

silence in the chapel, etc. gustatory the taste of certain things the salty dried fish, the spicy barbecue,

etc. tactile what we can touch or feel the rough surface of the rock, the smooth

skin of a baby, etc. Organic

felt inside the body grumbling stomach

kinesthetic related to temperature or movement

humid weather

D. Symbolism - is an object or person that represents an abstract idea. For example, a train can be a symbol for technology as in the poem of Ezra Pound, In a Station of a Metro. Train is the object used as symbol, while technology is the abstract idea or concept concretized by the symbol.

E. Figure of Speech - are words with meaning beyond the literal that help concretize an abstract idea and add color and meaning to the poem.

Death is absolute and without memorial, As in a season of autumn,

When the wind stops.

For example, in the lines from Wallace Stevens’ Death of a Soldier, metaphor and simile are used in comparing and describing death.


F. Diction - is the careful choice of words. Take a look at this line:

The Soul selects her own Society —

In this line, Emily Dickinson deliberately chose the words soul and society to show how serious and sincere the persona is in choosing his/her friends out of the many that s/he could possibly choose from.

G. Syntax - is the careful arrangement of words in a poem. Take a look at the poem The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams.

so much depends upon

a red wheel

barrow glazed with rain water

beside the white chickens.

His arrangement of words and the awkward division of words (such as wheel - barrow) can create a feeling of uneasiness in the reader; however, the uneasiness can compel the reader to focus on the detail, as William Carlos Williams breaks the normal way we look at lines and sentences to induce a new reading experience.

H. Tone - is the attitude of the persona (or the writer) towards the subject or the dramatic situation. For example, the persona is angry, or to be more specific, sarcastic about a political or social situation portrayed in the poem. I. Sound and Sense - is the use of sound devices to match the meaning of the poem.


He stood, and heard the steeple Sprinkle the quarters on the morning town.

One, two, three, four, to market-place and people It tossed them down.

Strapped, noosed, nighing his hour,

He stood and counted them and cursed his luck; And then the clock collected in the tower

Its strength, and struck.

For example, in the poem “Eight O’Clock” by A.E. Housman, the underlined sounds are considered harsh sounds which are just fitting to the subject of the poem which is the impending death of the “He” due to a cruel public execution which then in England happens every 8:00 a.m.

2. Types of Poetry The earliest poetic forms came from the Greeks. As a civilization heavily focused on art and aesthetics, the Greeks immersed themselves in writing poetry to express their thoughts and ideas on not only the nature that surrounded them, but also on issues, ideas, and principles that mattered to them most. As such, they created three kinds of poetry, namely: 1) narrative; 2) dramatic; and 3) lyric.

A. Narrative Poetry Narrative poetry tells a story. The story may be long, short, thrilling, sad, or funny. Narrative poetry exists for the purpose of telling a story, and the story is its chief and only purpose. Like a story, it contains elements of fiction such as character, setting, plot, and dialogue. It also contains the elements of poetry. An epic is an example of narrative poetry. This is a long poem


written in a noble, dignified style and tells of heroic exploits performed by great heroes. Beowulf is an epic of Old English origin that speaks of the deeds of the hero and king of the same name.

B. Dramatic Poetry

Dramatic poetry or poetic drama also tells a story. However, unlike narrative poetry, it is spoken and performed on stage. Stage play, a term familiar to Shakespeare himself, exactly describes it. However, within less than a hundred years after Shakespeare’s death, prose took the place of poetry in drama. Ever since then, with a few exceptions here and there, plays have been written in prose.

Below is an example from William Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, Romeo and Juliet:

JULIET O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name! Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

ROMEO [aside] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?

C. Lyric Poetry

Lyric poetry was originally meant to be sung to the accompaniment of a musical instrument such as the lyre. The word lyric itself comes from the Greek word for lyre. A lyre is a kind of stringed harp on which the poets and singers of the classic age accompanied themselves when they sang. In this sense, then, lyric poetry means ‘verse that is meant to be sung; song poetry.’ Today, lyric poetry refers to any poem that expresses a feeling, voices a mood, and reveals a desire.

There are different kinds of lyric poetry:


● Song - is a poem intended to be sung. William Blake’s “The Lamb” is a type of

Song.

● Ode - is addressed in an exalted manner to an object or person. “Ode on Solitude by the English poet Alexander Pope is an example of an Ode.

● Ballad - is a simple tale in simple verse. In the old times, they are folk songs

handed down by oral tradition. Edgar Allan Poe’s “Annabel Lee” is a famous ballad that tells the story of a woman he loved until her untimely death.

● Elegy - has death and mourning for its theme, and has also developed to deliver

powerful messages of grief to the reader. Oliver Goldsmith, an Irish poet, wrote “An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog” to appeal to the emotions of and mercy and compassion not only through words, but also in practice.

● Sonnet - is a poem of 14 lines that follow the iambic pentameter measure.

William Shakespeare, an English poet and playwright, wrote a collection of 154 sonnets to talk about various topics such as love and the daily struggles of life.

Check Your Understanding

Read the poem and answer the following questions:

I saw her and my heart went thumping She was the soft warm light.

I felt sure and secure It was her all along.


Eyes like the dark starry night She walks with beauty and grace

I froze on the spot and stared It was her. It will always be her.

1. Describe the persona in the poem. 2. What is the dramatic situation? 3. Discuss the images in the poem. 4. What is the tone of the poem? Why? 5. What type of poem is this? Why?

Let’s Step Up!


Lesson 2: Literary Devices and Techniques to Craft Poetic Forms

Just like painters, musicians, dancers, and other artists, poets use devices and techniques in order convey their meaning in the most effective way. Not only do these tools reinforce the theme of the poem, but they help make abstract ideas concrete and they emphasize certain ideas, requiring the reader’s concentration. Sometimes, poets also use them to create a familiar experience unfamiliar for the readers, giving readers a new perspective of things we usually see as normal or routinary.

Warm-up!

Chalkboard Splash Read Tom Zart’s “A Good Poem” individually. As a class, take turns in answering the question: “What makes a good poem?” Write your thoughts on the board and discover similar responses!


Learn About It! Writing poetry can sometimes be tricky; however, several techniques and literary devices can be employed by writers to create poems that are worth reading. Below are common poetic devices and techniques: 1. Alliteration - is the repetition of sounds, especially initial consonant sounds in two or more adjacent words. Some common examples include tongue twisters like the one below: “She sells seashells by the seashore.” Where the ‘s’ sound is repeated. 2. Allusion - refers directly or indirectly to something which is assumed to be known by everyone, such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art. In this excerpt from "Ode to a Grecian Urn" by John Keats, Sylvan is the Roman god (and immortal, therefore, he is someone who can speak of history) of the woods and fields, alluded in this first stanza:

Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness, Thou foster-child of silence and slow time, Sylvan historian, who canst thus express A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape Of deities or mortals, or of both, In Tempe or the dales of Arcady? What men or gods are these? What maidens loth? What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?


3. Apostrophe - is directly addressing an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstract idea. In the nursery rhyme, "The Star" by Jane Taylor, she addresses the inanimate object (the star) as if it were alive and can talk:

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are?"

4. Assonance - is the repetition of vowel sounds to create internal rhyming within phrases or sentences. Check Edgar Allan Poe’s Bells:

While the stars that oversprinkle All the heavens, seem to twinkle With a crystalline delight; Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme,

The long “e” sound in /spr-EEn-kel/ and /twEEn-kel/ as well as the “ai” sound in /de-lAYt/, /tAYm/ and /rAYm/ are examples of assonance. 5. Irony - is the contrast between what is stated explicitly and what is really meant. There are two sub-kinds applicable in poetry:

a. verbal irony - words literally state the opposite of speaker's true meaning.

● Sarcasm - involves ironic, bitter, and sharp language that is meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something. Take for example a scene in Julius Caesar, where William Shakespeare imagined Mark Antony delivering a speech in the deceased emperor’s funeral: The noble Brutus hath told you Caesar was ambitious: if it were so, it was a grievous fault, and grievously hath Caesar answer’d it. (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar)


Here, he called Brutus “noble” despite him delivering the killing blow to Caesar.

● Hyperbole - is a figure of speech using deliberate exaggeration of an event or action. In Paul Bunyan's epic (The American version of our own Bernardo Carpio), it is stated: "Well now, one winter it was so cold that all the geese flew backward and all the fish moved south and even the snow turned blue"

● Understatement--is the opposite of overstatement; it is the ironic minimalizing of fact, presents something as less significant than it is.

MERCUTIO I am hurt. A plague o' both your houses! I am sped. Is he gone, and hath nothing?

BENVOLIO What, art thou hurt? MERCUTIO Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch; marry, 'tis enough. Where is my page? Go, villain, fetch a surgeon.

In this excerpt from “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare, Mercutio understates the wound that he got from Tybalt’s stab.

b. situational irony - events turn out the opposite of what was expected like in Edwin Arlington Robinson’s ballad, “Richard Cory”, everyone in the town looks up to Richard Cory for he is wealthy and well-bred--as though his life is perfect, but one day the collective persona learns that he ironically “put a bullet in his head.”

6. Metaphor - is a direct comparison of seemingly unlike things. William Shakespeare, in his famous Sonnet 18, compares two unlike things directly:

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?


7. Metonymy - is a device wherein the name of one object is substituted for that of another closely associated with it. One type is synecdoche wherein a part represents the whole.

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.” [substitute for the people]- from Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

8. Onomatopoeia - is a sound device where the natural sounds are imitated in the sounds of words (e.g. buzz, hiss).

The Rusty Spigot (Eve Merriam) The rusty spigot sputters, utters a splutter, spatters a smattering of drops, gashes wider; slash, splatters, scatters, spurts, finally stops sputtering and plash! gushes rushes splashes clear water dashes.

9. Personification - the author presents or describes concepts, animals, or inanimate objects by giving them human attributes or emotions.

Excerpt from “Have you got a brook in your little heart” by Emily Dickinson

Have you got a brook in your little heart,


Where bashful flowers blow, And blushing birds go down to drink, And shadows tremble so?

Check Your Understanding

Read the poem below:

He was a lion with great courage Who roars with unending confidence She was the sound of gentle lullabies sweet and simple and lets us sleep.

Their love extends

To the ends of the universe Their love echoes

How pure and strong it can be.

Hearts that beat in harmony Through the test of time

The lion and the song Forever in each other's arms.

Identify the lines with figures of speech and give its explanation based on the poem.

Line Figure of Speech Meaning/Explanation


Let’s Step Up!


Performance Task

A FESTSCHRIFT OF POEMS

Try your hand at writing poetry and, as a class, produce a poetry book!

Goal: You will write your own poem using the literary techniques or devices presented in the lesson; this poem will then be compiled into a Festschrift (German for “a Festival of Writing”) Poetry Book by the class. Role: You are poets who will write for a Festschrift celebrating World Poetry Day (every 21st of March). Audience: The book will be presented to the UNESCO as your class’ contribution to the development of poetry as a discipline. Situation: The challenge involves integrating various literary techniques and devices in creating poems based on a theme selected by the class. The class will have to synthesize these poems and arrange them logically to create the best impact. Product/Performance and Purpose: Try your hand at writing Poetry and as a class, produce a Poetry Book: A Festschrift (German

for “A festival of Writing) Individual:

1. Write a poem consisting of five stanzas with four lines each stanza. You may write in free verse or with rhyme.

2. You may choose any inspiration for the poem you write. 3. Print your poem on a short bond paper, use Times New Roman font size 12.

Class: 4. Compile your poems together as a class. You have an option to book bind or ring bind

your work. Standards and Criteria for Success: You will be evaluated using the rubric provided.

Criteria Beginning Developing Accomplished Score


(0-12 points) (13-16 points)

(17-20 points)

Content (Focus on details/events are clearly evident; it is clearly related to the topic.)

Organization (Logical progression of details/events; clear transitions between ideas.)

Language (spelling, mechanics, grammar and usage)

Title Page/Book Cover and Table of Contents

Does not include the title page/book cover or the table of contents

Missing one or two requirements.

Artistically completed title page/book cover and table of contents.

Development of Poetic Detail and Originality of Work

Some poems were plagiarized.

All poems were created by the students; no poems were plagiarized

Illustrations and Graphics The poetry book does not have illustrations.

There are some pages with no illustrations.

Each page of the poetry book has an illustration that suits the poem.

Layout and Neatness The layout is incomprehensible. The work is dirty and unpresentable.

The layout could have been improved further but is acceptable.

The layout of the book is well thought of, there is an inclusion of authors’ bio notes, as well as a clean, organized, and


presentable output.

Total Score:

Self-Check: How Well Did I Learn?

Do a self-check on how well you learned the lessons in this unit. Place a checkmark in the appropriate box.

Skills I think I need more

practice and assistance

I am familiar and can perform well

with minimal assistance

I am confident that I can perform this on

my own

I can identify types and features of poetry.

I can use literary devices and techniques to craft poetic forms.

Wrap Up

● The elements that make up poetry are persona, dramatic situation, imagery, figurative language, tone, and sound and sense. ● The Greeks divided poetry into 3 categories: narrative (e.g., epic), lyric (song, ode, ballad, sonnet, and elegy), and dramatic. ● Literary devices and techniques were used by poets to creatively express their message using the most appropriate and effective words. The following are some of the common devices:

a. Alliteration e. Irony i. Personification b. Allusion f. Metaphor


c. Apostrophe g. Metonymy d. Assonance h. Onomatopoeia

Bibliography

Beowulf. 2005. Project Gutenberg. Accessed June 12, 2017. http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/16328/pg16328.txt

Blake, William. 2008. “The Lamb. Project Gutenberg. Accessed June 12, 2017.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1934/1934-0.txt

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. 2006. “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. Project Gutenberg. Accessed June 12, 2017. http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/151/pg151.txt

Dickinson, Emily. (2004). “Have you got a brook in your little heart”. Project Gutenberg.

Accessed June 16, 2017. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/12242/12242-h/12242-h.htm

Dickinson, Emily. (2001). “Success Is Counted Sweetest”. Project Gutenberg. Accessed June 16, 2017. http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2678/pg2678.txt

Dickinson, Emily. (2001). “Why?”. Project Gutenberg. Accessed June 16, 2017.

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2678/pg2678.txt

Donne, John. 2015. “Batter my heart, three-personed God”. Project Gutenberg. Accessed June 16, 2017. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/48688/48688-0.txt

Frost, Robert. 2009. “Stars”.Project Gutenberg. Accessed June 12, 2017.


Goldsmith, Oliver. 2005. “An Elegy On The Death Of A Mad Dog” Project Gutenberg. Accessed June 12, 2017. http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/17102/pg17102.txt

Housman. 2007. “Eight O’Clock”. Project Gutenberg. Accessed June 12, 2017.


Keats, John. 2007. “Ode to a Grecian Urn”. Project Gutenberg. Accessed June 17, 2017. http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/23684/pg23684.txt


Poe, Edgar Allan. 2008. “Bells”. Project Gutenberg. Accessed June 17, 2017.https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2148/2148-0.txt

Pope, Alexander. (2011). “Ode on Solitude”. Project Gutenberg. Accessed June 12, 2017.


Shakespeare, William. 1997. “Julius Caesar”. Project Gutenberg. Accessed June 16, 2017. http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1120/pg1120.txt

Shakespeare, William. 2000. “Macbeth”. Project Gutenberg. Accessed June 16, 2017.


Shakespeare, William. 2012. “Romeo and Juliet”. Project Gutenberg. Accessed June 12, 2017. http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1112/pg1112.txt.

Shakespeare, William. 2014. “Sonnets”. Project Gutenberg. Accessed June 16, 2017.


Whitman, Walt. 2008. “O Captain! O Captain!” Project Gutenberg. Accessed June 16, 2017. http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1322/pg1322.txt

Whitman, Walt. 2008. “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” Project Gutenberg. Accessed

June 16, 2017. http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1322/pg1322.txt

Wordsworth, William. 2017. “The World Is Too Much With Us.” Project Gutenberg Self-Publishing Press. Accessed June 16, 2017 http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/eng/The_World_Is_Too_Much_with_Us


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Grade 9 Unit 3 : Poetry