Poetry PacketPart 1

“Poetry is when an emotion

has found its thought and the

thought has found words.”

Robert Frost

Mr. Graves Guide: Poetry Analysis1. Look at the poem’s title for some clue as to what it might tell you

Sometimes the poem’s title won’t offer any insight until after you read it; nevertheless treat the title as part of the poem. Try to make some predictions based on the title.

2. Read the poem straight through without stopping to analyze itWhen reading a poem through the first time, don’t be distracted by trying to find meaning. Come back later to pick that flower. Read the poem for what it is: a performance, an event, an experience.

3. Start with what you knowDescribe one thing you know about the poem. What stuck out to you at first? Is it an image or an emotional reaction? If the poem makes you angry, why does it make you angry?

4. Look for patternsPatterns may be grammatical, sensory (sounds, colors, scents, etc.), objects related, evolving or changing from the beginning to the end of the poem.

5. Identify the narratorDo not assume the poet is the narrator. The narrator could be anyone from god to a neighbor. Test different narrative voices out in a poem to see if the text supports your notion of multiple personae.

6. Read the poem againIf you haven’t read the poem aloud yet, be sure to do that now. It is important to maintain a sense of the poem as a whole, as a complete performance. Too much analysis will cause the poem to otherwise fall apart in your hands. What parts of this poem should be emphasized while reading? Why?

7. Find the crucial momentsOften a poem, like a story, has moments when the action shifts, the direction changes, the meaning alters. This may be the moment where the poem jumps in an unexpected direction. Find the moments of heat or tension within the poem. What makes these aspects so important?

8. Consider form and functionWhat form is this poem? A couplet? A sonnet? Look for repetition, for rhythm and emphasis. Look at the white space surrounding the poem as the empty space of an artist’s canvas. Note the length and indentation of lines. Note lines per stanza. What meaning may this represent?

StanzaLine

Introduction to PoetryBy Billy Collins

I ask them to take a poemand hold it up to the light

like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poemand 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

waving 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 hoseto find out what it really means.

Who is the Speaker of this poem?:______________________________________

What is the Tone of the poem?:______________________________________

Elements of Poetry

1. Structure – the way the STANZAS and LINES are arranged.

a. Line- unit in which SENTENCES are divided

b. Stanza-LINES grouped in logical sections of ideas; like

PARAGRAPHS in an essay

2. Remember: when reading poetry, only stop if a comma or period

tells you to. Sentences may be more than one line.

3. Speaker - the PERSON or OBJECT who communicates the words

of the poem (not the author!!)

4. Tone - writer’s FEELINGS towards his/her subject

a. Tone is all about the writer’s word choice

b. Tone creates the MOOD

c. the writer is trying to create.

Sound Device Definition Example/Hint

OnomatopoeiaWhen a word’s pronunciation imitates its sound.

RepetitionRepeating a word or words for effect.

Meter

A poem’s rhythmic pattern, mainly determined by the strong and weak stresses a reader naturally places on the words.

RhymeRepetition of sounds at the ends of words (also called end rhyme or external rhyme)

AlliterationRepetition of initial consonant sounds.

Consonance

The repetition of consonant sounds in stressed syllables with different vowel sounds.Creates a near rhyme sound.

AssonanceThe repetition of vowel sounds in stressed syllables that do not rhyme.

Identifying Sounds of Poetry

Directions: Read the lines of poetry. Slash marks show where the lines break in the original poems. Identify two or more poetic techniques being used in each example and write them on the line. There may be more than two techniques being used. In the boxes below, explain each of your answers.

Answers: Alliteration, Consonance, Onomatopoeia, Repetition, Rhyme, Rhythm

1. I'm growing fonder of my staff; / I'm growing dimmer in the eyes;

I'm growing fainter in my laugh; / I'm growing deeper in my sighs;

Which techniques are being used (list two or more)?

2. Confound the cats! All cats--away-- / Cats of all colors, black, white, gray;

By night a nuisance and by day-- / Confound the cats! All cats, always.

Which techniques are being used (list two or more)?

3. I dreamed a dream next Tuesday week, / Beneath the apple-trees;

I thought my eyes were big pork-pies, / And my nose was Stilton cheese.

Which techniques are being used (list two or more)?

4. O Sea! whose ancient ripples lie on red-ribbed sands where seaweeds shone;

O moon! whose golden sickle's gone,

Which techniques are being used (list two or more)?

5. Across the moorlands of the Not / We chase the gruesome When;

And hunt the Itness of the What / Through forests of the Then.Which techniques are being used (list two or more)?

6. Big Balloons Bounce into the / Big Blue Sky / Up, up, and away / There they go

Which techniques are being used (list two or more)?

7. BANG!!! There goes another building, / BOOM!!! And there go 2 more,

Said the man who took target practice / In the seat of a military tank.

BAM!!! There goes another. / Life is hard when you don’t have a father to guide you.

BOOM!!! You could end up in jail, / BANG!!! You could end up crazy,

AHHHH!!! Or you could end up dead / Because you pressed the wrong button.

Which techniques are being used (list two or more)?

8. Buzz, goes the blue fly, / Hum, goes the bee,

Buzz and hum they cry, / And so do we:

Which techniques are being used (list two or more)?

SilverBy Walter de la Mare

Slowly, silently, now the moonWalks the night in her silver shoon;This way, and that, she peers, and seesSilver fruit upon silver trees; One by one the casements catchHer beams beneath the silvery thatch;Couched in his kennel, like a log,With paws of silver sleeps the dog;From their shadowy coat the white breasts peepOf doves in a silver-feathered sleep;A harvest mouse goes scampering by,With silver claws, and silver eye;And moveless fish in the water gleam,By silver reeds in a silver stream

Text Dependent Questions: Poem “Silver”

Text-dependent Questions Evidence-based Answers

The poem begins with the words “Slowly, silently...” (L. 1). What sound device is the poet using here? Why would the poet choose to begin the poem with the words “Slowly, silently” (L.1)

What context clues are in the poem that could help the reader figure out the meaning of the word “shoon?”

What does the speaker mean by saying the moon “walks the night in her silver shoon”

What is the mood of the poem?How do the rhymes and alliteration throughout the poem help create the mood or feeling of the poem?

What is meant by “one by one the casements catch/her beams beneath the silvery thatch” (L. 5-6)?

The poet also repeats the word “silver” several times in the poem. How does the repetition of this word help create the mood of the poem?

Ring out Wild Bells

By Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky.The flying cloud, the frosty light:

The year is dying in the night;Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,For those that here we see no more;Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,And ancient forms of party strife;Ring in the nobler modes of life,

With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,The faithless coldness of the times;

Ring out, ring out thy mournful rhymes,But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;Ring out the thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Cat!

By: Eleanor Farjeon

Cat!After her, after her,

Sleeky flatterer,Spitfire chatterer,

Scatter her, scatter herWuff!Wuff!

Treat her rough! Git her, git her,

Whiskery spitter!Catch her, catch her,

Green-eyed scratcher!SlatherySlitheryHisser,

Don't miss her!Run till you're dithery*,

HitheryThithery

Pfitts! pfitts!How she spits!Spitch! Spatch!

Can't she scratch!Scritching the bark

Of the sycamore-tree,She's reached her ark

And's hissing at mePfitts!Pfitts!Wuff! Wuff!

Scat,Cat!

That'sThat!

* Dithery- nervous and confused

Text Dependent Questions: Poem “Cat”

Text-dependent Questions Evidence-based Answers

Why did the author choose to use the word “wuff”?

Who could be the speaker of this poem? What evidence gives you clues about this?

What are some other examples of onomatopoeia in the poem?

How does the onomatopoeia and made-up sound words help the reader imagine the poem’s action?

How does the onomatopoeia help create the mood of the poem?

Thumbprint By Eve Merriam

On the pad of my thumbAre whorls, whirls, wheelsIn a unique design: mine aloneWhat a treasure to own!My own flesh, my own feelings.No other, however grand or base, Can ever contain the same.My signature,Thumbing the pages of my time.My universe key,My singularity.

Impress, implant,I am myself, Of all my atom parts I am the sum.And out of my blood and my brainI make my own interior weather.My own sun and rain.Imprint my mark upon the world,Whatever I shall become.

Word Synonym using Context Clue (during reading)

Dictionary Definition(after reading)

scampering

strife

spite

flatterer

singularity

imprint