Poetry

Colleen Tolle

Communications

Wayzata High School

1. Intro to Poetry2. Glossary of terms3. Sounds of poetry A. Rhythm

- feet - meterB. “Lineage” and “The Courage that My Mother Had” C. “Song of the Open Road” and “The Road Not Taken”

4. Poetry ExplicationA. NotesB. Wm Blake Chronology.C. “The Tyger” and “The Lamb”D. “The Fountain”

5. Poetry Analysis and example essayA. NotesB. “Counting the Beats”

6. Forms of Poetry A. Ballad

- ”Bonny Barbara Allan”B. Sonnet

- Petrarch- Shakespeare

7. Poetry examplesA. “Incident in a Rose Garden”B. “The Seven Ages of Man”

8. Poetry Unit Test

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Introductory Example from a poem by Eugene Field

THE GINGHAM DOG AND THE CALICO CAT SIDE BY SIDE ON THE TABLE SAT.

the GINGham DOG and the CAlico CAT 

SIDE by SIDE on the TAble SAT

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Foot:

the basic unit of measurement for counting accents in poetry.

***Each foot contains only 2 or 3 syllables.***

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1.Iambic foot: _____ syllables.Emphasis on ______.

Ex) suggestEx)) pretendEx))) Renee

NOUN: Iamb

Types of Feet

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2. Trochaic foot: _____ syllables. Emphasis on _____.

Ex) problemEx)) ratherEx))) Robert

NOUN: Trochee

Types of Feet, continued

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3. Anapestic foot: _____ syllables.

Emphasis on ______.

Ex) interruptEx)) understandEx))) apprehend

NOUN: Anapest

Types of Feet, continued

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4. Dactylic foot: _____ syllables.

Emphasis on ______.

Ex) murmuring Ex)) ruminateEx))) Henderson

NOUN: Dactyl

Types of Feet, continued

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5. Spondaic foot: ______ syllables.

Emphasis on ______.

Ex) SeagullEx)) Penguin

NOUN: Spondee

Types of Feet, continued

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6. Pyrrhic foot: ____ syllables. Emphasis on ______.

Ex) in theEx)) as he

NOUN: Pyrrh

Types of Feet, continued

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7. Amphibrach foot: _____ syllables.

Emphasis on ______.

Ex) whateverEx)) ambitious

NOUN: Amphibrach

Types of Feet, continued

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8. Amphimacer foot: _____ syllables.Emphasis on _______.

Ex) twenty-twoEx)) underfed

NOUN: Amphimacer

Types of Feet, continued

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Meter: Is the number of feet in a line of poetry.

Infinite number of feet possible for a line of poetry, but traditionally stops at eight.

1. monometer = a line of poetry with only one foot

2. dimeter = a line with two feet3. trimeter = a line with three feet

4. tetrameter =a line with four feet

5. pentameter = a line with five feet (Shakespeare's favorite)

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6. Hexameter =a line with six feet (popular in French poetry) 7. Heptameter = a line with seven feet

8. Octameter =a line with eight feet

Meter cont.

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Thus I

Pass by

And die. Robert Herrick

Summers

Blend their

Colors

Rarely.Jessie Jones

Monometer

When the dark

Of a spring

Interrupts,*

There is one

Who will serve. Jessie Jones

*Note: words like “interrupts” may reflect different feet depending oncontext.

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Money

Workers earn it.

Spendthrifts burn it.Bankers lend it.Women spend it.Forgers fake it.Taxes take it.Dying leave it.

Heirs receive it. Thrifty save it. Misers crave it.

Robbers seize it. Rich increase it. Gamblers lose it.

I could use it. Richard

Armour

Somersaults acrobats

Fly in their leotards

Over the murmuring

Summertime crowds. Unknown

Dimeter

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The idle life I lead

Is like a pleasant sleep,

Wherein I rest and heed

The dreams that by me sweep.

Robert Bridges

Trimeter

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Tetrameter

The hills, the meadows, and the lakes,

Enchant not for their own sweet sakes.

They cannot know, they cannot care

To know that they are thought so fair.Unknown

The grave's a fine and quiet place,

But none I think do there embrace. Andrew Marvell

NOTE: Tetrameter was used widely in the writing of plays

in England before writers like Christopher Marlowe and Shakespeare made iambic pentameter the

standard meter in theater.

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True wit is Nature to advantage dressed.

What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed.

The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read,

With loads of learned lumber in his head.

Alexander Pope

Pentameter

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Hexameter

From "The Eve of St. Agnes"

To think how they may ache in icy hoods and mails.

John Keats

NOTE: Keats wrote "The Eve of St. Agnes" using Spenserian stanzas. Each stanza ends with a line in hexameter. The stanza is called "Spenserian" because it was invented by Edmund Spenser in the 16th century for his poem "The Faerie Queene."

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From “Casey at the Bat” It looked extremely rocky for the Mudville nine that day.

The score stood four to six with but an inning left to play.

And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,

A pall-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game.Ernest Lawrence Thayer

NOTE: This meter was very popular in early 16th century England and remains usually comic in tone.

Heptameter

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Octameter

From “The Raven”

Once upon a midnight dreary while I pondered weak and weary

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,

While I nodded nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

Edgar Allen Poe

NOTE: The internal rhyme at the caesura (a natural pause or break) in lines three and four.

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Poetry Explication—the study of poetry

Step I. Examine the situation of the poem.

StoryEmotion or moodSpeakerTone

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Poetry Explication—the study of poetry

Step II. Examine the structure of the poem.Form of poemMovement of images and ideas—

chronological, cause/effect, free association, circular

Syntax of sentences, parts of speechPunctuation of lines—end-stopped line or

enjambmentTitle of poem

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Poetry Explication—the study of poetry

Step III. Examine the language of the poem.

DictionConnotationsAllusionsImageryFigurative language

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Poetry Explication—the study of poetry

Step IV. Examine the sound of the poem.

Rhyme scheme—ir/regular rhyme, in/formal rhyme scheme, relation to mood

Rhythm/Meter and its tonal effectPoetic devices for sound—

alliteration, assonance, consonance

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Poetry Analysis—the essay

Paragraph I. (Not a formal introductory

paragraph)Describe the conflicts in the poem

and the dramatic situation—who, what when, where, why.

“This poem dramatizes the conflict between . . .”

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Paragraph IIExpand the discussion of the conflict. Explain the poem, line by line, in

terms of the poem’s form, rhetoric, syntax, and vocabulary.

Paragraph IIIIncorporate important elements of

rhyme, rhythm, and meter.

Poetry Analysis—the essay

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Paragraph FinalNo formal concluding paragraphDo not simply restate ideas from introduction.Focus on sound effects or visual patterns from

poem to reinforce conflict.Points to considerRefer to the speaking voice in the poem as “the

speaker” or “the poet,” not by the poet’s name. Use present tense verbs throughout the analysis.

The poem continues to exist even if the poet does not!

Poetry Analysis—the essay

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Instructions: Poetry Rhythm Quiz

Write down Foot/Meter Bank. (no symbols)

Write down each line of poetry.

Scan each line of poetry. (symbols + dividers)

At end of each line of poetry, write the corresponding foot and meter.

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Poetry Rhythm Quiz Bank: Feet & Meters

IambicTrochaicAnapesticDactylicSpondaicPyrrhicAmphibrachAmphimacer

MonometerDimeterTrimeterTetrameterPentameterHexameterHeptameterOctameter

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QUIZ 1: Poetry Rhythm

1. I saw eternity the other night.

2. When silent I so many thousand, thousand years.

3. To fight aloud is very brave

4. Death, be not proud, though some have callèd thee.

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Quiz 2: Poetry Rhythm

1. Play, Phoebus, on thy lute,And we will all sit mute.

2. In Xanadu, did Kubla-Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree:

3. She walks in beauty, like the nightOf cloudless climes and starry skies.

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Quiz 3: Poetry Rhythm Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.Sonnet 18, William Shakespeare

Because I could not stop for Death,He kindly stopped for me.

Because I Could Not Stop for Death, Emily Dickinson

Tyger! Tyger! burning brightIn the forests of the night,What immortal hand or eyeCould frame thy fearful symmetry?

Tyger! Tyger!, William Blake

But I have promises to keep,And miles to go before I sleep

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening, Robert Frost 34