Rhyme Scheme Review

How to figure out the rhyme scheme of a poem: Rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyming words in a poem. The rhyme scheme of a poem is indicated by using different letters of the alphabet for each new rhyme. For example:

Mary had a little lamb A (every line ending with a word that rhymes with “lamb” gets an “A”)Her fleece was white as snow B (does not rhyme with “lamb”)And everywhere that Mary went C (does not rhyme with “lamb” or “snow”)The lamb was sure to go B (because “go” rhymes with “snow,” this gets a B)

It followed her to school one day, D (everything that rhymes with “day” gets a D)Which was against the rules. E (everything that rhymes with “rules” gets a E)It made the children laugh and play, DTo see a lamb at school EAnd so the teacher turned it out F (everything that rhymes with “out” gets an F)But still it lingered near G (everything that rhymes with “near” gets a G)And waited patiently about, F Till Mary did appear G"Why does the lamb love Mary so?" B (rhymes with “snow” from line 2)The eager children cry H"Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know." BThe teacher did reply H

Practice: Determine the rhyme scheme for this poem.

Acquainted with the Nightby Robert Frost

I have been one acquainted with the night. _____I have walked out in rain—and back in rain. _____I have outwalked the furthest city light. _____I have looked down the saddest city lane. _____I have passed by the watchman on his beat _____And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain. _____I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet _____When far away an interrupted cry _____Came over houses from another street, _____But not to call me back or say good-by; _____And further still at an unearthly height _____One luminary clock against the sky _____Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. _____I have been one acquainted with the night. _____

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Meter ReviewThe meter of a poem is its rhythmical pattern. This pattern is determined by the number and types of stresses, or beats, in each line. How do we determine meter? Follow the steps below.

1. Count the number of syllables in each line. You can do this by clapping on each syllable or by placing your hand under your chin and counting the “hits”. Try numbering each syllable in the line below.

2. Find the first two-syllable word in the line and figure out which syllable has the stress on it. In the above line, the word “outlook” has the stress on the word OUT, so you would mark that syllable with the over it. The syllable LOOK is unstressed, which is indicated by the symbol. Based on this, you should be able to notice a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables throughout the line.

3. Divide the stressed and unstressed syllables into groups using a parenthesis between each set of syllables. Each of these groups is called a foot.

4. Figure out what type of feet the line contains. Below are the most common types of feet in English poetry:

iamb: a foot with one unstressed and one stressed syllable, as in the word ( )

“be/fore” This foot is IAMBIC

trochee: a foot with a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable, as in the word ( )

“glo/ry” This foot is TROCHAIC

anapest: a foot with two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable, as in the phrase ( )

“a/ra/besque” This foot is ANAPESTIC

dactyl: a foot with on stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables, as in the word ( )

“won/der/ful” This foot is DACTYLIC

( )spondee: a foot with two strong stresses, as in the word “space/walk”

This foot is SPONDAIC2

T h e o u t l o o k w a s n ’t b r i l l i a n t f o r t h e M u d v i l l e N i n e t h a t d a y

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Lines are also described in terms of the number of feet in each line, such as:

1: Monometer: a line with one foot

Example: All things/ Must pass/ Away

2: Dimeter: a line with two feet

Example: When up aloft/ I fly and fly

3: Trimeter: three foot lines

Example: I know not whom I meet/ I know not where I go

4: Tetrameter: four foot lines

Example: Had we but World enough, and Time,/This coyness Lady were no crime.

5: Pentameter: five foot lines

Example: But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?

6: Hexameter: six foot lines

Example: To think how they may ache in icy hoods and mails

7: Heptameter: seven foot lines

Example: O could I feel as I have felt, or be what I have been,

8: Octometer: eight foot lines

Example: Once upon a midnight dreary,while I pondered, weak and weary

9: Nonometer: nine foot lines

10: Decameter: ten foot lines

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Scansion Homework

Scan each line below to determine the meter. Remember, first you count the syllables, then you figure out which syllables are stressed (check the two syllable words first), then divide into feet. Determine which type of foot the poem contains, and then count the feet to determine the name of the meter. You only have to scan the first line of each, as both lines will have the same meter. All meters below are either iambic or trochaic (the most common types).

1. He thrusts his fists against the post

2. Workers earn it.

3. Double, double, toil and trouble

4. There they are, my fifty men and women

5. When I consider how my life was spent

6. Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

7. Much more the bird must dare a dash at something good.

8. Dark behind it rose the forest,

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DIRECTIONS: Scan the following poems and then determine how the meter and rhythm contributes to the tone / meaning.

1. The morns are meeker than they were,

The nuts are getting brown;

The berry’s cheek is plumper,

The rose is out of town. --Emily Dickinson

2. Bats have webby wings that fold up;

Bats from ceilings hang down rolled up;

Bats when flying undismayed are;

Bats are careful; bats use radar; --Frank Jacobs, “The Bat”

3. For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side

Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,

In her sepulchre there by the sea,

In her tomb by the sounding sea. --Edgar Allan Poe, “Annabel Lee”

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The Ravenby Edgar Allan Poe

In the box below each stanza, write a summary of what is happening in your own words.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore1—While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door."'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door— 5                     Only this and nothing more."

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrowFrom my books surcease2 of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore— 10For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore—                     Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtainThrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating 15"'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door—Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;                     This it is and nothing more."

1 quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore: old, strange book of ancient learning2 surcease: end

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Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore; 20But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,That I scarce was sure I heard you"—here I opened wide the door—                     Darkness there and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, 25Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before;But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore?"This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!"—                     Merely this and nothing more. 30

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,Soon again I heard a tapping something louder than before."Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice;Let me see, then, what thereat is and this mystery explore—Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;— 35                     'Tis the wind and nothing more.

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Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore3.Not the least obeisance4 made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he,But, with mien5 of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door— 40Perched upon a bust of Pallas6 just above my chamber door—                     Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then the ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore7,"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven8, 45Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore—Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore9!"                     Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,Though its answer little meaning—little relevancy bore; 50For we cannot help agreeing that no living human beingEver yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door—Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,                     With such name as "Nevermore."

But the Raven, sitting lonely on that placid bust, spoke only 55That one word, as if its soul in that one word he did outpourNothing farther then he uttered; not a feather then he fluttered—3 days of yore: times long ago4 obeisance: a bow as a sign of respect5 mien: manner 6 bust of Pallas: a statue of the head and shoulders of Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom7 By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore: By the serious and stern expression it had8 craven: coward9 Night’s Plutonian shore: comparing Night to the underworld, ruled by the god Pluto

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Till I scarcely more than muttered: "Other friends have flown before—On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before."                     Then the bird said "Nevermore." 60

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store,Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful DisasterFollowed fast and followed faster — so, when Hope he would adjure10,Stern Despair returned, instead of the sweet Hope he dared adjure — 65                     Of 'Never—nevermore.'"

But the Raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linkingFancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore— 70What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore                     Meant in croaking "Nevermore."

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressingTo the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;This and more I sat divining11, with my head at ease reclining 75On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er                    She shall press, ah, nevermore!

10 adjure: to beg11 divining: guessing

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Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer12

Swung by Seraphim13 whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor. 80"Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee—by these angels he hath sent theeRespite—respite and nepenthe14 from thy memories of Lenore!Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!"                     Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!— 85Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,Desolate, yet all undaunted15, on this desert land enchanted—On this home by Horror haunted—tell me truly, I implore—Is there—is there balm in Gilead16?—tell me—tell me, I implore!"                     Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." 90

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!By that Heaven that bends above us—by that God we both adore—Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn17,It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore—Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore." 95                     Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

12 censer: incense burner13 Seraphim: angel14 respite and Nepenthe: relief and forgetfulness (nepethe was a drug used in ancient times to cause a person to forget his sorrows)15 Desolate, yet all undaunted: In a hopeless situation, yet not discouraged16 balm in Gilead: cure for suffering (refers to Genesis Chapter 7)17 Aidenn: Eden

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"Be that our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting—"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul has spoken!Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door! 100Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"                     Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sittingOn the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming 105And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadows on the floor;And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor                     Shall be lifted—nevermore!

implore (verb) to beg:

grim (adj) harsh, forbidding, and morbid

ominous (adj): threatening or warning of something negative; a bad omen

quaff (verb) to drink

tempest (noun): a violent storm

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1. Describe the speaker’s situation at the start of the poem: what is the setting (time and place) and what is he doing?

2. Who is Lenore? What do you think was the speaker’s relationship to her? What happened to her?

3. How does the speaker’s reaction change each time the bird says “Nevermore”? Why does it change?

4. What does the raven symbolize in this poem?

5. In this poem, how much of what happens is real and how much the narrator’s imagination? How can you tell?

6. Give two examples of allusion in this poem. Why does Poe use each of these allusions?

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7. What is the rhyme scheme of The Raven? Write the rhyme scheme for the first two stanzas below.

8. What is the meter of The Raven? Scan the line below to prove it.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary

What effect does this meter have on the reader, and why do you think Poe used it?

9. What is Poe’s tone in this poem? How can you tell?

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10. Give an example of how each of the following literary devices is used in the poem and why it is used:

alliteration:

assonance:

internal rhyme:

personification:

repetition:

refrain:

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Dramatic PoetryDramatic poetry is poetry where the speaker is clearly someone other than the poet. Frequently dramatic poetry is in the form of a dialogue, where more than one character speaks. Often there is also a setting and a plot. You will read more dramatic poetry when you read Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

Incident in a Rose Gardenby Donald Justice

Gardener: Sir, I encountered Death 1Just now among our rosesThin as a scythe he stood there.

I knew him by his picturesHe had on his black coat 5Black gloves, and broad black hat.

I think he would have spoken,Seeing his mouth stood open.Big it was, with white teeth.

As soon as he beckoned, I ran. 10I ran until I found you.Sir, I'm quitting my job.

I want to see my sonsOnce more before I die.I want to see California. 15

Master: Sir, you must be that strangerWho threatened my gardener.This is my property, sir.

I welcome only friends here.Death: Sir, I knew your father. 20

And we were friends at the end.

As for your gardener,I did not threaten him.Old men mistake my gestures.

I only meant to ask him 25To show me to his master.I take it you are he?

scythe (n) an implement consisting of a long, curved single-edged blade with a long bent handle, used for mowing or reaping

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1. How does the gardener recognize Death? Why does he run away?

2. Describe Death’s personality. Interpret the lines “Sir, I knew your father,/ And we were friends at the end.”

3. How is the ending of the poem ironic?

4. Give an example of each of the following in the poem and why that technique was used in that

particular example:

personification:

repetition:

simile:

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Lyric PoetryLyric poetry expresses thoughts and feelings about a subject in a musical, and usually brief, way. Of all the different types of poetry, lyrics are the most closely related to song. The word “lyric” comes from the word “lyre,” which is a stringed instrument which was played as an accompaniment to the sung words, or lyrics. Not all lyric poetry is set to music, but a lyric poem often uses musical devices and has other song-like qualities that distinguish it from other types of poems.

Sympathyby Paul Laurence Dunbar

I know what the caged bird feels, alas! When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,And the river flows like a stream of glass; When the first bird sings and the first bud opes, 5And the faint perfume from its chalice steals—I know what the caged bird feels!

I know why the caged bird beats his wing Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;For he must fly back to his perch and cling 10When he fain18 would be on the bough a-swing; And a pain still throbs in the old, old scarsAnd they pulse again with a keener sting—I know why he beats his wing!

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me, 15 When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,—When he beats his bars and he would be free;It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core,But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings— 20I know why the caged bird sings!

chalice (n): a bowl-shaped drinking vessel or goblet

bosom (n): the chest; especially when considered as the source of emotion

1. Why is the poem called “Sympathy”? How does the title connect to the theme of the poem?

18 fain (adv) gladly; willingly18

2. How is the bird used as a symbol? How is it personified? Why did Dunbar choose a bird to express his feelings?

3. What is the poem’s rhyme scheme? Note it below. How does the rhyme scheme reinforce the poem’s theme?

4. Give an example of each of the following in the poem and why that technique was used in that particular example:

alliteration:

metaphor:

simile:

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CXXVIII

by Emily Dickinson

I heard a fly buzz when I died;      The stillness round my formWas like the stillness in the air      Between the heaves of storm.

The eyes beside had wrung them dry, 5      And breaths were gathering sureFor that last onset, when the king      Be witnessed in his power.

I willed my keepsakes, signed away      What portion of me I 10Could make assignable,-and then      There interposed a fly,

With blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz,      Between the light and me;And then the windows failed, and then 15      I could not see to see.

1. Find the meter of the following two lines:

I heard a fly buzz when I died;

The stillness round my form

How would you describe the meter of this poem?

2. What is the rhyme scheme of this poem? Write it on the poem. Note the lines that use slant rhyme with a star. What effect does slant rhyme have on the poem?

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3. What is happening to the narrator of this poem? How is she dealing with it?

4. What is the narrator expecting to see? What happens instead?

5. How is the fly used as a symbol in this poem?

6. Find an example of the following:

metaphor

onomatopoeia

oxymoron

simile

The Shakespearean Sonnet21

The Shakespearean sonnet is a type of lyric poem with a specific form: has 14 lines, three quatrains (four line stanzas) and a couplet (two line stanza) the final couplet usually reveals the underlying message of the poem The meter, or pattern of stresses or beats, is iambic pentameter

M y m i s t r e s s' e y e s a r e n o t h i n g l i k e t h e s u n

The pattern of rhyming words is:

ABAB -First quatrainCDCD -Second quatrainEFEF -Third quatrainGG -Final couplet

130 My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;Coral is far more red than her lips red:If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.I have seen roses damasked19, red and white, 5But no such roses see I in her cheeks;And in some perfumes is there more delightThan in the breath that from my mistress reeks.I love to hear her speak, yet well I knowThat music hath a far more pleasing sound: 10I grant I never saw a goddess go, My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare,As any she belied with false compare.

dun (adj) a neutral brownish gray to dull grayish brown

reek (v) to smell strongly unpleasant

belie (v) to show to be false; misrepresent; contradict

1. To what kinds of things is the speaker of the poem comparing his mistress? Are his comparisons flattering? Why or why not?

19 damasked: of the pink color of the damask rose22

2. Shakespeare use similes and metaphors throughout this poem. List the things to which the speaker of the poem mentions and how they compare to his mistress.

Her feature Compared to... Metaphor or simile?

What is the purpose of this comparison?

3. What is the purpose behind Shakespeare’s use of metaphors and similes in the poem?

4. What is the theme, or message of the poem as stated in final couplet? How is it ironic?

Free VerseFree verse is also known as “open form” verse. It is different from other forms of poetry because its rhythmic pattern is not organized into meter; also, it often has irregular line lengths, and usually does not

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rhyme. Within the broad category of free verse there are many different types, and it has evolved over the years.

The Fish

by Elizabeth Bishop

I caught a tremendous fish and held him beside the boat half out of water, with my hook fast in a corner of its mouth. He didn’t fight. 5He hadn’t fought at all. He hung a grunting weight, battered and venerable and homely. Here and there his brown skin hung in strips 10like ancient wallpaper, and its pattern of darker brown was like wallpaper: shapes like full-blown roses stained and lost through age. 15He was speckled with barnacles, fine rosettes of lime, and infested with tiny white sea-lice, and underneath two or three 20rags of green weed hung down. While his gills were breathing in the terrible oxygen — the frightening gills, fresh and crisp with blood, 25that can cut so badly — I thought of the coarse white flesh packed in like feathers, the big bones and the little bones, the dramatic reds and blacks 30of his shiny entrails, and the pink swim-bladder like a big peony. I looked into his eyes which were far larger than mine 35but shallower, and yellowed, the irises backed and packed with tarnished tinfoil seen through the lenses of old scratched isinglass.20 40They shifted a little, but not

20 isinglass (noun) thin, transparent sheets of mica used as windows or in lanterns

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to return my stare. — It was more like the tipping of an object toward the light. I admired his sullen face, 45the mechanism of his jaw, and then I saw that from his lower lip — if you could call it a lip — grim, wet, and weaponlike, 50hung five old pieces of fish-line, or four and a wire leader with the swivel still attached, with all their five big hooks grown firmly in his mouth. 55A green line, frayed at the end where he broke it, two heavier lines, and a fine black thread still crimped from the strain and snap when it broke and he got away. 60Like medals with their ribbons frayed and wavering, a five-haired beard of wisdom trailing from his aching jaw. I stared and stared 65and victory filled up the little rented boat, from the pool of bilge where oil had spread a rainbow around the rusted engine 70to the bailer rusted orange, the sun-cracked thwarts, the oarlocks on their strings, the gunnels — until everything was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow! 75And I let the fish go.

venerable (adj) worthy of respect due to great age or impressive dignity

entrails (noun) intestines; guts

sullen (adj) showing irritation or bad mood by a gloomy silence or reserve

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1. Describe the fish caught in this poem. What does it look like? Give at least 3 examples.

2. What is the speaker’s tone, or attitude toward the fish? How do you know? Give 3 specific lines that indicate this.

3. Find three similes used in this poem. Explain what two things are being compared in each one and what the simile is trying to express.

4. Find two metaphors in this poem. Explain what two things are being compared in each one and what the metaphor is trying to express.

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5. What is ironic about the situation in this poem? The ending?

6. This is an example of a free verse poem. How does its structure differ from the other poems in this packet you’ve read so far?

Slam Dunk and Hookby Yusef Komunyakaa

Fast breaks. Lay ups. With Mercury’s Insignia on our sneakers, We outmaneuvered the footworkOf bad angels. Nothing but a hot Swish of strings like silk 5Ten feet out. In the roundhouseLabyrinth our bodies

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Created, we could almostLast forever, poised in midairLike storybook sea monsters. 10

A high note hung thereA long second. OffThe rim. We’d corkscrewUp & dunk balls that explodedThe skullcap of hope & good 15Intention. Bug-eyed, lanky,All hands & feet…sprung rhythm.We were metaphysical when girlsCheered on the sidelines.Tangled up in a falling. 20Muscles were a bright motor Double-flashing to the metal hoopNailed to our oak.

When Sonny Boy’s mama diedHe played nonstop all day, so hard 25Our backboard splintered.Glistening with sweat, we jibed& rolled the ball off ourfingertips. TroubleWas there slapping a blackjack21 30Against an open palm.

Dribble, drive to the inside, feint,& glide like a sparrow-hawk.Lay ups. Fast breaks.We had moves we didn’t know 35We had. Our bodies spunOn swivels of bone & faith,Through a lyric slipknotOf joy, & we knew we wereBeautiful & dangerous... 40insignia (noun) a distinguishing mark or sign of authority

labyrinth (noun): a maze

lanky (adj): slender, tall and thin

21 blackjack (noun): a hand weapon made of leather-enclosed metal with a strap

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1. Find two similes in the first stanza. What things are being compared and why?

2. Find two metaphors and explain their meanings.

3. How are the players described physically? Give examples.

4. What happened to Sonny Boy? How did he deal with it?

5. How is alliteration used in lines 5, 10, and 32? Write down the phrases where the alliteration is used. What purpose does it serve?

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6. Which two literary devices are used in the lines, “Trouble/ Was there slapping a blackjack/ Against an open palm.”? Explain what Komunyakaa is trying to depict here.

7. What is the tone of the poet towards playing basketball? How do you know?

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Poetic Terms and Devices Worksheetalliteration

allusion

apostrophe

assonance

figurative language

hyperbole

imagery

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internal rhyme

metaphor

musical devices

onomatopoeia

oxymoron

personification

refrain

repetition

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rhythm

rhyme scheme

simile

slant rhyme, aka half-rhyme

stanza

symbolism

tone

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