Poetry

February 1, 2018

1. What is poetry?

2. What do you associate with poetry?

Poetry definedPoetry is defined as the dramatization of experience in metrical language

Words combined in ways that can be very different from everyday language. (i.e. prose)

Why poetry?

Poetry has been used to:

• Entertain

• Record History

• Define the human experience

Poetry is art

Vocabulary

conscious – intentionally conceived or done

Artist – one who creates

medium – an intervening substance through which something else is transmitted or carried on

universe – the context; you must consider the universe(s) of the author/sender, the art itself, and the receiver in order to fully understand a work.

THE UNIVERSE

ARTIST MEDIUM AUDIENCE

Ancient Poetry

• The Epic of Gilgamesh – c. 2100 BC• Ancient Mesopotamia• Author unknown• Tells the epic story of God-King Gilgamesh

• The Iliad – c. 1100 BC• Ancient Greece• Written by Homer• Story of the legendary Trojan War

• Beowulf - c. 1000 AD• Olde English• Author Unknown• Scandinavia hero Beowulf fights

monsters/dragons dies in battle• Christian allegory

The Renaissance

• The Middle Ages (400 – 1300) saw a decline in arts, sciences, education and literature

• The Renaissance (1300 – 1600) was cultural rebirth of these things

• Began in Italy• The Medici Family• Petrarch

• Influence spread to England• William Shakespeare• Edmund Spenser• Christopher Marlowe• John Milton

• Thematically, these poems had a lot to do with love

The Sonnet

• A highly structured type of closed-versepoem

• Explore the relationship between the poet and his/her beloved.

• 14 lines

Petrarch

The Sonnet:

2 types of sonnet:

Petrarchan (Italian) – Composed of an octave and a sestet.

• Rhyme scheme = abbaabba cdecde.

Shakespearean (English) – Composed of three quatrains and a rhyming couplet.

• Rhyme scheme = abab cdcd efef gg.

Rhyme Scheme

I had an uncle Fred

His face turned red

Now he’s dead

Rhyme Scheme

I got a hotrod Ford and a two dollar bill

And I know a place right over the hill

They got soda pop and the dancin’s free

So if you wanna have fun come along with me

Rhyme Scheme

Hey good lookin’

What ya got cookin’

How about cookin something up with me?

Hey sweet baby

Won’t ya say maybe

We can find us a brand new recipe

William ShakespeareRomeo & JulietAct 1. Prologue

Two households, both alike in dignity,In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.From forth the fatal loins of these two foesA pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;Whole misadventured piteous overthrowsDo with their death bury their parents' strife.The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,And the continuance of their parents' rage,Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;The which if you with patient ears attend,What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

Sonnet 43 – Edna St. Vincent Millay (1920)What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,

I have forgotten, and what arms have lain

Under my head till morning; but the rain

Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh

Upon the glass and listen for reply,

And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain

For unremembered lads that not again

Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.

Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree,

Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,

Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:

I cannot say what loves have come and gone,

I only know that summer sang in me

A little while, that in me sings no more.

Sonnet 18 – William Shakespeare (1609)

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate:Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimm’d:

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Sonnet 29 - John Milton (1655)

When I consider how my light is spent,

Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,

And that one Talent which is death to hide

Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent

To serve therewith my Maker, and present

My true account, lest he returning chide;

"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"

I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent

That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need

Either man's work or his own gifts; who best

Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state

Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed

And post o'er Land and Ocean without rest:

They also serve who only stand and wait."

Sonnet 75 – Edmund Spenser One day I wrote her name upon the strand,

But came the waves and washed it away:

Again I write it with a second hand,

But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.

Vain man, said she, that doest in vain assay,

A mortal thing so to immortalize,

For I myself shall like to this decay,

And eek my name be wiped out likewise.

Not so, (quod I) let baser things devise

To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:

My verse, your virtues rare shall eternize,

And in the heavens write your glorious name.

Where whenas death shall all the world subdue,

Our love shall live, and later life renew.

Poetic Devices

• Metaphor – a word or phrase is applied to an object to which it is not literally applicable

• Simile

• Personification

• Symbolism

• Allusion

• Alliteration

• Hyperbole

• Onomatopoeia

“Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage”

“Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines”

Sonnet 43 – Edna St. Vincent Millay (1920)What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,

I have forgotten, and what arms have lain

Under my head till morning; but the rain

Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh

Upon the glass and listen for reply,

And in my heart there stirs a quiet pain

For unremembered lads that not again

Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.

Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree,

Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,

Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:

I cannot say what loves have come and gone,

I only know that summer sang in me

A little while, that in me sings no more.

1. What is this poem about?2. What kind of Sonnet is this? How

can you tell? Transcribe the Rhyme scheme

3. Consider the use of metaphor. What does the poet mean when she talks about the following?• Ghosts• Trees• Summer• Song

4. How is personification used to enhance some of the metaphors?

William Blake (1757 – 1827)

• Born in London, England

• Worked as an engraver, illustrator and printmaker

• Influenced by the Enlightenment and the French Revolution

• His most famous poems are the Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1793)

• Published as Songs of Innocence and Experience showing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul. (1794)

Vocabulary

Juxtaposition - a literary technique in which two or more ideas, places, characters and their actions are placed side by side in a narrative or a poem for the purpose of developing comparisons and contrasts.

The Lamb (1789)

Little lamb, who made theeDost thou know who made thee,

Gave thee life, and bid thee feedBy the stream and o’er the mead;Gave thee clothing of delight,Softest clothing, woolly, bright;Gave thee such a tender voice,Making all the vales rejoice?

Little lamb, who made thee?Dost thou know who made

thee?Little lamb, I’ll tell thee;Little lamb, I’ll tell thee:

He is callèd by thy name,For He calls Himself a Lamb.He is meek, and He is mild,He became a little child.I a child, and thou a lamb,We are callèd by His name.

Little lamb, God bless thee!Little lamb, God bless thee!

The Tyger (1794)

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

In what distant deeps or skiesBurnt the fire of thine eyes?On what wings dare he aspire?What the hand dare sieze the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,Could twist the sinews of thy heart?And when thy heart began to beat,What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?In what furnace was thy brain?What the anvil? what dread graspDare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,And water'd heaven with their tears,Did he smile his work to see?Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

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

Songs of Innocence and Experience showing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul:The Lamb & The Tyger by William Blake1. How does Blake use visual imagery in the poems? Cite an example.

2. What are some juxtaposing descriptions of nature that Blake uses?

3. How does Blake express a contrarian point of view about God with these two poems?

4. What do the lamb and the tiger symbolize?

William Blake’s The Chimney SweeperPart I: The Reading – Linda Freedman

1. How did one become a chimney sweep in London during the late 18th century?

2. What risks did a chimney sweep face?

3. How do Blake’s Illustrations compliment the poems?

Part II: Innocence

4. Quote a line that highlights optimism

5. What is described in the stanzas 3, 4 & 5?

6. What is meant by the last line “So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm?

Part III: Experience

7. What repetitive device links this poem to it’s “innocence” companion poem?

8. What is the meaning of “‘weep, ‘weep” ?

9. If this poem has an angry tone, toward whom/what is the anger directed?

Emile Durkheim (1858 – 1917)

• Sociologist (studied society)

• Believed society functioned when people shared similar beliefs and values

• Thought religion was important because:• It set rules

• It gave people hope & purpose in life

Karl Marx (1818 – 1883)

• Philosopher, economist, social critic

• Believed that industrialized society was unfair

• Wrote the Communist Manifesto

• Argued that religion prevented people from taking action to improve their life

“Religion: The opiate of the people”

William Blake on religion Essay

• Would Blake agree with Durkheim or Marx?

• Write an argumentative essay

• State your claim

• Back it up

• Use quotes from the poems/readings

MLA Essay AssignmentWhat is Blake’s attitude toward religion? When it comes to the role of religion in society would William Blake agree with Emile Durkheim or Karl Marx?

Things I expect to see:

• At least 1 page double space

• MLA Format

• Works cited page

• Clear thesis statement

• Quotes from the text(s)

What is MLA format?

• MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities.

• When writing an MLA style essay you must account for…• Page Setup

• Quotations

• Works Cited

Quotations in your essay

• Type short quotations of three lines or less in the text of your essay. Insert a slash with a space on each side to separate the lines of the poem.

• Indent quotations of four or more lines. Do not add quotation marks for a long quote. Add the line numbers inside parentheses right after the closing punctuation of the quotation.

Robert Frost – Stopping by Woods on a Snowy EveningWhose woods these are I think I know.His house is in the village, though;He will not see me stopping hereTo watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queerTo stop without a farmhouse nearBetween the woods and frozen lakeThe darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shakeTo ask if there is some mistake.The only other sound's the sweepOf easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,But I have promises to keep,And miles to go before I sleep,And miles to go before I sleep.

Example

Robert Frost writes about solitude and man’s relationship with nature:

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village, though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow. (1-4)

Example

Robert Frost has long been intrigued with the complexities of companionship and lonliness. In "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," Frost writes, “The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, / But I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep."

Works Cited

Blake, William. Songs of innocence and experience, with other poems.

London: Basil Montagu Pickering, 1866. Print.

Freedman, Linda. "Blake's Two Chimney Sweepers." British

Library (2011): n. pag. Web. Jan. & feb. 2017.

Romantic Poetry

• 1800 – 1850

• Developed against the backdrop of the Enlightenment

• Romanticism focused on feeling, emotions and sentimentality rather than science, reason, intellect

• Big Names

• Samuel Taylor Coleridge Rime of the Ancient Mariner

• William Wordsworth

• Lord Byron

• Percy Bysshe Shelley

My Heart Leaps Up

My heart leaps up when I beholdA rainbow in the sky:So it was when my life began;So it is now I am a man;So be it when I shall grow old,Or let me die!The Child is the father of the Man;And I could wish my days to beBound each to each by natural piety.

William Wordsworth

Love’s PhilosophyThe fountains mingle with the river,And the rivers with the ocean;The winds of heaven mix foreverWith a sweet emotion;Nothing in the world is single;All things by a law divineIn another's being mingle--Why not I with thine?

See, the mountains kiss high heaven,And the waves clasp one another;No sister flower could be forgivenIf it disdained its brother;And the sunlight clasps the earth,And the moonbeams kiss the sea;--What are all these kissings worth,If thou kiss not me?

- Percy Bysshe Shelley

The Funeral of Shelley

The Romantics The Victorians

The Victorian Era refers to the Reign of Queen Victoria (1837 – 1901)

The Victorian era is characterized by social repression and conformity

During this period poetry lost popularity and literature, in particular novels became more widely read (eg, Charles Dickens)

Victorian poetry was influenced by Romanticism but placed more emphasis on feelings of classicism and nationalism

Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809 – 1892)

The Eagle

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

Close to the sun in lonely lands,

Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;

He watches from his mountain walls,

And like a thunderbolt he falls

Charge of the Light Brigade

• Based on a battle during the Crimean War, a conflict fought 1853 –1856 between Great Britain and the Russian Empire

• The Battle of Balaclava

Lord Tennyson – The Charge of the Light Brigade

1. According to the first stanza of "The Charge of the Light Brigade", how many British forces rode into the battle?

2. In stanza one, what does the phrase “the Valley of Death” refer to? Why do you think the poet refers the valley as “The Valley of Death”?

3. In stanza 1, what was the light brigade ordered to do?

4. What kind of weapons did the Light Brigade have?

5. What weapons did their opponents/enemies have?

6. In stanza 2, what does the line “Someone had blundered” suggest? Does this affect how the soldiers feel?

7. Who won the battle?

8. What is the attitude of Tennyson toward war?

9. How is death depicted in the poem?

10. Give two adjectives to describe the six hundred men

Allusion

Psalm 23

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,he leads me beside quiet waters,3 he refreshes my soul.He guides me along the right paths

for his name’s sake.4 Even though I walk

through the valley of deathI will fear no evil,

for you are with me;your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

Reactions to Charge of the Light Brigade

• Authority – doing what you’re told

• History of warfare – It has been going on since their has been civilization

• Power – being given the authority to kill

• Death before Dishonour

• Leadership – what makes good leaders?

• Patriotism/Nationalism

• Allusion – “The Valley of Death”

Charge of the Light Brigade

• What is Tennyson’s attitude toward war?

• Explain with a quote

World War I (1914 – 1918)

• Belligerents:• The Central Powers

• Germany

• Austria-Hungary

• Ottoman Empire

• The Allied Powers• England

• France

• Russia

• What was the fighting all about?

• What was the fighting like?

Second battle of Ypres (22 April -25 May) Photo: visitflanders.co.uk

British Infantry hit by gas at Ypres. 1915. Archive Photos Collection,Garibaldi

WWI Poets• Siegfried Sassoon (1886 – 1967)

• Served as a Captain in the British Army on the Western Front in WWI • Awarded the Military Cross for bravery• His poetry emphasized the horrors of the trenches and criticized the Jingoism he felt

was responsible for the war• Hospitalized for shellshock (PTSD)• Was shot in the head by friendly fire, survived, but taken out of active service

• Wilfred Owen (1893 – 1918)• Personal friend and protégé of S. Sassoon• Served as a Second Lieutenant in the British Army on the Western Front• Met Sassoon when hospitalized alongside him for shellshock• Also awarded the Military Cross• KIA in France, one week before the signing of the armistice• Most of his work was published posthumously

Poetry Test – March 2nd

• Ancient Poetry

• The Renaissance• Sonnets

• William Blake

• Romantic Poetry

• Victorian Poetry

• Tennyson – Charge of the Light Brigade

• World War I Poetry

Written Response Question

• Compare Tennyson’s attitudes toward war with those of SeigfriedSassoon or Wilfred Owen