Poetry Part One A Unit on Types of Poetry and

Literary Terms

POINT OF VIEW IN POETRY

POET

• The poet is the author of the poem.

SPEAKER

• The speaker of the poem is the “narrator” of the poem.

Speaker v. Author• Cross• My old man's a white old man

And my old mother's black. If ever I cursed my white old man I take my curses back. If ever I cursed my black old mother And wished she were in hell, I'm sorry for that evil wish And now I wish her well My old man died in a fine big house. My ma died in a shack. I wonder were I'm going to die, Being neither white nor black?

• Langston Hughes

Point of View

• Who is the speaker in the poem?• What is their tone?• The Point of view can be the actual poet

him/herself, but may also be an animal, an inanimate object, or a fictional character.

Types of Point of View

• 1st person: the speaker is a character in the story or poem and tells it from his/her perspective (uses "I")

• 3rd person limited: the speaker is not part of the story, but tells about the other characters but limits information about what one character sees and feels.

• 3rd person omniscient: the speaker is not part of the story, but is able to "know" and describe what all characters are thinking.

Stanzas• A divided section with a group of lines• A format chosen by the poet• May include a rhyming pattern

There’s a lady who’s sureAll that glitters is goldAnd she’s buying a stairway to heaven.

When she gets there she knowsIf the doors are all closedWith a word she can get what she came for. And she’s buying a stairway to heaven.

http://www.lyricsledzeppelin.com

KINDS OF STANZAS

Couplet = a two line stanzaTriplet (Tercet) = a three line stanzaQuatrain = a four line stanzaQuintet = a five line stanzaSestet (Sextet) = a six line stanzaSeptet = a seven line stanzaOctave = an eight line stanza

Repetition

• Repetition is used to make an impact on the poem’s tone. Words or phrases are repeated throughout the poem.

• Here comes summer,• Here comes summer,• Chirping robin, budding rose.• Here comes summer,• Here comes summer,• Gentle showers, summer clothes.• By Shel Silverstein

Refrain• Repetitive line found throughout

the poem• Is usually found in the same

place in each stanza• Similar to the chorus in a song

Edgar Allan Poe The Raven

• [First published in 1845]

• 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 some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -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 surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore -For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named 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`'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door -Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; -This it is, and nothing more,'

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,`Sir,' said I, `or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;But 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,Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream beforeBut the silence was unbroken, and the darkness 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.

•

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat 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; -'Tis the wind and nothing more!'

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore.Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door -Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door -Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,`Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,' I said, `art sure no craven.Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore -Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!'Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

•

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

But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only,That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.Nothing further then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered -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.'

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 till his songs one burden bore -Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden boreOf "Never-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 divining, with my head at ease recliningOn 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!

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censerSwung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.`Wretch,' I cried, `thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he has sent theeRespite - respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!‘Quoth the raven, `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 -What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yoreMeant in croaking `Nevermore.'to lies floating on the floorShall be lifted - nevermore!

•`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! -Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted -On this home by horror haunted - tell me truly, I implore -Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I implore!'Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`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 Aidenn,It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore -Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?'Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Be that word 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 hath spoken!Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!Take 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,And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;And my soul from out that shadow thatlies floating on the floorShall be lifted - nevermore!

REFRAIN

• A sound, word, phrase or line repeated regularly in a poem.

“Quoth the raven, ‘Nevermore.’”

‘Toaster’ fails to visit Edgar Allen Poe’s grave on birthday By JOSEPH WHITE Comments 0 Published: January 24, 2010

BALTIMORE — Is this tradition "nevermore”? A mysterious visitor who each year leaves roses and cognac at the grave of Edgar Allan Poe on the writer’s birthday failed to show Tuesday, breaking with a ritual that began more than 60 years ago.

The original grave of Edgar Allan Poe is shown with a bottle of cognac and three roses left by a mysterious visitor, in Baltimore. At 5:30 a.m. Jan. 19, Jeff Jerome, curator of the Poe House and Museum, emerged to announce that the mysterious visitor, who had always appeared between midnight and 5:30 a.m., never showed.

"I’m confused, befuddled,” said Jeff Jerome, curator of the Poe House and Museum. "I don’t know what’s going on.” The tradition dates to at least 1949, according to newspaper accounts from the era, Jerome said. Since then, an unidentified person has come every year Jan. 19 to leave three roses and a half-bottle of cognac at Poe’s grave in a church cemetery in downtown Baltimore. The event has become a pilgrimage for die-hard Poe fans, some of whom travel hundreds of miles. About three dozen stood huddled in blankets during the overnight cold Tuesday, peering through the churchyard’s iron gates hoping to catch a glimpse of the figure known only as the "Poe toaster.” At 5:30 a.m., Jerome emerged from inside the church, where he and a select group of Poe enthusiasts keep watch over the graveyard, and announced to the crowd that the visitor never arrived.

He allowed an Associated Press reporter inside the gates to view both of Poe’s gravesites, the original one and a newer site where the body was moved in 1875. There was no sign of roses or cognac at either tombstone. "I’m very disappointed, to the point where I want to cry,” said Cynthia Pelayo, 29, who had stood riveted to her prime viewing spot at the gate for about six hours. "I flew in from Chicago to see him. I’m just really sad. I hope that he’s OK.” Pelayo and Poe fans from as far as Texas and Massachusetts had passed the overnight hours reading aloud from Poe’s works, including the poem "The Raven,” with its haunting repetition of the word "nevermore.” Soon they were speculating, along with Jerome, about what might have caused the visitor not to appear. "You’ve got so many possibilities,” said Jerome, who has attended the ritual every year since 1977. "The guy had the flu, accident, too many people.” Tuesday marked the 201st anniversary of Poe’s birth, and Jerome speculated that perhaps the visitor considered last year’s bicentennial an appropriate stopping point. "People will be asking me, ‘Why do you think he stopped?’” Jerome said. "Or did he stop? We don’t know if he stopped. He just didn’t come this year.” Jerome said he will continue the vigil for at least the next two or three years in case the visits resume. "So, for me, it’s not over with,” he said.

Read more: http://www.newsok.com/toaster-fails-to-visit-poes-grave-on-birthday/article/3434008?custom_click=pod_lead_ae#ixzz0dUOwnDMr

It was many and many a year ago,

In a kingdom by the sea,

That a maiden there lived whom you may know

By the name of ANNABEL LEE;

And this maiden she lived with other thought

Than to love and be loved by me(3 missing stanzas)

And neither the angels in heaven above,

Nor the demons down under the sea,

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul

Of the beautiful ANNABEL LEE:

Another example of Refrain/Repetition“Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe

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 the sepulchre there by the sea-

In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Edgar Allan Poe

Since Hanna Moved AwayThe tires on my bike are flat…

The sky is grouchy gray.

At least it sure feels like that

Since Hanna moved away.

Chocolate ice cream tastes like prunes.

December’s come to stay.

They’ve taken back the Mays and Junes

Since Hanna moved away

Flowers smell like halibut.

Velvet feels like hay.

Every handsome dog’s a mutt

Since Hanna moved away.

Nothing’s fun to laugh about.

Nothing’s fun to play.

They call me, but I won’t come out

Since Hanna moved away.

Judith Viorst

Litotes (pronounced lietotes)

• Understatement - basically the opposite of hyperbole. Often it is ironic.

• Ex: Calling a slow moving person “Speedy”

• Ex:"It's just a flesh wound."(Black Knight, after having both of his arms cut off, in Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Hyperbole

• Hyperbole is a figure of speech which is an exaggeration. Persons often use expressions such as "I nearly died laughing," "I was hopping mad," and "I tried a thousand times." Such statements are not literally true, but people make them to sound impressive or to emphasize something, such as a feeling, effort, or reaction.

SIMILE

• A comparison of two things using “like, as than,” or “resembles.”

• “She is as beautiful as a sunrise.”

I am hungry as a horse.

You run like a rabbit.

He is sneaky as a snake.

She is happy as a clam.

Simile and Metaphor

• Similes are comparisons that use “like” or “as.” Her eyes are as green as emeralds. Clouds soft and fluffy like marshmallows.Marty’s feet stink like rotten fish.

• Metaphors are comparisons that say one thing is another. My father’s anger is a volcano about to blow.

Metaphor

• A metaphor states that one thing is something else. It is a comparison, but it does NOT use like or as to make the comparison.

• Her hair is silk.

The girl was a fish in the water.

The clown was a feather floating away.

METAPHOR

• A direct comparison of two totally different things

• “All the world’s a stage, and we are merely players.”

- William Shakespeare

“Mother To Son” by Langston Hughes

Well, son, I’ll tell you:Life for me ain’t been no crystal stairIt’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor---Bare.But all the timeI’se been a-climbin’ on,Ad reachen’ landin’s, And turnin’ corners, What is the metaphor?And sometimes goin’ in the dark What effect does it have?Where there ain’t been no light.

So boy, don’t you turn back.Don’t you set down on the steps‘Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.Don’t you fall now---For I’se still goin’, honey, I’se still climbin’, And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

“Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes

Does it dry upLike a raisin in the sun?Or fester like a sore--And then run?Does it stink like rotten meat?Or crust and sugar over--like a syrupy sweet?Maybe it just sagslike a heavy load.Or does it explode?

Find the similes and metaphors in this poem.

IMPLIED METAPHOR

• The comparison is hinted at but not clearly stated.

• “The poison sacs of the town began to manufacture venom, and the town swelled and puffed with the pressure of it.”

- from The Pearl- by John Steinbeck

EXTENDED METAPHOR

• A metaphor that goes several lines or possible the entire length of a work.

• Ex: Psalm 23

Extended Metaphor Example“Perfectionism”A tyrant ruling over my kingdomI live in fear of his spiteI put one toe out of place and shudderMy fancy collides with my terrorDarkness overcomes me and clouds my mindAs I await my impending doomThe tyrant spits at me, splicing my spiritAn outpour of melancholy gloomHis guillotine set in placeHe now plays the executioner I could not, for the life of me, meet his standardsHe forces my knees to the hard wooden floorMy arms are tied back tight And I moan, tense and undoneI finally dare to lift my eyes to his faceAnd as the blade falls, I see the face is my own

Simile or Metaphor????• The baby was like an octopus, grabbing at all

the cans on the grocery store shelves. • As the teacher entered the room she

muttered under her breath, "This class is like a three-ring circus!"

• The giant’s steps were thunder as he ran toward Jack.

• The pillow was a cloud when I put my head upon it after a long day.

Simile or Metaphor????• I feel like a limp dishrag.• Those girls are like two peas in a pod.• The fluorescent light was the sun during our

test.• No one invites Harold to parties because he’s a

wet blanket.• The bar of soap was a slippery eel during the

dog’s bath.• Ted was as nervous as a cat with a long tail in a

room full of rocking chairs.

Assignment:

Write:

“I Can’t Write a Poem” poem

OR

Extended Metaphor poem

“I Can’t Write a Poem” • Make a list of your favorite excuses/complaints you make every time your teacher asks you to write a

poem. Add just the right title and ending and voila! You’ve written a terrific list poem.

• I Can’t Write a Poem • Forget it.

You must be kidding.I’m still half asleep. My eyes keep closing. My brain isn’t working. I don’t have a pencil.I don’t have any paper. My desk is wobbly.I don’t know what to write about. And besides, I don’t even know how to write a poem. I’ve got a headache. I need to see the nurse. Time’s up? Uh oh! All I have is this dumb list of excuses. You like it? Really? No kidding. Thanks a lot. Would you like to see another one?

• To get started, start with "I Can’t Write a Poem" as the title. Then come up with some excuses—the more ridiculous, the better. Then add the lines from "Times up?" to "Thanks a lot" from the poem above. Finally, come up with the last line on your own. By Bruce Lansky www.gigglepoetry.com

Short Metaphorical PoemMy mother is like an alarm clock. She wakes me up every morning. But she doesn’t go, “Beep! Beep! Beep!”Instead, she yanks open my bedroom door and yells,“Sleepyhead, get out of bed!”

My dog is like a cheetah.When someone leaves the door open,she springs out the door and runs down the street so fastno one can catch her without a helicopter and a tranquilizer gun.

Simile and Metaphor Game

• Find a partner• You have 5 minutes to come up with as many

similes and metaphors for the word Mrs. Dennis gives you

• You will get 1 point for each simile and 2 points for each metaphor

• They must be written so that Mrs. Dennis can read them

More practice• http://languagearts.pppst.com/similes.htmlClick on practicing similes and metaphors.

• Practice with homophones, homographs, and similes. Fling the Teacher Game http://www.newton.k12.ks.us/tech/fling3.html

• www.gigglepoetry.com click on “poetry class” “I can’t write a poem” or http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poetryclassdetail.aspx?LessonPlanID=23

• www.gigglepoetry.com “Short, metaphorical poem” or http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poetryclassdetail.aspx?LessonPlanID=48