Poetry

• Poetry is the art of expressing thoughts in verse• Poems use imagery, figurative language and sound

devices to explain feelings or create a mental picture or idea

• It is meant to be read aloud• Poetry appeals to our emotions• Poems can rhyme or not rhyme

The Elements of PoetryThe Elements of Poetry

Poetry is hard to define. Even poets argue among themselves about what makes a poem a poem. There are some common characteristics, however, that we can use to help us differentiate between poetry and prose.

1) It should look like a poem. The poem has some form to hold it together. Some poems actually have a prescribed form like haikus and sonnets. Some lines are not even sentences.

2) There are usually some sound devices that give the poem a song-like, lyrical quality.

3) Images are conveyed through sensory details and figurative language.

4) The poem has some meaning, image or emotion it wants to share with the reader.

Elements of Poetry

• Tone- the poet’s attitude towards the subject of the poem(a happy tone, a positive tone, or a negative tone.…)

• Mood -The feeling the poem creates for the reader. How the poem makes you feel.

Poetry Form•Lines: one line of a poem – often organized into Stanzas

•Stanzas: groups of lines. The “paragraph” of a poem.

Groups of lines – often has two or four lines

“To a Snowflake”1 Hello little snowflake!

2 Where are all your friends?

3 Should I expect a lot of them

4 before the morning ends?

5 I love it when you come to me

6 and you all fall down together

7 and I get dressed to visit you,

8 toasty warm in cold, cold weather.

ImageryImagery

• Imagery: the use of words to create a picture in the reader’s mind. Imagery puts the reader in the poem. It helps the reader to “see” and “experience” the poem.

• The tools of imagery are– Senses : sound, sight, touch, smell, taste, and

emotion.– Figurative language : metaphor, simile,

personification, hyperbole, etc.

• Examples:• Sight: Smoke mysteriously puffed out from the

snow-capped mountain above.• Sound: Tom placed his ear tightly against the

floor; he could hear a faint but distinct thumpthump thump.

• Touch: The burlap wall covering scraped against the little boy’s hand.

• Taste: A salty tear ran across her face onto her lips.

• Smell: Cinnamon! That’s what wafted into his nostrils.

“There is a Thing”by Jack Perlutsky

There is a thingbeneath the stairwith slimy face and oily hairthat does not moveor speak or singor do another single thingbut sit and waitbeneath the stairwith slimy faceand oily hair

SpringThe newborn flowers blossom in all sizes and vivid colors.When you walk by, their sweet and luscious aromas ensnare you..The beautiful butterflies titterAround the light grassy areas.The trees are full of lush, dark green leaves.Spring is when you can really savor the intense scent of nature.

FallThe chilly weather settles into your bones.Those once green leaves turnRed, yellow, orange, and brown.CRRNCH! go the leaves,,Beneath  your feet.The birds fly in a victory “V” formation,To where the sun rules the skies.The days of winter are lurking aroundWaiting to be free falling.

What Christmas Feels LikeThe tree’s aglow with colors of red, green, blue, and orange,The heat’s toasty arms warmly embrace us.Presents under the Christmas tree Beg to be released from their bright, sparkling coats.Santa Claus cookies washed down with boiling, hot chocolate;Shouts of glee and appreciation;Hearts overflowing with love;This is what Christmas feels like.

Those Winter SundaysSundays too my father got up early

and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,

then with cracked hands that ached

from labor the weekday weather made

banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.

When the rooms were warm, he’d call,

and slowly I would rise and dress,

fearing the chronic angers of that house,

Speaking indifferently to him,

who had driven out the cold

and polished my good shoes as well.

What did I know, what did I know

of love’s austere and lonely offices?

Robert Hayden

In “Those Winter Sundays” Hayden has caused us to experience several senses. “…[B]lueblack cold” certainly makes us feel how cold it was. When the father’s hands are described as “cracked hands that ached” we can feel the roughness. He describes the cold “splintering and breaking.” We can hear the trees and ice crack. And then the rooms “were warm” when the boy got up. We know how that feels on a cold day. When the boy fears “the chronic angers of that house” and when he speaks “indifferently to him” we know what emotions the boy is feeling.

Hayden has caused us to feel cold, cracked hands and warm rooms. We hear splintering and breaking and feel anger and indifference.

These sensory details make the poem come alive to us and help us to feel what the boy felt on those winter Sundays.

Sound DevicesSound Devices

• Sound devices are words that create a poem’s rhythm or appeal to the sense of hearing

• Rhythm, Repetition, Rhyme, Alliteration, Onomatopoeia

Rhythm

• A pattern of beats created by syllables

• Water has two syllables – “Wa” “Ter”

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 sepulcher there by the sea, In her tomb by the sounding sea.

from “Annabel Lee” by Edger Allen Poe

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”

The morns are meeker than they were,The trees are getting brown;The child’s cheek is plumper,The rose is out of town.--Emily Dickinson

Repetition

• The repeating of words, sounds, or phrases in the poem

• This helps emphasize a message and helps create a poem’s rhythm.

• Notice how Edgar Allan Poe uses repetition in “Annabel Lee” to create emotional effects:

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 sepulcher there by the sea, In her tomb by the sounding sea.

• In “Casey at the Bat” by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, word repetition is used effectively to create a mood:

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright,

The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light;

And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout,

But there is no joy in Mudville: Mighty Casey has struck out.

My boy builds coffins with hammers and nailsHe doesn't build ships, he has no use for sailsHe doesn't make tables, dressers or chairsHe can't carve a whistle cause he just doesn't care

My boy builds coffins for the rich and the poorKings and queens have all knocked on his doorBeggars and liars, gypsies and thievesThey all come to him 'cause he's so eager to please

My boy builds coffins he makes them all dayBut it's not just for work and it isn't for playHe's made one for himselfOne for me tooOne of these days he'll make one for youFor youFor youFor youFor you

from “My Boy Builds Coffins” by Florence and the Machine

I looked upon the rotting sea, And drew my eyes away;I looked upon the rotting deck,And there the dead men lay.

from "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Coleridge

Rhyme

• Repetition of sounds and the end of words.

• Rhyme Time

Rhyme Scheme

• The pattern of rhyme in a poem

• Using the words that come at the end of each line, the reader can label the rhyme scheme using the alphabet – grouping the words that rhyme together.

Rhyme Scheme

• End Rhymes – were multiple lines have a rhyming ending word

• Internal Rhymes – where words rhyme within one line in the poem

Invitationby Shel Silverstein

If you are a dreamer, come in,

If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,

A hope-er, a pray-er a magic bean buyer

If you are a pretender, come sit by my fire,

For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.

Come in!

Come in!

One, two, three, fourTell me that you love me moreSleepless long nightsThat is what my youth was for

Old teenage hopes are alive at your doorLeft you with nothing but they want some more

Oh, you're changing your heartOh, You know who you are

Sweetheart bitterheart now I can't tell you apartCosy and cold, put the horse before the cart

Those teenage hopes who have tears in their eyesToo scared to own up to one little lie

Oh, you're changing your heartOh, you know who you are

One, two, three, four, five, six, nine, or tenMoney can't buy you back the love that you had thenOne, two, three, four, five, six, nine, or tenMoney can't buy you back the love that you had then

Oh, you're changing your heartOh, you know who you areOh, you're changing your heartOh, you know who you areOh, who you are

For the teenage boysThey're breaking your heartFor the teenage boysThey're breaking your heart

 

I used to know you when we were young You were in all my dreams We sat together in period one Fridays at 8:15 Now I see face in the strangest places Movies and magazines I saw you talkin' to Christopher Walken On my TV screen

I will wait for you As long as I need to And if you ever get back to Hackensack I'll be here for you

I used to work in a record store Now I work for my dad Scraping the paint off of hard wood floors The hours are pretty bad Sometimes I wonder where you are Probably in L.A. That seems to be where everybody else ends up these days

 

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

There is a place where the sidewalk ends

And before the black street starts,And the grass grows soft and white,And the sun burns crimson bright,And the moon rests from his flightAnd to cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows And the dark street winds and bends.Past the pits where the asphalt flowers growWe shall walk measured and slow,And we watch where the chalk-white arrows will goThe place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk measured and slow,And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,For the children, the children, they will knowThe place where the sidewalk ends.

Alliteration

• Repetition of sounds at the beginning of words.

• Alright, Allie is Awesome!

ChristmasSanta's sleigh is full of secretsChristmas trees are carefully decoratedChildren can't quietly wait for giftsKids snore and snooze in sleep

They don't wait silently for Santa and his sleigh'Cuz they hope there's still some cookies left.People open presents from parents and moreThen they wait 'till next year.

SAD SANTAShivering, snowbound SantaSleigh stuck in the snow,Seven, striking reindeer straying,A sleet-and-shuddering storm show.

HONKING HORNS honking horns of heavy haulagestinking swirls of steam and soothumming harmony hushes heartbeatmaestro mimes melodies mute

whooshing wind whirring windmillspicknickers peck pretzels and popcorngaggle of girls giggle in gleebragging boys boast bulky brawn

faltering feet faking foxtrotwhirling women waltz and wheezenervous nannies nudge neighborstsk! and tut! as tomboys tease

prim princess posing patientlyfinicky photographer flicks fan near facebrass band's blaring bugle blowsbagpipes bellow over boom of bass

Onomatopoeia

• Word that imitates (copies or makes) a sound.

Zip goes the jacket

"Zip" is an example of onomatopoeia because it sounds like what it is. When you zip up a

zipper the sound the zipper makes sounds like a zipper. Here are other onomatopoeia words:

Boom, bang, slash, slurp,gurgle, meow,and woof

Cafeteria Boom!

Went the foodtrays.

Clap! Clap!Goes the teacher.

Rip! Went the

plastic bag.Munch! Munch!Go the students.

Slurp!!!Went the straws.

WhisperIs what half the kids

in the roomare doing.Crunch! Crunch!

gothe candy bars.

Pizza Parlor Swoosh!

Swoosh!Goes the dough in the air.

Splat !Splat !

Goes the sauce on the dough.Sprinkle. Sprinkle.

Goes the cheese on the sauce.Flop!Flop!

Goes the pepperoni on the cheese.Sizzle!Sizzle!

Goes the pizza as it cooks.

WIND AND RAIN

westerly whips up wavesslosh, splash on shoreseagull winging bravelyslipstreams, flap some more

rain patters and splattersdrop, plop on windscreenmeditative silence movingfresh gust wakes from daydream