In order to complete this task effectively, make sure you

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "In order to complete this task effectively, make sure you"

Nickolas Potter
5 years ago
Views:

1 Name: Date: The Giver- Poem Task Description: The purpose of a free verse poem is not to disregard all traditional rules of poetry; instead, free verse is based on a poet s own rules of personal thought patterns and breath patterns. Rather than fitting content to form, the poet has the freedom to create the form accordingly, to emphasize specific words and sounds. There were many themes demonstrated within The Giver. Theme can be demonstrated within a free verse poem. Theme is the central, underlying, and controlling idea or insight of a work of literature. Your Task: From one character s perspective (first or third person perspective), write a free verse poem communicating a theme that was demonstrated within The Giver. You should achieve clarity and coherence by using related supporting details from the text. You should consider specific events and direct-quotations from the text. The poem should be at least two pages in length. **Keep in mind: You do not state the theme within your poem. Your readers should be able to identify the theme illustrated by your word choice within your poem. In order to complete this task effectively, make sure you 1) Determine what type of free verse poem you will be writing. Choose one of the options below. a. Narrative poem: The poet tells a story. Often, there is rising action, climax, and resolution, like a short story. The poet composes the narrative by using simile, metaphor, imagery, vivid description, line breaks, and so forth. b. Prose poem: The poet uses complete sentences and the techniques of poetry, simile, metaphor, imagery, and vivid description. Stanzas become paragraphs. The language of the poem is lyrical. c. Anecdote: The poet describes some incident or experience or event that is interesting, and ends the poem with some insight. Poets also use anecdotes to illustrate a truth. d. Image poem: The poet writes a poem about an image, and relies on language that appeals to the sense of sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing to describe the

2 image. The poet also composes the poem using line break, simile, metaphor, and so forth. e. Meditative poem: The poet begins by describing a scene. This scene triggers a meditation in the mind of the poet. The poet then returns to the initial scene with better understanding or resolution. The poet composes the poem using line break, simile, metaphor, and so forth. f. Lyrical poem: A traditional form adopted by many modern/contemporary poets. The poet writes a poem expressing personal thoughts and feelings about an idea, person, experience. The poet uses imagery and description to create a mood. The poet also uses sound effects to make the poem sound lyrical, like music. These sound effects include alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia, internal or end rhyme. 2) Determine the theme that you will be illustrating in your poem. 3) Plan your word choice. The types of words you choose, the sound of these words, and the meaning of these words will contribute to your voice. A good poet also writes poetry that has a pleasing sound when read aloud. You must also use supporting details from the text, such as specific events, quotes, and thoughts. 4) Determine the point of view. The first person point of view uses I and me. The third person ( he/she ) provides some narrative distance as you are writing from an outside perspective. 5) Choose at least two options of figurative language or poetic devices that you will implement in your poem. In part, your style is determined by the poetic devices you use to create your poems. You might use alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia to create a particular sound. You might also use simile, metaphor, imagery, symbolism to create an entertaining poetry and to explain. Many poets prefer particular poetic devices over others. Most good free verse uses simile or metaphor. Planning Your Poem: On a separate piece of paper or in your notebook, you must complete the following five tasks: 1) State the theme that you will be illustrating in your poem. 2) Describe at least one event in the novel that demonstrates your chosen theme. Explain why the event(s) /are important for the character(s) involved. Explain how the event(s) demonstrate(s) your chosen theme. Describe why you think the author implements the theme in the novel. 3) Plan your word choice. You should scan through the event(s) chosen and other scenes that depict your chosen theme. Next, you should create an expansive list of specific

3 words and direct-quotes that could potentially be used in your poem. You should also list separate words (not directly quoted in the novel) that you want to implement in your poem. 4) Explain what type of free verse poem you will be writing and why. 5) Choose at least two options of figurative language or poetic devices that you will implement in your poem (you can reference your chosen type of poem for ideas and handouts). For each figurative language or poetic device chosen you must outline lines (sentences) that use that language or device. For example: If you choose to use simile an example line would be: His eyes were pale unsure and strange like a whisper they shared a secret A good free verse poem uses the following building blocks or techniques: Syntax and grammar. Poets use a variety of syntax, such as fragments, simple sentences, compound sentences, periodic sentences, and parallel structure. They follow the rules of punctuation and the rules of grammar. They use both action verbs and concrete nouns. They write in the active voice instead of the

4 passive voice. (The noun performs the action of the verb.) They use adjectives and adverbs sparingly. (to avoid wordiness and repeating an idea that can be presented by the right verb or right noun.) Line breaks and Line length. Poets use line breaks such as white space, enjambment, or end-stop (period or comma) to indicate the reader to pause, to create emphasis, and to create rhythm. They write short lines to speed up the pace, and long lines to slow down the pace. Figurative Language. Most good free verse poetry includes simile or metaphor. A simile makes a comparison using like or as. A metaphor makes a comparison with is or of by stating that one thing is another. Example: She is the devil in disguise. And when required, the poet also includes symbolism and allusion and personification. Figurative language can make a poem pleasurable to read. It can clarify meaning. It entertains the reader. It turns the ordinary into something meaningful, something memorable. Often an abstract idea can be made concrete to the reader by using similes or metaphors. Example: Love is a drug. We are addicted to love. In the poem, Golden Oldies, poet Rita Dove uses the technique of allusion to make reference to pop culture. She writes: Baby, where did our love go? It is a famous song by The Supremes, who were a popular singing group in the 60 s and early 70 s. The following are figurative language options: - Metaphor: A metaphor is a figurative language device that represents one thing as if it were another, or compares two things not normally viewed as similar, such as "time is a thief." This comparison draws attention to the way time is quick and stealthy. - Simile: A simile is similar to a metaphor in that it compares two unlike things; however, a simile compares using "like" or "as." For example, "she ran like the wind. - Hyperbole: Hyperbole is an overstatement or exaggeration of speech for an effect. In the example "the ball bounced to the sky," the ball did not literally reach the sky, but the hyperbolic expression suggests the ball bounced extremely high, so it seemed as though it touched the sky. - Personification: Describing an inanimate object with human or lifelike qualities is called personification. The sentence "The sun smiled down on me" depicts the sun as "smiling" to express the idea that sun rays feel friendly and warm, although a sun is incapable of literally smiling. - Metonymy: Using a physical object to indicate a larger idea is named metonymy. For instance, the word "crown" can refer to a king or a monarchical system, or even an entire royal family. Journalists often refer to the United States government as "Washington," as in "We'll wait to see how Washington responds to this recent change in developments." - Imagery: Detailed description which incorporates many of the five senses -- sight, sound, smell, taste and touch -- is called imagery. When a writer uses imagery, he or she creates a "mental picture" for the reader. That means the descriptions are so vivid the reader can almost imagine he or she is there. Many of the other figurative language devices can be examples of imagery. Appropriate word choice or diction. Free verse poets choose words for their meaning (denotation or dictionary meaning), implied meaning (connotation), and sound (rhyme, alliteration, assonance). Example: The boy sat on the soiled sofa/sipped a cold soda/ read a comic book. Most free verse poets use everyday language, words that you d here in a conversation. The following poem by Louise Gluck is a good example of how poets can use everyday language to create a powerful poetry: Memoir I was born cautious, under the sign of Taurus.

5 I grew up on an island, prosperous, in the second half of the twentieth century; the shadow of the Holocaust hardly touched us. I had a philosophy of love, a philosophy of religion, both based on early experience within family. And if when I wrote I used only a few words it was because time always seemed to me short as though it could be stripped away at any moment. And my story, in any case, wasn t unique though, like everyone else, I had a story, a point of view. A few words were all I needed: nourish, sustain, attack. Imagery. Good free verse poets use language that appeals to reader s sense of sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing. The poet uses imagery to show the reader what happened or what the poet experienced with his/her senses. Imagery brings a person, object, image, moment, experience to life. Imagery recreates what the poet experienced or imagined as a the scene in the mind of the reader. Imagery helps to create word pictures. Symbolism. On occasion, the free verse poet uses symbol, metonymy, or synecdoche. A symbol refers to something other than its literal meaning. Some poets use well-recognized symbols. ( Examples: cross, dove, bible) Others create their own. (A blooming yellow tulip in the garden can be a symbol of birth or springtime.) Metonymy is a figure of speech in which the poet replaces the word of one thing with the word or phrased that is closely associated with it. (Example: Crown instead of Monarch) A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which the poet substitutes the part for the whole. This part or attribute or characteristic is used by the poet to refer to the entire person, place, thing, object, and so forth. (Example: The teenager purchased a set of wheels. Wheels refer to a car or truck. Sound Devices. A memorable poem has a pleasing sound when read aloud. This pleasuring sound is created with particular poetic devices, such as alliteration (repetition of consonant sound of two or more words on a line or lines) and assonance (repetition of vowel sounds of two or more words on a line or lines). When required, poets also use onomatopoeia, internal rhyme, or end rhyme. Free verse poetry is meant to be read for its meaning and sound. Both invoke an emotional reaction. Rhythm. A good free verse poem has rhythm or beat. This rhyme is based on the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables on a line. Meter can be part of rhythm. For instance, a poet can include rhythm by using a particular metrical pattern. Though a free verse poem doesn t have to comply to a metrical pattern, such as iambic pentameter, many modern and contemporary poets rely on syllabic meter to create rhythm. For instance, the poetic might create a poem in which each line has the same number of syllables. Poets also use other techniques, such as parallel structure and repetition, to create rhythm. Line break is also an important way to create rhythm. The poet can use white space, enjambment, or endstop, such as a period or coma.

6 Poets also create rhythm by changing the pace. The poet can speed up or slow down the pace of a poem, make it fast or slow, smooth or interrupted even irregular by using different lengths of line. A long line slows down the pace, while a short line speeds up the pace. Usually a longer line has more syllables than a short line. Point of view. Free verse poetry can be written from different poets of view first person ( I ), second person ( you ), or third person ( he/she ). Before selecting a point of view, the poet should determine how he/she is going to present the poem to the reader. The poet has two choices: First, the poet can turn inward and then write about thoughts, feelings, perceptions. Secondly, the poet can turn outward and write about other people, objects, things, events, topics in the world. If the poet turns inward, to the psyche or self, then the poem is usually written in the first person ( I. ) If the poet turns outward to view the outside world, the poet can still write in the first person. However, usually the poet writes in the third person using ( he/she. ) Sometimes the poet writes in the second-person point of view using you. In this case, the poet is referring directly to the reader. Example: You smoke your cigarette/ You read your paper/you sip your morning coffee/you ponder how another day will unfold/you ve learned that a day can play out like a football game/ Often you don t know who will win until the very end. Sometimes, the poet invents a persona, and then composes a poem as if he were someone else. For instance, the poet might write a poem in the voice of someone dead or alive or famous. Most free verse poems are written in the first-person point of view ( I ), or the third person point of view ( he/she ).

Cheat sheet: English Literature - poetry

Cheat sheet: English Literature - poetry Poetic devices checklist Make sure you have a thorough understanding of the poetic devices below and identify where they are used in the poems in your anthology. This will help you gain maximum marks across