P.S. I need all of our literature and language books back by FRIDAY! Losing one of these books will result in a hefty fee that will keep you from getting your yearbook and from registering for classes. We will be having a poetry test covering the entire poetry unit at the end of next week. If you will be gone, you need to address this BEFORE you leave. Things in YELLOW will likely be on the test. Take notes.
Words with Music Words in a good poem create there own music. The English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge said poetry is the best words in the best order. Listen to the opening lines of one of his poems, Kubla Khan. In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree: Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea. Even if you don t understand the content, the music still comes through. It takes work to make such a poem.
Rhythm Rhythm is the repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables. These stressed and unstressed syllables, when formed in a pattern, create a beat. Ever notice how some syllables are naturally stressed or emphasized? Which syllable takes the stress (the emphasis)? Because Be-CAUSE Cincinnati Cin-cin-NAT-I Mountain MOUN-tain
Read this limerick aloud. A limerick is a short, humorous poem with a definite rhythm. A gentleman dining at Crewe Found quite a lrge mouse in his stew Said the waiter, Don t shout, And wave it about, Or the rest will be wanting one too!
This poem has a particular Meter. Meter is a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. 1 A gentleman dining at Crewe 2 Found quite a large mouse in his stew 3 Said the waiter, Don t shout, 4 And wave it about, 5 Or the rest will be wanting one too! Not only do you naturally hear this meter, but when put like this, you can even SEE how it forms a pattern. The pattern for lines 1,2, and 5 are the same. The pattern for lines 3 and 4 are the same.
Rhyme Rhyme adds to the music of a poem. There are many different types of rhymes. End Rhyme: These happen at, you guessed it, the ends of lines. A gentleman dining at Crewe Found quite a large mouse in his stew Said the waiter, Don t shout, And wave it about, Or the rest will be wanting one too! Two end rhyme lines in a row creates a couplet. The panther is like a leopard, Except it hasn t been peppered.
Internal rhymes occur within the lines. (Think internal organs inside of your body) Exact rhymes are words that rhyme exactly. Find the internal and exact rhymes. 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 someone gently rapping, Rapping at my chamber door --Poe, The Raven
Approximate Rhyme Approximate rhymes are rhymes that sound similar but do not rhyme exactly. Examples might include: Fellow/Hollow Cat/Catch Bet/Bit Some poets prefer approximate rhymes because they feel that they make the poem sound more real, less artificial.
Free Verse Free verse poetry doesn t need meter or a rhyme pattern, but that doesn t mean that anything goes. These poems still work to be rhythmic and beautiful. They just don t follow any set structure. Give me the splendid silent sun with All his beams full-dazzling, Give me the juicy autumnal fruit ripe and Red from the orchard, Give me a field where the unmowed Grass grows Give me an arbor, give me the trellised Grape --Walt Whitman
Other factors that create music Alliteration: The repetition of certain consonant sounds. In this example, the author uses alliteration to try to mimic the rustling sound that is happening in the poem. And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain Assonance: Like alliteration, but the repetition of vowel sounds. Onomatopoeia: Words that sound like what they mean: Sizzle, plop, tic, boom. Onomatopoeias help us hear what s happening in the poem. Punctuation: The punctuation in poems is there for a reason. Read a poem the way you d read a book. Use a natural, flowing voice. Stop at periods and commas. Emphasize things in quotations or followed by exclamations.
Write down the following stanza from Edgar Allen Poe s The Raven. Double space it. Homework: Due tomorrow. We are going to ANNOTATE this poem. 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." 1. Draw circles around any internal rhymes. 2. Draw squares around any end rhymes. 3. Underline places that use alliteration ONCE 4. Underline onomatopoeias TWICE 5. Link any exact rhymes with a line 6. Label any couplets by writing the word couplet next to it 7. Meter: Mark ALL the syllables like this: stressed= unstressed= -.