Poetry Appreciation Workshop (P.A.W.) Venue: The Cube, Faculty of Education, University of Malaya Date: 2nd December 2014 Duration: 8:30 am 12:30 pm

Poetry Appreciation Workshop (P.A.W.) Venue: The Cube, Faculty of Education, University of Malaya Date: 2nd December 2014 Duration: 8:30 am 12:30 pm

LIST OF POETRY STATIONS STATION #1: SENSES With Miss Nishanti & Miss Sarah STATION #2: LANGUAGE With Miss Cherie & Miss Grace STATION #3: STRCUTURE With Mr Hidayat & Mr Afiq STATION #4: THEMES & CONTEXT With Mr Lee & Miss Xie Xiaoyu

STATION #1: SENSES By Miss Nishanti & Miss Sarah METAPHORS By Sylvia Plath I'm a riddle in nine syllables, An elephant, a ponderous house, A melon strolling on two tendrils. O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers! This loaf's big with its yeasty rising. Money's new-minted in this fat purse. I'm a means, a stage, a cow in calf. I've eaten a bag of green apples, Boarded the train there's no getting off

SOUND & SENSE By Alexander Pope True Ease in Writing comes from Art, not Chance, As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance, 'Tis not enough no Harshness gives Offence, The Sound must seem an Eccho to the Sense: Soft is the Strain when Zephyr gently blows, And the smooth Stream in smoother Numbers flows; But when loud Surges lash the sounding Shore, The hoarse, rough Verse shou'd like the Torrent roar. When Ajax strives, some Rock's vast Weight to throw, The Line too labours, and the Words move slow; Not so, when swift Camilla scours the Plain, Flies o'er th'unbending Corn, and skims along the Main. Hear how Timotheus' vary'd Lays surprize, And bid Alternate Passions fall and rise!

STATION #2: LANGUAGE With Miss Cherie & Miss Grace A word or phrase that is found from everyday literal language for the sake of comparison, emphasis, clarity, or freshness. Alliteration - The repetition of the initial consonant sounds in two or more neighbouring words or syllables (pronounced in the same way) Example: She sells sea shells by the sea shore there are two examples of alliteration here, with the sh sound and the s sound. Assonance - The repetition of vowel sounds within a series of words (usually in a row). Example: I feel pretty, oh so pretty, I feel pretty, and witty and bright, where the short i sound repeated in pretty and witty. NOTE: the short vowel sound and the explosive t sound add energy to the song. (Brings effects to the poem) Consonance - The repetition of a consonant in a series of words, whether at the beginning of the word or the middle or the end. [ Alliteration is a type of consonance, but refers specifically to the repetition of the beginning sound only] Example: Generations have trod, have trod, have trod; And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

Personification - Objects are given the character of a human Example: Autumn s season by Phyllis Babcock Hyperbole - An exaggeration that is so dramatic that no one would believe the statement is true. Example: a) I m so hungry I could eat a whole elephant b) I love for a thousand years Simile - Uses the words like or as to compare one object or idea with another to suggest they are alike. Example: a) Busy as a bee b) The sun is like a yellow ball of fire in the sky Idioms - An expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning conventionally understood by native speakers. Idioms don t mean exactly what the words say. They have, however, hidden meaning. Examples: a) "Kick the bucket" = to die b) "Spill the beans" = to tell people secret information

Irony - The use of words/situation to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning. Irony makes a work of literature more intriguing and forces the readers to use their imagination and comprehend the underlying meanings of the texts. Examples: You laugh at a person who slipped stepping on a banana peel and the next thing you know, you slipped too. Metaphor - A comparison of two different things which suggest that they have the same meaning Examples: 1. Her home was a prison - The home is characterized as a prison because she feels trapped in a home where she is supposed to feel loved and belonged. - Prison = metaphor to symbolize the feeling of confinement 2. George is a sheep - A sheep is a characterized as a follower who always needs direction from others. - George is symbolized as a sheep who can never be a leader. Simile - A comparison of two things using the words like or as Examples: a) His skin was as cold as ice = she is very cold b) It felt as hard as rock = it is unbreakable c) My love is like a red, red rose = his/her love is very beautiful and pure d) These cookies taste like garbage = the cookies are horrible

Oxymoron - A phrase that obviously contradicts itself. (Moron: Crazy/ does not make sense) Examples: a) alone together b) awfully good c) bitter sweet Paradox - The use of concepts or ideas that are contradictory to one another, yet, when placed together hold significant value on several levels. Examples: a) Winners know how to lose. b) Bookxcess: Read more for less c) William Shakespeare s Hamlet: "I must be cruel to be kind." Onomatopoeia - The use of words whose sound suggests the sense Examples: Huff, buzz, snap, click clack, boom!, hiss, bang, etc. REFLECTION QUESTIONS: 1) Why do we need figurative language in poems? 2) With the aid of figurative language, how does it help you to understand the poem better?

STATION #3: STRUCTURE With With Mr Hidayat & Mr Afiq 1(a... (a leaf falls on loneliness) By E. E. Cummings 1(a le af fa ll s) one l iness Reflective Question: How does the typography of this poem effect your perception of it?

WHAT CAN I SAY By Max Tell What can I say? It's a very fine day to say what I say, and this is the way. Dogs may bray but that's OK, while a poem today, I write in play. A poem, I pray, I've written today outside a cafe while a tree did sway. At the end of the day I'll take me away, this day in May, and hit the hay. "Down by the bay, while in Bombay, the sky wasn't grey, it was sunny all day. As my friend Ray walked into the fray in a light-hearted way, gone his toupee." Reflective Question: How does the rhyme effect your reading of the poem?

STATION #4: THEMES & CONTEXT With Mr Lee & Miss Xie Xiaoyu THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER By William Blake When my mother died I was very young, And my father sold me while yet my tongue Could scarcely cry " 'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!" So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep. There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head That curled like a lamb's back, was shaved, so I said, "Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head's bare, You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair." And so he was quiet, & that very night, As Tom was a-sleeping he had such a sight! That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, & Jack, Were all of them locked up in coffins of black;

And by came an Angel who had a bright key, And he opened the coffins & set them all free; Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run, And wash in a river and shine in the Sun. Then naked & white, all their bags left behind, They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind. And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy, He'd have God for his father & never want joy. And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark And got with our bags & our brushes to work. Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm; So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm. The poem "The Chimney Sweeper" is set against the dark background of child labour that was prominent in England in the late 18th and 19th century.

MORE LIST OF POEMS 1. THE POISON TREE (BY WILLIAM BLAKE) 2. SONNET 18 (BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE) 3. THERE S BEEN A DEATH IN THE OPPOSITE HOUSE (BY EMILY DICKINSON) 4. THE SCHOOL BOY (BY WILLIAM BLAKE)

THE POISON TREE By William Blake I was angry with my friend; I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow. And I watered it in fears, Night & morning with my tears: And I sunned it with smiles, And with soft deceitful wiles. And it grew both day and night. Till it bore an apple bright. And my foe beheld it shine, And he knew that it was mine. And into my garden stole, When the night had veiled the pole; In the morning glad I see; My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

SONNET 18 By William Shakespeare 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.

There s Been A Death in the Opposite House By Emily Dickinson THERE S been a death in the opposite house As lately as to-day. I know it by the numb look Such houses have alway. The neighbors rustle in and out, The doctor drives away. A window opens like a pod, Abrupt, mechanically, Sombody flings a mattress out, The children hurry by; They wonder if It died on it, I used to when a boy. The minister goes stiffly in As if the house were his, And he owned all the mourners now, And little boys besides; And then the milliner, and the man Of the appalling trade, To take the measure of the house. There ll be that dark parade Of tassels and of coaches soon; It s easy as a sign, The intuition of the news In just a country town.

THE SCHOOL BOY By William Blake I love to rise in a summer morn, When the birds sing on every tree; The distant huntsman winds his horn, And the skylark sings with me: O what sweet company! How can the bird that is born for joy Sit in a cage and sing? How can a child, when fears annoy, But droop his tender wing, And forget his youthful spring! But to go to school in a summer morn, O it drives all joy away! Under a cruel eye outworn, The little ones spend the day O father and mother if buds are nipped, And blossoms blown away; And if the tender plants are stripped Of their joy in the springing day, By sorrow and care's dismay, - In sighing and dismay. How shall the summer arise in joy, Ah then at times I drooping sit, And spend many an anxious hour; Nor in my book can I take delight, Nor sit in learning's bower, Or the summer fruits appear? Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy, Or bless the mellowing year, When the blasts of winter appear?

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