Introduction to Poetry

Key Terms

StandardELACC8RL4: Determine the meaning of words

and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.

What is a Poem?

• A poem is a verbal composition created in verse rather than prose

• Prose is ordinary writing that relies on sentences and paragraphs.

• Verse is writing that happens in lines or stanzas. It is not confined to paragraphs.

Line

• A line is a row of words within a poem. • A line might be very long, or it might be as

short as one word, or even one letter. • One complete thought might be split up over

several lines, so a reader shouldn’t necessarily pause at the end each line. It might flow right into the next one with no stop. Pause when you reach punctuation.

1. How many lines?2. Where should the reader pause?

If I can stop one heart from breaking,I shall not live in vain;If I can ease one life the aching,Or cool one pain,Or help one fainting robinUnto his nest again,I shall not live in vain.

- Emily Dickinson

Stanza

• A stanza is one group of lines within a poem. • A stanza can be made of as many lines as the

poet desires. • Stanzas are usually separated by a horizontal

gap of space on a page. • A poem might have one stanza or many

stanzas. • The form each stanza follows does not have to

match, but it can.

How Many Stanzas

I have eaten This is Just To Saythe plums by: William Carlos Williamsthat were inthe icebox

and whichyou were probablysavingfor breakfast

Forgive methey were deliciousso sweetand so cold

Rhyme

• A rhyme is 2 or more words that end with the same vowel sound.

• Poems can rhyme, but they don’t have to. • Rhyming words can be found in a Rhyming

Dictionary

Rhyme Scheme

• Rhyme Scheme is the pattern in which a poem’s rhymes are arranged.

• Some poems have a very rigid, predictable rhyme scheme pattern

• Some poems have no rhyme scheme at all

Labeling Rhyme Scheme• We label rhyme scheme by calling the first line

“A.” Every line in that stanza that rhymes with “A” is labeled “A.”

• The first line that does NOT rhyme with “A” is labeled “B.” Every line that rhymes with “B” is labeled “B.”

• Continue going through the alphabet until you run out of lines in the stanza.

• Start over with “A” in the next stanza. • We name the rhyme scheme after the pattern

Example: A Hippo is Bounding…A hippo is bounding around on my head.Gorillas are banging on drums.A rhino is charging me full speed ahead while a crocodile's eyeing my thumbs.

A rattlesnake's winding his way up my side.A tiger is sniffing my clothes.A grizzly just grabbed me, his mouth open wide.A tarantula's perched on my nose.

I'm drowning, surrounded by man-eating sharks.An elephant sits on my chest.Yes, that's how it feels when the teacher remarks,"Grab your pencils. It's time for the test."

--Kenn Nesbitt

Free Verse

• Free Verse is when a poem has no set rhyme or pattern.

• The verse does not conform to a specified number of lines or syllables.

• It may have no rhyme whatsoever, though the author may occasionally throw a rhyme in here and there. The rhyme, however, will NOT have a pattern.

Free Verse ExampleSunset by: Lillian Moore

There's dazzle in the western skyColors spill andrunThe pond mouthlies open greedyfor the last dropofmeltingsun

Sound

How does a poem appeal to the ear?

Standard

• ELACC8RL4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.

• ELACC8RL4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.

Sound

Many poems are built around sound. The poet attempts to create wording that is catchy to the ear.

Rhythm

• Rhythm is the beat of a poem.

• Many poems have strong patterns of beat that make the poem sound almost like is has a chant.

Rhyme

• The pattern of rhyme in a poem can affect the way it sounds.

End Rhyme

• End rhyme is when the rhymes occur at the end of lines in a poem.

• End rhyme is what creates rhyme scheme.

Example

Couplets

• Couplets are pairs of rhyming lines.

• The poem will be arranged so that the pairs are continually grouped one after the other.

A Wish For YouIf I could grant a wish for you,You would get a thrill or two. May all your lucky numbers win the lottery.May you discover beautiful, ancient pottery. May you be able to act and sing.May life bring you every good thing. May you eat chocolate and candy, too.May each dish of ice cream be just for you. May you always have money and never be poor.May you always have peace and never know war. Oh, if I could grant a wish for you,You would get a thrill or two.

Internal Rhyme

• Internal rhyme is when rhyme occurs within lines of a poem rather than just at the end of lines

• Sometimes words within a line will rhyme with words at the end of a line.

ExampleThe Cloud by Percy Bysshe Shelly (An excerpt)

I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers,From the seas and the streams;I bear light shade for the leaves when laidIn their noonday dreams.From my wings are shaken the dews that wakenThe sweet buds every one,When rocked to rest on their mother's breast,As she dances about the sun.I wield the flail of the lashing hail,And whiten the green plains under,And then again I dissolve it in rain,And laugh as I pass in thunder.

Repetition

• Repetition is when an author repeats words, phrases, or lines to build or emphasize an effect.

Example

Alliteration

• Alliteration is using words that begin with the same sound together.

ExampleA tree toad loved a she-toad

Who lived up in a tree.He was a two-toed tree toadBut a three-toed toad was she.The two-toed tree toad tried to winThe three-toed she-toad’s heart,For the two-toed tree toad loved the groundThat the three-toed tree toad trod.But the two-toed tree toad tried in vain.He couldn’t please her whim.From her tree toad bowerWith her three-toed powerThe she-toad vetoed him.

Onomatopoeia

• Onomatopoeia is using words that sound exactly like the sound that they represent.

• Example: Pow, Crash, Moo, Vroom, Tap, Click, Quack, Plop, Splash, etc.

ExampleThe rusty spigot --Eve Merriam

sputters,uttersa splutter,spatters a smattering of drops,gashes wider;splashes,splatters,scatters,spurts,finally stops sputteringand splash!Gushes, rushes, splashes,clear water dashes.

Task

• Requirement: Create a poem that uses 2 sound techniques (end rhyme, couplets, internal rhyme, alliteration, rhythm, onomatopoeia, repetition).

• Topic: Author’s choice

• Form: Author’s choice