Poetry Lesson #1Poetry Lesson #1The Basics

Instead of sentences, poems have LINES.RHYTHM (sometimes called METER) is

the beat created by the sounds of the words when you read them.

RHYME SCHEME is a planned pattern of rhyming words such as AABBA.

There once was a fella named Pat, (A)When he sang, he sounded a bit flat. (A)The people around, (B)Found they could muffle the sound, (B)If they covered their ears with a hat! (A)

Let’s try another one… Let’s try another one… How many lines are in this poem? How many lines are in this poem? What is the rhyme scheme?What is the rhyme scheme?

I saw the fog grow thick,Which soon made blind my ken;It made tall men of boys,And giants of tall men.

It clutched my throat, I coughed;Nothing was in my headExcept two heavy eyesLike balls of burning lead.

And when it grew so blackThat I could know no place,I lost all judgment then,Of distance and of space.

The street lamps, and the lightsUpon the halted cars,Could either be on earthOr be the heavenly stars.

A man passed by me close,I asked my way, he said,"Come, follow me, my friend", I followed where he led.

He rapped the stones in front,"Trust me," he said, "and come";I followed like a child, A blind man led me home.

--Henry Davies

The Fog

A grouping of lines in a poem is not called a paragraph, it is called a STANZA.◦ Lines are usually separated into stanzas to make the poem easier to read, or to fit

into a rhyme scheme. The place where a line of poetry ends is called a LINE BREAK.

My Shadow I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow-Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all.

He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.He stays so close beside me, he's a coward you can see;I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

--Robert Louis Stevenson

Let’s build on what we know… How many Let’s build on what we know… How many stanzas are in this poem? How many lines are stanzas are in this poem? How many lines are in each stanza? What is the rhyme scheme?in each stanza? What is the rhyme scheme?

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fairAnd having perhaps the better claim,Because it was grassy and wanted wear;Though as for that, the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden blackOh, I kept the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference. --Robert Frost

Poetry Lesson #2Poetry Lesson #2Rhymed Verse and Free Verse

Let’s look at two poems and you Let’s look at two poems and you decide which is which!decide which is which!

Free Verse (open form) - Poetry that doesn’t have a regular meter or rhyme pattern.

Rhymed verse- where the lines of the poem follow a rhyme pattern. ◦ Example: ABCB

Both types of poems can have rhythm, imagery, and imaginative language.

ELDORADO Gaily bedight,A gallant knight,In sunshine and in shadow,Had journeyed long,Singing a song,In search of Eldorado. But he grew old-This knight so bold-And o'er his heart a shadowFell as he foundNo spot of groundThat looked like Eldorado. 

And, as his strengthFailed him at length,He met a pilgrim shadow-"Shadow," said he,"Where can it be-This land of Eldorado?" "Over the MountainsOf the Moon,Down the Valley of the Shadow,Ride, boldly ride,"The shade replied-"If you seek for Eldorado!" --Edgar Allan Poe

Birches (Excerpt)

When I see birches bend left to rightAcross the line of straighter darker trees,I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.But swinging doesn’t bend them down to stay.Ice-storms do that. Often you must have seen themLoaded with ice a sunny winter morningAfter a rain. They click upon themselvesAs the breeze rises, and turn many-coloredAs the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.Soon the sun’s warmth makes them shed crystal shellsShattering and avalanching on the snow-crust –Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away.

--Robert Frost

Poetry Lesson #3Poetry Lesson #3Poet’s Toolbox: Repetition

Can you find some in Can you find some in your reading?your reading?

Poets will sometimes repeat words or phrases to establish a rhythm in their poem.

Poets will sometimes use ALLITERATION- the repetition of consonant or vowel sound at the beginning or in the middle of words.

◦ Examples: Peter picked pickles in a pickle patch. Smart sharks swim slowly. Billy’s bought butter, but the butter was bitter, so

Billy bought better butter to make the bitter butter better!

1. Just listen to the following 1. Just listen to the following poem and look for the presence of poem and look for the presence of repetition of certain words, repetition of certain words, phrases, or sounds.phrases, or sounds.

What repetition takes place?What repetition takes place?Repeating exact words, a pattern Repeating exact words, a pattern of rhyming words, alliteration, of rhyming words, alliteration, rhythm. rhythm.

I.

    Dull, dimly gleaming,    The dawn looks downward    Where, flowing townward,    The river, steaming    With mist, is hidden:    Each bush, that huddles    Beside the road, the rain has pooled with puddles,    Seems, in the fog, a hag or thing hag-ridden.

II.

    Where leaves hang tattered    In forest tangles,    And woodway angles    Are acorn-scattered,    Coughing and yawning    The woodsman slouches,    Or stands as silent as the hound that crouches    Beside him, ghostly in the mist-drenched dawning.

III.

    Through roses, rotting    Within the garden,    With blooms, that harden,    Of marigolds, knotting,    (Each one an ember    Dull, dead and dripping,)    Her brow, from which their faded wreath is slipping,    Mantled in frost and fog, comes in November.

--Madison Julius Cawein

Gray November

   

Poetry Lesson #4Poetry Lesson #4Poet’s Toolbox:

The Power of Language & Imagery

This is called:This is called:ImageryImagery

Poets are very careful in the words that they choose. They choose words that help the reader to:

◦Paint a picture in their mind.◦Hear a certain sound.

Theme, Tone, and MoodTheme, Tone, and Mood

Poets also choose words wisely to make us:Think about a certain topic.Feel emotions.

Theme- the topic that the poem makes you think about. (friendship, love, honesty, compassion, family, loyalty, etc.)

Tone- the feeling you get about how the author feels about what they are saying (are they mad, are they joking, are they sad?)

Mood- very similar to tone. What emotions are portrayed by the poem. Is it a happy poem, a sad poem, a poem that feels angry?

Good Poets are artists that use Good Poets are artists that use words instead of drawings…words instead of drawings…

What do you hear?

What do you see?

What do you smell?

What do you feel?

What do you taste?

What do you think?

What examples of imagery can you find in the next poem???

Rain in Summer

How beautiful is the rain,After the dust and heat,In the broad and fiery street,In the narrow lane,How beautiful is the rain!

How it clatters along the roofs,Like the tramp of hoofsHow it gushes and struggles outFrom the throat of the overflowingspout!

Across the window-paneIt pours and pours;And swift and wide,With a muddy tide,Like a river down the gutter roarsThe rain, the welcome rain!

The sick man from his chamber looksAt the twisted brooks;He can feel the coolBreath of each little pool;His fevered brainGrows calm again,And he breathes a blessing on the rain.

From the neighboring schoolCome the boys,With more than their wonted noiseAnd commotion;And down the wet streetsSail their mimic fleets,Till the treacherous poolEngulfs them in its whirlingAnd turbulent ocean.

In the country, on every side,Where far and wide,Like a leopard's tawny and spotted hide,Stretches the plain,To the dry grass and the drier grainHow welcome is the rain!

-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Poetry Lesson #5Poetry Lesson #5Poet’s Toolbox:

Figurative Language, a poet’s best friend!

SimilesSimiles

Simile- Comparing two things using the words “like” or “as”

Her face was as red as a tomato when she got on stage to performfor the first time.

The tree was tall like a skyscraper,stretching towards the sky.

MetaphorMetaphor

Metaphor- Comparing two things without the use of like or as.

Sam was a cheetah running around the playground.

The rock was a sinking ship plummeting to the bottom of the ocean.

PersonificationPersonification

Personification- giving human-like characteristics to an inanimate object.

The tree waved its branches in the wind.

The whistle sang, signaling it was time to go home for the day.

HyperboleHyperbole

Hyperbole- an extreme exaggeration

“I’m so hungry I could eat a horse!”

I have a million things to do!

OnomatopoeiaOnomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia- words that imitate a sound and suggest their meaning.

The bacon hit the pan with a

The buzzing bee

flew past my ear and stung me!

What figurative language can you What figurative language can you find?find?

The Final Deployment

Selena strapped on her sneakers and ran to the airportlike a race horse sprints to the finish line.

She trotted past traffic and trees,Zipped over curbs and cracks

And soon reached her final destinationWhere a thousand of her closest friends waited.

And turned their owl eyes in her directionShe took a gasp so loud

it was heard on three other continents.Selena spotted her brother

Thin, clean-shaven, and a fit fiddleThe siblings stared straight at each other

And ran to give hugs that had waitedToo long to be given.

Then, like champions taking their final lap,Ran home to proclaim their memories back.

As family kissed and huggedand cried a river of tears,

Selena kicked off her sneakersThat slumped with exhaustion near

combat boots that had a million stories to tell. --Anna Prokos

Responding to poetryResponding to poetry

Questions to ask yourself when reading a poem:How does this poem make me feel?What do I think this poem is about?What are my favorite words/phrases in the poem? Why?What do I see in my mind when I read this poem?What does this poem make me wonder?Is there anything I don’t understand?