POETRY’S PILLARSENGLISH II

THE THREE PILLARS OF POETRY

EMOTION IMAGES MUSIC

EMOTION

“Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.”

~William Wordsworth

IMAGES

“No ideas but in things.”~William Carlos Williams

MUSIC

“Poetry is music. The opposite is true, also, because music is poetry.”

~Melinda Tyler

What makes poetry musical?

(1) METER: the rhythm and accent of syllables, often organized into « feet »

(2) RHYME: the repetition of similar sounds. Poetry often follows a « rhyme scheme, » or a pattern of rhyme.

THE SONNETThe sonnet is one of the most highly musical forms of poetry.

There are some characteristics that are common among all types of sonnets:

• NUMBER OF LINES: Fourteen (14)

• METER: Iambic Pentameter (5 feet, each one unaccented & one accented syllable)

˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ / ˘ /da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM!

TYPES OF SONNETS

SHAKESPEAREAN (ENGLISH)

Rhyme Scheme:

abab cdcd efef gg

PETRARCHAN (ITALIAN)

Rhyme Schemes:

abba abba cdcdcdabba abba cdecde

Different types of sonnets can be told apart by their rhyme schemes.

« Adam’s Curse »by W. B. Yeats

A line will take us hours maybe;

Yet if it does not seem a moment’s thought,

Our stitching and unstitching has been naught.

• What is Yeats saying about the work of poets? Is it easy or hard? Should it appear easy or hard?

• Do you agree with Yeats’ attitude about the difficulty of writing poetry? Explain.

« Adam’s Curse » by W. B. Yeats

To articulate sweet sounds together

Is to be thought an idler by the noisy set

Of bankers, schoolmasters, and clergymen

The martyrs call the world.

• What is Yeats saying about the way other people view poets?

• Do you agree? Why or why not?

the sonnet-ballad by Gwendolyn Brooks Oh mother, mother, where is happiness?They took my lover's tallness off to war,Left me lamenting. Now I cannot guessWhat I can use an empty heart-cup for.He won't be coming back here any more.Some day the war will end, but, oh, I knewWhen he went walking grandly out that doorThat my sweet love would have to be untrue.Would have to be untrue. Would have to courtCoquettish death, whose impudent and strangePossessive arms and beauty (of a sort)Can make a hard man hesitate--and change.And he will be the one to stammer, "Yes.”Oh mother, mother, where is happiness?

The way you look tonight by Frank Sinatra Some day, when I'm awfully low,

When the world is cold,I will feel a glow just thinking of you...

And the way you look tonight.Yes you're lovely, with your smile so warm

And your cheeks so soft,There is nothing for me but to love you,

And the way you look tonight.With each word your tenderness grows,

Tearing my fear apart...And that laugh that wrinkles your nose,

It touches my foolish heart.Lovely ... Never, ever change.Keep that breathless charm.Won't you please arrange it ?

'Cause I love you ... Just the way you look tonight.Mm, Mm, Mm, Mm,

Just the way you look to-night.

Sonnet 30 by ShakespeareWhen to the sessions of sweet silent thoughtI summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought, And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow, For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,And weep afresh love's long since cancell'd woe, And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight: Then can I grieve at grievances foregone, And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan, Which I new pay as if not paid before. But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,All losses are restored and sorrows end.

Sonnet 73 by Shakespeare That time of year thou mayst in me behold When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. In me thou seest the twilight of such day As after sunset fadeth in the west, Which by and by black night doth take away, Death's second self, that seals up all in rest. In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire That on the ashes of his youth doth lie, As the death-bed whereon it must expire Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by. This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,

To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

Sonnet 116 by Shakespeare Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove: O no; it is an ever-fixed mark, That looks on tempests, and is never shaken; It is the star to every wandering bark, Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle's compass come; Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom. If this be error, and upon me prov'd, I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.

Sonnet 130 by Shakespeare My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips' red: If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damask'd, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak,--yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound; I grant I never saw a goddess go, My mistress when she walks, treads on the ground; And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare.

Something by The Beatles Something in the way she moves Attracts me like no other lover Something in the way she woos me I don't want to leave her now You know I believe and how Somewhere in her smile she knows That I don't need no other lover Something in her style that shows me I don't want to leave her now You know I believe and how You're asking me will my love grow I don't know, I don't know You stick around and it may show I don't know, I don't know Something in the way she knows And all I have to do is think of her Something in the things she shows me I don't want to leave her now You know I believe and how

Like You’ll Never See Me Again by Alicia Keys

How many really know what love is Now you never will Do you know until you lose it That it's everything that we are looking for

When I wake up in the morning With you beside me I'm so thankful that I found Everything that I've been looking for

I don't want to forget the present is a gift And I don't want to take for granted the time you may have here with me Cause Lord only knows another day is not really guaranteed, so

Everytime you hold me Hold me like this is the last time Everytime you kiss me Kiss me like you'll never see me again Everytime you touch me Touch me like this is the last time Promise that you'll love me Love me like you'll never see me again

If I had no more time No more time left to be here Would you cherish what we have Cause I'm everything that you were looking for

If I couldn't feel your touch And no longer were you with me I'll be wishing you were here To be everything that I've been looking for

I don't want to forget the present is a gift And I don't want to take for granted the time you may have here with me Cause Lord only knows another day is not really guaranteed, so

Everytime you hold me Hold me like this is the last time Everytime you kiss me Kiss me like you'll never see me again Everytime you touch me Touch me like this is the last time Promise that you'll love me Love me like you'll never see me again