What is Poetry?

Poetry is hard to define.

Many poets have tried to define poetry in their own ways:

“Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.”

(Edgar Allan Poe)

“Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the

dictionary.” (Khalil Gibran)

“Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.” (Carl Sandburg)

“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the

thought has found words.” (Robert Frost)

“Genuine poetry can communicate before it is

understood.” (T.S. Eliot)

“Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well,

poetry is just the ash.” (Leonard Cohen)

What is Remembrance Day?

Known by several names, it is a

memorial day observed in many

countries to remember the members of

their armed forces who have died on

duty since World War I.

The poppies have become a symbol of this day. What do you think they symbolize?

Poetry Practice!

“In Flanders Fields” ~ John McCrae

Written during WWI, it is one of the most famous poems written in English during this time. It is believed to have been written after the Canadian doctor John McCrae saw his friend die during the fighting.

The poppies referred to in the poem grew in large amounts in Flanders on the ground of the battlefields and cemeteries where war dead were buried, and so became a symbol of “Remembrance Day.”

In Flanders fields the poppies blowBetween the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the skyThe larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days agoWe lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:To you from failing hands we throwThe torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who dieWe shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Questions:

• What is this poem about?

• What is the tone of the poem?

• List 2 examples of rhyme in the poem.

• Give an example of imagery. Describe why it is effective.

Dust of Snow ~ Robert Frost

The way a crow

Shook down on me

The dust of snow

From a hemlock tree.

Has given my heart

A change of mood

And saved some part

Of a day I had rued.

What rhyme pattern does this poem use?

Rhyme Pattern:

The way a crow (A)

Shook down on me (B)

The dust of snow (A)

From a hemlock tree. (B)

Has given my heart (C)

A change of mood (D)

And saved some part (C)

Of a day I had rued. (D)

The Crocodile ~ Lewis Carroll

How doth the little crocodile

Improve his shining tail,

And pour the waters of the Nile

On every golden scale.

How cheerfully he seems to grin!

How neatly spread his claws.

And welcomes little fishes in,

With gently smiling jaws!

Fog ~ Carl Sandburg  

The fog comes on little cat feet.   It sits looking over the harbor

and city on silent haunches       and then moves on.

1. What two things are being compared?

2. What imagery is used?

  Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveller, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;Then took the other, as just as fair,And having perhaps the better claim,Because it was grassy and wanted wear;Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same, The Road Not TakenAnd both that morning equally lay Robert FrostIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, 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 travelled by,And that has made all the difference.