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Reading and Writing About Literature Poetry

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Page 1: Reading and Writing About Literature Poetry. Responding to poetry Give poetry a chance Like songs, you may not like a poem the first time you hear it

Reading and Writing About Literature

Poetry

Page 2: Reading and Writing About Literature Poetry. Responding to poetry Give poetry a chance Like songs, you may not like a poem the first time you hear it

Responding to poetry

Give poetry a chance Like songs, you may not like a poem the first

time you hear it. Read the poem aloud. Think about what it means. Ask questions. Listen for patterns, sounds

Page 3: Reading and Writing About Literature Poetry. Responding to poetry Give poetry a chance Like songs, you may not like a poem the first time you hear it

Magic act

“Human beings have always sensed a magic in words that goes beyond rational, logical understanding.”

Michael Meyer Words are “carefully measured” to “stir the

imagination.” Exercise your mind. Questions on page 397-398 of McMahon

textbook.

Page 4: Reading and Writing About Literature Poetry. Responding to poetry Give poetry a chance Like songs, you may not like a poem the first time you hear it

Method?

A keen sensibility is more valuable than a carefully worked out method.

— T.S. Elliot

Page 5: Reading and Writing About Literature Poetry. Responding to poetry Give poetry a chance Like songs, you may not like a poem the first time you hear it

Ideas

Don’t be afraid to state a conviction even though it seems obvious.

Don’t worry that you’re repeating something that has been said before.

There are excellent old ideas as well as new.

Page 6: Reading and Writing About Literature Poetry. Responding to poetry Give poetry a chance Like songs, you may not like a poem the first time you hear it

Types of poetry

Narrative poems: Tell a story Epic poems: Long, heroic narrative poems Lyric poems: Often short and songlike in their

rhythms, lack plots, focus not a sequence of events from conflict to climax, but on a speaker’s response to a single event, object, situation or person.

Page 7: Reading and Writing About Literature Poetry. Responding to poetry Give poetry a chance Like songs, you may not like a poem the first time you hear it

Speaker and situation

Speaker is character or persona created by the author. Sometimes, the speaker may be identified with the author.

Some poems arise out of a clearly defined situation in which the speaker is addressing a particular person for a particular purpose.

Page 8: Reading and Writing About Literature Poetry. Responding to poetry Give poetry a chance Like songs, you may not like a poem the first time you hear it

Tone

The true subject of a lyric poem is a state of mind or attitude, known by the technical word, tone. Tone is a complex of interrelated attitudes, those of the speaker, writer and reader, toward the poem’s situation. A lyric communicates a tone or attitude about what it feels like to be in a particular situation.

Page 9: Reading and Writing About Literature Poetry. Responding to poetry Give poetry a chance Like songs, you may not like a poem the first time you hear it

Diction

Choice of words, language used not to express, but to communicate emotion precisely. Levels of diction range widely.

Page 10: Reading and Writing About Literature Poetry. Responding to poetry Give poetry a chance Like songs, you may not like a poem the first time you hear it

Syntax

The structure of a poem’s words or phrases, clauses and sentences. The syntax can also contribute to tone.

Page 11: Reading and Writing About Literature Poetry. Responding to poetry Give poetry a chance Like songs, you may not like a poem the first time you hear it

Imagery and Sound

Images are word pictures that appeal to the senses. Imagery often involves using figures of speech, such as similes,metaphors and symbols.

Sound: Poems create patterns. Listen for the movement or flow. Read the poem out loud.