ELA A30

Canadian Poetry Student Handout

Major Themes in Canadian Poetry

1. Environment and Nature: a. man in conflict with natureb. romanticizing the beauty of nature

2. Patriotism: a. a new country needed to establish a national pride and an identity

3. Religion: a. the new land was a collecting society for various religionsb. conflict and learning takes place

4. Art:a. Self expression through the visual arts

5. Personal Relationships:a. Isolation created an appreciation for friendship

6. Love:a. As in all cultures, Canadian poets write about love between men and women and the

emotions associated with this love

7. Death: a. Death is dealt with in various ways in Canadian poetryb. Death is sometimes personifiedc. Some poets see death as a final event which makes us more aware of lifed. Death is often depicted as the Mother of Beauty

Introduction to PoetryCharacteristics of Poems*Concise - They are usually shorter than prose, so words must be carefully chosen and used.*Express strong thoughts or emotions*Are not bound by regular conventions of writing - Punctuation, capitalization, indentation, sentence structure, etc.*Some types of poems have rules of structure - sonnet, limerick, ballad, etc.*A "paragraph" in a poem is called a "stanza".*Often rely on figurative language to communicate thoughts and emotions - Figurative language is the contrast to literal language.*Often make use of rhythm and rhyme.

Understanding PoetryRead Slowly. Drift with the flow of the poet’s pace.

Read Aloud. Let the poet speak to you with the inflection and tone of your own voice. Listen to yourself.

Read Kindly. Try to get the words to rhyme, the meter to beat and the emotions to emerge. Read in the way you would like that poet to read your work.

Read with an Open Mind. If you feel inclined to disagree with the poet, remember that you have to understand exactly what you disagree with in order to refute it. Don’t “paddle upstream” trying to get the poet to say what you would say or the way you would say it. Remember that this poem has already been written. You can’t change it. If you disagree with it write your own poem. Remember that you can appreciate the expression even when you disagree with the thought.

Reread, Several Times. Be patient.

LITERARY DEVICES and FIGURES OF SPEECHAlliteration - the repetition of an initial (beginning) sound in a series of consecutive or neighbouring words. EXAMPLE: The boy bounced the basketball backwards.

Allusion - a reference in literature to something the writer expects us to know (historical, biblical, mythological, etc.)EXAMPLE: Was the ticking package, wrapped with ribbon and bright paper, a Trojan gift?

Assonance – repetition of vowel sounds usually accompanied by unlike consonant soundsEXAMPLE: Sounding like an overtone, from some lonely world unknown.

Euphemism - a term substituted for one which may be harsh or offensive, to make it less harsh. EXAMPLE: Passed away – died

Hyperbole – an extreme or clearly intended exaggeration; a conscious overstatement to create a desired effect.

EXAMPLE: His mind was a million miles away

Imagery - the use of descriptive, picture-making words to create mental pictures. - Visual – seeing, Auditory – hearing, Gustatory – taste, Olfactory – smell, Tactile – touch, Kinesthetic – sensation of movement, balance or muscular tension

Irony – a mode of expression in which the intended meaning is the opposite of what is stated, often implying ridicule or light sarcasm; when what happens is opposite to what is expected. EXAMPLE: Do not weep maiden, as war is kind.

Metaphor - A direct comparison of two things without the use of “like” or “as”. EXAMPLE: Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage.

Onomatopoeia - a word that imitates a sound and suggests meaning. EXAMPLE: Bang, Pow, Swoosh EXAMPLE: The car hissed by on the wet street.

Oxymoron – a term consisting of contradictory elements juxtaposed to create a paradoxical effect. EXAMPLE: loud silence, jumbo shrimp

Personification – when concrete objects such as things, places or animals take on human characteristics -- attributes of form, character, feelings, behavior, and so on. Ideas and abstractions can also be personified. EXAMPLE: The wind whistled outside my door. OR The city was asleep as they drove through the dark streets.

Pun – A humourous play on words, using similar sounding or identical words to suggest different meanings. EXAMPLE: I just fille dup my car with gas – that’s what I call being tankful!Repetition - duplication of words, lines, or stanzas to achieve an effect. EXAMPLE: Somewhere ages and ages hence.

Satire – A style used to poke fun at, attack or ridicule an idea, vice, or foible, often for the purpose of inducing change

Simile - a direct comparison between two unlike things using "like" or "as". EXAMPLE: She ran like the wind.

Symbol – a person, place or thing used to represent a greater truth. EXAMPLE: Dove – peace

Poetic Terminology

Stanza – a group of lines of poetry arranged according to a fixed plan. Usually contain the same number of lines, meter, and rhyme scheme. Simply put – it is a paragraph of poetry.

Common Stanza forms:

- Couplet – 2 lines- Triplets or tercets – 3 lines- Quatrains – four lines- Sestet – six lines- Octave – eight lines

Denotation: The literal meaning of a word—the meaning you would find in a dictionary.

Connotation: The emotional meaning of a word—the deeper meaning a word is being used to represent. For example, “house” and “home” are literally very similar, but their connotations are very different. A house is just a building, while a home is the place you belong and where your family is. “Home” has a different emotional effect than “house” does.

Pathos: that element in literature that stimulates pity or sorrow

Tone: The author’s attitude toward the subject being written about. The tone is the characteristic emotion that pervades a work or part of a work – the spirit or quality that is the work’s emotional essence

Types of PoetryNarrative Poetry – the poem tells a story (has setting, characters, plot, resolution, and a strong theme)

1) Ballad – a narrative poem with a song-like form that usually tells a love story, historical event, or heroic tale. Lengthy. Usually told in third person. Discusses a single incident.

2) Legend – Long narrative poem used to explain the existence of something. Usually based on real people or places. Has a mythical quality.

Lyrical Poetry – a form of poetry that expresses powerful emotions and personal feelings1) Free Verse – a form of modern poem that does not follow a set rhythm2) Sonnet – a fourteen line poem that usually follows a set rhyme scheme and rhythm. Two

popular formsa. Shakespearean Sonnet – 14 lines made up of 3 quatrains and 1 couplet; thyme

scheme abab cdcd efef ggb.Petrarchan/Italian Sonnet – 14 lines made up of 1 octave and 1 sestet

3) Ode – a poem dedicated to praising the value or virtue of something4) Elegy – a poem that laments the loss of someone or something5) Haiku – Japanese poetic form that consists of three lines and a total of 17 syllables, 5 7 5.

Focuses on nature. Often captures a moment in time/nature.6) Limerick – a kind of humourous verse of five lines, in which the first, second, and fifth lines

rhyme with each other, and the third and fourth lines, which are shorter, form a rhymed couplet.

7) Concrete – a poem whose shape or visual appearance contributes to its meaning8) Descriptive Poetry – uses memorable descriptions to appeal directly to our senses. These

poems engage our minds, hearts and imaginations9) Villanelle – A French verse form calculated to appear simple and spontaneous but

consisting of nineteen lines and a prescribed pattern of rhymes10) Light Verse – a variety of poetry meant to entertain or amuse, but sometimes with a

satirical thrust

Types of RhymeRhyme – the repetition of the same sound in different words

Rhyme Scheme – the pattern of end rhymes used in a poem. Usually indicated by letters (eg. Abba, bcbc, de,de)

End Rhyme – rhyme that occurs at the end of lines

Ex. A speak that would have been beneath my sight

On any but a paper sheet so white

Internal rhyme – the rhyming or two or more words within a single line of poetry

Ex. The deep cut, rough and angles seeped into his grin.

Exact rhyme — also called a full rhyme, perfect rhyme, or true rhyme — is when the later part of the word or phrase is identical sounding to another

Imperfect rhyme - rhyme in which either the vowels or the consonants of stressed syllables are identical, as in eyes, light; years, yours.

Also called half rhyme, slant rhyme, near rhyme

Rhyming couplet: Two successive lines of poetry that will rhyme and commonly have the same meter (open – cannot stand alone; closed – can stand on its own)

Words to know about Rhythm

Rhythm – the pattern of beats (accented and unaccented, or stressed and unstressed syllables) in a line of a poem. Rhythm is usually created through repetition of a particular pattern, and gives many poems a musical quality.

Foot (plural feet) – a group of syllables forming a metrical unit; contains one stressed syllable and one or two unstressed syllables; a long diagonal ( / ) is used to show the end of each foot

Poetic metre – the rhythmic structure of the poem – the way it sounds when read aloud. The rhythmical pattern resulting from the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables; several syllables are linked together in groups called feet; a line of poetry is usually made up of several feet.

Blank verse: Blank verse is a form of poetry that does not rhyme, but has a regular meter. Each line has the same (or close to the same) rhythm of stressed and unstressed syllables and words. A popular meter used in blank verse is iambic pentameter.

Iambic pentameter: A specific poetic meter. A line of iambic pentameter has exactly ten syllables, and the first syllable is unstressed. The line follows this pattern: unstressed, stressed, unstressed, stressed, etc. Here is an example by Shakespeare, with the stressed syllables in bold: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”

Common metres

Monometre – 1 foot/line Tetrametre – 4 feet/line Octametre – 8 feet/lineDimetre – 2 feet/line Pentametre – 5 feet/lineTrimetre – 3 feet /line Hexametre – 6 feet/line

Common Rhythmical PatternsIamb (Iambic foot) u / - unstressed stresses pattern

u / u / u / u / u / u /Ex. I can I’ll on / ly stop / to rake/ the leaves / away

Trochee (Trochaic Foot) / u – stressed unstressed pattern / u / u / u / u

Ex. Happy sing a / song of / six pence

Spondaic – all stressed / / / / / /

Ex. Slow Spon/dee stalks;/ strong foot

“I'm a Canadian “by Duke Redbird

I’m a lobster fisherman in NewfoundlandI’m a clambake in P.E.I.I’m a picnic, I’m a banquetI’m mother’s homemade pie

I’m a few drafts in a Legion hall in FrederictonI’m a kite-flyer in MonctonI’m a nap on the porch after a hard day’s work is done

I’m a snowball fight in Truro, Nova ScotiaI’m small kids playing jacks and skipping ropeI’m a mother who lost a son in the last Great WarAnd I’m a bride with a brand new ringAnd a chest of hope

I’m an EasternerI’m a WesternerI’m from the NorthAnd I’m from the SouthI’ve swam in two big oceansAnd I’ve loved them both.

I'm a clown in Quebec during carnivalI'm a mass in the cathedral of St. PaulI'm a hockey game in the forumI'm Rocket Richard and Jean Beliveau

I'm a coach for little league ExposI'm a babysitter for sleep defying rascalsI'm a canoe trip down the Ottawa I'm a holiday on the TrentI'm a mortgage, I'm a loanI’m last week’s unpaid rent

I’m Yorkville after darkI’m a walk in the parkI’m a Winnipeg gold-eye

Do you pause during reading to visualize an image from the poem?

Pay attention to how the lines are written. Take note of whether or not words rhyme, and think about the over-all impressions you have while reading.

I’m a hand-made trout flyI’m a wheat-field and a sunsetUnder a prairie-sky

I’m Sir John A. MacDonaldI’m Alexander Graham BellI’m a pow-wow dancerAnd I’m Louis Riel

I’m the Calgary StampedeI’m a feathered SarceeI’m Edmonton at nightI’m a bar-room fight

I’m a rigger, I’m a catI’m a ten-gallon hatAnd an unnamed mountain in the interior of B.C.I’m a maple tree and a totem poleI’m sunshine showersAnd fresh-cut flowers

I’m a ferry boat ride to the IslandI’m the YukonI’m the Northwest TerritoriesI’m the Arctic Ocean and the Beaufort SeaI’m the Prairies, I’m the Great LakesI’m the Rockies, I’m the Laurentians

I am FrenchI am EnglishAnd I'm MétisBut more than thisAbove all thisI am Canadian and proud to be free.

Comprehension and Reflection

1. What is the poet attempting to do by repeating the phrase, I'm a.... ? What significance do these words have?

2. Is this a complete and accurate view of Canada? Why or why not?

3. Duke Redbird is Ojibway and was born on the Saugeen Reserve near Owen Sound, Ontario. Why does he then identify himself with other people and things in his poem?

4. What is the poet's overall message in the poem?

“The Lonely Land”--A.J.M. Smith

Cedar and jagged fir

uplift sharp barbsagainst the gray

and cloud-piled sky;and in the bay

blown spume and windriftand thin, bitter spray

snapat the whirling sky;and the pine trees

lean one way.

A wild duck callsto her mate,and ragged

and passionate tonesstagger and fall,

and recover,and stagger and fall,

on these stones -are lost

in the lapping of water

This is a beautyof dissonance,this resonance

of stony strand,this smoky cry

curled over a black pinelike a broken

and wind-battered branchwhen the wind

bends the tops of the pinelike a broken

and wind-battered branchwhen the wind

bends the tops of the pinesand curdles the sky

from the north. 

This is the beautyof strength

broken by strengthand still strong

”The Lonely Land” – Smith Name: ________________________________

Poets use various literary techniques to convey their ideas and feelings. These techniques include the choice of speaker (the poet or character or thing created by the poet which acts as the voice of the poem), form (free verse, sonnet, ...), sound devices (rhythm, rhyme, onomatopoeia, alliteration, consonance, assonance), imagery, and figurative language. Although images can appeal to any of the five senses - sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch - the majority of images are visual, stimulating pictures in the reader’s mind.

As you read the poem, record the images and your impressions on the poem.

Study Guide

1. What thoughts and feelings about Canada and the land does this poem elicit?

2. What is the predominant quality that Smith has presented in this ”lonely land”?

3. What mood of nature do the words of the poem describe?

4. How do the verbs and images in the first two stanzas contribute to the impression of strength?

5. What does Smith mean in the following lines:

There is the beauty

of strength

broken by strength

and still strong?

6. What does he mean by ”a beauty of dissonance”?

7. What qualities of ”human” character does the poem define in terms of the landscape? Is this truly Canadian? To what extent, if at all, does the statement in the last stanza apply to Canada or the majority of Canadians?

A Critical Response

1. Is Canada really a ”lonely land”?

2. What might be more successful in creating a statement on Canada?

3. Consider the use of imagery in the poem. How would the impact of this poem be different if the poet directly stated his position on the subject?

“The Provinces” – A.M. Klein Name : _________________________________

Pre-ReadingKlein describes the physical feature of nine of the ten provinces of Canada. He then attempts to find the ties that bind the province together as a nation. After describing the vigor, strength, and resources of six of the ten provinces, the poet seeks for the ties that bind all the provinces together into one nation. He wonders if they are to be found in the history, languages, geography, romantic association, and forest wealth of our land.

As you read the poem, consider and answer the following:1. What is Klein’s conclusion about how the provinces are bound?

2. In what order are the provinces described?

During ReadingAs you read the poem, annotate the elements of poetry and the figurative language used by the poet, A.M. Klein. Read the poem several times to ensure understanding and application of the TP-CASTT method.

The Provinces A.M. Klein

First, the two older ones, the bunkhouse brawnymen,Biceps and chest, lumbering over their legend; scooping a river up in the palm of the hand,a dangling fish, alive; kicking open a mine;bashing a forest bald; spitting a country to crop;for exercise before their boar breakfast,building a city; racing, to keep in shape,against the white-sweatered wind; and alwaysbragging comparisons, and reminiscingabout their father’s even more mythic prowess,arguing always, like puffing champions risingfrom wrestling on the green.

Then, the three flat-faced blond-haired husky ones.And the little girl, so beautiful she was named –to avert the evil of the evil eye –after a prince, not princess. In crossed arms cradling her,her brothers, tanned and long-limbed.(Great fishermen, hauling out of Atlantictheir catch and their coaland netting with appleblossom the shoals of their sky.)

And, last, as if of another birth,the hunchback with the poet’s face ; and eyesblue as the grass he looks upon; and fruithis fragrant knuckles and joints; of iron marrow: --affecting always a green habit, touched with white.

Nine of them not countingthe adopted boy of the golden complex, notthe proud collateral albino, -- nine,a sorcery of numbers, a game’s stances.

But the heart seeks one, the heart, and also the mindseeks single the thing that makes them one, if one. Yet where shall one find it? In their history –the cairn of cannonball on the public square?Their talk, their jealous double-talk? Or inthe whim and weather of a geographycurling in drift about the forty-ninth?Or find it in the repute of character:romantic as mounties? Or discover itin beliefs that say: this is a country of Christmas trees?

Or hear it singfrom the house with towers, from whose towers ringbells, and the carillon of laws?Where shall one find it? Whatto name it, that is sought?The ladder the nine brothers hold by rungs?The birds that shine on each other? The white waterthat foams from the ivy entering their eaves?

Or find it, find it, find it commonplacebut effective, valid, real, the unityin the family feature, the not unsimilar face?

A method of analyzing poetry is the TP-CASTT method of analysis. The following is a breakdown of this method:

Ponder the title before reading the poem.

Paraphrase (Translate) the poem into your own words.

Contemplate the poem for meaning beyond the literal level – connotative: figurative language and devices.

Address the meaning, the effect, or both of a poem. Consider: imagery, figurative language (speech, sound, repetition, and metaplasmic) symbolism, diction, point of view, rhythm, and rhyme)

Identify the subject. Note the author/poet tone and attitude.

Note shifts in the speaker’s attitude.

Shift Hintso Key words (but, yet, however, although)o Punctuation (dashes, periods, colons, ellipsis)o Stanza divisiono Changes in line or stanza length or botho Irony (sometimes irony hides shifts)o Effect of structure on meaningo Changes in sound (rhyme) may indicate changes in meaningo Changes in diction (slang to formal language)

Examine the title again, this time on an interpretive level.

Determine the overall theme.

Title

Paraphrase

Connotativ

Attitude

Shift

Title

Theme

Is there a shift in time, tone or speaker?

After Reading1. What are the dominant impressions of each province? Are these descriptions accurate?

Complete?

2. How does Klein use figurative language to help convey his message? Provide examples from the poem.

3. Why does each of the following Canadian feature fail to become a dominate factor in the Canadian Identity?a) geography

b) history

c) bilingualism

d) the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

e) Christmas trees

f) the Federal Government

4. Why is the last stanza a fitting conclusion to the poem?

5. What is the theme of the poem?

“Between Two Furious Oceans”Dick Diespecker

You have asked me an enormous question …You have asked me, “What am I?”Now I must tell you, the vast youThat straddles the vital earth betweenTwo furious oceans; you whose limbsAre strong, whose blood is rich with power…You are the quiet bays and the lonely shadows of the firs;The vast green acres blanketing the wide Alberni hills,Hemlock and cedar and spruce … proud with everlasting green;Cold blue glaciers, spilling their life into roaring Atlin creeks;Meadows in the clouds and valleys mute with solitude;Sun-bright arbutus islands of the Gulf of Georgia; oaksGolden broom and meadow larks; the mournful cry of gulls.You are the Rocky Mountains, white with snow of centuries,Eternal rocks that rise in columned ranks to meet the dawn,The sunset and the frigid moon; you are the canyon walls,Loud with ferocious rivers, and the still, imperious lakes,Cobalt and sapphire, emerald and violet, and under the starlight, blackWith the secrets of the western night; you are the mountain goat,Poised, majestic and alone upon the barren crag,And below, deep woods, blue grouse and grizzlies and the sombre moose.You are the reckless foothills clambering down the eastern slopes;The winding Bow, the dusty Badlands and the Sweetgrass buttes;The flat immenseness of the prairies, blue with unbounded space.You are the heaving lakes, the rolling, green-jacketed hillsOf Stormont and Dundas, roaring Niagra and the swiftCold current of the Ottawa, hedged with silver birch;The stately St.Lawrence and the rugged hills that stretch into the vastAnd friendless wilderness of Porcupine and Kirkland Lake.You are the dainty meadows and the lazy dappled streamsOf Joliette; the cool whisper of Laurentian breezes;The river willows and the gracious elms; chipmunk and beaverAnd the antlered deer; the green windswept curve of Gaspe’ loin,It’s sanded coves, white capes and beaches, and their curling waves.You are the maple groves that undulate, mile upon mile,Over the wave-like hills of the Maritimes, mantling themWith rich green in the summer, kindling them with a million fires,Blazing with consuming crimson golden lights with beacon flamesTo proclaim the season’s death when crackling autumn days explode,Leaving them black and naked in the waning year, tracingTheir lonely fingers against the leaden sky and the forbiddingocean.

1. How appropriate is the poet’s description of each Canadian region?

2. Is the poet concerned with comparisons and contrasts in the Canadian landscape?

3. What are the differences in regions and their landscapes that the poet has chosen to highlight?

4. Has the poet missed any regions?

5. What regions of Canada does the poet give specific detail?