What is Poetry?

Bellringer: What is a poem?

(Write in your notebook)

Annabel LeeIt was many and many a year ago,In a kingdom by the sea,That a maiden there lived whom you may knowBy the name of ANNABEL LEE;And this maiden she lived with no other thoughtThan to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,In this kingdom by the sea;But we loved with a love that was more than love-I and my Annabel Lee;With a love that the winged seraphs of heavenCoveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,In this kingdom by the sea,A wind blew out of a cloud, chillingMy beautiful Annabel Lee;So that her highborn kinsman cameAnd bore her away from me,To shut her up in a sepulchreIn this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,Went envying her and me-Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,In this kingdom by the sea)That the wind came out of the cloud by night,Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the loveOf those who were older than we-Of many far wiser than we-And neither the angels in heaven above,Nor the demons down under the sea,Can ever dissever my soul from the soulOf the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreamsOf the beautiful Annabel Lee;And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyesOf the beautiful Annabel Lee;And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the sideOf my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,In the sepulchre there by the sea,In her tomb by the sounding sea.

What is Poetry?

• Student definitions

• Formal? Informal?

Poetry

• Expresses a mood or feeling

• Uses fewer words than prose

• Share something special with images– Carefully chosen words

What is POETRY?

Poetry is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities

in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. It consists largely of oral or literary works in which language is

used in a manner that is felt by its user and audience to differ from ordinary prose.

What is Poetry?

It may use condensed or compressed form to convey emotion or ideas to the reader's or listener's mind or ear; it may also use

devices such as assonance and repetition to achieve musical or incantatory effects. Poems frequently rely for their effect on

imagery, word association, and the musical qualities of the language used.

The interactive layering of all these effects to generate meaning is what marks poetry.

What is Poetry?

Nature of emphasizing linguistic form rather than using language purely for its content

POETRY Terms

• Stanza; a division of a poem consisting of a series of lines arranged together in a usually recurring pattern of meter and rhyme

• Meter; basic rhythmic structure of a line

Examples: StanzaWhere the Sidewalk Ends

from the book "Where the Sidewalk Ends" (1974)

There is a place where the sidewalk endsand before the street begins,

and there the grass grows soft and white,and there the sun burns crimson bright,

and there the moon-bird rests from his flightto cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows blackand the dark street winds and bends.

Past the pits where the asphalt flowers growwe shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow

and watch where the chalk-white arrows goto the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,and we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,

for the children, they mark, and the children, they know,the place where the sidewalk ends.

Examples: Meter

Hug O'Warfrom the book "Where the Sidewalk Ends" (1974)

I will not play at tug o' war.I'd rather play at hug o' war,

Where everyone hugsInstead of tugs,

Where everyone gigglesAnd rolls on the rug,

Where everyone kisses,And everyone grins,

And everyone cuddles,And everyone wins.

Abstract Imagery

• Language that describes qualities that cannot be perceived with the five senses.

• For instance, calling something pleasant or pleasing is abstract, while calling something yellow or sour is concrete. The word domesticity is abstract, but the word sweat is concrete.

Abstract Images“Loving”

Concrete“Wooden”

Abstract“Enthusiastic”

Sounds in POETRY

• Perhaps the most vital element of sound in poetry is rhythm. Often the rhythm of each line is arranged in a particular meter. – The measured arrangement of words in poetry, as by

accentual rhythm, syllabic quantity, or the number of syllables in a line.

– A particular arrangement of words in poetry, such as iambic pentameter, determined by the kind and number of metrical units in a line.

– The rhythmic pattern of a stanza, determined by the kind and number of lines.

• Poetry often uses rhyme. Rhyme at the end of lines is the basis of a number of common poetic forms

Sounds in POETRY

• Alliteration often plays a key role in poetry– Repetition of a particular sound in the first syllables of a series of

words or phrases • Rabbits running over roses• Dressy daffodils

– Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds • “Poetry is old, ancient, goes back far. It is among the oldest of living

things. So old it is that no man knows how and why the first poems came.”

– Consonance is a poetic device characterized by the repetition of the same consonant two or more times in short succession

• Both alliteration and rhyme, when used in poetic structures, help to emphasize and define a rhythmic pattern

AlliterationRain

Rain races,Ripping like

wind.Its restless

rageRattles like

Rocks ripping throughThe air.

Caring Cats Caring cats cascade

offLaughing lamas

Lounging.Underneath yelling

yaks,Yelling at roaming

Rats.

Laughing Lions Laughing lions

laugh like jumping jaguars

on top of talking trees.When

thetalking trees start

talking,the joking

jaguars falloff.

 Wind Whistles

Wind whistles through the air,

while talking turtles shiver

like sea horseswhile everyone is

asleep

Assonance PoemsHear the mellow wedding bells,

Golden bells!What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!

Through the balmy air of nightHow they ring out their delight!From the molten-golden notes,

And an in tune,What a liquid ditty floats

To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloatsFrom the fourth stanza:

What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!In the silence of the night,How we shiver with affright

At the melancholy menace of their tone!For every sound that floats

From the rust within their throatsIs a groan.

Assonance Poems

From folk that sat on the terrace and drew out the even long

Sudden crowings of laughter, monotonous drone of song;The quiet passage of souls over his head in the trees; {2g}

And from all around the haven the crumbling thunder of seas.

"Farewell, my home," said Rua. "Farewell, O quiet seat!To-morrow in all your valleys the drum of death shall beat.  

Alliteration Practice

• Which stanza contains an alliteration

• http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112392/alliteration.html

How to Analyze POETRY

• To study or analyze poetry, one must consider many elements.

• A good way to start is by reading the poem silently. • Then read the poem a second (third, fourth) time aloud. • Reading the poem aloud makes its meaning clearer and

you will hear the various poetic sound devices such as alliteration, rhyme, rhythm, etc.

• Then try writing down a brief summary to make sure that you are understanding the poem.

• Remember to read sentence by sentence not line by line.

Analyze “Annabel Lee”