What is poetry? Poetry is a type of literature in which the ideas - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Poetry

What is poetry?

Poetry is a type of literature in which the ideas or emotions expressed in the piece are expressed in some sort of form, usually with line breaks, rhythm, meter, and/ or rhyme.

Important aspects of poetry

Meaning

Structure Structure Structure Structure

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Sound

When thinking about the sound of a poem, it is important to consider the sounds

• f the words in it and how they fit together. There are a few important terms to

know to analyze this in poems and to be mindful of the sounds of your own poems.

Alliteration > Repetition of consonant sounds, particularly those at the beginning of words Assonance > Repetition of vowel sounds. Caesura > A deliberate rhetorical, grammatical, or rhythmic pause Consonance > Repetition of consonant sounds anywhere within the words. Meter > The rhythmic measure of a line.

• Rhyme. Words with similar sounds (write/ sight)
• Rhythm. The beat and movement of language - the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables

Meter

English poetry employs five basic meters, including: 1.Iambic meter (unstressed/stressed) 2. Trochaic meter (stressed/unstressed) 3. Spondaic meter, (stressed/stressed) 4. Anapestic meter (unstressed/unstressed/ stressed) 5. Dactylic meter (stressed/unstressed/unstressed)

Exercise: Write a line or two with a meter of your choice.

1. Iambic meter (unstressed/stressed) 2. Trochaic meter (stressed/unstressed) 3. Spondaic meter, (stressed/stressed) 4. Anapestic meter (unstressed/unstressed/ stressed) 5. Dactylic meter (stressed/unstressed/unstressed)

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Write a line or two with another sound technique like rhyme or alliteration.

Structure

When thinking about the structure of a poem, there are many things to consider. The first is form - which form works best for what the poem is saying?

A few examples of form: Haiku

A poem with a three-line stanza or stanzas composed of a 5/7/5 syllable count Example: In the twilight rain these brilliant-hued hibiscus - A lovely sunset. Matsuo Basho

A few examples of form: Sonnets

A fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter.

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 wand'ring 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. Shakespeare, Sonnet 116 The New Colossus Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. ‘Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!’ cries she With silent lips. ‘Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’

• Emma Lazarus, adorns the Statue of Liberty

A few examples of form: Pantoum

A pantoum is a Malaysian poetic form composed of four-line stanzas with an AB/AB rhyme scheme. Lines 2 and 4 of the former stanza form lines 1 and 3 of the next stanza.

Celestial Dreams Moonbeams creamy as pie Racing across the night On a journey into the sky Dreams seeking celestial light Racing across the night Past Venus waking from sleep Dreams seeking celestial light Cast into the dark so deep Past Venus waking from sleep To Saturn's expanding rings Cast into the dark so deep Catching a ride on angel's wings To Saturn's expanding rings On a journey into the sky Catching a ride on angel's wings Moonbeams creamy as pie Marie Summers

There are hundreds of forms!

https://www.writersdigest.com/whats- new/list-of-50-poetic-forms-for-poets There are also other poetic forms like found poetry and black-out poetry that fit into the concept of form as well and are really fun to play with if you’re struggling! Found poetry is when you assemble lines from already existing

• works. In black-out poetry, you black
• ut words on an existing page to create

a poem.

Choose one option below and write for five minutes.

1. Write one of the examples of poetic form already discussed! a. A Haiku: A poem with a three-line stanza or stanzas composed of a 5/7/5 syllable count b. A Sonnet: A fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter. c. A Pantoum: Four-line stanzas with an AB/AB rhyme scheme. Lines 2 and 4 of the former stanza form lines 1 and 3 of the next stanza. 2. Write an ode or an epitaph. An ode is a poem of praise. An epitaph is a poem that would go on someone’s tomb. 3. Choose your own form and write!

Meaning

However you construct your poem, be sure to be consistent with the meaning of the poem. Choose form and the sounds of your poem to be consistent with your

• meaning. Choose images and words that are consistent with your meaning. You

don’t want the reader to be taken out of the poem and confused because of inconsistencies with general meaning or energy.

Final exercise

Write three similes and find some way to weave them together into a poem with

• ne meaning.
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Choose a line from one of your favorite songs and write a poem using it, but the poem must have a very difgerent meaning from the song.