Patterns in Poetry AP Literature and Composition Patterns

Patterns in Poetry AP Literature and Composition

Patterns in Poetry § In our analysis of poetry, we examine both the structure and form of the poetry § Structure - The internal ordering of elements within a poems; the arrangement of ideas, images, thoughts, sentences

Patterns in Poetry § Form - the poet imposes some external pattern or arrangement § May give the poem not only its internal order of elements, but its external shape (its “form”) § Appeals to the human instinct for design and order, as well as our love of beauty

3 Types of Poetic Forms § Continuous, Stanzaic, and Fixed § Continuous Form – pattern is minimal; lines follow each other without formal grouping. Similar to paragraphs in prose § At times, is without regular meter or rhyme; may have irregular length of line

3 Types of Poetic Forms § Stanzaic Form – poetry is organized into a series of stanzas. Stanzas are repeated units that have the same number of lines, usually a metrical pattern, and often the same rhyme scheme § Traditional stanza patterns include terza rima, ballad meter, rhyme royal, Spenserian stanza

3 Types of Poetic Forms § Fixed Form – a traditional pattern that applies to a whole poem. These include the sonnet, rondels, villanelles, sestinas, ballades, among others § Sonnets and villanelles are the most common fixed form poems § Sonnets = 14 lines w/ fixed rhyme scheme

Sonnet Forms § Italian or Petrarchan Sonnet (named for Italian poet Petrarch) § 14 lines are divided between 8 lines, an octave, using two rhymes arranged abba, and 6 lines, a sestet, using any arrangement of either two or three rhymes – cdcdcd, or cdecde are common patterns for the sestet

Sonnet Forms § English or Shakespearean sonnet (invented by English poet Surrey, but made famous by Shakespeare) § Consists of 3 quatrains (4 line stanzas) and a concluding couplet (2 line stanza) rhyming abab, cdcd, efef, gg § The stanzas are marked by both the rhymes and development of thought

Examples of Sonnets § Petrarchan “On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer” (John Keats) Shakespearean “The World is Too Much With Us” (William Wordsworth)

Villanelle Form § Villanelle form requires two rhyme sounds, 19 lines are divided into five 3 line stanzas, or tercets, and a 4 line concluding quatrain § The first and third lines of the first stanza serve as refrain lines entwined with the rhyme pattern § The first line repeated at the ends of the 2 nd and 4 th stanzas, and the third line repeated at the end of the 3 rd and 5 th stanzas

Examples of Villanelles § “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” (Dylan Thomas) § “One Art” (Elizabeth Bishop) § “The Right Thing” (Theodore Roethke) § Which of our assigned poems was a villanelle?

Poetry Analysis – Patterns Other § Rhetorical Patterns: Look for statements that follow the same format. § Rhyme: Consider the significance of the end words joined by sound; in a poem with no rhymes, consider the importance of the end words.

Poetry Analysis - Patterns § Patterns of Sound: Alliteration and assonance create sound effects and often cluster significant words. § Visual Patterns: How does the poem look on the page? § Rhythm and Meter: Consider how rhythm and meter influence our perception of the speaker and his/her language