POETRY Mrs Millers Writers Workshop Poetry Unit What

POETRY Mrs. Miller’s Writer’s Workshop Poetry Unit

What is poetry? ■ Pretty words? A series of words that make you see something? ■ A. R. Ammons says, “Poetry is a mode of discourse that differs from logical exposition…Poetry leads us to the unstructured sources of our beings, to the unknown, and returns us to our rational, structured selves refreshed. ” ■ In a lot of ways, poetry is “confusion”, “meaningless” and “uselessness” (A. R. Ammons, “A Poem is a Walk”) ■ Quickwrite question: Why do you think that poetry is so hard to define or easily reduced to something that is “meaningless”?

Forms vs. Free Verse Form Free Verse ■ Sonnets, couplets, haikus, etc. ■ May have some rhymes or repetition of meter, stanza length, etc. ■ Poetry forms vary widely. – Rhyme – Meter – number of syllables and the “beat” of the line – Stanza number/length ■ Does not follow “rules”

Sonnet Example Sonnet 18 - William Shakespeare 1. Annotate the rhymes (A, B, C, etc. ) 2. Count the syllables and write the number above each word.

Free Verse Example By Walt Whitman 1. Do you notice any rhymes? 2. Are the lines the same length?

Write a haiku! ■ Three lines ■ 1 st line has FIVE syllables ■ 2 nd line has SEVEN syllables ■ 3 rd line has FIVE syllables ■ Does NOT have to rhyme ■ Usually the topic is nature, animals, etc.

Homework ■ Find analyze a poem of your choosing. ■ 1. Form or Free verse? ■ 2. Count the lines and syllables.