The Cycle of LIFE The Cycle of life

The Cycle of LIFE • The Cycle of life can be divided into 5 stages. In your opinion, what are the five stages? What would you use to symbolize each stage? What emotions, ideals, or connotations do people associate with each stage? Why do these stages apply to all cultures and all people?

Poetry Notes Romanticism & The American Dream

Poetry People and their Profound Poetic Prayers • Narrative Poetry: tells a story (ballads, epics, verse romantics) • Dramatic poetry: presents the speech of more than one character • Lyric poetry: expresses the thoughts/feelings of a single speaker (sonnets, odes, elegies, haikus)

Poetic Theme Cycle of LIFE and DEATH

Terms to know – – – – – Alliteration: SOUND DEVICE Catalogue poetry: TYPE Metaphor: FIGURATIVE LANG Mood: LIT TERM Onomatopoeia: SOUND DEVICE Personification: FIGURATIVE LANG Refrain: SOUND DEVICE Repetition: SOUND DEVICE Speaker: LIT TERM

Authors we’ll look at • Edgar Allan Poe • Emily Dickinson • Walt Whitman

Romantic and Poe • Poe wrote mainly with a Gothic style is characterized by the following elements: – The story is set in bleak or remote places. – The plot involves macabre or violent incidents. – Characters are in psychological and/or physical torment. – A supernatural or otherworldly element is often present. • How does this fall under the “romantic umbrella”?

Analyzing 1. Mood Feeling the reader gets 2. Onomatopoeia Words that imitate sounds 3. Alliteration Repetition of initial consonant sounds 4. Speaker Who is talking in the piece 5. Refrain Lines that are repeated in verse

The Bells Edgar Allan Poe

We’re going to look for the following: • • • Alliteration (highlight color 1) Onomatopoeia (highlight color 2) Refrain (boxed) Theme (written) Mood (written)

Stanza I

Stanza II

Stanza 3

Stanza IV

How Death is Handled in Various Cultures (Adapted from) Charlotte Kuchinsky

Death and Cultures Why do all cultures have clear identifiable rituals for handling death? What does this tell us about all humans? Does this prove that Poe was right with his poem?

Compare/Contrast Poe’s theme of “Death Triumphs over Life” to one of the cultures’ view of death.

Dickinson • Recluse; odd insight to life and death; odd energy and intensity • 7 poems published pre-death • Self conscious; asked her family to destroy them at her death---why?

Lyric Poem • It expresses the feelings of a single speaker’s journey to death… – Similar to Poe? How?

Analyzing • • Speaker Mood Alliteration Metaphor – A comparison not using like or as • Personification: – giving human characteristics to something non human

Because I could not Stop for Death— HE kindly stopped for me.

The Carriage held but just Ourselves— And Immortality

We slowly drove—He knew no haste And I had put away My labor and my leisure too, For his Civility—

We passed the School, where Children strove 10 At Recess—in the Ring—

We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain—

We passed the Setting Sun — Or rather HE passed us—

The Dews drew quivering and chill—

For only Gossamer, my Gown— My Tippet—only Tulle —

So…

We paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground— The Roof was scarcely visible— The Cornice —in the Ground—

Since then—’tis Centuries—and yet Feels shorter than the Day I first surmised the Horses Heads Were toward Eternity—

Which view of the cycle of life and death do you identify with the most—Poe’s or Dickinson’s? Explain.

Catalogue Poem Read the following poem and… 1. Write an appropriate title 2. Explain what the poem “lists” and if it is effective.

Six Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Chewing gum wrappers. School handouts, two weeks overdue. Three rubber bands. A five-inch-tall stuffed dog. Four small blood stains. Two smooth, gray rocks. Fourth-grade intrigue. Four pencils with no lead and no eraser. Righteous indignation. Stories. Avril Lavigne. Asthma inhaler. A feather. Fourteen pale pink ribbons. Playground news. Someone's phone number scribbled on a Heath Bar wrapper. Eight secrets. Head lice, once. Plans of her own.

Whitman • Focus on life rather than death; specifically in the American Culture • Problem: only focused on ONE type of culture

Analyzing • • Speaker Mood Catalogue Poetry—Poem using lists Repetition—using the same words

Mechanics http: //www. waldwickcommunityalliance. org/gallery/images/cjago_train_mechanics. JPG

Carpenter http: //www. brownstoner. com/forum/profile_post_images/carpenter_handy_2. jpg

Mason (Bricklayers) http: //archrecord. construction. com/news/images/070824 camp 2. jpg

Boatman and Deckhand http: //farm 4. static. flickr. com/3062/2567697772_e 68444 f 815. jpg

Shoemaker and Hatter http: //sinkorschwim. files. wordpress. com/2008 /05/dsc 01581. jpg http: //www. ciaccess. com/~toveza/rockwell/shoemaker. jpg

Wood-cutter and Plowboy http: //www. girlhenge. com/Photos/Pop_The_Straping_Ploughboy_small. jpg http: //foxtalbot. dmu. ac. uk/resources/Lrge. Img/woodcutters. jpg

Mother, Young Wife, & Girl at work http: //laughingyaffle. type pad. com/. a/6 a 00 e 553 d 8 9 e 9 d 88340115710 dce 49 970 c-400 wi http: //europa. eu/abc/12 lessons/im http: //carthage. ceme nthorizon. com/archi ves/housewife_happ y. jpg

Thinking… • What do these occupations have in common? • What type of jobs are they? • Do they still apply today? • What other occupations in today’s culture could you add?

Whitman, Poe and Dickinson • Whitman’s poem: Celebrates life • Dickinson’s poem: Romanticizes death • Poe’s poem: Sees death as inevitable triumph over life • What does it tell us about the individual in American Romanticism?

America or more • All three poems apply to America—but can they be applied culturally? – Dickinson—embrace death (Native American) – Poe—respect and fear death (Jewish) – Whitman—celebrate life (Irish)