Writing Workshop The Tools of Poetry Alliteration Vigorous

Writing Workshop The Tools of Poetry

• • • Alliteration Vigorous Verbs Repetition Rhyme Rhythm and Meter Onomatopoeia The Sounds of Words

• Is the pattern made when two or more words begin with the same consonant sound within the same or adjacent lines. • Alliteration is useful in poetry because it adds to the rhythm of written and spoken language. • Alliteration is a very obvious device and should be used with restraint, especially when the topic or subject of the poem is serious. Alliteration

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe Once upon a midnight dreary while I pondered weak and weary rare and radiant maiden And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, / Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Wcq. PQXq. QXz. I

Alliterative Poems Your task: • You will be assigned a letter of the alphabet. • Using a dictionary, I want you to generate an interesting list of words that begin with that letter on a piece of looseleaf. • I want you to now write an “Alliterative poem” using these words. The poem itself needs to be put together in a way that is rhythmical (must have a beat), but topics do not need to make “sense”.

• Musical Language is made up of words that are used on purpose for their meaning, sound and relationship to other words in a poem. • We often see musical language like vigorous verbs used with literary devices such as invented words and onomatopoeia. Musical Language

The turkey shot out of the oven and rocketed into the air, it knocked every plate off the table and partly demolished a chair. It ricocheted into a corner and burst with a deafening boom, then splattered all over the kitchen, completely obscuring the room. It stuck to the walls and the windows, it totally coated the floor, there was turkey attached to the ceiling, where there'd never been turkey before. It blanketed every appliance, it smeared every saucer and bowl, there wasn't a way I could stop it, that turkey was out of control. I scraped and I scrubbed with displeasure, and thought with chagrin as I mopped, that I'd never again stuff a turkey with popcorn that hadn't been popped. Vigorous Verbs – The Turkey Shot Out of the Oven by Jack Prelutsky

• The purposeful re-use of words and phrases for an effect or emphasis. • Example: I was glad; so very, very glad. Repetition

And I had done a hellish thing, And it would work 'em woe: For all averred, I had killed the bird That made the breeze to blow. Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay, That made the breeze to blow! http: //www. youtube. co m/watch? v=RGH 4 p 4 z 4 s 5 A Nor dim nor red, like God's own head, The glorious Sun uprist: Then all averred, I had killed the bird That brought the fog and mist. 'Twas right, said they, such birds to slay, That bring the fog and mist. The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner - Coleridge

• Device most commonly associated with poetry. Words that have different beginning sounds but whose endings sound alike, including the final vowel sound and everything following it, are said to rhyme. There are variations on rhyme (see handout). • Is a part of interesting poetry; what is important to remember is NOT to sacrifice meaning and rhythm for the sake of rhymes. • Good rhyming poetry usually has a good rhythm (or beat) as well. • Rhyme patterns – some poetry has what is called a “rhyming scheme”. This is a fancy way of saying a rhyming pattern. Rhyme

I do not like green eggs and ham! I do not like them Sam-I-Am. I do not like them with a fox. I would not like them in a box. I would not like them here or there. I do not like them anywhere. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

• Rhythm is the beat of the words or language in a poem (written or spoken). • Rhythm distinguishes poetry from prose. • The repetition of sounds, words and ideas adds to the power and precision of poetry. • Rhythm is the organization of speech patterns (verbal stresses) into a regular pattern of accented syllables separated by unaccented syllables. • Example: i THOUGHT i SAW a PUDdy. TAT! i DID! http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=8 v 3 j. Vm. TOCc 4 Rhythm

Daddy's Gone A Hunting Bye, baby bunting, Daddy's gone a - hunting, Gone to get a rabbit skin To wrap baby bunting in. by Mother Goose

We Will Rock You Buddy you're a boy make a big noise Playin' in the street gonna be a big man some day You got mud on yo' face You big disgrace Kickin' your can all over the place Singin' We will we will rock you Buddy you're a young man hard man Shoutin' in the street gonna take on the world some day You got blood on yo' face You big disgrace Wavin' your banner all over the place We will we will rock you (Sing it!) We will we will rock you http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=XMLiq. Eq. MQy. Q by Queen

• Patterns in rhythm are referred to as meter. • Meter is the organization of voice patterns, in terms of both the arrangement of stresses and their frequency of repetition per line of verse. • Poetry is organized by the division of each line into “feet” - metric units which each consist of one strong stress and one weak stress. • meter is measured by the number of feet in a line. • Feet are named by Greek prefix number words attached to the word “meter”. • For example: Pentameter (penta=5) would mean that lines in the poem would have 5 feet in each. Meter

• Scansion is the conscious measure of the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry. • Stressed syllables are labeled with an accent mark: / • Unstressed syllables are labeled with a dash: - • Metrical feet may be two to three syllables in length, and are divided by slashes: | • See handout pg. 3 for rhyme pattern names and labeling. Scansion

• Most common pattern is Iambic Pentameter – known as a walking rhythm – the same pattern Shakespeare used in his plays and sonnets. • In iambic pentameter each line consists of ten syllables. The syllables are divided into five pairs called iambs or iambic feet. An iamb is a metrical unit made up of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable. • An example of an iamb would be “good BYE”. • A line of iambic pentameter flows like this: ba. BOOM / ba. BOOM Iambic Pentameter

• When I / do COUNT / the CLOCK / that TELLS / the TIME (Sonnet 12) • When IN / dis GRACE / with FOR / tune AND / men’s EYES I ALL / a LONE / be WEEP / my OUT/ cast STATE (Sonnet 29) • Shall I / com PARE/ thee TO / a SUM / mer’s DAY? Thou ART / more LOVE / ly AND / more TEM / per ATE (Sonnet 18) http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=1 Afe. HREVp 4 I Examples of Iambic Pentameter

• Words that sound like the actions or sounds they represent. Examples: • • • Bang RRiiippp Buzz Hiss Crackle Gurgle Onomatopoeia

Maxwell’s Silver Hammer by the Beatles Joan was quizzical; Studied pataphysical Science in the home. Late nights all alone with a test tube. Oh, oh, oh. Maxwell Edison, majoring in medicine, Calls her on the phone. "Can I take you out to the pictures, Joa, oa, oan? " But as she's getting ready to go, A knock comes on the door. Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer Came down upon her head. Clang! Maxwell's silver hammer Made sure that she was dead. http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=qp. CV 2 wgox. C 8

Match the following sentences to the onomatopoeia that describes them. A plate being dropped on the floor. A balloon being burst. TINKLE BANG A gun being shot. SMASH Someone eating chips. GROWL A light being switched on. A fierce dog. A small being rung. POP CRUNCH CLICK Your task - Onomatopoetry: Using only onomatopoeia, write a poem about a typical school day.

WRITER’S RESPONSE

Figurative Language – poets use devices such as these to create images by making comparisons that lead us to see things in new ways. Ø Allusion Ø Analogy Ø Irony Ø Metaphor Ø Personification Ø Simile Ø Symbol The Meaning of Words

• A brief reference to some person, historical event, work of art, or Biblical or mythological situation or character. • Example: Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen • DULCE ET DECORUM EST - the first words of a Latin saying (taken from an ode by Horace). The words were widely understood and often quoted at the start of the First World War. They mean "It is sweet and right. " The full saying ends the poem: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori - it is sweet and right to die for your country. In other words, it is a wonderful and great honour to fight and die for your country. Allusion

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs, And towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of gas-shells dropping softly behind. Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time, But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime. — Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. http: //www. warpoetry. co. uk/o wen 1. html#READINGS In all my dreams before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin; If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, — My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori. Dulce Et Decorum Est by Owen

• A comparison, usually something unfamiliar with something familiar. • Example: The plumbing took a maze of turns where even water got lost. Your task: Write me an analogy in your Writer’s Notebook. Analogy

• A contradictory statement or situation to reveal a reality different from what appears to be true. Irony

• A direct comparison between two unlike things, stating that one is the other or does the action of the other. Example: He is clown shoes. Your task: Write me a metaphor in your Writer’s Notebook. Metaphor

Stereo by the Watchmen My life is a stereo how loud does it go What songs do I know What happened to my plans What ever happened to the life I thought I'd have My life is a stereo kind of cheaply made though How bad does it show what ever happened to my friends What ever happened to the likes of all of them My life is a stereo turn me on and let's go Turn me up louder I'll scream as loud and clear as I Can scream if you like what your hearing hang on to me Stereo – the Watchmen http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=9 hlwc. FGq. VK 0

• Attributing human characteristics to an inanimate object, animal, or abstract idea. Examples: • The sun danced across the sky on the hot summer day. Your task: Circle the action, underline the object for the following: • The days crept by slowly, sorrowfully. Personification

• A direct comparison of two unlike things using “like” or “as”. Example: I’m strong, like bull – smart, like streetcar. Your task: In your notebook write a simile comparing something in this classroom to something or someone else in the classroom. Simile

• An ordinary object, event, animal or person to which we have attached extraordinary meaning and significance – a flag to represent a country, a lion to represent courage, a wall to symbolize separation. Your task: Write a list of as many symbols you can think of in your notebooks. Share your ideas with the class. Symbol

POINT OF VIEW

• • Point of View Line Stanza Form Ø Open Ø Closed (Fixed) – Haiku, Ballad, Concrete, Cinquain, Lyric, Sonnet Ø Free verse Ø Blank verse Ø Couplet • Rhyme Scheme Arranging the Words

• The poet’s point of view concentrates on the perspective of the speaker or teller of story in the poem. • Remember that no text is neutral, so point of view is in poetry for a purpose - to reveal the poet’s stance on an issue. • Point of view is considered the poem’s “voice” – the pervasive presence behind the poem. The voice is sometimes called “persona”. • As in short stories; point of view can be in 1 st, 3 rd limited or 3 rd omniscient person. Point of View

I'm writing "young and gifted" In my autobiography I figured, who would know Better than me I'm certainly the former But I'm not so much the latter But no one's gonna read it So I'm sure it doesn't matter When you find that you're the former Take pride in how you form And when you find that you're the ladder Don't let those people walk under you I'm writing "sharp and adult" With my finger on the steam On the mirror in my bathroom While I'm applying shaving cream Which would suggest that I'm the foamer But how can I be the lather And something tells me It's the opposite I'd rather When you find that you're the foamer Be careful what you foam When you find that you're the lather Don't shave too high, you'll regret it later La la la la I've stayed in school this long But still no one will tell me why They figured who would know Better than I I know I'm a conformer But I'm sure it doesn't matter My new friends are all adults And my old friends all have scattered When you find you're a conformer Take pride and swallow whole But if you're trying to climb the ladder Don't let people walk over you Because that's just what they'll do Autobiography by Sloan http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=cp. C_7 Yiy 85 Y

• The line is fundamental to the perception of poetry, marking an important visual distinction from prose. • Poetry is arranged in a series of units that do not necessarily correspond to sentences, but rather a series of metrical feet. • Generally a line of poetry is printed as one single line on the page. If it occupies more than one line, its remainder is usually indented to indicate that the line continues. • There is a natural tendency when reading poetry to pause at the end of a line, but we should follow punctuation to find where natural pauses should occur. • The white space between (or included) in the line of poetry can be almost as important as the words themselves. • A poet determines where to break lines in order to create the most effective rhythm, or sound. Line

Compare the Shape On this slide is a poem that does not have any line breaks. It is written as a paragraph. Compare this paragraph’s shape to that of the poem on the next slide. Write down – How are they different? How does the shape impact our appreciation of this poem? Life is a garden good friends are the flowers and times spent together life's happiest hours. . . and friendship like flowers blooms ever more fair when carefully tended by dear friends who care. • Helen Steiner Rice

Life is a garden, Good friends are the flowers, And times spent together, Life's happiest hours, . . . And friendship like flowers, Blooms ever more fair, When carefully tended, By dear friends who care. • Helen Steiner Rice

• A division of a poem created by arranging the lines into a unit, often repeated in the same pattern of meter and rhyme throughout the poem. • A unit of poetic lines that comes in a variety of forms – the “paragraph” of the poetic world. Stanza (not Danza, Tony)

• The pattern established by the arrangement of rhymes in a stanza or poem. • Matched letters when labeling a rhyme scheme indicate that those particular lines rhyme. Rhyme Scheme

Whose woods these are I think I know - a His house is in the village though - a He will not see me stopping here - b To watch his woods fill up with snow -a rhyme scheme: a-a-b-a Let me not in the marriage of true minds - a admit impediments love is not love - b when it alters when it alteration finds - a or bends with the remover to remove - b rhyme scheme: a-b-a-b tiger, tiger burning bright - a in the forest of the night - a what immortal hand or eye - b could frame thy fearful symmetry - b rhyme scheme: a-a-b-b Rhyme Scheme

Poetry can take many different forms depending on the impression the poet wishes to make. Ø Open Ø Closed (Fixed) – Ballad, Concrete, Haiku, Cinquain, Lyric, Sonnet Ø Free verse Ø Blank verse Ø Couplet Form

• Poetic form free from regularity and consistency in elements such as rhyme, line length, and metrical form. • Example: A Noiseless Patient Spider by Walt Whitman A noiseless patient spider, I marked where on a little promontory it stood isolated, Marked how to explore the vacant vast surrounding, It launched forth filament, out of itself, Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them. And you O my soul where you stand, Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space, Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them, Till the bridge you will need to be formed, till the ductile anchor hold, Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul. Open Form

• Poetry can take many different forms according to the impression the poet wants to make. • A poet needs to determine where to break lines in order to create the most effective rhythm and sound. • Closed or Fixed Form is when a poem is subject to a set structure and pattern of meter, rhyme scheme, stanza form and refrain (if there is one). Closed (Fixed) Form

• A Japanese form of poetry consisting of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. • The elusive flavor of the form, however, lies more in its touch and tone than in its syllabic structure. • Haiku are very brief descriptions of nature that convey some implicit insight or essence of the moment. Your task: Using the handout, create your own Haiku

• A narrative poem. • Written as a series of quatrains (4 line stanzas). • Lines contain alternating meters – one line has iambic tetrameter (4 feet), the next, iambic trimeter (3 feet) • Has an abab acac rhyming scheme. • Often includes a refrain (repeated stanza at the end). • Story of the ballad often deals with folklore or legend; usually suitable for singing. Ballad

Just SIT right BACK and you’ll HEAR a TALE, A TALE of a FATEful TRIP That STARTed FROM this TROPic PORT A-BOARD this TIny SHIP. The mate was a mighty sailing man, The skipper brave and sure. Five passengers set sail that day For a three hour tour, a three hour tour. The weather started getting rough, The tiny ship was tossed, If not for the courage of the fearless crew The minnow would be lost, the minnow would be lost. Refrain: The ship set ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle With Gilligan The Skipper too, The millionaire and his wife, The movie star The professor and Mary Ann, Here on Gilligans Isle. Gilligan’s Island Theme Song http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=yf. SLu. Ej 99 d 0

• Poems that are printed on the page so that they form a recognizable outline related to the subject, thus extending the meaning of the words. • The essence of concrete poetry lies in its appearance on the page rather than in the words; it is intended to be perceived as a visual whole and is not as effective when read aloud. Concrete

Concrete

• Derived from the Greek word for lyre, lyric poetry was designed to be sung. • Lyric is the most frequently used modern form, including all poems in which the speaker’s expression of a emotional element is focused on. • Ranging from complex thoughts to the simplicity of playful wit, the melodic imagery of lyric poetry evokes similar emotional experiences for the reader. Lyric

• "What men or gods are these? What maidens loth? What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy? " • Excerpt from Ode On A Grecian Urn by John Keats • "If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son! " • Excerpt from If by Rudyard Kipling

Free verse poetry is poetry that doesn’t have a regular rhythm, line length, or rhyme scheme. It relies on the natural rhythms of speech. Free verse poetry invents and follows its own forms, patterns, and rules. Characteristics of Free Verse Poetry • • • No set line length No set rhythm No rhyming pattern Way of conveying ideas and feelings Carefully crafted word picture using poetic devices like metaphor, simile, personification, etc. Free verse

• Unrhymed iambic pentameter. • Much of Shakespeare’s plays are written in this form (with exception to the sonnets they contain). Blank Verse

• A pair of lines, usually rhymed; this is the shortest stanza. Couplet

• 5 line poem with a set syllable pattern of 2, 4, 6, 8, 2. • Has content rules – each line has to address a part related to the topic of the poem. • • • Line 1: Title Line 2: Describes title Line 3: Action about the title Line 4: Feeling about the title Line 5: One word synonym for the title Your task: Using the handout, complete your own Cinquain

• A fourteen line poem in iambic pentameter with a prescribed rhyme scheme; subject is traditionally love. • Three variations are found in English: Shakespearean, Petrarchan, Spenserian. Sonnet

• • Traditionally about topic of love 14 lines Iambic pentameter 4 stanzas in total – 3 quatrains (4 lined stanzas), 1 rhyming couplet (2 lined stanza) • Rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg Shakespearean Sonnet

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou growest: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. Shakespeare – The Original Love Guru

• 14 lines • Iambic pentameter • Contains one octave (8 line stanza) followed by one sestet (6 line stanza). • Octave introduces a theme or problem, Sestet resolves the problem • Rhyme scheme: • abba (octave) cdecde (sestet) OR • abba cdcdcd Petrarchan (Italian) Sonnet

When I consider how my light is spent, Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, And that one Talent which is death to hide, Lodg'd with me useless, though my Soul more bent To serve therewith my Maker, and present My true account, least he returning chide, Doth God exact day-labour, light deny'd, I fondly ask; But patience to prevent That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need Either man's work or his own gifts, who best Bar his milde yoak, they serve him best, his State Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed And post o're Land Ocean without rest: They also serve who only stand waite. On His Blindness by Milton

Your task: Complete the Sonnet handouts and pass them in. Sonnet Sheets

• Sensory Imagery • Tone The Images of Words

• Good poetry evokes (brings to mind) sights, sounds, textures, and even smells and tastes. This is what we mean by sensory imagery—writing that appeals to any of your senses. • We read poetry for sense, music and language. • Read this excerpt from Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach”. This poem shows how sensory imagery being a poem to life. Sensory Imagery

“Only, from the long line of spray Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land, Listen! you hear the grating roar Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling, At their return, up the high strand, Begin, and cease, and then again begin. ” Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold

Draw a picture of what we just read in your Writer’s Notebook. Title your drawing “Dover Beach”. Then answer the following questions: • What did you see in your head when we read Dover Beach? • What did you hear? • Did you smell anything? • What about taste? Touch/Feel? Your Task

Nothing would sleep in that cellar, dank as a ditch, Bulbs broke out of boxes hunting for chinks in the dark, Shoots dangled and drooped, Lolling obscenely from mildewed crates, Hung down long yellow evil necks, like tropical snakes. And what a congress of stinks! Roots ripe as old bait, Pulpy stems, rank, silo-rich, Leaf-mold, manure, lime, piled against slippery planks. Nothing would give up life: Even the dirt kept breathing a small breath. Root Cellar by Theodore Roethke

Fill in the chart See? Smell? Feel? Taste? Sound? carrots basement crates stairs Sketch of Root Cellar by Theodore Roethke

• Means by which a poet reveals attitudes and feelings – through the style of language or expression of thought used to develop the subject of the poem. • Certain tones might include irony, satire, love, pity and a host of other emotions. • Tone can also refer to the overall mood of the poem itself, used to influence the reader’s response and conclusions about the poem. • Tone can also refer to the demeanor of the speaker in a poem, who might set a mood for the reader. Robert Frost’s poetry falls into this category of tone. Tone

There's a patch of old snow in a corner, That I should have guessed Was a blow-away paper the rain Had brought to rest. It is specked with grime as if Small print overspread it. The news of a day I've forgotten – If I ever read it. A Patch of Old Snow by Frost