Poetry Study Guide



Poetry Unit

English 8

Ms. Condon

This unit will encompass four weeks of 45 minute class time. Students have been introduced to poetry in seventh grade.

Overview:

Days 1-3: Review terms

Days 4-9: Learn different styles and write to mimic

Days 10-15: Poetry poster

Days 16-20: Poetry Presentation

Day 1: The next few days will focus on reviewing terms and introducing ways to determine meaning in poems. The information is divided up into four sections according to their textbook: Form, Sound, Imagery, and Theme. We focus on Form and Sound first.

I. Materials

A. Copies of Poetry Study Guide for students

II. Procedure

A. Hand out copies of Study Guide

1. Instruct students to write down important information: Definitions, examples, things that are repeated, etc.

2. Inform students that learning form and sound are two ways to figure out the meaning of a poem.

B. Give definitions and examples for Form

1. Form: the way the poem looks

2. Line: one row of words on a page

3. Stanzas: an arrangement of a certain number of lines, forming a division of a poem.

a. Couplet: A stanza of two lines

b. Quatrain: A stanza of four lines

C. Give definitions and examples for Sound

1. Rhyme: Words that end in the same sound

2. Rhyme Scheme: The pattern of rhyming words, marked with letters of the alphabet

3. Internal Rhyme: Multiple words within the line rhyme

4. Repetition: Repeat sounds, words, phrases, or whole lines

a. Emphasizes an ideas or feeling

5. Rhythm: the “beat” of the poem.

Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven”

"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door."

Form: It looks like full lines, sort of like a paragraph, or story.

Lines: four lines, almost the same length

Stanza: quatrain, entire poem is uniform in this.

Rhyme Scheme: ABCB

Internal Rhyme: Dreary and Weary, Napping and Tapping

Repetition: knocking on the door

Rhythm: like a heart beat, stressed, unstressed, etc.

Homework: Find a poem with distinct Sound or Form and bring in with brief explanation, using terms discussed in class.

Day 2: We will focus on Imagery, which entails both sense and figurative language. Figurative language will be broken up between the days. Today, students will learn about the five senses.

I. Materials

A. Students Poetry Study Guide

B. Overhead of Mary O. Fumento’s poem “The Sorcerer”

II. Procedure

A. Imagery: words that help us to imagine something. These words always refer to our senses.

B. Have students brainstorm for example words for each sense

1. Hearing – electric guitar, whisper

2. Sight – purple, dazzling

3. Touch – silky, rough

4. Smell – roses, bacon frying

5. Taste – bitter, salty

C. Finding Imagery

1. Put the overhead up for the students to view. It is the same poem that is in their study guide. Have the students circle and label the senses as you find them on the overhead

a. Hearing – whining, scamper, howl

b. Sight – flickering, mellow eyes, darkness, gleam, shimmer, flashes, black and white

c. Touch – silky, downy

d. Smell

e. Taste – sour

D. Figurative Language: speech or writing that departs from literal meaning in order to achieve a special effect or meaning

1. Overhead of Figurative Language

a. Show difference between literal and figurative

2. Alliteration: Repetition of letter sounds

a. Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds. Causing changes in the mood of the poem

b. Consonance: repetition of consonant sounds. Gives a beat.

3. Have each student come up with a tongue twister with their name in it using either alliteration, assonance, or consonance

a. Example: Ms. Condon carries crochet hooks in case of crooks.

4. Personification: Human actions to non-human things

a. Example: The flowers dance in the wind

i. List human actions on board

a. What objects can we match with the list on the board? (i.e. the spring birds chattered)

5. Personification: Compare parts of non-human object with parts of human body

a. Example: The tree’s hands waved good-bye.

i. List body parts on the board

a. What parts in nature can be compared with these parts? (i.e. the face of Big Ben watches over the city)

6. Hyperbole: exaggeration. Stretching the truth

a. Examples: I was tickled to death. Ander made his blood boil.

b. Ask students to find the two hyperboles in the poem in their study guide

i. Till a’ the seas go dry, my dear

ii. And the rocks melt wi’ the sun

c. Ask students to create other hyperboles

III. Assignment

A. Look up the following types of figurative language and write down their definition and an example.

1. Onomatopoeia

2. Simile

3. Metaphor

4. Irony

Day 3: We will cover Theme today and touch briefly on the figurative language homework. Homework worksheets will assess their knowledge in their research.

I. Materials

A. Students’ Poetry Study Guide

B. Overhead of War Haiku

II. Procedure

A. Symbolism: a word or image that represents something else

1. Examples: eagle = USA, Dove = Peace, Scale = Justice

2. What does white symbolize?

3. What does cupid symbolize?

4. Symbols change! Come up with symbols for these words

a. Beauty – Aphrodite

b. Wisdom – Owl, apple

c. Love – heart, Venus

d. Evil – devil, black

e. You

B. Read poem from study guide or overhead

C. Answer questions

1. Symbolism

2. What happens in the poem?

a. Literally

b. Figuratively

3. What message is the poet trying to tell you?

4. What is the purpose of the poem?

a. Think of how type of poem comes into play

5. What was happening when the poem was written?

III. Homework

A. Simile and Metaphor Worksheets

Day 4: Today will be the first day learning poetry styles. We will focus on famous and unknown poets whose styles are diverse. Students will practice using the terms reviewed while mimicking different poetic styles. Today’s poet will be Edgar Allen Poe. His style is marked by repetition, internal rhyme, and a simple flowing rhyme scheme. These things combined make the poem sound very musical.

I. Materials

A. Annabel Lee tape

B. Choral Reading of The Bells

II. Procedure

A. Poet’s Information

1. Style is marked in repetition, internal rhyme, and a simple, flowing rhyme scheme.

2. Focuses on dark themes

B. Tape recording of Annabel Lee

1. Listen for musical qualities

2. Discuss style choices

C. The Bells Choral Reading

1. Background info

2. Hand out parts and coach

3. First reading

III. Assignment

A. Practice reading

B. Start writing a piece mimicking his style, to be performed. May work in groups if you want to.

The Bells Choral Reading

All: One!

Middle:Hear the sledges with the bells -

Girls 1:Ting, Ting, ting-a-ling! Ting, ting, ting-a-ling! (repeat)

Boys: Sledge. Sledge. Sledge. Sledge. (repeat)

High: Silver bells!

Low: What a world of merriment their melody foretells!

High: How they

Girl 1: tinkle!

Girl 2: tinkle!

Girl 3: tinkle!

All: In the icy air of night!

Boys 1-3: Icccccccccce.

Low: While the stars that oversprinkle

Middle:All the heavens seem to twinkle

High: With a crystalline delight! Keeping

Boy 1: time! (repeat 5 times)

Boy 2: time! (repeat 4 times)

Boy 3: time! (repeat 3 times)

High: In a sort of Runic rhyme,

Girl 1: To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells From the

High: bells!

Low: bells!

Middle:bells!

Boy 2: bells!

Girl 2: Bells!

Low: Bells!

High: Bells!

All: From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

All: II

Middle:Hear the mellow wedding bells -

Boys: Dum, Dum, Da-Dum. Dum, Dum, Da-Dum

High: Golden bells! What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!

Boy 4: Through the balmy air of night

Girl 4: How they ring out their delight!

Boy 5: From the molten-golden notes,

All: And all in tune,

High: Do, Do, Do-Do, Do Do Do-Do

Low: What a liquid ditty floats

Girl 5: To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats

Boys: Ca-coo! Ca-coo!

High: On the moon!

Girl 4: Oh, from out the sounding cells

Boy 4: What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!

High: How it swells!

Low: How it dwells

All: On the Future!

Middle:How it tells

Boy 5: Of the rapture that impels

Girl 5: To the swinging and the ringing Of the bells,

Boy 5: Bells,

Girl 5: Bells,

High: Of the bells!

Low: bells!

Middle:bells!

Boy 4: bells!

Girl 4: Bells!

Low: Bells!

High: Bells!

All: To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!

All: III

High: Hear the loud alarum bells -

Boys: (police siren)

Girls: Brazen bells! What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!

Middle:In the startled ear of night

High: How they scream out their affright!

Low: Too much horrified to speak,

Boy 6: They can only shriek,

Girl 6: shriek,

Boy 7: Out of tune,

Girl 7: In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,

Boy 6:In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,

Low: Leaping higher,

Middle:Higher!

High: Higher!

Girl 6: With a desperate desire,

Boy 7: And a resolute endeavor

All: Now -now to sit or never,

Girl 7: By the side of the pale-faced moon.

Low: Oh, the bells,

Middle:Bells!

High: Bells!

Boys: What a tale their terror tells

Girls: Of despair!

Girl 6: How they clang, and clash, and roar!

Boy 6: What a horror they outpour

Girl 7: On the bosom of the palpitating air!

Low: Yet the ear it fully knows,

Boys: How the danger ebbs and flows; Yet the ear distinctly tells, How the

danger sinks and swells,

Girls: By the twanging, And the clanging, In the jangling, And the wrangling,

Low: By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells -

Middle:Of the bells,

High: Of the bells!

Low: bells!

Middle:bells!

Boy 7: bells!

Girl 7: Bells!

Low: Bells!

High: Bells!

All: In the clamor and the clangor of the bells!

All: IV

Low: Hear the tolling of the bells - Iron bells!

Boys: Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! (repeat until girls are done)

Girls: What a world of solemn thought their monody compels! In the silence of the night, How we shiver with affright at the melancholy menace of their tone!

Boy 8: For every sound that floats

Girl 8: From the rust within their throats

All: Is a groan.

Boy 9: And the people

Girl 9: ah, the people!

High: They that dwell up in the steeple,

Low: All alone,

Boys: And who tolling, tolling, tolling,

Girls: In that muffled monotone,

Boy 8: Feel a glory in so rolling on the human heart a stone -

Low: They are neither man nor woman –

Middle:They are neither brute nor human –

High: They are Ghouls:

Girl 8: And their king it is who tolls;

Low: And he rolls,

Middle:Rolls!

High: Rolls!

Boy 9: A paean from the bells!

Girl 9: And his merry bosom swells

Boy 9: With the paean of the bells!

Girls: And he dances!

Boys: and he yells!

Low: Keeping time,

Middle:Time!

High: Time!

Girl 9: In a sort of Runic rhyme,

Boy 9: To the paean of the bells,

All: Of the bells -

Low: Keeping time,

Middle:Time!

High: Time!

Girl 9: In a sort of Runic rhyme,

All: To the throbbing of the bells,

Low: Of the bells,

Middle:Bells!

High: Bells!

All:To the sobbing of the bells;

Boy 1: Keeping time

Girl 1: Time!

Boy 2: Time!

Girl 2: As he knells,

Boy 3: Knells!

Girl 3: Knells!

Boy 4: In a happy Runic rhyme,

All: To the rolling of the bells,

Girl 4: Of the bells,

Boy 5: Bells!

Girl 5: Bells!

Boy 6: To the tolling of the bells,

Girl 6: Of the bells,

Boy 7: Bells!

Girl 7: Bells!

Boy 8: Bells!

Girl 8: Bells!

Boy 9: Bells!

Girl 9: Bells!

All: To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.

Day 5: We will continue with Edgar Allen Poe. As a class, we will perform The Bells, giving them an opportunity to perform poetry before their final project. The rest of class will be spent working on their mimic piece, which will be performed next class.

I. Materials

A. The Bells scripts

B. “Nevermore”

II. Procedure

A. Have students perform The Bells with your guidance.

B. Have students continue to work on their pieces for tomorrow. Encourage gestures and vocal distinctions.

C. Read or have a tape playing Nevermore in the background as another example of Poe style for inspiration.

III. Assignments

A. Finish writing performance piece

1. Must mimic Poe: repetition, internal rhyme, simple rhyme scheme

2. Theme must be dark

3. 1-2 minutes per student

4. Focus on vocal distinctions

5. Due the day after Maya Angelou

Day 6: Today we will learn about e.e. cummings. Slam Poets, which we will learn about tomorrow, and e. e. cummings have one major thing in common: they play with the line length and placement. This greatly effects how the poem is read.

I. Materials

A. e. e. cumming poems overheads

II. Procedure

A. Put e. e. cummings’ poem on the overhead

B. Discuss characteristics of e. e. cummings’ poems

1. Rebel against the rules

a. No capitalization, ran words together

b. Visual arrangement

c. Share e. e. cummings’ Buffalo Bill

2. Childlike wonder

a. Natural awareness

b. In the moment and appreciating small things

c. Share e. e. cummings i carry your heart with me

3. Brevity

a. Short lines

b. Short poem over-all

c. Share guilt is a cause of more disorders

C. Share more examples and discuss how the choices made change how the poem is read

1. i have found what you are like

2. l(a

D. Spend remaining time on working on the homework

III. Assignment

A. Write a poem that mimics e. e. cummings style. Explain why at the bottom of the page.

B. Due in three days at the end of Maya Angelou.

Day 7: After learning about e. e. cummings’ style, we will explore today’s slam poets. They are similar in many ways. You could say that cummings rebellion of the rules sparked their movement. Much of their poetry is published in the same style as cummings, with artistic liberties in the placement, capitalization, and syntax of the phrases.

I. Materials

A. Vejay Jennings’ CD

B. Poem overheads

II. Procedure

A. Discuss similarities between Poe and cummings and Slam Poets

1. Poe

a. Length

b. Meant to be performed

c. Repetition and internal rhyme

2. Share Vejay Jennings “Vejay Speaks on Racism”

3. cummings

a. placement of words

b. In the moment

4. Share I Wore A Coin In My Shoe When We Got Married

5. Share Cooties audio

a. Have students listen and determine which poet it most resembles based on characteristics

III. Assignments

a. Continue working on mimicking Poe and cummings

Day 8: Today we will learn about Maya Angelou. Maya Angelou was a spokesperson for her community and her poems were often written in their “voice.” Because of this, her poems create a distinct person.

I. Materials

A. Poem Overheads

II. Procedure

A. Discuss Harlem Renaissance

1. Between 1919 and 1926

2. Large number of African Americans began moving to the northern cities.

3. Rise of radical black intellectuals and success of black artists

B. Discuss Maya Angelou and her characteristics

1. Born at end of Renaissance, but has continue the impact it started

2. Numerous awards, sat on Presidential Committees, and composed a poem for Clinton’s inauguration.

3. Characteristics

a. Use of Chorus

i. Has Verse and chorus that is repeated after verse

b. Anaphora

i. Repetition of a phrase, often times in the chorus

ii. Creates a short rhythm, normally 2 beat lines

c. Topic: Women, Culture, Semi-Autobiographical

i. Poems are personal to her and her experiences

ii. Somewhat sexualized (Independent Woman)

d. Length

i. 1 page

ii. Repetition and dwelling on details and multiple examples

C. Share examples

1. Phenomenal Woman

2. Still I Rise

3. Alone

III. Assignment

A. Write a poem using her characteristics

B. All three poems due next class

Day 9: Students will present one of their three poems and tell the class how it relates to the poet they were mimicking.

Day 10: Students will choose a poem to analyze.

I. Materials

A. Poems to Analyze

II. Procedure

A. Students clear their desks of everything but a piece of paper and a pen

1. Number paper one through ten

2. Students will rank poems as they read them to determine top choices

B. Pass out poems and have students rotate them around the room so that everyone reads every poem

1. Students don’t have to read the poem if they are not interested in it

2. May pass at their own rate

C. Students turn in their top ten choices

1. Tell students you will choose and hopefully everyone will get one of their top three picks!

III. Assignment

A. Review study guide to refresh ways to analyze a poem. These categories will be used to assess their poem in their poem poster. Bring questions to class about uncertainties.

Day 11-14: Students begin to analyze their poem using the categories their textbook lays out. All sections must be stared by the teacher for the student to continue.

I. Materials

A. Students’ Poem

B. Poem Poster Example

C. Posters for students

II. Procedure

A. Hand out poems

B. Share example of finished work

C. Students use study guides to write about each section. Include everything discussed in the study guide unless it is not present in the poem.

1. Form, Sound, Imagery(5 senses, picture, and Figurative Language) Theme, Research

D. When a section is finished, have teacher look over and sign off on.

E. When all sections are signed, students may begin typing

1. Set Margins at 6.5 inches

2. Same font throughout, Heading, Sub heading, and text sizes

F. After typing, students will print and create poster

1. Make sure each section is on the same page

2. Back in colored paper

3. Make sure sections are organized and spaced out, appeasing to the eye.

4. Draw picture of poem!

III. Assignment

A. Students may wish to complete sections outside of class to maximize their time in class. All analysis and typing needs to be finished in two more class periods.

Day 15: Display posters in library and have students view each other’s work. Students must critique at least three peers works and write a review of their poster.

I. Materials

A. Students’ posters

II. Procedure

A. Display posters in the library

B. Have students go round and view each other’s work

C. Students will critique at least three posters

1. Presentation of poster

2. Information in sections

3. Agreement on Theme

D. Critiques due at the end of class

Day 16-18: The end of this unit will result in a poetry presentation. Students will create a poetry program and present their selections to the class. They will receive four days to work on their program and will present on the fifth day.

I. Materials

A. Poetry Presentation Rubric and Guidelines

B. Computers and/or poetry books

II. Procedure

A. Discuss rubric

1. Hand out rubric and guidelines

2. Clarify any points as needed

B. Choose a topic or idea

1. Poems must surround that chosen subject

2. You are exploring through poetry, so your poems should present several different view points about your subject.

C. Share Example

1. Perform Latrinalia

2. Have students grade teacher based on their rubric

D. Start research!

1. Make sure poems are deserving of our time. Pick GOOD poems

2. Don’t settle for poems about your topic, take only the best that help prove your point

Day 19: Students print off poems and intro, put on notecards and practice the presentation of the poems. This is very important! Remind them of rubric; points come from how you present the poems, not the poems you find!

I. Materials

A. Students poems

B. Computers

C. Open area in which to practice

II. Procedure

A. Have students print off poems

1. Cut margins down to fit notecards

2. Different font for different characters? Highlights? Stickers?

3. Make sure poems aren’t spilt on two different pages

4. Print off analysis of poems for the teacher. Due with presentation.

B. Put on notecards

1. Determine page turns

2. Notecards to be turned in after presentation

C. Practice!

1. With a partner preferably

2. Look at voice, characters, gestures and posture.

3. Watch time as well

III. Assignment

A. Continue practicing. Perform for parents? Familiarize yourself with it so you aren’t just reading off!

Day 20: Present your poems to the class.

Poetry Presentation

➢ You will create a 3-5 minute poetry presentation.

o All poems must be connected by a theme.

o You must use at least 2 different characters in your poems.

o You may write one poem, all others must be published poetry.

o You must have a short introduction that states your theme, title, and author of your pieces.

o You may challenge yourself by piecing the different poems together to create a better flow for your piece or present each poem, one after the other.

o You will be graded on:

• Intro that gives titles and authors and gets us thinking about your theme

• Vocal Delivery (volume, tone, rate, pitch, intonation, etc.)

• Physical Characterization (each poem should be a different “person” therefore they must have a voice and/or posture that differs them from the other poems)

• The impact of your theme on the audience. (that you made a point, entertained us, or showed an appreciation for the topic)

➢ You will write an analysis of your poems.

o State title and author

o Tell what you think the poem means, or is trying to say, cite examples in the text that brings you to that conclusion.

o Tell why you put the poem where you did in the presentation.

Poetry Presentation Name:__________________

|CATEGORY |5-4 POINTS |3 POINTS |2-1 POINTS |

|Introduction |Contains all titles and authors.|Speaker forgot part of needed |Speaker failed to include one or|

| |Theme is explained clearly and |info for the intro. Introduced |more of the parts needed. Theme|

| |audience is given something to |theme but failed to give |is not present or not well |

| |think about. |audience something to think |thought out. |

| | |about. | |

|Vocal Delivery |Speaker is clear and easily |Speaker is clear and easily |Speaker is hard to understand. |

| |understood. Displays different |understood. Has only one voice |Speaks to quietly or mumbles. |

| |voices for the characters, which|for characters. | |

| |are distinguishable. | | |

|Physical Delivery |Speaker uses gestures and eye |Speaker uses good eye contact |Speaker stands up and presents |

| |contact to further presentation.|and gestures. Only one |poems as himself. No characters|

| |Body shows at least 2 distinct |character present through body |present. No gestures or eye |

| |characters. |movement. |contact. |

|Impact of Theme |Presentation stays with you and |Theme is clear, but has no |Poems don’t connect with the |

| |is memorable. Ideas presented |lasting impact on audience. |theme presented. Seems |

| |made audience think or |Audience wasn’t made to think |disjointed and unplanned. |

| |appreciate the topic. |and wasn’t entertained. | |

|Time Requirement |Presentation is within the 3 to |Presentation is outside the |Presentation is outside the |

| |5 minute limitation. |limit by more than 15 seconds |limit by more than 30 seconds |

| | |either way. |either way. |

SCORE:____

Additional Notes:

INTRO:

Latrinalia. Or the study of bathroom graffiti, has intrigued people for decades. Unity Stoakes has created the website , an outlet for people to post pictures of their favorite scrawlings from around the country. He states, “This medium continues to thrive as one of the most culturally interesting forms of communication, artistic expression, and free speech that has ever existed. And is can be entertaining too.” This begs the question. Can scribbles on a wall be art? Can they make a difference? Latrinalia. A Poetry Program with poetry I Am Nobody, Who Are You? By Emily Dickinson, Creative Advocacy, an original sonnet, and found poetry from bathroom stalls across the country.

Pity the man whose wisdom and wit

Are inspired only

By the sweet smell of shit..

I'm Nobody! Who are you?

Are you-Nobody-too?

Then there's a pair of us!

Dont tell! they'd banish us-you know!

How dreary-to be-Somebody!

How public

Under sign that said “Employees Must Wash Hands”:

I waited and waited, but I finally washed them myself.

The multi ethnic working class must unite to overcome the post-industrial capitalist forces! - An upper, middle-class student

In April 1990 four females

In the most private room they wrote their claims

Decided to silently cry and wail

There wrote down their attacker’s names.

Before the List girls went to see the dean,

“Fine members of the Brown community”

Might have well as said, “Leave you Drama Queen!”

Thus the bathrooms create mass unity.

Trodden are the victims, now you must think

The janitors have repainted the stall.

Next you will write in indelible ink

Changing the law by writing on the wall.

No one would listen to their entreaty

Creative advocacy by graffiti.

Robots eat gravy

In between everything and in the middle of nothing I AM.

If you sprinkle, when you tinkle, please be neat, and wash the seat.

Pro Choice means- Freedom of religion, freedom of choice, pursuit of happiness.

Pro Choice also means- I murder my baby, or I murder my soul, my life, me- all that I was really meant to be.

Scratched into a condom dispenser: Don’t buy this gum, it tastes like rubber

Change, on a mass scale, is inevitable in this dawn of the New Millenia. But, my friends, it will not be with idle chatter, political hoopla, or coffee-house philosophy. In the end, I fear, there will be much blood shed

At Long Wong’s you better bring your Visa Card because at Long Wong’s they don’t take any attitude and they don’t take American express.

What is beauty but the beginning of terror because it serenely disdains to annihilate us. Every angel is terrifying.

The handwriting on the wall said cheer up things could be worse- so I did and they were

The most powerful weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the minds of the oppressed!

I pity the man whose poetic ability is aroused by the smell of shit

I'm Nobody! Who are you?

Are you-Nobody-too?

Then there's a pair of us!

Dont tell! they'd banish us-you know!

How dreary-to be-Somebody!

How public

Buffalo Bill

Buffalo Bill’s

defunct

who used to

ride a watersmooth-silver

stallion

and break onetwothreefourfive pigeons justlikethat

he was a handsome man

and what I want to know is

how do you like your blue-eyed boy

Mister Death

guilt is a cause of more disorders

guilt is a cause of more disorders

than history’s most obscene marorders

i carry your heart with me

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

i have found what you are like

i have found what you are like

the rain

(who feathers frightened fields

with the superior dust-of-sleep. wields

easily the pale club of the wind

and swirled justly souls of flower strike

the air in utterable coolness

deeds of green thrilling light

with thinned

newfragile yellows

lurch and press

- in the woods

which

stutter

and

sing

and the coolness of your smile is

stirringofbirds between my arms,but

i should rather than anything

have(almost when hugeness will shut

quietly)almost,

your kiss

l(a

l(a

le

ar

fa

ll

s)

one

l

iness

Vejay Speaks On Racism

God’s pen paints my limbs and skin with melanin

And so begins my history, but you curse me for God’s creativity?

Thus my nativity is a scene of injustice – just us

Painted in God’s image, best wishes for faded color lines

Debate these lives of mine.

A fate, chased by prejudice,

Freedom – a story erased and edited by race

Race – and we are still running,

about to be erased by the color of hate – so I await.

Dreaming like Martin I awoke to the strokes of God’s brush on my flesh

And realized that we are still blessed, as we all are,

Stand tall and we cannot fall.

Take baby steps, crept into equality, swept away past follies of yesterdays,

And pay attention to tomorrows to rectify coming sorrows of these borrowed souls.

And we were meant to love one another, as brother and sister under the Son.

And we were meant to eat at the table of Brotherhood, Sisterhood, Your Hood, My Hood,

The good of a people create equal are in their souls within

And not in the color of their skin.

I Wore A Coin In My Shoe When We Got Married

me and my man:

we are a good kinda dirty room –

the kind where nothing’s in its place

but you know just where to find it

we are hit and run

hurricane done been through here when no one was lookin’

maybe we been robbed!

kinda messy

we’s jars of pennies on the bedside

we’s saved by pocket change in the sofa suchions

and a whole lotta makin’ do

a whole lotta makin’ do –

we’re stickin’ dollars in please-forget-me-places

secondhand classified sections

and mama askin’ on the phone

- when you gonna do something with that degree? -

Reply

- we’re workin’! -

oh! –

my degree

degree

de –

gree

pardon me, i digress

into grinning!

can you hear the pennies jinglin’?

the cats crappin?

3 a.m. tap-dancing’

tatta-tat

tatta-tat

tatta-tat tat tat tat

oh oh oh oh –

Oh, Mama!

PLEASE

stop askin; when we’re gonna

make somethin’ outta ourselves

see –

we’re already makin’

a whole lotta somethin’

outta practically nothin’!

Phenomenal Woman

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size

But when I start to tell them,

They think I'm telling lies.

I say,

It's in the reach of my arms

The span of my hips,

The stride of my step,

The curl of my lips.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,

And to a man,

The fellows stand or

Fall down on their knees.

Then they swarm around me,

A hive of honey bees.

I say,

It's the fire in my eyes,

And the flash of my teeth,

The swing in my waist,

And the joy in my feet.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Men themselves have wondered

What they see in me.

They try so much

But they can't touch

My inner mystery.

When I try to show them

They say they still can't see.

I say,

It's in the arch of my back,

The sun

[pic]of my smile,

The ride of my breasts,

The grace of my style.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops.

Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame

I rise

Up from a past that's rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

Alone

Lying, thinking

Last night

How to find my soul a home

Where water is not thirsty

And bread loaf is not stone

I came up with one thing

And I don't believe I'm wrong

That nobody,

But nobody

Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone

Nobody, but nobody

Can make it out here alone.

There are some millionaires

With money they can't use

Their wives run round like banshees

Their children sing the blues

They've got expensive doctors

To cure their hearts of stone.

But nobody

No, nobody

Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone

Nobody, but nobody

Can make it out here alone.

Now if you listen closely

I'll tell you what I know

Storm clouds are gathering

The wind is gonna blow

The race of man is suffering

And I can hear the moan,

'Cause nobody,

But nobody

Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone

Nobody, but nobody

Can make it out here alone.

Poetry Study Guide

English 8

Ms. Condon

Form:

Lines:

Stanzas:

Couplet:

Quatrain:

Sound:

Rhyme:

Rhyme Scheme:

Internal Rhyme:

Repetition:

Rhythm:

From Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven”

"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door."

Imagery:

Hearing:

Sight:

Touch:

Smell:

Taste:

Figurative Language:

Alliteration:

Assonance:

Consonance:

Onomatopoeia:

Simile:

Metaphor:

Hyperbole:

Personification:

Irony:

Verbal:

Situational:

Theme:

Symbolism:

What happens in the poem?

What message is the poet trying to tell me?

What is the purpose of the poem?

What was happening when the poem was written?

Haiku 1

Bloody strand of grass

Butterflies flit from flowers

Where our comrades died

Gun powder and smoke

Hidden by fragrant roses

Just another field

Burned and rotting flesh

Now nurture new plants and trees

Life is a circle

-----------------------

Mary O. Fumento’s “The Sorcerer”

The flickering flame enchants the mellow eyes

While whining wind encases faltering ears

And darkness entombs the dozing figure

Batches of colors explode

Tiny, bearded men scamper

While wicked beasts howl

Crystal walls gleam and shimmer

Flashes fall from a midnight sky

Metals fold like liquid

Flower to stone to lizard to leaf

Dozens of faceless, nameless cards

Sometimes a silky kerchief

And an occasional downy dove

Retreating adversaries with wary eyes

Always a cynic, sour skeptic

Wanting but not daring to believe

Ivory towers and ivy walls

Complete with princess calling

Knights and steeds and armor

A world of black and white

Till a’ the seas go dry, my dear

And the rocks melt wi’ the sun

And I will love thee still, my dear,

While the sands of life do run.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download