Name___________________________________



Name___________________________________

American Studies Poetry Unit

A. You will be responsible for being able to identify and apply the literary terms in the packet that follows. All literary terms and poems studied may be on the final exam.

B. For every poem we study, you will complete the 6-step poetry analysis in the packet. Occasionally, I will assign short writing assignments to go along with the poems. These will be collected and graded for completion, thoroughness, and creativity.

What is the 6-step analysis? Use the following steps to help you analyze the assigned poems. You should make copious notes, comments, and questions on the copy of each poem.

STEP 1: TITLE. Predict what the poem will be about based on the title:_______________________

STEP 2: PARAPHRASE. Silently read the poem. Try to write at least one sentence for each stanza of the poem, capturing all of its literal ideas.

STEP 3: ANALYSIS. What is the structure of the poem? (Is it in stanzas, free verse, or blank verse? Is it a sonnet, lyric poem, ode, another special form with specific rules?) ______________________________

What is the rhyme scheme, if any? _______________________

Diction – Circle especially significant or unusual words in the poem. Why were they included? What meaning do they convey? _______________________________________________________

Figurative Language –Look for examples of poetic devices in the poem. (metaphors, similes, allusions, alliteration, euphony, symbols, etc.) How do such devices aid the poem in achieving its meaning?

STEP 4. TONE/SHIFT. Reread the poem, looking for diction, images, and details that hint at or suggest the poet’s tone/attitude to the poem’s subject. Write down several words that describe this tone. Make note of any places in which the tone seems to shift. Watch for changes in line length, sound, diction, and punctuation, and pay special attention to the conclusion.

STEP 5. TITLE. Now, reread the poem’s title again and your initial explanation for it. Now that you’ve reread the poem several times, explain the title of the poem in light of its meaning again.

STEP 6. THEME

First, identify the literal subject(s) of the poem. __________________________________

Then, identify the abstract or figurative subject of the poem. ____________________________________

Finally, write the theme of the poem in a complete sentence. ___________________________________

LITERARY TERMS FOR POETRY

POETRY is a patterned form of verbal or written expression of ideas in concentrated, imaginative and rhythmical terms. Poetry may contain rhyme and a specific meter, but not necessarily.

|FIGURES OF SPEECH | |

|FIGURE OF SPEECH or FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE: An expression in which the words |METONYMY: one thing used to signify another with which it has become |

|are used in a non-literal sense to present a figure, picture or image. |closely associated (Ex: the crown refers to the King) |

|ALLEGORY: a work of literature in which the elements represent abstract |PARADOX: a statement, often metaphorical, that seems to be |

|ideas or qualities (Ex: The Crucible) |self-contradictory but has valid meaning (“In order to have peace, you |

|ALLUSION: a reference to some person, place or event that has literary, |must prepare for war.”) |

|historical or geographical significance. |PERSONIFICATION: the giving of human characteristics to inanimate |

|ANAPHORA: the repetition of a word to begin several lines of the same poem|objects, ideas or animals |

|ANTITHESIS: contrast or opposition in meaning, emphasized by a parallel in|PUN: a play on words that are identical or similar but have diverse |

|grammatical structure (EX: Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved |meanings |

|Rome more.) |SIMILE: a direct comparison between two usually unrelated things using |

|APOSTROPHE: addressing someone (dead) or something (an idea), not present,|"like" or "as" |

|as though present |REPETITION: reiterating a word or phrase |

|CONCEIT: a far-fetched and ingenious comparison between two unlike things |REFRAIN: the repetition of one or more phrases or lines at intervals in|

|HYPERBOLE (OVERSTATEMENT): an exaggeration for the sake of emphasis which |a poem |

|is not to be taken literally |OXYMORON: a type of paradox in which two linked words contradict each |

|IMAGERY: words or phrases which appeal to the senses & create a picture in|other (Ex: "jumbo shrimp" “cold fire”) |

|the reader's mind |SYMBOL: a word or image that signifies something other than what is |

|INVERSION: Reversing the order of the parts of a sentence for specific |literally represented; it has both a literal and figurative meaning. |

|effect (Ex: “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown”) | |

|METAPHOR: An implied comparison between two usually unrelated things that |SYNTAX: the grammatical arrangement of words in a sentence (inversion |

|suggests one thing is the other; a linking verb is often used to connect |and parallelism are examples of syntactical structures) |

|the ideas. |SYNECHDOCHE: a part of something used to signify the whole |

|TYPES OF POEMS |(hands/workmen) |

|LYRIC: A short, non-narrative poem presenting a single speaker who |UNDERSTATEMENT: an expression that uses less force/emphasis than a |

|expresses a state of mind or a process of thought and feeling |situation warrants |

|BALLAD: a song-like poem that tells a story through action & dialogue | |

|EPIC: long narrative poem on a serious subject written in an elevated |RHYME |

|style, often dealing with a heroic figure |REGULAR VERSE: poetry that has both rhythm and rhyme, usually in a |

|DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE: poem in which a speaker relates an event at a critical|recognizable pattern that may indicate a particular form of verse. |

|moment to other people whose presence & reactions are revealed through the|FREE VERSE: lines of poetry with a controlled rhythm, but lacking rhyme|

|speaker’s clues |or metrical patterns |

|ODE: long lyric poem in praise of a person, thing, or idea; often elevated|END: rhyme at end of line |

|in style |INTERNAL: rhyme within the line |

|SONNET: 14 line poem in iambic pentameter, with a specific rhyme scheme |PERFECT (TRUE): an exact rhyme (cat/bat) |

|and structure (Italian/Petrarchan or English/Shakespearean) |IMPERFECT (APPROXIMATE): also known as “slant” (cost/boast) |

|SOUNDS |METER |

|EUPHONY: language which is smooth, pleasant, and musical to the ear |IAMBIC: unstressed/stressed u / |

|CACOPHONY: language which is harsh, rough, and unmusical to the ear |TROCHAIC: stressed/unstressed / u |

|ONOMATOPOEIA: the use of a word to represent or imitate natural sounds |ANAPESTIC: u u / |

|ALLITERATION: the repetition of the initial letter or sound in two or more|DACTYLIC: / u u |

|words in a line of verse |SPONDAIC: / / |

|ASSONANCE: the similarity or repetition of a vowel sound in two or more |PYRRHIC: u u |

|words in a line of verse |TONE |

|FORM |DENOTATION: the literal or dictionary meaning of a word |

|STANZA: a division of a poem based on thought or form |CONNOTATION: the implied meaning; emotions or feelings associated with |

|COUPLET: two lines of verse that rhyme |a word |

|  |PERSONA: the speaker in the poem (not the author) who usually reveals |

| |the tone of the poem |

| |TONE: the speaker’s attitude toward the subject matter |

| |MOOD: a feeling, emotional state, or disposition of mind--the |

| |predominating atmosphere of a literary work. |

Lesson 1: Introduction to Poetry

Warmup: Freewrite, before discussion, trying to arrive at a personal definition of what poetry is. Try to think of examples of poems that have had some impact on you personally, or perhaps, instances when poems are read as part of a ceremony. Of course, song lyrics count too! Be prepared to share.

Pop Quiz: Read “Introduction to Poetry” using the 7 step process. Then answer the questions below.

Billy Collins Introduction to Poetry

I ask them to take a poem

and hold it up to the light

like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem

and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem's room

and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski

across the surface of a poem

waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do

is tie the poem to a chair with rope

and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose

to find out what it really means.

Lesson 2: Poems about War

Apostrophe To Man by Edna St. Vincent Millay

(On reflecting that the world is ready to go to war again)

Detestable race, continue to expunge yourself, die out.

Breed faster, crowd, encroach, sing hymns, build bombing airplanes;

Make speeches, unveil statues, issue bonds, parade;

Convert again into explosives the bewildered ammonia

and the distracted cellulose;

Convert again into putrescent matter drawing flies

The hopeful bodies of the young; exhort,

Pray, pull long faces, be earnest,

be all but overcome, be photographed;

Confer, perfect your formulae, commercialize

Bacteria harmful to human tissue,

Put death on the market;

Breed, crowd, encroach,

expand, expunge yourself, die out,

Homo called sapiens.

Assignment: How does the style and diction (word choice) of the poem contribute to the tone and theme? Consider how the title is significant to the overall meaning.

The Conquerors by Phyllis McGinley

It seems vainglorious and proud

Of Atom-man to boast aloud

His prowess homicidal

When one remembers how for years,

With their rude stones and humble spears,

Our sires, at wiping out their peers,

Were almost never idle.

Despite his under-fissioned art

The Hittite made a splendid start

Toward smiting lesser nations;

While Tamerlane, it’s widely known,

Without a bomb to call his own

Destroyed whole populations.

Nor did the ancient Persian need

Uranium to kill his Mede,

The Viking earl, his foeman.

The Greeks got excellent results

With swords and engined catapults.

A chariot served the Roman.

Mere cannon garnered quite a yield

On Waterloo’s tempestuous field.

At Hastings and at Flodden

Stout countrymen, with just a bow

And arrow, laid their thousands low.

And Gettysburg was sodden.

Though doubtless now our shrewd machines

Can blow the world to smithereens

More tidily and so on,

Let’s give our ancestors their due.

Their ways were course, their weapons few.

But ah! How wondrously they slew

With what they had to go on.

Assignment: Which figure of speech is most effective in developing the main idea of this poem? Give at least 3 examples. What is the tone of the ending?

What Were They Like? by Denise Levertov

Did the people of Viet Nam

use lanterns of stone?

Did they hold ceremonies

to reverence the opening of buds?

Were they inclined to quiet laughter?

Did they use bone and ivory,

jade and silver, for ornament?

Had they an epic poem?

Did they distinguish between speech and singing?

Sir, their light hearts turned to stone.

It is not remembered whether in gardens

stone gardens illumined pleasant ways.

Perhaps they gathered once to delight in blossom,

but after their children were killed

there were no more buds.

Sir, laughter is bitter to the burned mouth.

A dream ago, perhaps. Ornament is for joy.

All the bones were charred.

it is not remembered. Remember,

most were peasants; their life

was in rice and bamboo.

When peaceful clouds were reflected in the paddies

and the water buffalo stepped surely along terraces,

maybe fathers told their sons old tales.

When bombs smashed those mirrors

there was time only to scream.

There is an echo yet

of their speech which was like a song.

It was reported their singing resembled

the flight of moths in moonlight.

Who can say? It is silent now.

Assignment: Examine the structure/form of the poem. How does it contribute to the overall meaning of the poem?

Facing It by Yusef Komunyakaa

My black face fades,

hiding inside the black granite.

I said I wouldn't,

dammit: No tears.

I'm stone. I'm flesh.

My clouded reflection eyes me

like a bird of prey, the profile of night

slanted against morning. I turn

this way--the stone lets me go.

I turn that way--I'm inside

the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

again, depending on the light

to make a difference.

I go down the 58,022 names,

half-expecting to find

my own in letters like smoke.

I touch the name Andrew Johnson;

I see the booby trap's white flash.

Names shimmer on a woman's blouse

but when she walks away

the names stay on the wall.

Brushstrokes flash, a red bird's

wings cutting across my stare.

The sky. A plane in the sky.

A white vet's image floats

closer to me, then his pale eyes

look through mine. I'm a window.

He's lost his right arm

inside the stone. In the black mirror

a woman's trying to erase names:

No, she's brushing a boy's hair.

Oral reading by author:

Discussion: Examine the poet’s use of imagery (patterns of sensory detail) and figurative language. How are these used to develop the speaker’s overall message about the Vietnam Memorial?

Lesson 3: Comparison-Contrast

We grow accustomed to the Dark

by Emily Dickinson

We grow accustomed to the Dark --

When light is put away --

As when the Neighbor holds the Lamp

To witness her Goodbye --

A Moment -- We uncertain step

For newness of the night --

Then -- fit our Vision to the Dark --

And meet the Road -- erect --

And so of larger -- Darknesses --

Those Evenings of the Brain --

When not a Moon disclose a sign --

Or Star -- come out -- within --

The Bravest -- grope a little --

And sometimes hit a Tree

Directly in the Forehead --

But as they learn to see --

Either the Darkness alters --

Or something in the sight

Adjusts itself to Midnight --

And Life steps almost straight.

Acquainted with the Night

by Robert Frost

I have been one acquainted with the night.

I have walked out in rain -- and back in rain.

I have outwalked the furthest city light.

I have looked down the saddest city lane.

I have passed by the watchman on his beat

And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.

I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet

When far away an interrupted cry

Came over houses from another street,

But not to call me back or say good-bye;

And further still at an unearthly height,

O luminary clock against the sky

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.

I have been one acquainted with the night.

Discussion: Both poems above are concerned with darkness and night. Compare and contrast the poems, analyzing the significance of dark or night in each. In your essay, consider elements such as point of view, figurative language, diction, and structure.

Writing Assignment--Your Turn: Download a photograph of the night that inspires you, or take your own night photograph. Then, write your own poetic response to the night as pictured in your chosen photograph. Prepare a small poster, featuring and crediting the photographer and including your poetic homage to his art -- especially if you ARE the artist.

Lesson 4: Auditory Imagery

The Sound of Night by Maxine Kumin

And now the dark comes on,

all full of chitter noise.

Birds huggermugger crowd the trees,

the air thick with their vesper cries,

and bats, snub seven-pointed kites,

skitter across the lake, swing out,

squeak, chirp, dip, and skim on skates

of air, and the fat frogs wake and prink

wide-lipped, noisy as ducks, drunk

on the boozy black, gloating chink-chunk.

And now on the narrow beach

we defend ourselves from dark.

The cooking done, we build our firework

bright and hot and less for outlook

than for magic, and lie in our blankets

while night knickers around us. Crickets

chorus hallelujahs; paws, quiet

and quick as raindrops, play on the stones

expertly soft, run past and are gone;

fish pulse in the lake; the frogs hoarsen.

Now every voice of the hour—

the known, the supposed, the strange,

the mindless, the witted, the never seen—

sing, thrum, impinge, and rearrange

endlessly; and debarred from sleep we wait

for the birds, importantly silent,

for the crease of first eye-licking light,

for the sun, lost long ago and sweet.

By the lake, locked black away and tight,

we lie, day creatures, overhearing night.

Lesson 5: Allusion

Silence by Edgar Lee Masters In his Spoon River Anthology, Masters wrote “epitaphs” for 244 citizens of the fictional Spoon River, Illinois, to tell the truth about their lives. This poem was read at Masters’ funeral.

I have known the silence of the stars and of the sea,

And the silence of the city when it pauses,

And the silence of a man and a maid,

And the silence of the sick

When their eyes roam about the room.

And I ask: For the depths,

Of what use is language?

A beast of the field moans a few times

When death takes its young.

And we are voiceless in the presence of realities --

We cannot speak.

A curious boy asks an old soldier

Sitting in front of the grocery store,

"How did you lose your leg?"

And the old soldier is struck with silence,

Or his mind flies away

Because he cannot concentrate it on Gettysburg.

It comes back jocosely

And he says, "A bear bit it off."

And the boy wonders, while the old soldier

Dumbly, feebly lives over

The flashes of guns, the thunder of cannon,

The shrieks of the slain,

And himself lying on the ground,

And the hospital surgeons, the knives,

And the long days in bed.

But if he could describe it all

He would be an artist.

But if he were an artist there would be deeper wounds

Which he could not describe.

There is the silence of a great hatred,

And the silence of a great love,

And the silence of an embittered friendship.

There is the silence of a spiritual crisis,

Through which your soul, exquisitely tortured,

Comes with visions not to be uttered

Into a realm of higher life.

There is the silence of defeat.

There is the silence of those unjustly punished;

And the silence of the dying whose hand

Suddenly grips yours.

There is the silence between father and son,

When the father cannot explain his life,

Even though he be misunderstood for it.

There is the silence that comes between husband and wife.

There is the silence of those who have failed;

And the vast silence that covers

Broken nations and vanquished leaders.

There is the silence of Lincoln,

Thinking of the poverty of his youth.

And the silence of Napoleon

After Waterloo.

And the silence of Jeanne d'Arc

Saying amid the flames, "Blessed Jesus" --

Revealing in two words all sorrows, all hope.

And there is the silence of age,

Too full of wisdom for the tongue to utter it

In words intelligible to those who have not lived

The great range of life.

And there is the silence of the dead.

If we who are in life cannot speak

Of profound experiences,

Why do you marvel that the dead

Do not tell you of death?

Their silence shall be interpreted

As we approach them.

Assignment: Categorize the various types of silence Masters has observed. Identify several historical allusions he makes. What is Masters’ point? What is the purpose of the last two lines?

Barbie Doll by Marge Piercy

This girlchild was born as usual

and presented dolls that did pee-pee

and miniature GE stoves and irons

and wee lipsticks the color of cherry candy.

Then in the magic of puberty, a classmate said:

You have a great big nose and fat legs.

She was healthy, tested intelligent,

possessed strong arms and back,

abundant sexual drive and manual dexterity.

She went to and fro apologizing.

Everyone saw a fat nose on thick legs.

She was advised to play coy,

exhorted to come on hearty,

exercise, diet, smile and wheedle.

Her good nature wore out

like a fan belt.

So she cut off her nose and her legs

and offered them up.

In the casket displayed on satin she lay

with the undertaker's cosmetics painted on,

a turned-up putty nose,

dressed in a pink and white nightie.

Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said.

Consummation at last.

To every woman a happy ending.

Discussion:

What is the tone of the poem? What images or lines lead you to your opinion?

Explain the allusion of the title. How does this allusion develop Percy’s critique of society?

Lesson 6: Speaker and Tone

The speaker is the voice of a poem, or the role the poet plays in the poem. The speaker may be the poet, or a fictional person, animal, or object the poet pretends to be. Playing a role in the poem enables the poet to state a message or explain a feeling more clearly than speaking as him or herself. For example, one poet may speak as an eagle to describe the wonders of flight. Another poet may pretend to be a mother in order to express an ideal of unselfish love.

When reading a poem, it is important to understand the speaker’s tone or attitude toward the subject of the poem. Is the speaker being honest or “tongue-in-cheek”? Is the speaker sharing emotions? Is the speaker trying to prove a point? Recognizing the speaker and the speaker’s attitude is an important step toward “reading between the lines.” Knowing a wealth of common adjectives used to describe tone is an excellent way to improve your analytical skills. Look at the following list of words and circle any you do not know the meaning of. For homework tonight, look up their meanings.

Pessimistic

Critical (with respect to the author’s tone)

Humorous

Scornful

Reflective

Melancholy

Joyous

Sympathetic

Contemplative

Optimistic

Perplexed

Ridiculing

Conspiratorial

Hopeful

Mournful

Skeptical

Biased/Unbiased

Ambiguous

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

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.

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.

Lesson 7: Extended Metaphor

My Papa’s Waltz by Theodore Roethke

The whiskey on your breath

Could make a small boy dizzy;

But I hung on like death:

Such waltzing was not easy.

We romped until the pans

Slid from the kitchen shelf;

My mother’s countenance

Could not unfrown itself.

The hand that held my wrist

Was battered on one knuckle;

At every step you missed

My right ear scraped a buckle.

You beat time on my head

With a palm caked hard by dirt,

Then waltzed me off to bed

Still clinging to your shirt.

1. What is the central metaphor of the poem?

2. What are some words or phrases that contribute to and extend this metaphor throughout the entire poem? (See if you can find at least 1 example from each stanza).

3. How does the form of the poem enhance this metaphor?

4. What is ironic about using this metaphor for the subject matter?

"Women" by Alice Walker

They were women then

My mama's generation

Husky of voice-Stout of

Step

With fists as well as

Hands

How they battered down

Doors

And ironed

Starched white

Shirts

How they led

Armies

Headragged Generals

Across mined

Fields

Boody-trapped

Ditches

To discover books

Desks

A place for us

How they knew what we

Must Know

Without knowing a page

Of it

Themselves.

 

Assignment: Explain the extended metaphor used throughout “Women” and examine its overall effectiveness.

Lesson 8: Regular Verse

Regular verse is poetry that has both rhythm and rhyme, usually in a recognizable pattern that may indicate a particular kind of verse -- ballad, sonnet, villanelle, etc. Even when the verse form is unique to the poem, the regularity of its pattern clearly distinguishes this traditional style poem.

Sympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar

I know what the caged bird feels, alas!

When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;

When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,

And the river flows like a stream of glass;

When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,

And the faint perfume from its chalice steals--

I know what the caged bird feels!

I know why the caged bird beats its wing

Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;

For he must fly back to his perch and cling

When he fain would be on the bough a-swing;

And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars

And they pulse again with a keener sting--

I know why he beats his wing!

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,

When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,--

When he beats his bars and he would be free;

It is not a carol of joy or glee,

But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core,

But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings--

I know why the caged bird sings!

Writing Assignment -- Your Turn: In what ways are you a caged animal? Write an original poem about your own efforts at self-expression or aspiration, using this metaphor or another one to unify your piece.

Lesson 9: Rhythm and Meter

rhythm: the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line.

meter: the measured arrangement of words in poetry, as by rhythm and the number of syllables in a line.

scansion: Describing the rhythms of poetry by dividing the lines into feet, marking the locations of stressed and unstressed syllables, and counting the syllables.

Thus, when we describe the rhythm of a poem, we “scan” the poem and mark the stresses (/) and absences of stress (U) and count the number of feet. A feet has two syllables.

In English, the two most common type of feet are:

Iambic - unstressed stressed U /

Trochaic – stressed unstressed / U

A frequently heard metrical description is iambic pentameter: a line of five iambs. This is a meter especially familiar because it occurs in all blank verse (such as Shakespeare’s plays) and sonnets.

Pentameter is one name for the number of feet in a line. The commonly used names for line lengths are:

monometer |  |  |one foot |  |  |  |  |  |pentameter |  |  |five feet | |dimeter |  |  |two feet |  |  |  |  |  |hexameter |  |  |six feet | |trimeter |  |  |three feet |  |  |  |  |  |heptameter |  |  |seven feet | |tetrameter |  |  |four feet |  |  | | | |octameter | | |eight feet | |

Can you scan the following poem excerpts for number of feet and accents, then identify the type of meter if it fits one of the above metrical descriptions?

Emily Dickinson

The morns are meeker than they were,

The nuts are getting brown;

The berry’s cheek is plumper,

The rose is out of town.

Shakespeare Sonnet 130

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips' red;

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,

But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

And in some perfumes is there more delight

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know

That music hath a far more pleasing sound;

I grant I never saw a goddess go;

My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare

As any she belied with false compare.

From Edgar Allan 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.

`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -

Only this, and nothing more.'

From Shakespeare’s Macbeth

Double, double toil and trouble;

   

Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

Lesson 10: Sonnets

Yet Do I Marvel by Countee Cullen

I doubt not God is good, well-meaning, kind,

And did He stoop to quibble could tell why

The little buried mole continues blind,

Why flesh that mirrors Him must some day die,

Make plain the reason tortured Tantalus

Is baited by the fickle fruit, declare

If merely brute caprice dooms Sisyphus

To struggle up a never-ending stair.

Inscrutable His ways are, and immune

To catechism by a mind too strewn

With petty cares to slightly understand

What awful brain compels His awful hand.

Yet do I marvel at this curious thing:

To make a poet black, and bid him sing!

From the Dark Tower by Countee Cullen

We shall not always plant while others reap

The golden increment of bursting fruit,

Not always countenance, abject and mute

That lesser men should hold their brothers cheap;

Not everlastingly while others sleep

Shall we beguile their limbs with mellow flute,

Not always bend to some more subtle brute;

We were not made eternally to weep.

The night whose sable breast relieves the stark

White stars is no less lovely being dark,

And there are buds that cannot bloom at all

In light, but crumple, piteous, and fall;

So in the dark we hide the heart that bleeds,

And wait, and tend our agonizing seeds.

Discussion: Compare Cullen’s message in the two poems. In what way are the forms of these sonnets similar? In what way are they different?

Lesson 11: Diction and Connotation

You know that poem about two roads diverging in a woods? Of course, you do, and you know it's not just about a road, right? The connotations of that road lead most readers on to consider their own life journey, not just a travel itinerary. That's connotation.

In addition to literal, dictionary meanings, words often have implied, emotional meanings known as connotations. These connotations play a significant role in the search for the "right word" because they sometimes clash with a writer's intended meaning or view. Much of poetry involves the poet using connotative diction that suggests shades of meanings beyond "what the words simply say."

Connotation is the extra tinge or taint of meaning each word carries beyond the minimal, strict definition found in a dictionary. For instance, the terms civil war, revolution and rebellion have the same denotation; they all refer to an attempt at social or political change. However, civil war carries historical connotations for Americans beyond that of revolution or rebellion. Likewise, revolution is often applied more generally to scientific or theoretical changes, and it does not necessarily connote violence. Rebellion, for many English speakers connotes an improper uprising against a legitimate authority (thus we speak about "rebellious teenagers" rather than "revolutionary teenagers").

In the same way, the words house and home both refer to a domicile, but home connotes certain singular emotional qualities and personal possession in a way that house doesn't. I might own four houses I rent to others, but I might call none of these my home, for example.

Connotation descriptors:

Favorable/positive

Neutral

Unfavorable/negative

Examples:

relaxed inactive lazy

prudent timid cowardly

modest shy mousy

time-tested old out-of-date

dignified reserved stiff-necked

persevering persistent stubborn

up-to-date new newfangled

thrifty conservative miserly

self-confident proud conceited

inquisitive curious nosy

Each of the following sentences includes a pair of words with similar dictionary definitions but different connotations. One of the words is more appropriate based on the context of the sentence.

As snakes continue to grow, they (junk, shed) the protective keratinous layer on the surface of their bodies because it does not expand.

Oblivious to those around him, the father tenderly (smiled, smirked) at his newborn baby through the window of the hospital nursery.

During rush hour traffic in a metropolis, cars creep along at agonizingly slow (velocities, speeds).

Even the coolest star in the night skies is unbelievably (sultry, hot) according to astronomers.

The local newspaper's front-page story indicated that $50,000 was (stolen, pilfered) from the town's largest bank during the night.

The pack of wild horses (loped, sprinted) alongside the train at top speed for more than 200 yards.

Although many Americans purchase meat at their local grocery stores, some farmers still (butcher, execute) livestock to feed their families.

The French are (noted, notorious) for their fine food.

Now read the following poem, mindfully open to the possible connotations of even the simplest words chosen.

At Mud Lake in the Morning by Michael Cleary

Mud Lake, Idaho (AP) 3,000 rabbits were rounded up and clubbed to death Saturday by about 800 men and boys . . . during a rabbit population boom that occurs about every ten years.

At Mud Lake in the morning,

boys squint into the ache of sun

ricocheting off fresh snow,

feel the tingle of violence

in their fathers’ tense smiles and rough jokes,

sense that this is a big and grownup thing

to be proud and fearful on the edge of a man’s world,

waiting for jackrabbits to be driven

under the nervous bats and clubs

they heft and slap into leathered palms

to know the unfamiliar power of pain and death.

Too soon the rabbits come,

a stampede of darting, dodging terror

as men and boys strike clumsily

until they find the fierce and ancient fury

in heavy thuds and hollow cracks

and the rabbits start to go down,

some sudden and still, smaller than alive,

others jerking, scrambling on their sides,

changing snow into a crazy quilt

of scarlet specks and patches of deeper red.

With dusk, deeds grow

bold and large on distant farms

until each boy has vanquished ten times ten

again and then again

in warrior tales told to hearthbound mothers

washing bloody socks and splattered overalls

in their mothers’ mothers’ kitchens.

Fathers smoke quietly with measured pride

as sisters, hostile and aloof,

retreat into wary corners.

At night, boys wriggle slowly into sleep,

happiness wound tight inside,

wonder at the thrill of wood on bone,

snow soiled with matted fur and bloody bootprints,

wonder where blood goes when the snow melts,

wonder how long ten years will be

and how they can stand the waiting.

Assignment: What is the message of this poem? How does the diction and connotation heighten this message?

Lesson 12: Theme

A theme is the central message of the poem. In order to discover the theme, one must analyze many elements of the poem: word choice, figurative language, symbols, mood, tone. Read the following poem, and use all 7 steps of the poetry analysis process. Mark up the poem with a highlighter and pen as you complete each step.

Do not go gentle into that good night by Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

What two lines are repeated as a refrain? Why?

Using the refrain in your analysis, write a short paragraph explaining what you think the theme or overall message of the poem is.

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Pop Quiz on “Introduction to Poetry”:

1. In line 4, the speaker compares a poem to a ____________________. This is an example of ______:

a. simile b. implied metaphor

c. personification d. allusion

2. The speaker’s desire for people “to waterski across the surface of the poem” suggests that he wants them to:

a. study the poem carefully

b. be careful while reading the poem

c. enjoy the poem

d. skim the poem

3. The form of this poem is:

a. sonnet b. 6 quatrains

c. rhyming couplets d. free verse

4. In the line “All they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it,” the poet is using:

a. personification b. extended metaphor

c. simile d. understatement

5. Who do you think the speaker of the poem might be?

__________________________________________

6. What do you think is the speaker’s overall message about how to appreciate poetry? Which line best illustrates this theme?

1. Find at least 2 examples of onomatopoeia.

2. Find at least 2 examples of alliteration.

3. Find 1 example of assonance.

4. Find 1 example of consonance.

5. Find 1 example of euphony (sounds that are soothing to the ear). Why do you think the poet incorporated euphony in these lines?

6. The overall mood of the poem is:

a. Serene

b. Restless

c. Violent

d. Happy

Provide 2 examples from the poem to support this answer.

7. The overall tone/attitude of the speaker is:

a. Joyous

b. Mournful

c. Perplexed

d. Observant

Provide 2 examples from the poem to support this answer.

1. Describe the speaker of “Still I Rise.” Who do you think he/she is. Provide at least one example for your opinion.

2. Who do you think the “you” is that the speaker is speaking to? What is the speaker’s attitude toward that person? Provide an example to support your answer.

3. What is the speaker’s general tone or attitude in the poem? Find at least 3 words or phrases that support your answer.

1. Find 1 example of simile.

2. Find 1 example of personification.

3. Explain how the visual imagery in the 2nd stanza contributes to the mood of the poem. Use a specific example to support your answer.

4. How does the use of repetition strengthen the poem’s meaning?

5. Even though each of the stanzas comments on the same situation, there is a progression in the idea. What is this progression? What effect does it have on the mood of the poem?

6. What is the meaning of the title? Use the title to help you uncover the theme or overall message of the poem. Provide an example from the poem to support this theme.

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