English 300: Introduction to Literature

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English 300 Introduction to Literature

• Dr. Mercedes Torres
• Introduction to Poetry

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The Sound of Silence

• Hello darkness, my old friend,I've come to talk
  with you again,Because a vision softly
  creeping,Left its seeds while I was
  sleeping,And the vision that was planted in my
  brainStill remainsWithin the sound of
  silence.

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The Sound of Silence

• In restless dreams I walked aloneNarrow streets
  of cobblestone,neath the halo of a street
  lamp,I turned my collar to the cold and
  dampWhen my eyes were stabbed by the flash ofA
  neon lightThat split the nightAnd touched the
  sound of silence.

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The Sound of Silence

• And in the naked light I sawTen thousand people,
  maybe more.People talking without
  speaking,People hearing without
  listening,People writing songs that voices never
  shareAnd no one daredDisturb the sound of
  silence

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The Sound of Silence

• Fools said I, you do not knowSilence like a
  cancer grows.Hear my words that I might teach
  you,Take my arms that I might reach you.But my
  words like silent raindrops fell,And echoedIn
  the wells of silence

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The Sound of Silence

• And the people bowed and prayedTo the neon god
  they made.And the sign flashed out its
  warning,In the words that it was forming.And
  the signs said, the words of the prophetsAre
  written on the subway wallsAnd tenement
  halls.And whispered in the sounds of silence.

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The Sound of Silence

• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sound_of_Silence
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vYhdGkZ6Fngw
• Do you experience this poem differently? Why?
• How do you define poetry?

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Concept Map
Poetry
is
Inspirational and thought -provoking
An expression of
Human experience
Feelings
Beauty to others
that
Everyday situations
Emotions
Creates a bond between the writer and the reader
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Group definitions

• Poetry is an expression of passionate human
  experience through thoughts, feelings, emotions,
  and actions that serves to bond the writer and
  the reader.
• (English 300/01)
• Poetry tells you what you can be and not what you
  are. (Stephanie Arroyo, 2006)

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Understanding Poetry

• We read and write poetry because we are members
  of the human race. The human race is filled with
  passion. These are the things we stay alive for.
  
• Dead Poets Society

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Definitions

• Poetry a form of speech or writing that
  harmonizes the music of its language with its
  subject.
• A form of expressive writing that uses rhythm,
  meaning, and sound to convey the writers
  experience and perceptions.

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Characteristics

• A poem must be experienced
• Poetry has interpretive power
• Poetry is performance
• Poetry is musical
• Poetry is easily remembered
• Poetry cannot be easily defined

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Experiencing a Poem

• Literal Level
• Who is speaking?
• What kind of person is he/she? In what mood?
  Thinking what thoughts? Feeling what emotions?
• Of whom or what is he or she speaking?
• How is this person or object being described?
• What attitudes are being projected?
• Are we led to share the attitudes and emotions in
  sympathy, or to rebel against them with feeling
  of anger or irony?

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Literal Level

• Topic/theme
• Main Idea
• Speaker
• Setting
• Authors purpose or message

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Elements of Poetry The use of words

• Diction choice of words
• Denotation the dictionary definition of a word
• Which meaning fits the context?
• Connotation special meaning of words and
  associations a word takes on, in a given phrase
  or expression
• Respond with your intellect, emotions and senses

Darkness
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Elements of Poetry

• Sensory Imagery words used to evoke sensations
  through our senses
• Visual
• Auditory
• Tactile
• Gustatory
• Olfactory
• Thermal
• Kinesthetic

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Elements of Poetry

• Figurative Language use of words to mean
  something other than the literal meaning
• Metaphor use of language in which a comparison
  is made without the use of a comparative term
  (as, like, or than)

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Elements of Poetry

• Figurative Language
• Simile a direct comparison using the terms as,
  like, or than.
• Personification A figurative use of language
  that endows the nonhuman with human
  characteristics.

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Elements of Poetry

• Figurative Language
• Apostrophe direct address to someone or
  something that is not present
• Allusion a reference in a work of literature to
  something outside the work, especially a known
  event or person.
• Metonymy the poet substitutes a word normally
  associated with something for the term usually
  naming that thing the big apple
• Synecdoche a figure of speech where the part
  stands for the whole.
• Symbol something that is simultaneously itself
  and a sign for something else

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Elements of Poetry

• Figurative Language
• Synaesthesia a blending of different senses in
  describing something
• Oxymoron an expression impossible in fact but
  not necessarily self-contradictory
• Paradox a self-contradictory phrase or sentence
• Hyperbole exaggeration beyond reasonable
  credance
• Understatement implying more than said
• Allegory a story in which people, things and
  events have another meaning

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References

• Abrahams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. New
  York Rinehart Company
• Ciardi, J. (1959). How Does A Poem Mean.
  Cambridge Mass Houghton Mifflin
• Landy, A. Allen W.R. (2000). Introduction To
  Literature. Cambridge Mass Houghton Mifflin
• http//rpo.library.utoronto.ca/display_rpo/termino
  logy.cfm