Unit 7 Notes

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Unit 7 Notes

• Poetry

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Part I

• Why are we doing this?

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Why do we study poetry?

• Entertainment Believe it or not, once upon a
  time, before Playstation 3s (or i-Pods, or even
  television, radios, or anything else that was
  fun) people read and wrote poetry for fun
• You still like poetry today, although usually
  its very emo and accompanied by drum machines or
  electric guitars

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Why do we study poetry?

• Dont let anyone try to simplify you! You have
  are never merely happy or sad. There are emotions
  that are way better and way worse
• Poetry captures emotions and thoughts that arent
  fully expressed by simpler language

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Why do we study poetry?

• Its an intelligence thing
• Some people enjoy poetry for the same reason some
  people prefer chess to checkers
• The challenge of deciphering and exploring
  meaning can be enjoyable
• Whether or not you like it, interpreting it will
  make you smarter

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Okay, so what is poetry?

• This is actually a tough question. Every time
  people try to define poetry, an artist makes a
  poem that breaks the definition
• Here are things that many poems do
• Poems sometimes rhyme
• Poems often have rhythm
• Poems are almost always divided into lines
• Poems usually try to say exactly what the author
  wants to say in as few words as possible
• Poems usually use figurative language

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Part II

• Figurative Language

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Figurative vs. Literal

• Literal Language Your words say precisely what
  you mean
• Literal When you say Im going to kill you,
  you proceed to pull out a gun, knife, rabid
  raccoon, etc
• Figurative Language Your words describe
  something abstract in concrete terms
• Figurative When you say Im going to kill you,
  you mean that youre really, really, really
  angry, but not that you will literally raccoon
  them to death

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Figurative Language

• Look at this figure of a human being
• Its hard to quickly draw something that actually
  looks like a human
• A figure allows us to quickly represent something

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Figurative Language

• In much the same way, figurative language allows
  us to quickly represent thoughts and emotions
  that otherwise would be very difficult or take a
  long time to explain
• So instead of saying
• Im so angry at you for stealing our car and
  crashing it into a Dunkin Donuts full of nuns!
  And after you just got off being grounded for
  that parakeet incident!
• Mom can just say
• Im gonna kill you!

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Metaphor

• A Metaphor is a type of figurative language
• Metaphor takes two different things and
  compares them, often in a surprising way
• The format X is Y
• The flock of birds is a black cloud in the sky
• Clearly birds are not literally a black cloud,
  but the metaphor calls attention to how, at a
  distance, these two things look the same
• Sometimes its easy to see the connection between
  the X and the Y, but often youll have to think
  for a long time, asking yourself, What
  similarities do X and Y share?

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Simile

• A Simile is a type of metaphor that uses the
  words like like, as, or than
• Format X is like Y, X is as pretty as Y, etc
• The flock of birds was as black as a storm cloud
  in the sky
• He was dumber than a ton of bricks

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Hyperbole and Litotes

• Hyperbole is a kind of figurative language that
  utilizes exaggeration
• Saying, He was as tall as a skyscraper to mean
  someone is very tall
• Litotes are a kind of figurative under-statement
• Saying, Shes not a bad kisser to mean shes a
  very good kisser
• Litotes are always expressed by denying the
  opposite of the truth (hes not a bad guitarist,
  New York is not a bad city)

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Part III

• Imagery

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What is imagery?

• Imagery is language that appeals to the five
  senses
• By appeal to the senses, I mean imagery causes
  you to imagine a sight, sound, taste, texture, or
  smell

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Why is imagery important?

• Beauty Imagery can make ordinary description
  beautiful
• Ever notice how certain songs get you pumped up?
  Or certain pictures make you scared? Or certain
  smells bring up fuzzy memories of grandmas
  house?
• Emotional Power Imagery can create strong
  emotions in a reader
• Our five senses are the gateways into our brains.
  By stimulating these senses, the more likely a
  reader will be emotionally affected and remember
  the poems message

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Visual Imagery

• Visual Imagery appeals to our sense of sight
• Though sight is not our strongest sense, it is
  usually the first sense we think about
• The apple-red wagon
• Blackbirds like a cloud of smoke

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Auditory Imagery

• Auditory Imagery appeals to the sense of hearing
• The gunfire was like a firecracker going off in
  a paint can
• The fire crackles, pops, and hisses

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Gustatory Imagery

• Gustatory Imagery appeals to the sense of taste
• Salty sweat
• It was a bittersweet moment for me
• If it helps, think of a disgusting taste to help
  remember this one

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Olfactory

• Olfactory imagery appeals to the sense of smell
• The musty boys locker room
• The smell of cedar smoke

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Tactile Imagery

• Tactile Imagery appeals to the sense of touch
• The rough pavement against his face
• The course fabric

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Part IV

• The Sound of Poetry

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Rhyme

• Rhyme When words share a similar sound
• Can be exact or approximate
• Approximate Rhyme is also known as half rhyme,
  slant rhyme, or false rhyme

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Examples

• Exact Rhyme
• Cat and bat
• Floor and more
• Approximate Rhyme
• Sun and Loon
• Cough and Tough

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Rhythm

• Rhythm is the beat of poetry
• Meter is the measure of this beat, or the pattern
  of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of
  poetry
• Just like songs have different timings, poems
  have different beats and patterns

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What meter is this poem in?

• Most sonnets are written in Iambic Pentameter.
• These two words describe the pattern of stressed
  and unstressed syllables of the poem
• The first word tells us what the pattern is
• The second word tells us how many time the
  pattern repeats itself per line
• Just like musicians understand each other when
  they say, This songs in ¾ timing or Play this
  one in 5/4, poets and scholars understand the
  words above
• Now, you will too

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Syllables
Use a / to represent the syllables that are
emphasized or stressed when speaking. Use a U
to represent the syllables that are not
emphasized
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Iambs

• An IAMB is an unstressed syllable followed by a
  stressed syllable
• Very common in normal speech
• My house Hotel
• Shall I compare thee to a summers day?
• Whose woods these are I think I know

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Trochees

• A Trochee is a stressed syllable followed by an
  unstressed syllable (the opposite of an Iamb)
• Walking
• Double Double, Toil and Trouble
• For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels
  named Lenore

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Anapest

• An anapest is two unstressed syllables, followed
  by a stressed one
• Interrupt
• Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the
  tomb

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Dactyl

• Dactyls are a pattern of one stressed syllable
  followed by two unstressed ones
• Lovingly
• Once when the snow of the year was beginning to
  fall

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Spondaic

• Spondees are two stressed syllables in a row
• Used to really emphasize two words
• Theres no feeling like this Heart break
• Slow spondee stalks slow foot

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Pyrrhic

• Pyrrhic feet contain two syllables, neither of
  which is stressed
• Used to add variety to a line based on another
  meter
• Through caverns measureless to man

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Feet

• The number of feet is the number of times a
  pattern (like the Iamb pattern, the Trochee
  pattern, the Dactyl pattern, etc) is repeated per
  line
• Penta means
• 5
• Iambic Pentameter means the Iamb pattern is
  repeated 5 times

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Putting it all together

• Iambic Pentameter
• Trochaic Dimeter
• Anapestic Tetrameter
• Iambic Trimeter
• Spondaic Hexemeter

• Iambic pattern 5 times
• 2 Trochees in a row
• 4 Anapests
• 3 Iambs
• 6 Spondees

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Other sounds of poetry

• Alliteration The repetition of consonant sounds
  in close proximity
• Tongue twisters offer good examples
• Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
• Assonance The repetition of vowel sounds in
  close proximity
• The innumerable murmur of bees
• Onomatopoeia A word that sounds like the noise
  it describes
• Pow! Bam! Screech! Creaking, rattling, etc

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Part V

• Types of Poetry

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Broadest Categories

• In the broadest sense, all poems can be shuffled
  into one of two categories
• Narrative
• Lyrical

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Narrative Poetry

• Tells a story
• Has characters, a plot, action, etc.
• Examples The Odyssey, The Cat in the Hat, The
  Ballad of Birmingham
• Johnny went to the doctor
• And said, look at my face!
• The doctor said, No!
• And sprayed him with mace.

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Lyrical Poetry

• Discusses thoughts and feelings
• Can get philosophical or deep
• Does not necessarily have characters or events
• Examples Most sonnets, such as Sonnet 18, Ode
  to Thanks, Lady Gaga songs(???)
• Billy Collinss Forgetfulness