Poetry

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Poetry
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A Poem by 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 poems room
• and feel the walls for a light switch.
• I want them to waterski
• across the surface of a poem
• waving at the authors name on the shore.
• But all they want to do
• is tie the poem to a chair with rope

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The Basics

• As a poet, exercise the courage to explore your
  unconventional feelings, (pg 229). It takes
  courage to write and share poetry so it is
  important to keep an open mind during the
  process.
• Poems have as much to do with sound, rhythm and
  overtones as they do with making statements

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Sophisticated vs. Simple poetry

• Do your best to express true feelings,
  reflections and emotions.
• Be honest with yourself and dont be afraid to go
  to a place you have not gone before, or havent
  allowed yourself to go.
• Weve all written the roses are red, violets are
  blue poemlets try on something different here
  and stay away from greeting card poetry.

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Differences between prose and poetry

• Poetry uses the poetic line rather than the
  sentence as the primary unit
• Poetry relies more on images than on abstractions
• Poetry cultivates the sound of words
• Poetry develops rhythms of language
• Poetry creates density by implying more than is
  stated

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Seven Deadly Sins of Poetry

• The impenetrable-haze PoemYes, you have liberty
  to be playful with poetry but you still need to
  have an air of cohesiveness. Random images that
  do not connect will confuse the reader.
• Truth-in-a-nutshell poemA lot of poems attempt
  to define truth, beauty, love or evil. Though
  these abstractions may be interesting places to
  start, they are often cliché. If you want to
  write about such abstractions, you must ground it
  in a specific truth or image (see Stephen Dunns
  poem on page 217 for an example of what I mean).

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Seven Deadly Sins of Poetry

• Oh-Poor-Miserable-Me poemThis is often common
  with new poetry writers and its easy to
  gravitate toward because we may have a lot to
  vent about. While at times self pity can be
  genuine, avoid using it repeatedly in your
  poetry.
• The Marching-band poemRhyme is important to
  poetry and the sound of your words has a great
  impact on your audience, but predicable rhyming
  is better suited to greeting cards, nursery
  rhymes, song lyrics, etc. We want to create
  something new here
• Hark, the antique language poemThis is
  essentially a poem that draws primarily on old
  language (twixt, oft, etc.). Write in the
  context of NOW not THEN.

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Seven Deadly Sins of Poetry

• The Wailing Violin poemThis one is a fine line
  because it tends to go overboard on emotions yet
  we want emotion in our poetry. Too much
  sentimentality can irritate a reader, but just
  the right about of GENUINE emotion will entice
  the reader.
• The All Them poemThis poem incorporates
  sweeping generalizations about all women, all
  men, etc. Be careful not to lump ALL
  individuals into one category.

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How do I begin Writing Poetry?

• Visual impressionsA majority of poetry of all
  types focuses on an image or images. Dont limit
  yourself to visual impressions though, all of
  your senses can provide critical ideas for
  poetry.
• People in your lifelooking at those around you
  and the important people in your life is a great
  place to start when beginning poetry. Look at
  the relationships you have with your friends,
  parents, siblings, grandparents, etc.
  Relationships are never easy and almost always a
  complex dynamic of human interactionso trust me,
  there is plenty to write about!

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How do I begin Writing Poetry?

• Freewrite on a topic, image, or idea you have to
  generate new ideas. Expose all of your thoughts
  on paper in sentence form then go back and pluck
  out ideas or words that move you. This could be
  the start of a poem.
• Explore your journalthis one is my favorite and
  has really helped me to discover interesting
  topics that have long ago been brewing in my
  subconscious. Go back and reread all of your
  journal entriesare there any fires burning?
• If you keep a private journal, consider making a
  list of things you honestly feel but dont tell
  anyone. IF you do so, as Dunn recommends, late
  at night, you may understand how such secrets
  are like a small fire. They burn if you get
  too close, but they may also serve as the
  genesis of new poems, (pg 229).
• Page 234 provides six ways to jump-start a new
  poem, some of which have been included here. Use
  this as you begin exploring poetry.

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Types of Poems we will write

• Haikus
• 3 Stanza object poem
• Free Verse (image poem)
• Poem of your choice if you want a challenge, try
  some of the Stanza poems in Chapter 31 (rhyming
  couplets, triplets, quatrains, rhyme royal,
  sonnet, rondeau, pantoom, villanelle)

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Haiku

• A form of Japanese poetryin English it is
  typically broken down into three lines
• First line has five syllables
• Second line has seven syllables
• Third line has five syllables
• Thus forming a 5,7,5 stanza
• Traditionally the haiku draws on some aspect of
  nature and either states or implies a particular
  season.

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3 Stanza object poem

• Consists of three stanzas or sections
• Each section includes a reference to a specific
  object the author has chosen
• The sections stand alone in story but correlate
  in theme

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Image poem/free verse

• One or multiple images are the focus of the poem
• Often written without meter
• There is no regular rhyme scheme in free verse
• The author is at liberty to play within poetry
  with free versenot tied to a specific set of
  stanzas.

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Stanza poems You could try one of these for your
poem of choice

• Rhyming Couplets two lines that rhymethis could
  turn in to a deadly sin if not careful. It can
  become boring after awhile.
• Triplets A poetic stanza with three lines, often
  rhyming
• Quatrains A poetic stanza with four lines
• Rhyme royal A seven line stanza in iambic
  pentameter
• Sonnet A metered and rhymed poem of 14 lines
  usually in iambic pentameter.
• Rondeau Consists of three stanzasfirst has five
  lines, second four lines and last has six lines.
  
• Pantoum A verse formed in quatrains (stanzas of
  four lines). Lines 2 and 4 in each stanza repeat
  as lines 1 and 3 in the next stanza.
• Villanelle A French verse form of 19 lines in
  iambic pentameter divided into five tercets (same
  as a triplet, stanza with three lines) and a
  final four-line stanza.

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Poetry buzz words

• Stanza In metered poetry a regularly recurring
  group of lines usually separated by spaces and
  unified by line length, metrical system, and
  often by a rhyme scheme.
• Iambic pentameter is a type of meter that is
  used in poetry and drama. It describes a
  particular rhythm that the words establish in
  each line. That rhythm is measured in small
  groups of syllables these small groups of
  syllables are called 'feet'. The word 'iambic'
  describes the type of foot that is used. The word
  'pentameter' indicates that a line has five of
  these 'feet'.
• Image An item that can be perceived by one of
  the five senses. The most common are visual
  details.
• Meter A system of stressed and unstressed
  syllables that creates rhythm in certain types of
  verse.
• Rhyme scheme A recurring pattern of rhymed
  endings repeated regularly in each stanza of a
  poem.

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Now lets look at some examples

• Hakiupg 204
• 3 Stanza poemhandout
• Image poempg 207
• Stanza Choicepg 205

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Reading Poetry

• In small groups, read at least six poems from
  Chapter 26you can choose which ones interest
  you.
• Read following the guidelines on page 199 of
  Three Genres Slow down, give it multiple
  readings, return to puzzling lines or phrases,
  use a pencil and mark it up!
• Next, answer the questions following each poem
  and the following questions What moved you
  about the poem? What images stand out to you and
  why? Please write you answers down and be ready
  to share with the class your discoveries