Notes on the Art of Poetryby Dylan Thomas

I could never have dreamt that there were such goings-onin the world between the covers of books, such sandstorms and ice blasts of words,

such staggering peace, such enormous laughter, such and so many blinding bright lights,

splashing all over the pagesin a million bits and pieces

all of which were words, words, words,and each of which were alive forever

in its own delight and glory and oddity and light.

Poetry

What is a Poem?

A poem is a creation.

A poem is a created thing.

A poem is a work of art.

A poem is an object of inspiration.

A poem is a select group of words

Put together to express

An experience

Or a thought.

A poem is made up

of intense and sensitive feelings

A poem

regardless of its subject matter

is a thing of beauty.

A poem is a composition

designed to convey

a vivid and imaginative scene

or sound

or taste.

A poem is characterized

by the use of condensed language

chosen for its sound

and suggestive power

as well as its meaning.

POETRY

• Concerns real life– But distills that life to its essence

• Kind of language that says more, and says it more intently than ordinary language

• Concentrated form of literature– Makes use of every moment, word, syllable count

A poem is a compact piece of writing that contains one or more of the poetic elements

Poetic Elements

• Speaker– Created by the poet– May or may not be a role– Helps the poet express the emotions or ideas

more clearly– When reader identifies the speaker

• Understands the speaker’s attitude• Understands the poem’s meaning

The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner by Randall Jarrell

From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.

Six miles from earth, loosed from the dream of life,I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.

When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.

Poetic Elements

• Lines/ Stanzas– Not necessarily a sentence– Poets end lines where they choose to– Poets end stanzas where they choose to– Can have an impact on the sound and

meaning of a poem

The Soldier on CrutchesBy Edgar Guest

He came down the stairs on the laughter-filled grillWhere patriots were eating and drinking their fill,

The tap of his crutch on the marble of whiteCaught my ear as I sat all alone there that night.

I turned—and a soldier my eyes fell upon,He had fought for his country, and one leg was gone!

1st Stanza

Poetic Elements

• word-spacing arrangements

– word spacing and punctuation• aid in the recital of the poem

– Changes the visual affect of the poem– Especially important in shape poems

Poetic Elements

Poetic Elements

• Rhythm/Meter– Rhythm

• The pattern of the sound of a poem– Example: Limericks

• Can contribute to the mood of a poem

– Meter• The formal counting of syllabication of the words in

the poem• A regular pattern of unstressed and stressed

syllables in a line or lines• Different patterns have names

Poetic Elements• Rhyme

– NOT REQUIRED– Pattern

• Lots of ways to end the lines• Each sound is giving a letter

– Example abab» He walked» Slowly by.» He talked.» He said “Hi.”

– Different types of rhyme• Exact rhyme – sounds the same

– look and book– cake and make

• Near rhyme/slant rhyme – close but not the same– Chime and shine

• Eye rhyme – looks like they should, but don’t– Tomb, comb, bomb

Poetic Elements

• Sound Devices– Poet makes a conscious decision to create specific sound– Examples

• Alliteration -the same sound appears at the beginning of two or more consecutive words

– Example – tongue twisters -Round and round the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran

• Assonance - the repetition of vowel sounds in non-rhyming words– Example Hear the mellow wedding bells

• Onomatopoeia - a word or a grouping of words that imitates the sound it is describing

– Example –click, buzz, oink, quack, pow, bang

• Refrain – a repeated word, phrase, line or stanza - the chorus

Poetic Elements

• Imagery– Used to create mental pictures with words– images created by using figures of speech

such as similes, metaphors, personification, and assonance.

– Poet’s word choice makes use of vivid• Adjectives• Adverbs• And verb

– Example – next slide

Poetic ElementsOkay, the example is not a poem… but is one of

best the examples of imagery in the English language

It came on great oiled, resilient, striding legs. It towered thirty feet above half of the trees, a great evil god, folding its delicate watchmaker’s claws close to its oily reptilian chest. Each lower leg was a piston, a thousand pounds of white bone, sunk in thick ropes of muscle, sheathed over in a gleam of pebbled skin like the mail of a terrible warrior. Each thigh was a ton of meat, ivory, and steel mesh. And from the great breathing cage of the upper body those two delicate arms dangled out front, arms with hands which might pick up and examine men like toys, while the snake neck coiled. And the head itself, a ton of sculptured stone, lifted easily upon the sky. Its mouth gaped, exposing a fence of teeth like daggers. Its eyes rolled, ostrich eggs, empty of all expression save hunger.

Poetic Elements

• Figures of Speech– A comparison meant to force you to look at some in a new way– Simile

• a comparison between two unlike quantities for which a basis for comparison can be found, and which uses the words "like" or "as"

– clear as frost on the grass-bade – Metaphor

• a comparison is made between two unlike quantities without the use of the words "like" or "as."

– He is a pig– Personification

• A figure of speech in which something nonhuman is given human characteristics. Consider the following lines

– from Carl Sandburg's "Chicago:" » Stormy, husky, brawling,

City of the big shoulders:

Types of Poetry

• Narrative –tells a story– has the same elements as a novel or a short story

• Ballads• Epics

• Lyric – talks about thoughts and feelings

• Dramatic - a play composed in poetic form

Other things to know

• Connotations – the unspoken meanings and emotions that suggests– EXAMPLE:

• Would you rather be:– Skinny– Thin– Wiry– Willowy– slim– Slender– Lanky– scrawny– gaunt– lean

Other things to know

– Songs are nothing more than poems put to music

– Every one in the classroom can be a poet• Okay, not every one will be a good poet

Other things to know

Allusion A reference in one literary work to a character or theme found in another literary work– T. S. Eliot, in "The Love Song of J. Alfred

Prufrock" • alludes (refers) to the biblical figure John the

Baptist in the line Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter, . . .

Other things to know• Irony

– irony of situation,• the result of an action is the reverse of what the actor expected

– Macbeth murders his king hoping that in becoming king he will achieve great happiness. Actually, Macbeth never knows another moment of peace, and finally is beheaded for his murderous act.

– In dramatic irony,• the audience knows something that the characters in the drama do

not– the identity of the murderer in a crime thriller may be known to the

audience long before the mystery is solved.

– In verbal irony,• the contrast is between the literal meaning of what is said and what

is meant. – A character may refer to a plan as brilliant, while actually meaning that

(s) he thinks the plan is foolish. » Sarcasm is a form of verbal irony.

Other things to know

• Mood

The atmosphere or feeling created by a literary work, partly by a description of the objects or by the style of the descriptions

• A work may contain a mood of horror, mystery, holiness, or childlike simplicity, to name a few, depending on the author's treatment of the work.

Still in SaigonBy Dan Daley

That's been ten long years ago and time has gone on by But now and then I catch myself, eyes searching through the

sky All the sounds from long ago will be forever in my head Mingled with the wounded cries and the silence of the dead. 'Cause I'm...

 

Last Stanza

How To Eat a Poemby Eve Merriam

Don't be polite.Bite in.Pick it up with your fingers and lick the juice thatmay run down your chin.It is ready and ripe now, whenever you are. You do not need a knife or fork or spoonor plate or napkin or tablecloth.

For there is no coreor stemor rindor pitor seedor skinto throw away.