Creative Writing

Poetry

Mr. Jeremy Rinkel

Elements of Poetry

• Characterization

• Point of View

• Plot

• Setting

• Theme

Steps in Analyzing Poetry

• First, focus on the speaker.– Who is speaking?– What characterizes the speaker?– To whom is he or she speaking?– What is the speakers tone?– What is the speakers emotional state?– Why is he or she speaking?

Steps in Analyzing Poetry

• First, focus on the speaker…cont.– What situation is being described?– What are the conflicts or tensions in this

situation?– What ideas is the speaker communicating?

Diction

• The poets use of words.

• Examine the words in the poem for all their possible meanings

• How do the meanings combine to create the overall effect

• PAGE 100 William Wordsworth

Tips on Studying Diction

• Circle words you don’t know; look them up• Underline words that seem important;

Explain:– Denotation- dictionary meaning– Connotation- is the subjective, emotional

association that a word has for one person or a group of people

• Explain how choice of words contributes to the speakers tone

Imagery

• Represents the descriptive passages of a poem.

• Sensuous imagery- pleasurable for its own sake, but it also provides concreteness and immediacy

• PAGE 102– John Keats poem (First Stanza)

Figurative Language

• Is the conscious departure from normal or conventional ways of saying things.– Metaphors– Analogy– similes

Similies

• Uses like or as to claim similarities between things that are essentially different

• Shakespeare’s “Fair is My Love” – Page 103

Metaphors

• Claims a similarity between things that are essentially alike, but eliminates the comparative words like and as.

• Example “Love is a Sickness” by Samuel Daniel– Page 103

Analogies

• Is a similarity between things that are basically different.

• Personification- a kind of analogy that gives a word the attributes of a person.

Tips on Studying Descriptive Language

1. Mark descriptive images. Name the sense appealed to.

2. Describe how the images create a sense of time.

3. Explain how the descriptive images help create and atmosphere and mood.

Tips on Studying Figurative Language

• Mark the similies in the poem. (Circle words that signal comparisons

• Mark the metaphors. Explain what they contribute to the poem.

• Poets use analogies to assist the reader in making an abstract words more concrete.

Assignment

• 1) Bring your favorite poem to class with you tomorrow– This will be an “artifact” for your portfolio

project

• 2) Write a poem using similes, metaphors, and analogies– MUST BE at least 12 Lines long

Rhythm

• Meters- recognizable patterns or rhythm in poetry.

• Foot- unit of rhythm in a verse that determines the arrangement of a poem

• Examples: PAGE 108- 109

Tips on Studying Rhythm

• Count the number of syllables per line

• Read poem aloud (draw a vertical line between each foot in the poem)

• Underline where the poet strays away from the metrical pattern

Sound

• Poets use sound to emphasize meaning, action, and emotion.

• Sound devices– Onomatopoeia– Alliteration– Assonance – Consonance – Rhyme

Sound

• Onomatopoeia- the use of words that sound like what they mean (boom, buzz)

• Alliteration- the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words or at the beginning of accented syllables– “Peter Piper picked”

Sound

• Assonance- the repetition of vowel sounds followed by consonant sounds

• Consonance – “half rhyme” the repetition of final consonant sounds that are preceded by different vowel sounds– “the beast climbed fast to the crest

Sound

• Rhyme- the repetition of accented vowels and the sounds that follow. PAGE 113– Masculine rhyme- rhymed sounds have 1

syllable– Feminine rhyme- rhymed sounds have 2 or

more syllables– Internal rhyme- the rhyme sounds are within a

line– End rhyme- the rhymed sounds are at the end

of a line

Tips on Studying Sound

• Underline examples of alliteration, assonance and consonance in the poem

• Circle the rhymed words (what similarities and contrasts do these words show the reader)

• Circle any words that have attractive or meaningful sound qualities

Assignment

• Write a poem using alliteration

• Must be 12-15 lines

• Analyze the poem you brought to class

• DUE MONDAY

Structure

• Rhyme scheme- any pattern of end rhyme

• Stanzas– Usually represents one idea– Usually have the same structure

• The same number of lines• Length of lines• Metrical patters• Rhyme schemes

Structure

• Shakespearean sonnet- rhyme pattern– Abab/cdcd/efef/gg– PAGE 116

• Petrarchan sonnet- rhyme pattern– abbaabba (first 8 lines “the octave”)– cdecde (last 6 lines “sestet”)– PAGE 117

Other Fixed Forms

• Ballad

• Ode

• Heroic couplet

• Rhyme royal stanza

Tips on Studying Structure

• Mark the rhyme scheme

• Divide the poem up (look at the examples on pages 116-117

• Summarize the meaning of each section

• Look at the relationships of the end rhyme

• Look at the imagery presented within the poem

Free Verse

• Very difficult to see or find structural elements

• It avoids metrical patterns and fixed line lengths

• It finds other ways to create rhythm and sound patterns

• PAGE 120 Walt Whitman’s Poem

Free Verse

• Creating rhythm and sound patterns:– Uses sound qualities to create associations

within words– Creates rhythm by repeating phrases that

have the same syntactical structure– Creates rhythms within lines by creating

phrases of equal length– Variance in lines

Tips on Studying Free Verse

• Read the poem aloud

• Underline repeated phrases

• Explain why the lines end when they do

• Explain the relationship between the rhythm and the meaning and purpose

• Note the variation between short and long phrases

Assignment

• Write a poem using rhyme– Must be at least 12 lines– You may use any type of rhyme (internal, end,

etc)

• Begin work on your portfolio

• Vocabulary Quiz tomorrow

Symbolism

• Highly suggestive in a few words

• Symbol- physical object that represents an abstract idea or ideas

• Most powerful symbols do not specify the ideas they represent

• Examples:– Psalms 23– The Sick Rose by William Blake

Tips for Studying Symbolism

• Be alert for symbols

• Circle the symbols in the poem

• List the meanings for each symbol

• Explain how each symbol contributes to the overall meaning of the poem

Assignment

• Write a poem using free verse– Must be at least 15 lines

• Bring everything you need to work on your portfolio; we will be going to the lab to work on them.