1. The Poetry Collection A word is dead When it is said, Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.
Emily Dickinson
The Poetry Collection

2. Our Objectives What is it we want to accomplish with this unit?
∆ Identify literary elements used in poetry with special emphasis on imagery.
∆ Identify and analyze literary elements used in poems with special emphasis on figures of speech.
∆ Respond to poetry using a variety of techniques.
What is it we want to accomplish with this unit?
Identify literary elements used in poetry with special emphasis on imagery.
Identify and analyze literary elements used in poems with special emphasis on figures of speech.
Respond to poetry using a variety of teqniques.

3. Essay Assignment
Within an essay, compare and contrast two poems that we will be covering in this unit.
Choose any two poems that are alike in one important way.
Take notes over the information that is presented.
The poems that you compare or contrast may have similar subjects or themes or similar figures of speech.
Your essay will focus on how each poem uses one or more features.

4. Features that are shared
Analysis
Features that are shared
Differences in Poem #1
Differences in Poem #2
Analysis is the thinking skill that breaks a whole into its parts and examines each part separately. One way to do this is by a Venn Diagram such as this one to help you focus on all the ways the poems you have selected are different and the important features that they share.
One easy way to determine what poems have in common is to begin with a theme. Write down each title of the poem we discuss with this presentation. Then, write down the themes you come across in each poem. Begin looking for your simularities.

5. Writing
Are the two selections alike or different? In what ways? Write a summary of what you have discovered. More than likely, this will be a part of your thesis statement.
Like all essays, a comparison/contrast essay has three basic parts:
Introduction
Body
Conclusion
Like all essays, a comparison/contrast essay has three basic parts:
The Introduction – captures the readers attention, identifies the two works by the title and author and provides background information. The thesis statement usually appears in the first paragraph.
The Body discusses at least two features by using specific details, facts, examples, and quotations to support your statements in the introduction. You must supply solid examples from the text to prove your main points by citing details from the poem to support your point.
Your Conclusion summarizes the essays main ideas.

6. Reading Poetry – page 489
Look for punctuation in the poem telling you where sentences end and begin.
If a passage of a poem is difficult to understand, look for the subject.
Be alert for figurative language.
Read the poem out loud.
After you have read the poem, read it again.
Look for punctuation in the poem telling you where sentences end and begin.
Most poems are written in full sentences.
If a passage of a poem is difficult to understand, look for the subject.
Be alert for figurative language
Try to see what the poet is describing.
Read the poem out loud.
Poets are not likely to work in silence. The sound of a poem is very important.
After you have read the poem, read it again.

7. A Narrow Fellow in the Grass page 490
Identify the subject.
Identify the figurative language.
Read the poem out loud.
Interpretation?
Identify the subject.
His notice is unexpected – both the reader and the ‘object’ are unexpected and are startled to see each other.
Identify the figurative language. How does this comparison help the reader imagine the ‘narrow fellow’s” movement?
He compares the path made in the grass to hair parted by a comb. Although readers may be unfamiliar with a snakes movement, they can easily visualize a comb parting hair.
Read the poem out loud.
Interpretation? The speaker describes his reaction to a snake as “zero to the bone” – what do you think he means?
Zero is the point between positive and negative and the speakers feelings are both positive and negative. Cordiality refers to friendly feeling while ‘tighter breathing’ indicates fear.

8. Walt Whitman
A noiseless patient spider, I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated, Mark'd how to explore the vacant, vast surrounding, It launched forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself. Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them. And you O my soul where you stand, Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space, Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them. Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold, Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.
At the age of twelve, Whitman began to learn the printer's trade, and fell in love with the written word. Largely self-taught, he read voraciously, becoming acquainted with the works of Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, and the Bible.
1892: Whitman died at the age of 72 in Camden, New Jersey
Whitman believed that everything around him was a miracle as one can read within his poetry. He created miracles with words. Visual artists often feel the same way and they try to capture the wonder of everyday objects and events in their work. Themes that are reoccurring throughout Whitman’s poetry is that people should delight in their thoughts and spirit. po
From the beginning, Whitman expected his poetry to be carried like a message into the future. His feelings about his own personal poems are revealed by his belief that they were important enough to publish at his own expense.

9. Elements of Literature
Setting the scene can be internal, external or both.
How does imagery in poetry evoke feelings and create sensory impressions?
An image is a single word or phrase that appeals to one of our senses.
Setting the scene can be internal, external or both. Images are used to set the scene of a poem. A scene can be an external physical setting – a hillside, a city, a pond. A scene can also be internal – it can take place inside the speaker’s mind.
How does imagery in poetry evoke feelings and create sensory impressions?
Think of an image as a picture or a sculpture, something concrete and representational within a work of art. Literal images appeal to our sense of realistic perception, like a nineteenth-century landscape painting that looks "just like a photograph." There are also figurative images that appeal to our imagination, like a twentieth-century modernist portrait that looks only vaguely like a person but that implies a certain mood. An image is seen merely as a representation of an object in the world.

10. When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer page 496
What words or phrases are repeated in lines 1 -4?
How does the repetition help the reader understand the speakers mood?
In this poem, how many scenes do you see?
What words or phrases are repeated in lines 1 -4?
The repetition includes the use of “when I” to begin each line, the phrase “heard the astronomer” and the words “lectured” and lecture” The image of numbers and charts is also repeated.
How does the repetition help the reader understand the speakers mood?
The repetition creates a monotone rhythm, echoing the boredom felt by the speaker; readers can almost hear the astronomer drone on and on.

11. Carl Sandburg page 503
Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance. -Carl Sandburg
Officially ending his public school education after eighth grade, Sandburg worked in his hometown shining shoes, delivering milk and newspapers, and performing other odd jobs. His thirst for travel and adventure, supported by a railroad pass borrowed from his father, led in 1896 to his first significant journey, a trip to Chicago, the city he later covered as a reporter and celebrated as a poet. In 1897 Sandburg became one of thousands of American hoboes stowing away atop and inside railroad boxcars, working their way west by train through Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado in search of jobs.
In his first volume of poetry it articulated his lifelong themes. From the beginning, Sandburg the poet gave a powerful voice to the "people--the mob--the crowd--the mass" (p. 172). He championed the cause of "the Poor, millions of the Poor, patient and toiling; more patient than crags, tides, and stars; innumerable, patient as the darkness of night" (p. 6). He was quickly established as the poet of the American people, pleading their cause; reciting their songs, stories, and proverbs; celebrating their spirit and their vernacular; and commemorating the watershed experiences of their shared national life.
In this next poem that we will be taking a look at, remember I mentioned earlier that Sandburg worked as a reporter? This experience influenced Sandburg’s poetry. On the day he wrote ‘Fog” he had an appointment to interview a juvenile court judge. A he walked to his appointment, Sandburg watched the fog settle over the Chicago harbor. While he was waiting to talk to the judge, Sandburg took out a pencil and wrote on a piece of newsprint ‘fog.’

12. Fog page 503
The fog comes On little cat feet. It sits looking Over harbor and city On silent haunches And then moves on.
Do you think the comparison of fog to a cat makes sense? Why or why not?
Yes, both fog and cats move silently and seem mysterious and elusive. If no – if the fog more dangerous than a cat?
What details extend the image of the cat in the last four lines?
Like a cat, the fog sits and looks; it rests on silent haunches.
Interpretation?
poem is referring to the difficult situations that we as humans cannot see through, like we cannot see through 'fog'. These situations, sometimes sneak up on us like 'little cat feet'. The situation hangs over our heads, 'it sits looking'. But, eventually, 'moves on'.

13. Foggy Weather
Sandburg’s poem “Fog” appeals to our sense of motion by comparing the movement of fog to the movement of a cat.
This is called extended image.

14. E.E. Cummings
in Just- spring        when the world is mud- luscious the little lame balloonman whistles        far       and wee
and eddieandbill come running from marbles and piracies and it's spring
when the world is puddle-wonderful
the queer old balloonman whistles far       and       wee and bettyandisbel come dancing
from hop-scotch and jump-rope and it's spring and       the
           goat-footed                                           
balloonMan      whistles far and wee   
Despite Cummings' close relationship with avant-garde or daring styles, much of his work is quite traditional. Many of his poems are sonnets, often with a modern twist, and he occasionally made use of acrostics form of writing. (a series of lines or verses in which the first, last, or other particular letters when taken in order spell out a word, phrase, etc.) Cummings' poetry often deals with themes of love and nature, as well as the relationship of the individual to the masses and to the world. His poems are also often rife with satire.
While his poetic forms and themes share an with the romantic tradition, Cummings' work shows a particular form of syntax, or way of arranging individual words into larger phrases and sentences. Many of his most striking poems do not involve any typographical or punctuation innovations at all, but purely syntactic ones
Cummings also liked to incorporate imagery of nature and death into much of his poetry. Some of Cummings' most famous poems do not involve much, if any, punctuation, but still carry his unmistakable style, particularly in unusual and impressionistic word order. In other words, ee cummings poems do not act in accordance with the conventional rules that generate typical English sentences.

15. in Just page 505
A cliché is an overused, worn-out expression or phrase.
Poets want to find fresh images that help us see the world in an unusual or original way.
Notice how Cummings combines words to make brand new images of spring time. “Mud-luscious” and puddle-wonderful” are refreshed images. They make us remember how much fun it was to play in the mud and splash in puddles when we were kids.

16. in Just
Cummings uses spacing, word position, and repetition to give this poem a very musical quality. He also chooses his words with great care. What does the word Just mean?
What do the images ‘mud-luscious’ and ‘puddle- wonderful make you think of?
Cummings uses spacing, word position, and repetition to give this poem a very musical quality. He also chooses his words with great care. What does the word Just mean?
Just means ‘barley’ since the poem takes place in early spring. Just means ‘only’ in the sense that it is only at this time of year, after being cooped up all winter long, that the children are so happy and excited to be outside. The capitalization emphasizes the period of time in which the poem takes place.
What do the images ‘mud-luscious’ and ‘puddle-wonderful make you think of? They conjure early spring when it rains a lot and the ground is moist and full of new life; they remind readers of the childhood joy of jumping in mud puddles.

17. Figurative Language
Figures of speech are words or phrases that describe one thing in terms of another different thing.
In a simile, the writer compares two unlike things using a word such as like or as.
In personification, the writer speaks of something nonhuman as if it has human qualities.
Life dealt him a heavy blow.

18. Figurative Language
A tool authors use to help the reader visualize or see what is happening in a story or poem.
In everyday language, we describe things by comparing them with other things. Examples of similes:
She was as brave as a lion.
His face felt like sandpaper.
She addressed the class like a sergeant-major.
These comparisons are straightforward and sometimes called open comparisons. The words ‘as’ or ‘like’ tell us comparisons are being made. The technical name for these comparisons is similes. People use similes when they compare themselves to animals such as ‘strong as an ox’ or ‘mad as a bull’ These are common similes where humans compare their attributes, qualities, and feelings to those of animals.

19. Pop Quiz Similes or Metaphors? Love is a red, red rose.
Joe is a walking encyclopedia.
Chris looks as white as a sheet.
Keisha has a mind like a razor.
Angela blossoms in the spring.
Mitch can be as cold as ice.
Love is a red, red rose. m
Joe is a walking encyclopedia. m
Chris looks as white as a sheet. s
Keisha has a mind like a razor. s
Angela blossoms in the spring. m
Mitch can be as cold as ice. s

20. Personification
In personification, the non-human is identified with the human or given human characteristics.
Life dealt him a heavy blow

21. Pop Quiz Complete the following sentence:
You should have the subject of each sentence do something that a human would do.
Mike’s truck ________________.
Fear wrapped its ________________.
Jealousy _____________.
The moon ________________.
The wind ______________.
Mike’s truck ________________. (sputtered, coughed, and finally died.)
Fear wrapped its ________________. (cloak, around her shoulders)
Jealousy _____________. (reared its ugly head)
The moon ________________. (smiled down on the newlyweds)
The wind ______________. (raced through the forest)

22. Making Meanings
All of these poems contain images of moments and miracles in nature. What image in Fog and in Just did you find most striking?
Why do you think Sandburg thought the fog was like a cat? What other cat actions could fit in Fog?
E.E. Cummings is famous for his unusual pronunciation and arrangements of words. Why do you think Cummings made single words out of the names Eddie and Bill, Betty and Isbel?
All of these poems contain images of moments and miracles in nature. What image in Fog and in Just did you find most striking?
Why do you think Sandburg thought the fog was like a cat? What other cat actions could fit in Fog?
E.E. Cummings is famous for his unusual pronunciation and arrangements of words. Why do you think Cummings made single words out of the names Eddie and Bill, Betty and Isbel?

23. Imagine: Writing Focus
The experience of reading a poem can be like taking a trip through time and space.
Think about how poets use their own imagination to stir the imagination of the reader.
The experience of reading a poem can be like taking a trip through time and space. A poem is a vehicle, created from words, that transports readers away from present day reality and into a world of imagination.
Think about how poets use their own imagination to stir the imagination of the reader. The word imagine is related to the word image and suggests the ability to form a mental picture.

24. I Never Saw a Moor
I never saw a moor,  I never saw the sea;  Yet know I how the heather looks,  And what a billow must be.
I never spoke with God,  Nor visited in heaven;  Yet certain am I of the spot  As if the chart were given.
Both moors and heather are characteristics features of the British Isles. A moor – open , rolling land sometimes a tract of wasteland.
Heather = shrubbery type of evergreen plant with small pinkish flowers.
Billow = a large wave
Emily Dickinson declares that even though she has seen either a moor or the sea, she can imagine what they look like. Knowledge is not necessarily based on experience, imagination gives people certainty they would not otherwise p
possess.
In her poem �I Never Saw a Moor� Dickinson uses a comparison to explain her religious beliefs. She says in the first two lines of the poem that she has never seen a moor, and she has never seen the sea. In the following two lines she says that she knows that both exists, and she knows �how the heather looks,/ And what a wave must be.� This first stanza essentially states that �just because you have never seen a thing does not mean it does not exist.� Having laid that foundation, Dickinson goes on to say in her second stanza that she has never spoken with God and that she has never seen heaven.
People who have never seen the ocean are willing to assume that waves exist and believe that they know what waves look like. Therefore, it is logical that Dickinson should not only reasonable believe in God and heaven, but it is also reasonable for her to believe that she knows what the voice of God sounds like and what heaven looks like. She is able to believe in heaven in a manner as concrete as those who have never seen the sea are able to believe in waves.

25. Reading Dickinson Out Loud
(begin 2:35)

26. Check for understanding
Yes or No
My understanding of a poem improves with several readings.
I find that I understand a poem better if I analyze its use of figurative language.
I appreciate a poem more if I pause to visualize the imagery.
It is helpful to hear other people read a poem aloud.

27. Making Connections Read Beware: Do Not Read This Poem page 531
Read Eyeglasses for the Mind page 532
How does Steven King’s interview relate to Beware: Do Not Read This Poem?
What figurative phrases does King use to personify the door?
How does King make ‘eyeglasses for the mind’?
In both King and Reed’s writing, they have elements of a thriller. Music is often used to prepare viewers in movies for what they are about to see.
Read Beware: Do Not Read This Poem page 531
Read Eyeglasses for the Mind page 532 – in this story, Steven King relates a incident about an automatic door that was malfunctioning and tells how this incident gave him an idea for a story. He concludes that what sets writers and artists apart from other people is that they can retain a childlike perspective.
How does Steven King’s interview relate to Beware: Do Not Read This Poem? Kings description of a writer as someone who is imaginative and who looks at things from a different perspective readily applies to the author of Beware: Do Not Read This Poem – who is able to imagine a poem as a dangerous monster.
What figurative phrases does King use to personify the door? He says that the door ‘ was almost pitching a fit’ and that it had the ‘hiccups.’
How does King make ‘eyeglasses for the mind’? Glasses help people see things more clearly; they restore lost vision. King helps people look at things from a different perspective – he helps people regain the use of their imaginations.
In both King and Reed’s writing, they have elements of a thriller. Music is often used to prepare viewers in movies for what they are about to see.
jaws theme

28. Robert Frost
Fire and Ice Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I've tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.
It discusses the end of the world, likening the elemental force of fire with the emotion of desire, and ice with hate.

29. Fire and Ice page 541
With what emotion does the speaker indirectly compare fire? Ice?
What does the speaker suggest by saying the world may end in either fire or ice?
What does the effect of the word ‘suffice’ at the end of the poem?
With what emotion does the speaker indirectly compare fire? Desire Ice? hatred
What does the speaker suggest by saying the world may end in either fire or ice? Fire and ice are implied metaphors for destructive emotions and represent ways humans may destroy the earth.
What does the effect of the word ‘suffice’ at the end of the poem? This word sounds like the word suffer – reinforcing the power of hate.
As our book explains on page 540, Frost doesn’t give us any answers in his poem Fire and Ice. But it does make us think about how little we really know about the forces that shape the world.

30. Alice Walker’s Women page 556
They were women then My mama's generation Husky of voice--stout of Step With fists as well as Hands How they battered down Doors And ironed Starched white Shirts How they led Armies Headragged generals Across mined Fields Booby-trapped Ditches To discover books Desks A place for us How they knew what we Must know Without knowing a page Of it Themselves.
Alice Walker's early poems, novels and short stories dealt with themes familiar to readers of her later works: rape, violence, isolation, troubled relationships, multi-generational perspectives, sexism and racism. Her works are known for their portrayals of the African American woman's life. She depicts vividly the sexism, racism and poverty that make that life often a struggle. But she also portrays as part of that life, the strengths of family, community, self-worth, and spirituality.
Who are the people referred to as in ‘we’? – the women’s children, future generations
Women celebrates the courageous love of mothers who struggle to gain a better life for their children. The poem indirectly compares the mother’s struggle for their children’s education with a military operation – a battle is suggested by such images as headragged generals and boobie trapped ditches.

31. Conflict page 570
External conflict is where a character struggles against some outside force
Internal conflict is a struggle between opposing needs or desires or emotions with a single person.