Capturing voice in poetry Day 12
Goals Focus Questions Today Students will read poems and use them to understand voice, as writing inspiration and for discussion What makes a poet’s voice intense, unique and memorable?
What good poems/poets do Employ imagery- evoke don’t emote- aka, show, don’t tell. Keep the reins on your rhyme- don’t rhyme for the sake of rhyming; don’t sacrifice meaning for rhyming. Same goes for meter. Pay attention to form- even free verse has a “form”
What good poems/poets do Don’t over do it- use your poetic devices sparingly. Don’t say she was pretty like May and smelled liked flowers and walked like rain. Bare yourself- No, I don’t mean go streaking, I mean be honest. The best poems reflect a bit of you in them, so write what you know Learn the rules and break them- what are the rules of poetry? Idk, but whatever they are, break them. Poetry should be about expression of the self, so do what fits. Lastly, good poems have a strong sense of “voice”
Voice If a poet writes ‘I’ in a poem, to whom are they referring? themselves a fictional or historical character narrator or speaker ‘I’ might change, referring to several different people. object or an idea.
Voice is… The person behind the words that speak out to the audience. imagery, tone, patterns of sound, rhythm, and diction. the powerful words on a page that form a relationship with you and the writer. your personality and resonance flowing in print. the writer's lively, powerful words on the page, speaking to the reader to form a relationship.
A true definition?? Dictionary: the sound produced in a person's larynx and uttered through the mouth, as speech or song. In literature we say: voice is the author's style, the quality that makes his or her writing unique, and which conveys the author's attitude, personality, and character; or Voice is the characteristic speech and thought patterns of the narrator of a work of fiction. Because voice has so much to do with the reader's experience of a work of literature, it is one of the most important elements of a piece of writing.
Voice vs. Identity Identity is all the little things that makes the speaker, the speaker (age, race, gender, etc.) Voice the author's style, the quality that makes his or her writing unique, and which conveys the author's attitude, personality, and character So writers use VOICE to convey IDENTITY
Voice “warm-up” How do you view yourself? How do others view you? How would you like to view yourself? How would you like others to view you?
“Theme for English B” by Langston Hughes Listen to the reading of this poem and annotate while reading. In your table groups, reread the poem at least once out loud. Complete the discussion questions together and summarize your discussion in writing.
Group & Independent Read and annotate a second Langston Hughes poem You will only complete this process twice, but please read all of his poems. Then, as a group, discuss Langston’s Hughes voice in his poems as a whole. On THEME for ENGLISH B, write a sentence summarizing Langston Hughes’ voice
Friday Free Write The instructor said, Go home and write a page tonight. And let that page come out of you-- Then, it will be true. Free write using these lines as inspiration. It doesn’t have to be a poem, but if you want, you can turn it into a poem later!