SYNTAX And Punctuation

Syntax: How do the poet’s syntactical choices change or expand the ideas in the poem?

enjambment Lines of poetry are broken before a grammatical or logical completion of a thought

End-stopped Lines are broken after the completion of a sentence or other grammatical pause

Verbs Active or passive Tense

Sentence Structure Complete sentences or fragments? Is there a pattern? Within the sentence is the word order natural or grammatically irregular?

Punctuation How is it used or not used? Is it consistent with grammatical conventions? How does it affect speed? Where are the pauses? Does the poet use italics, bold fonts, dashes, or any other uncommon fonts or punctuation devices? If so, why?

very important aspect of syntax Notice how unusual or interesting combinations of punctuation—the dash, the exclamation point, the semicolon or parentheses—contribute to meaning

old age sticks e.e. cummings up Keep Off Signs) & youth yanks them down (old age cries NO Tres) & (pas) youth laughs (sing old age scolds Forbid den Stop Must N’t Don’t &} youth goes Right on growing old

e.e. cummings in time of daffodils(who know the goal of living is to grow) forgetting why,remember how in time of lilacs who proclaim the aim of waking is to dream, remember so(forgetting seem) in time of roses(who amaze our now and here with paradise) forgetting if,remember yes in time of all sweet things beyond whatever mind may comprehend, remember seek(forgetting find) and in a mystery to be (when time from time shall set us free) forgetting me,remember me

A legion of horribles, hundreds in number, half naked or clad in costumes attic or biblical or wardrobed out of a fevered dream with the skins of animals and silk finery and pieces of uniform still tracked with the blood of prior owners, coats of slain dragoons, frogged and braided cavalry jackets . . . and all the horsemen’s faces gaudy and grotesque with daubings like a company of mounted clowns, death hilarious, all howling in a barbarous tongue and riding down upon them like a horde from a hell more horrible yet than the brimstone land of christian reckoning, screeching and yammering and clothed in smoke like those vaporous beings in regions beyond right knowing where the eye wanders and the lip jerks and drools. Blood Meridian Cormac McCarthy

I'm Nobody! Who are you? I'm Nobody! Who are you? Are you--Nobody--Too? Then there's a pair of us? Don't tell! they'd banish us--you know! How dreary--to be--Somebody! How public--like a Frog-- To tell one's name--the livelong June-- To an admiring Bog! -- Emily Dickinson

How a pinecone saved her life Rachel Curzon I am: a shut box-no lid, no lock; a dark knot she can fit between two palms; a sudden gift.

It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of ANNABEL LEE;-- And this maiden she lived with no other thought Than to love and be loved by me. She was a child and I was a child, In this kingdom by the sea, But we loved with a love that was more than love-- I and my Annabel Lee-- With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven Coveted her and me. And this was the reason that, long ago, In this kingdom by the sea, A wind blew out of a cloud by night Chilling my Annabel Lee; So that her high-born kinsman came And bore her away from me, To shut her up in a sepulchre In this kingdom by the sea. The angels, not half so happy in Heaven, Went envying her and me:-- Yes! that was the reason (as all men know, In this kingdom by the sea) That the wind came out of a cloud, chilling And killing my Annabel Lee. But our love it was stronger by far than the love Of those who were older than we-- Of many far wiser than we- And neither the angels in Heaven above, Nor the demons down under the sea, Can ever dissever my soul from the soul Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:-- For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And the stars never rise but I see the bright eyes Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride, In her sepulchre there by the sea-- In her tomb by the side of the sea.

Verbal pattern Repetition Many-many Child-child Me-me Others?

Grammatical patterns Placement of punctuation or repetition of similar grammar units Beginnings-prepositional phrases-”OF …” Others

Syntactical 2 or more sentences have similar verbal and grammatical patterns, lengths or the repetition of the same sentences “In this kingdom by the sea” “A wind blew out of a cloud by night”

Linear Patterns that occur in how the line ends End-paused enjambed

It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of Annabel Lee;-- 2 end-stopped, end paused, end stopped

It was many and Many a year ago in A kingdom by The sea, that a maiden there Lived whom you may Know by the name of ANNABEL LEE;-- Enjambed-except the last-disrupts the linear, forward movement of the poem