Poetry Creative Writing

Background Older poetry utilizes specific forms and framework. Modern poetry tends to navigate more towards free verse, open or blank verse.

Form vs. Free Many young poets enjoy free verse, as there are little or no restrictions in regards to form, mechanics, or conventions. So why even learn about or use the poetry types that have rigid standards?

Why form is important Form provides resistance needed in regards to meter, rhyme, patterns of repeated lines, etc. Most music follows poetic forms: repetition, meter, stanzas What would music look like without form? How would it keep a listener interested?

Why write poetry? Feeling or thought not lost in rambling prose Capture a specific feeling or time Expresses: joy, sorrow, wonder Personal way to cope Finding out what you might not previously known how to say Makes you or others feel something

Definition Creative use of words which, like all art, is intended to stir an emotion in the audience. Poetry generally has some structure that separates it from prose.

Most important Aspect EVERY WORD COUNTS! There is meaning behind every word. There is no room in poetry for rambling. Each word is chosen carefully and important to the entire meaning of the poem.

Line Basic unit of poetry (equivalent to a sentence in prose) Can be grouped into stanzas

Stanza Groups of lines (equivalent to a paragraph in prose) Couplet: two line stanza Triplet: three line stanza Quatrain: four line stanza Cinquain: five line stanza

Meter Set amount of syllables in each line Measured arrangement of words in poetry Rhythmic pattern of a stanza Organized way to arrange stressed/accented syllables and unstressed/unaccented syllables

Meter: Example Whose woods these are I think I know

Rhyme/Rhyme Scheme Ending of words sound the same Scheme: Pattern of rhyming words at the end of each line Often have an A/A pattern, an A/B pattern or A/B, C/D pattern (Not all poetry has a rhyme scheme)

Rhyme/Rhyme Scheme Example: Dust of Snow, Robert Frost The way a crow Shook down on me The dust of snow From a hemlock tree Has given my heart A change of mood And save some part Of a day I rued

Repetition Repeating a sound, word or phrase for emphasis: Inside the house I get ready Inside the car I go to school Inside the school I wait for the bell to ring

Refrain Repetition of one or more phrases or lines at the end of a stanza

Figurative Language Language, beyond literal meaning, that conveys new effects or insights into an idea or subject Most common: – Simile – Metaphor – Allusion

Alliteration Repetition of the same sounds or same kind of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables Silvery snowflakes fall silently Softly sheathing all with moonlight Until sunrise slowly shows Snow softening swiftly

Imagery Descriptions, appealing to the senses (hear, sound, touch, taste, smell) Fog, Carl Sandburg The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on

Onomatopoeia Words or grouping of words that imitate the sound it is describing Examples: oink, meow, boom, click, clang, buzz, bang

Onomatopoeia example Sound of Nature, Marie Josephine Smith Ticking, tocking. Head is rocking. Tippy toeing Quietly. Snap, crack Crushing branch. Helter, skelter. Run for Shelter. Pitter, patter. Rain starts to fall. Gathering momentum. Becomes a roar. Thiun

Types of Poetry AcrosticBalladBalladeBlank verse CinquainDiamanteEpicEcho verse EpigrapHaikuFree verseHoratian Ode Irregular odeKyirelleLyric KenningsLimerickOttava Rima OdePindaric OdeRiddle RengaSenryuShapeParitoum TerzaRondeauTankaShape Shakespearean SonnetRimaTyburn TrioletTetractysTyburnLyric ProsePsalmHymn

Ballad A narrative poem Usually relating one, dramatic event

Blank Verse Unrhymed, usually in iambic pentameter Iambic Pentameter: short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable, Two households, both alike in dignity.

Concrete/Shape Visually takes on shape of theme, main idea or other important aspect of thought

Sonnet Two main types: Italian and Shakespearian A sonnet is a love poem, 14 lines, written in iambic pentameter, takes a turn (after 8 th line in Italian, 12 th line in Shakespearian)

Rhyme Patter of English Sonnet A B A B C D C D E F E F G

Found Take existing texts and refashion them, reorder them, and present them as poems. The literary equivalent of a collage, found poetry is often made from newspaper articles, street signs, graffiti, speeches, letters, or even other poems.

Found Cont. A pure found poem consists exclusively of outside texts: the words of the poem remain as they were found, with few additions or omissions. Decisions of form, such as where to break a line, are left to the poet.

Free Verse Simply put, anything goes in free verse poetry. No definitive meter; rhyme if you want-when you want.

Haiku Traditionally, each poem also contains an image or reference associated with one of the seasons in the year. Three Lines: Syllables per line: 5, 7, 5

Limerick: The history Variants of the form of poetry referred to as Limerick poems can be traced back to the fourteenth century English history. Limericks were used in Nursery Rhymes and other poems for children. But as limericks were short, relatively easy to compose and bawdy or sexual in nature they were often repeated by beggars or the working classes in the British pubs and taverns of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventh centuries. The poets who created these limericks were therefore often drunkards! Limericks were also referred to as dirty.

Limericks: The word The word derives from the Irish town of Limerick. Apparently a pub song or tavern chorus based on the refrain "Will you come up to Limerick?" where, of course, such bawdy songs or 'Limericks' were sung.

Limericks: The form Limericks consist of five lines Lines 1, 2, and 5 of Limericks have seven to ten syllables and rhyme with one another. Lines 3 and 4 of Limericks have five to seven syllables and also rhyme with each other.

Lyric Lyric Poetry consists of a poem, such as a sonnet or an ode, that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet. The term lyric is now commonly referred to as the words to a song. Lyric poetry does not tell a story which portrays characters and actions. The lyric poet addresses the reader directly, portraying his or her own feeling, state of mind, and perceptions.

Ode An ode is typically a lyrical verse written in praise of, or dedicated to someone or something which captures the poet's interest or serves as an inspiration for the ode

Ottava Rima A Ottava Rima is an Italian poetic form consisting of eight iambic lines one octive poem. abababcc two octive poem. abababcc, dededeff three octive poem. abababcc, dededeff, ghghghii...so on and so oniambic lines

Prose Appears like prose (sentence form, conventions) but written like poetry Emphasizes use of figurative language

Tanka The Japanese tanka is a thirty-one-syllable poem, traditionally written in a single unbroken line. A form of waka, Japanese song or verse, tanka translates as "short song”.

Tanka Cont. The Tanka poem is very similar to haiku but Tanka poems have more syllables and it uses simile, metaphor and personification

Terza Rima Terza rima poem that uses three-line stanzas with a chain rhyme in the pattern A-B-A, B-C- B, C-D-C, D-E-D. There is no limit to the number of lines, but poems or sections of poems written in terza rima end with either a single line or couplet repeating the rhyme of the middle line of the final tercet. chain rhyme couplet tercet

Terza Rima Cont. The two possible endings for the example above are d-e-d, e or d-e-d, e-e. There is no set rhythm for terza rima, but in English, iambic pentameter is generally preferred. rhythm English iambic pentameter