Structure, Sound, and Sense

“…as universal as language and almost as ancient”. …educated, intelligent, and sensitive …something we are better off for having… …provisional understanding; more successful at appreciating poetry than defining it! To understand fully, we need to understand what poetry “says”. (b/c language has different uses)

The most common use of language is to communicate information. Practical Use = conveying the everyday/ ordinary business of living. Poems(and other genres) usually aren’t meant for this… they are written more for the experience. Experience = to bring a sense of perception – to widen and sharpen our contacts with existence.

Often employed by poets to create significant experiences for readers (focused and formed). Literary Use = using lit. as a gear for stepping up the intensity and increasing the range of our experience; having lit. not only as an aid to living but a means of living.

Poems can, simultaneously, serve multiple functions (practical, literary, persuasion). When read well, poetry allows readers to feel an experience rather than just aquire information. Analyze vs. Synthesize Experiencing Literature Broadening and Deepening

Avoid limiting your experience with a poem by focusing on these points: 1) Always looking for a lesson or moral instruction 2) Find poetry as always beautiful Focus on the Experience! 1) Involve the whole person – not seeking to simply gain understanding and meaning. 2) Involve your intelligence but also your senses, emotions, and imagination.

…the difference is one of degree. Poetry is… 1) condensed and concentrated 2) individual lines that have higher voltage than most language 3) a language that gives off both light and heat 4) ONLY what the reader brings to it.

Poetry requires you to answer two critical questions: “What” and “How”. 1) What is the message or content the poem communicates? 2) How does the poet use language resources to communicate this content?

To understand form and purpose 1) Form – the fact that poets make conscious choices about structure in order to communicate a particular meaning. Recognition of the relationship of genre forms, effects, and purposes. Poets often use other, less structural devices and techniques depending on the genre, effort or purpose of a poem. Ballads _ Narrative Poems _ Dramatic Monologues Lyric_ Sonnet

The reader must always know: 1) who is speaking 2) the attitude of the speaker toward the subject 3) the point of view of view the speaker wishes to convey 4) the mood (or atmosphere) that dominates Poets usually do not speak to us directly (denotative language). 1) They describe one thing but was used to notice another 2) See the less obvious in the obvious 3)Find the fun in poetry as well

Denotation & Connotation Attitude & Tone Imagery Diction Figurative Language Metaphor, Personification, Metonymy, Symbol, Allegory Paradox, Irony, Hyperbole, Understatement Allusion Theme Pattern, Structure, and Sound