1. Poetry
It’s a world all its own

2. Answer the Following on a Piece of Paper:
What is poetry? (define it, and what is it to you, specifically?)
What are some positive and negative experiences you have had with poetry? (including ones at school)
Is poetry part of your daily life? How? (think)

3. Poetry is…
A writing form that expresses powerful emotion and/or ideas to make the reader feel or think a certain way
It is concerned with:
The precise (specific) meanings of words
The sounds of words
The overall look of the poem
Often distinct styles and forms, but this does NOT mean poems always rhyme!

4. Poetry can …
Follow a set pattern/form (existing or original) or be free form
Be short or long
Be old or new
Be serious or funny
Seem foreign to us
Slow us down
Be read by everyone
Be written by everyone (yes, that includes you)

5. Reading Poetry—When to Pause
When do you normally pause in a sentence or paragraph?
, ; : ? !!!!!!!!!!!!! = PUNCTUATION
The same thing applies to poetry.
But, what if there is no punctuation at the end of a line?
You don’t pause.
Read poetry like you would a paragraph, pausing only at punctuation without regard to the end of lines.

6. Try Reading This Poem Excerpt:
“I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, From the seas and the streams; I bear light shade for the leaves when laid In their noonday dreams…”

7. How About This one?
“Grey haunted eyes, absent-mindedly glaring From wide, uneven orbits; one brow drooping Somewhat over the eye Because of a missile fragment still inhering, Skin deep, as a foolish record of old-world fighting.”

8. Reading Poetry EXPRESSION IS EVERYTHING! Inflection Emphasis Emotion
Articulation

9. How to read Poetry
First and foremost, just think about what it means to YOU
Consider the sound
The images
The feelings/mood
The parts that stand out to you
The message you’re getting from it

10. Now for some Literary terms

11. Why do poets use poetic devices?
Not to make things more confusing
Helps understanding
Readers relate better
Interesting, engaging, and even entertaining
Adds more emotion
Helps with imagery
But above all, they ALWAYS relate to and enhance the meaning of the poem.
Create moods or attitudes
Emphasis on important parts

12. Metaphor & Simile M—A direct comparison between two different things
S—An indirect comparison using like or as

13. Alliteration
The repetition of initial consonant sounds in words

14. Onomatopoeia
Words that sound like their meanings

15. Personification
Giving animals, ideas, and things human traits

16. Hyperbole
An exaggeration for emphasis or effect

17. Understatement The opposite of hyperbole
A statement in which the author says less than he/she means

18. Summary Simile- comparison with like or as Metaphor- direct comparison
Alliteration- repeated initial consonant sounds
Onomatopoeia- sound words
Personification- human traits to other things
Oxymoron- contradictory phrase
Paradox- contradictory statement
Hyperbole- exaggeration
Understatement- under-exaggeration