1. OVERVIEW: THE MUSIC AND FORMS OF POETRY

2.  NO UNIVERSALLY AGREED UPON DEFINITION AS TO WHAT A POEM IS, BUT ONE ESSENTIAL FACT IS THAT POETRY BEGAN AS SONG.

3.  WHAT MOST DISTINGUISHES POETRY FROM PROSE ARE ITS MUSICAL QUALITIES: I.E., ITS RHYTHM, SOUND, & STRUCTURAL PATTERNS.

4.  LANGUAGE CONSISTS OF A SEQUENCE OF SOUNDS (VOWELS & CONSONANTS) ORGANIZED INTO SYLLABLES OF VARYING EMPHASIS (OR “STRESS”).

5.  IF A POEM’S RHYTHM IS ORGANIZED INTO A RECURRING PATTERN, THIS IS CALLED METER.

6.  PROCESS OF ANALYZING A POEM’S METER (I.E., OF DETERMINING THE PATTERN OF STRESSED & UNSTRESSED SYLLABLES PER LINE) IS CALLED SCANSION.

7.  OF THE FOUR METRICAL SYSTEMS IN ENGLISH POETRY, THE MOST COMMON BY FAR IS ACCENTUAL-SYLLABIC METER.

8.  IN THIS METRICAL SYSTEM THE BASIC RHYTHMIC UNIT IS CALLED A FOOT (A COMBINATION OF 2 OR 3 STRESSED AND/OR UNSTRESSED SYLLABLES).

9.  THE FOUR MOST COMMON FEET IN ENGLISH POETRY: ◦ IAMB (adj. IAMBIC)  unstressed-stressed (UPON, AWARE) ◦ TROCHEE (adj. TROCHAIC)  stressed-unstressed (POEM, DELHI)

10.  FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO THE RISE OF FREE VERSE IN THE 20 TH CENTURY, IAMBIC METER WAS THE MOST COMMON IN ENGLISH POETRY, CONSIDERED BY MANY TO BE THE METER CLOSEST TO EVERYDAY SPEECH.

11.  NUMBER OF FEET PER LINE: ◦ 1--MONOMETER ◦ 2--DIMETER ◦ 3--TRIMETER ◦ 4--TETRAMETER ◦ 5--PENTAMETER ◦ 6--HEXAMETER ◦ 7--HEPTAMETER

12.  MOST COMMON METRICAL LINE (OR BASE RHYTHM) IN ENGLISH POETRY IS IAMBIC PENTAMETER.

13.  TOO REGULAR OR OBVIOUS A METER CAN BECOME BORING, SO POETS OFTEN INTRODUCE VARIATIONS INTO THE BASE RHYTHM OF A POEM.

14.  MORE THAN ANY OTHER ELEMENT, RHYME IS WHAT MOST PEOPLE ASSOCIATE WITH POETRY.

15. RHYME IS THE CORRESPONDENCE, IN TWO OR MORE WORDS, BETWEEN A VOWEL SOUND AND ANY SUBSEQUENT SOUNDS

16.  1. Poetry has its roots in________?  2. Define ‘prose’ How is prose different from poetry? (3 things)  3. What three things make up ‘language’?  4. What is ‘meter’?  5. ‘Foot’ relates to: a) meter b) scansion C) ACCENTUAL- SYLLABIC METER D) All of these  6. Iambic pentameter is made up of ____ a) 1 b) 5 c) 3 d) 6 groups of stressed/unstressed syllables.  7. Rhyme is the _____________in 2 or more words, between a _________ sound and any subsequent ________.

17.  Focus is on: ◦ The collection of words put together (intentional) ◦ Words chosen are ‘highly charged with meaning’  Creates: ◦ Emotion in the reader ◦ Full of imagery ◦ Gets the reader to ‘relate’  Meant to be read ALOUD