1. Poetry
Life…with rhythm

2. A Practical Definition of Poetry
Poetry is a collection of words carefully arranged to affect the reader in a certain way.
It does not have to rhyme.
It does not have to follow the rules (of grammar).
It does not have to be about love.
It does not have to make logical sense.

3. Elements of Poetry
Speaker –(or the persona) the voice that communicates with the reader of a poem; can be the voice of a person, and animal, or even a thing ( not necessarily the poet)
Line – a horizontal row of words, which may or may not form a complete sentence
Stanza – a group of lines forming a unit, usually separated by a space

4. The Hardest Part to Get
Rhythm – The pattern of sound created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line
Can be regular or irregular
Meter – a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that sets the overall rhythm of certain poems
Foot – The basic unit in measuring rhythm
Most basic unit contains at least one stressed syllable marked with (´) and one or more unstressed syllables marked with (˘)

5. Types of Meter Monometer; verse written in one-foot lines All things
Must pass
Away.
Dimeter: verse written in tw0-foot lines
Thomas / Jefferson
What do/ you say
Under the/ gravestone
Hidden./ Away?

6. Meter Trimeter- verse written in three-foot lines
I know/ not whom/ I meet
I know/ not where/ I go
Tetrameter- verse written in four-foot lines
Pentameter- verse written in five-foot lines
Hexameter- verse written in six-foot lines
Heptameter- verse written in seven-foot lines
Blank Verse- is poetry written in unrhymed iambic (two syllables; first unaccented, second accented) pentameter.

7. Iambic Pentameter
If mu- / -sic be / the food / of love, / play on / Is this / a dag- / -ger I / see be- / fore me?
-Shakespeare
Unstressed, then stressed
Each pair of syllables is called an iambus. You’ll notice that each iambus is made up of one unstressed and one stressed beat

8. Juxtaposition
synonymous with contrast, placing two objects or texts that oppose one another (side by side) to make a point.

9. Rhyme
Rhyme – the repetition of the same stressed vowel sound and succeeding sounds in two or more words
Internal Rhyme – occurs within lines of poetry
End Rhyme – occurs at the ends of lines
Rhyme Scheme – the pattern of rhyme formed by the end rhyme, may be designated by assigning a different letter of the alphabet to each new rhyme
The glory of the day was in her face, A
The beauty of the night was in her eyes. B
And over all her loveliness, the grace A
Of Morning blushing in the early skies. B

10. Other Sound Devices
Alliteration – the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words
“A drum in the desert, harder and harder to hear”
Consonance – the repetition of consonant sounds within the words or at the ends of words
“harder and harder to hear”
Assonance – the repetition of vowel sounds within non-rhyming words
"Do you like blue?“ (*Note-same sound, not same letter)

11. Devices
Onomatopoeia – the use of a word or phrase that imitates or suggests the sound of what it describes
such as swoosh or clank or bam!
Imagery – descriptive language used to represent objects, feelings, and thoughts.
Often appeals to one or more of the five senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell
Black horses drive a mower
through the weeds,
And there, a field rat, startled,
squealing bleeds - Jean Toomer

12. Figures of Speech
Simile – uses the word like or as to compare two seemingly unlike things
“the poet like an acrobat
climbs on rime” - Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Metaphor – compares two or more different things by stating or implying that one thing is another
“the spring rain/ is a / thread of pearls” – Lady Ise
Personification – involves giving human characteristics to an animal, object, or idea
“Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,/ And often is his gold complexion dimmed”
- William Shakespeare

13. Types of Poetry Imagery Poems Narrative Poetry Dramatic Poetry
Poems that refer to language to paint pictures in the reader's mind
Usually appear to the five senses - sight, smell, touch, sound, and taste
Lyrical Poetry
Highly musical in verse that expresses the feelings of a single speaker
Example - "The Raven"
Narrative Poetry
Poetry that tells a story
Example - "Annabel Lee"
Dramatic Poetry
When one or more characters are speaking in the poetry
Dramatic Monologue- is one character speaking in a poem.

14. Dream'd in a Dream by Walt Whitman
Free Verse
Poetry with no regular meter or rhythm
Versagraph- free verse paragraph
Dream'd in a Dream by Walt Whitman
  I DREAM'D in a dream I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the     whole of the rest of the earth,   I dream'd that was the new city of Friends,   Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust love, it led     the rest,   It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of that city,   And in all their looks and words.

15. Japanese Poetry
Haiku-three-line verse poem. The first and third lines each have five syllables. The second line has seven syllables
Tanka- five-line verse poem. The first and third lines each have five syllables. The second, fourth, and fifth lines each have seven syllables. (an extended Haiku)
Haikus and Tankas are usually about nature.

16. Minute Poem
I Need Someone I need someone to hold me tight Through dark of night, Who won’t go ’way At break of day. Someone whose love will mend the seams Of broken dreams, And give me back The trust I lack. For love, it holds the magic key To set me free, To heal my soul And make me whole.
The Minute Poem is rhyming verse form consisting of 12 lines of 60 syllables written in strict iambic meter. The poem is formatted into 3 stanzas of 8,4,4,4; 8,4,4,4; 8,4,4,4 syllables. The rhyme scheme is as follows: aabb, ccdd, eeff

17. Villanelle
A nineteen-line poem consisting of a very specific rhyming scheme: aba aba aba aba aba abaa.
The first and the third lines in the first stanza are repeated in alternating order throughout the poem, and appear together in the last couplet (last two lines).

18. Villanelle
Runaway Why do they runaway My soul so beautiful, so bright But for some reason I keep them at bay Sometimes I wish they would stay They give up on me without a fight Why do they runaway? Some think I am pretty, I say I'm okay Though this doesn't feel right
What can I do, what can I say? What causes their flight? Why do they runaway? Just when I think I've won their heart, they stray I feel like the farthest planet in the night But for some reason I keep them at bay. What have I done to chase them away? My soul beckons to them like a beacon of light Why do they runaway?

19. Cinquain
A short, usually unrhymed poem consisting of twenty-two syllables distributed as 2, 4, 6, 8, 2, in five lines.
It was developed by the Imagist poet, Adelaide Crapsey.
Line 1: Noun
Line 2: Description of Noun
Line 3: Action
Line 4: Feeling or Effect
Line 5: Synonym of the initial noun.

20. Cinquain
angels kind beyond words they protect and forgive and make feelings of blissfulness cherubim

21. Nonet A Nonet has nine lines.
The first line has nine syllables, the second line eight syllables, the third line seven syllables, etc... until line nine that finishes with one syllable.
It can be on any subject and rhyming is optional.
line syllables
line syllables
line syllables
line syllables
line syllables
line syllables
line syllables
line syllables
line syllable

22. Nonet A Pirate’s Playground the ocean is a pirate's playground
they live their lives upon the sea
battles are fought to the death
the loot is divided
they drink to those lost
set sail again
a pirate's
life for me

23. Limerick
A Limerick is a rhymed humorous or nonsense poem of five lines which originated in Limerick, Ireland.
The Limerick has a set rhyme scheme of : a-a-b-b-a with a syllable structure of:  
This is the most commonly heard first line of a limerick: "There once was a man from ____________."

24. Limerick The Test Pilot A Plane builder needed a pilot,
So Bob told the guy, he would try it.
When Bob took to the air,
Plane parts fell everywhere.
Bob radioed, “where shall I pile it?”

25. Fancy Forms - Sonnets
A Sonnet is a poem with fourteen lines that are almost always written in iambic pentameter-a meter in which the predominant foot, or unit of rhythm, is the iamb—that is, and unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
There are five feet in each line of iambic pentameter.
There are two types of sonnets— Shakespearean (English) and Petrarchan (Italian)
The Shakespearean sonnet contains three groups of four lines, called quatrains.
Typically, the quatrains have a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg – ending in a rhymed couplet.
Modern American Sonnet- 14 lines (free verse)

26. Shakespearean (English)
3 Quatrains (4 line stanza); 1 Rhymed Couplet (2 lines)
Rhyme Scheme: abab cdcd efef gg
Let me not to the marriage of true minds (a) Admit impediments, love is not love (b)* Which alters when it alteration finds, (a) Or bends with the remover to remove. (b)* O no, it is an ever fixed mark (c)** That looks on tempests and is never shaken; (d)*** It is the star to every wand'ring bark, (c) Whose worth's unknown although his height be taken. (d)*** Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks (e)  Within his bending sickle's compass come, (f)*  Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, (e)  But bears it out even to the edge of doom: (f)*       If this be error and upon me proved, (g)*       I never writ, nor no man ever loved. (g)*

27. Petrarchan (Italian) 1 Octave (8 lines); 1 Sestet (6 lines)
Rhyme Scheme: abbaabba cdecde (may vary)
When I consider how my light is spent (a)  Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, (b)  And that one talent which is death to hide, (b)  Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent (a) To serve therewith my Maker, and present (a)  My true account, lest he returning chide; (b)  "Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?" (b)  I fondly ask; but Patience to prevent (a) That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need (c)  Either man's work or his own gifts; who best (d)  Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state (e) Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed (c)  And post o'er land and ocean without rest; (d)  They also serve who only stand and wait." (e)

28. Close Reading Form Rhyme Does the poem rhyme?
Is there a particular rhyme scheme?
Is the scheme consistent throughout? Where does the rhyme change?
Are there particular types of words, or words that are rhymed throughout?
Is there alliteration? What are the alliterated sounds like: for example, fluid or harsh?

29. Close Reading Form cont. Rhythm
Does the poem have an identifiable rhythm?
Does the rhythm change in any particular part of the poem?
Does the rhythm make you read faster, read slower, give a sense of chaos, or panic, or calm, or playfulness?

30. Close Reading
Content
What kinds of words are used? Are they mostly nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, or prepositions?
How do the words relate to one another? What kinds of words are usually the subject of the sentences? What kinds of words are usually the object of the sentence? Do certain words occur only in the presence of other words?
Are there any recurring themes? For example, are there clusters of words about death, light, color, youth, or strength?

31. Close Reading Content cont.
What is the tone of the poem? Is it happy, frightened, sad, penitent, or joyful?
Are there any characters in the poem? Can you identify them and their relationships to one another?
Is the speaker a character in the poem? Does the speaker seem to have a personality, or is he or she more like an objective reporter?
If you can answer most of these questions, you will be able to crack most of the tricks in “difficult” or “modernist” poetry. You will then need to examine the form along with the content, and see what comes together for you.