1. Poetry Unit 4 Part 1

2. What is a poem? A poem is a piece of writing that uses a pattern of lines and sounds to express ideas, emotions, and personal thoughts. The writer of the poem is called a poet.

3. A poem can: tell a story make you visualize rhyme have rhythm have words that are symbols

4. Tell a story FIFTEEN South of the Bridge on Seventeenth I found back of the willows one summer day a motorcycle with engine running as it lay on its side, ticking over slowly in the high grass. I was fifteen. I admired all that pulsing gleam, the shiny flanks, the demure headlights fringed where it lay; I led it gently to the road and stood with that companion, ready and friendly. I was fifteen. (two stanzas from a poem by William Stafford)

5. Visualize Make you visualize (picture in your mind) the characters, events, and places written about. Think about: – What do you see as you read the first stanza? – How does the poet feel?

6. Dust of Snow by Robert Frost The way a crow Shook down on me The dust of snow From a hemlock tree Has given my heart A change in mood And saved some part Of a day I rued* *rued: felt sad about

7. Rhyme and Rhythm A poem can rhyme. Words that rhyme end with the same sound. – Example: crow and snow me and tree A poem can have rhythm, a regular repeated pattern of sounds; a distinct beat to a line. – Example: One, two, Buckle my shoe. Three, four, Shut the door.

8. Symbols Words in a poem can be symbols, which are words that represent themselves and at the same time have a larger meaning. – Example: white is a color and also a symbol of purity or innocence What is the symbol that grass represents in the poem “Grass”?