1. What is poetry? Poetry is a form of art that uses words to express thoughts and feelings. It has been around for thousands of years and can be found in just about every culture on earth. It differs from "normal writing" (called prose) in several ways. Poems: look different sound different often use figurative language

2. A little bit about poems... 1. Poems Look Different: Prose (“normal writing”) is written in the form of sentences and paragraphs, using correct grammar and punctuation. Poems, on the other hand, are usually written in lines and stanzas (groups of lines). They may or may not have punctuation and sometimes regular grammar and/or spelling rules are ignored. Two lines are called a couplet and a stanza with four lines is called a quatrain.

3. 2. Poems Sound Different: The two main features which make a poem sound different than prose are rhyme and rhythm. A rhyme is when two words sound the same (e.g. - cat, hat, fat, rat, etc.). [ Read "Trees" by Joyce Kilmer ]Trees We can use letters to indicate the rhyming scheme of a poem. The rhyming scheme of "Trees" is: AA BB CC DD EE FF. Let's look at some other common rhyming schemes: "The Tyger" by William Blake - AABB CCDD EEFF etc. "You'll love me yet and I can tarry" by Robert Browning - ABAB CDCD EFEFThe TygerYou'll love me yet and I can tarry Activity: Read the following poems with a partner and see if you can figure out the rhyming scheme: "My Shadow" by Robert Louis StevensonMy Shadow "Trees" by Joyce Kilmer I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the sweet earth's flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in summer wear A nest of robins in her hair; Upon whose bosom snow has lain; Who intimately lives with rain. Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree. "The Tyger" by William Blake Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry? In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand dare sieze the fire? And what shoulder, and what art. Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? and what dread feet? What the hammer? what the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp Dare its deadly terrors clasp? When the stars threw down their spears, And watered heaven with their tears, Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee? Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? "You'll love me yet and I can tarry" by Robert Browning You'll love me yet and I can tarry Your love's protracted growing: June reared that bunch of flowers you carry From seeds of April's sowing. I plant a heartful now: some seed At least is sure to strike, And yield what you'll not pluck indeed, Not love, but, may be, like! You'll look at least on love's remains, A grave's one violet: Your look? that pays a thousand pains. What's death? You'll love me yet! "My Shadow" by Robert Louis Stevenson I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, And what can be the use of him is more than I can see. He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head; And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed. The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow -- Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow; For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball, And he sometimes goes so little that there's none of him at all. He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play, And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way. He stays so close behind me, he's a coward you can see; I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me! One morning, very early, before the sun was up, I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup; But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head, Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

4. 3. Poems often use figurative language Ideas can be expressed either literally or figuratively. The literal meaning refers to the most basic meaning, based on an exact meaning of the words. The figurative meaning refers to a deeper meaning which is quite different from the exact meaning of the words. For example, if a boy tells a girl, "You are making my heart bleed", does he actually mean that she is causing blood to flow from his heart organ (the literal meaning) or does he simply mean that she is making him feel so sad (the figurative meaning)? [ Read and discuss "Dream Deferred" by Langston Hughes ]Dream Deferred Two common ways of using figurative language are similes and metaphors. A simile is a comparison using the words "like" or "as" (as in the poem we just read) whereas a metaphor is when one thing is directly compared to another. [ Read and discuss "A Red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns for examples of simile and "Sonnet No. 18" by William Shakespeare for examples of metaphors. ]A Red, Red RoseSonnet No. 18 Personification is when living traits are given to a non-living thing (e.g. - the moon smiled). [ Read "Fog" by Carl Sandburg ] The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on. Activity: Divide the class into groups of 3 and assign each group a poem from the list. Give them a few days to practice it together, providing individual assistance as necessary. On the final day, hold a poetry recital as a school. Tips for reciting poetry:list Read slowly and loud enough for others to hear (without shouting) Pause at punctuation marks, not at the end of each line Check the pronunciation of difficult words "Dream Deferred" by Langston Hughes What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up Like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore -- And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over -- like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode? "A Red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns O, my love is like a red, red rose, That is newly sprung in June. O, my love is like the melody, That is sweetly played in tune. As fair are you, my lovely lass, So deep in love am I, And I will love you still, my Dear, Till all the seas go dry. Till all the seas go dry, my Dear, And the rocks melt with the sun! O I will love you still, my Dear, While the sands of life shall run. And fare you well, my only Love, And fare you well a while! And I will come again, my Love, Although it were ten thousand mile! "Sonnet No. 18" by William Shakespeare Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And Summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And oft' is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd: But thy eternal Summer shall not fade Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou growest: So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

5. This face in the mirror stares at me demanding Who are you? What will you become? And taunting, You don't even know. Chastened, I cringe and agree and then because I'm still young, I stick out my tongue. ~Eve Merriam, "Conversation with Myself", 1964 Write responses to the following, and then discuss with the whole class: 1. Write a one-sentence summary of the poem. 2. How old is the speaker? 3. Why are certain words written in italics? 4. Define taunting, cringe, and chastened. 5. Why would the speaker be chastened, then cringe and agree? 6. What are the problems facing the narrator? How are these common problems? 7. What is the speaker’s final response? What is the significance of this act? 8. What is the poet telling her readers about life? Read the following poem. Write answers to the questions on a sheet of paper. Prepare to discuss.

6. Sylvia Plath Mirror I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions. Whatever I see, I swallow immediately. Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike I am not cruel, only truthful – The eye of a little god, four-cornered. Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall. It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers. Faces and darkness separate us over and over. Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me. Searching my reaches for what she really is. Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon. I see her back, and reflect it faithfully She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands. I am important to her. She comes and goes. Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness. In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish. Respond to the following. Then use them in whole class discussion. 1. Who is the speaker in this poem? 2. What do silver and exact mean in terms of a mirror? 3. Define preconceptions. What does this word mean in regard to Lines 2, 3, and 4? 4. Why is the mirror “not cruel?” 5. What does the mirror spend most of its time doing? 6. Why would faces and darkness separate us over and over? 7. How does the first stanza fit the definition of personification? Give examples from the stanza. 8. In stanza two, what does the mirror become? 9. Why would a woman look in a lake to search for “what she really is?” 10. Why are the candles and moons liars? 11. When the mirror or the lake reflects faithfully, what does this mean? 12. How does the woman react to this faithful reflection? 13. Why is the mirror important to the woman? 14. What does “she has drowned a young girl” really mean? 15. Why is this old woman compared to a “terrible fish?” 16. What problem is the woman in this poem facing? 17. Give examples of personification in stanza two.

7. 1. In a short answer response of 25-50 words, answer the following: When you look into a mirror, what do you see and feel? 2. In a short answer response of 25-50 words, answer the following: Why do others see us differently from the way we see ourselves? 3. An old poem states: There were three girls walked down the road, As down the road walked she saw: The girl she was, The girl they saw, The girl she wanted to be. In an essay of 150-200 words compare this poem with the other two poems in this lesson. The essay should have a topic sentence. It should use either line by line or block style organization to show similarities in all three works. There should be specific detail from each poem as support. Writing Samples:

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