PoetryDefinitions, Classes, Terms, and Casey at the Bat

Definition

Special kind of writing in which language, pictures, and sounds combine, creating a special emotional effect Written in units called stanzas More musical than prose writings (the effect of the language used) Subject matter is wide in range Poems can be about ANYTHING

Classes of Poetry

Narrative tells a story

Has a plot and characters, BUT only focus one part of the story

The selection and arrangement of these events make the poem unique.

Has been popular for centuries beginning with the English ballads

Lyrical expresses personal thoughts, feelings, and/or emotions

Short and musical

Casey at the BatFirst Stanza sets the scene of the poem. Fifth Stanza lines 17 19 use exaggerated language

The crowds cheering and its impact on the surrounding countryside Creates suspense and adds tone to the poem

Tone is the attitude or feeling of the poem

Casey at the Bat (cont.)

Fifth Stanza lines 18-19 contains parallelism to describe the sound and resonance of the crowds cheering; also builds suspense as Casey approaches the plate.

Parallelism the repeating of phrases or sentences so that the repeated parts are alike in structure or meaning. Can you identify the parallelism?

Casey at the Bat (cont.)

Stanzas 6-8 Caseys pride is expressed through visual images and tone of voice. Stanza 9 contains the use of simile to add an exaggerated description of the scene (line 34).

Simile a figure of speech that directly compares two seemingly unlike things using a comparison word such as like or as Irony contrasts b/t reality and what seems to be real

Stanza 10 lines 37-38 contain irony

Casey is described as if he is a saint soothing angry hordes of people, which contrasts the previous descriptions of the larger than life, prideful hero.

Casey at the Bat (cont.)

Stanza 10 lines 37-38 contain irony

Irony contrasts b/t reality and what seems to be real

Casey is described as if he is a saint soothing angry hordes of people, which contrasts the previous descriptions of the larger than life, prideful hero.

Stanzas 14-15 lines 49-52 use elevated, philosophical language to heighten the drama of the situation

The authors change to the present tense in these stanzas increases the immediacy of the poems climax.

Climax the point of highest interest and greatest emotional involvement in a narrative.

LYRIC POETRY

Lyric Poetry

Poetry in which the speaker reveals personal thoughts and feelings. Comes from the Greek word lyrikos, a short poem sung to the music of the lyre, a small harp-like instrument.

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

Wordsworth describes his memorys ability to change his vacant or pensive mood to pleasure (ll. 20-24).

This is considered the main idea of the poem. He feels the seemingly trivial moment brought him great and unexpected wealth (l. 18). What are some examples of personification in this poem?

IMAGERY & FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Dreams

What are the two metaphors linked together in this poem that describe dreams?

What do these metaphors imply about the necessity of dreams? What warning does Hughes issue in his poem about dreams?

The Seven Ages of Man

Speaker Jaques (a character from Shakespeares As You Like It) The poem is an example of an extended metaphor. What is the metaphor being extended throughout this poem?

The Seven Ages of Man

Stages of man in the poem

(1) Infancy mewling and puking (2) Child whining school boy (3) Youth of a Lover sighing like furnace (4) Later Youth of a Soldier bearded like the pard (5) Maturity and Middle Age of a Judge in fair round belly

The Seven Ages of Man

Stages (cont.)

(6) Old Age spectacles on nose (7) Senility second childishness

In As You Like It Jaques is a cynic, a man who doubts the goodness and kindness of human beings. Explain how your reaction to the poem changes once you know Jaques personality.

The Total Effect

The title addresses the poets main concern. The speaker is the person or thing that acts as the voice in the poem.

The choice of words should fit the speaker.

The sound of the poem its use of rhyme, rhythm, onomatopoeia, repetition, alliteration, assonance, and parallelism should suit its mood.

The Total Effect (cont)

Imagery and figures of speech, such as personification, simile, and metaphor, should allow the poem to appeal directly to your senses and to your own experience. Remember that narrative poems tell stories and lyric poems express an emotion.

maggie and milly and molly and may

Maggie, Milly, Molly, and May go to the beach. Each discovers a special part of herself in what she sees on the shore.

Maggie troubled; sea comforts her Milly friendly, poetic Molly timid, not inquisitive May alone in a small world

What literary devices are used by Cummings?

The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe

First Stanza

What type of bells are being described? What effect of Poes use of alliteration and assonance have on you as the reader?

The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe

Second Stanza

Type of bells? Effect of alliteration and assonance? Notice the presence of parallelism and personification?

The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe

Third Stanza

Type of bells? Alliteration/Assonance? Onomatopoeia?

The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe

Fourth Stanza

Type of bells?

Personification?

The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe

Structure of the poem

Although each stanza begins and ends similarly, each stanzas middle section is progressively larger and more developed.

This allows Poe to show how horror gradually grows out of joy. Cheery, isnt it?

Speaker and Word ChoiceIn Poetry

Definitions

Speaker the voice of the poem OR the role that the poet plays in the poem Word Choice the selection of words in a piece of literature to convey meaning, suggest attitude, and create images

Knoxville, Tennessee

Themes the seasons and childhood Speaker The reference to daddy tells the reader that the speaker is more than likely a child. Tone The use of the word you and the lack of punctuation give the poem an informal tone.

The use of parallelism also gives the poem an informal tone.

Can you see the parallelism?

Child on Top of a GreenhouseTheme individualism and youth vs. age Speaker the use of the word my, combined with the use of sophisticated words, establishes the speaker as an adult looking back on childhood.

Word choice vivid participles (flashing, rushing, plunging, tossing) denote a delight in the senses for the crowd watching.

How does the child on the roof feel?

The Base Stealer

Theme taking risks Speaker At first, the speaker is unidentified, but the reader later learns that the speaker is an observer when the third person pronoun he is used (line 7). Word Choice The poet interjects into his descriptions of the base stealer the informal, under the breath urgings of the excited fan: come on, come on, crowd him, crowd him, and Delicate, delicate, delicate now! (ll. 5, 9, 10).

The Base Stealer (cont.)

The poet uses similes in lines

2 like a tightrope walker, 4 bouncing tiptoe like a dropped ball, 5 . . . or a kid skipping rope, and 8 hovers like an ecstatic bird

Theme revisited Francis suggests the exhilaration of taking risks by the use of the word ecstatic and by the exclamatory now! at the climax of the poem.

The base stealers urgency suggests the necessity of taking risks.

As a reader, how does Robert Francis make you feel about this small event?

Narrative PoetryThe Charge of the Light Brigade and Lord Randal

The Charge of the Light BrigadeTheme: Courage and Honor, a soldiers duty on the battlefield Throughout the poem, the author uses repetition to show the rhythm of the marching, well as to emphasize the lesser numbers of the Light Brigade.

Repetition the repeating of sounds, letters, words, or lines, which helps give the poetry its meaning, form, and sound.

Rode the six hundred

The Charge of the Light Brigade (cont.)

Stanza 2 ll. 13-15 refers to the soldiers duty, which is to follow orders without talking back or questioning and carrying them out even if the result is death. Stanza 3 in ll. 24-25 Tennyson makes use of metaphors

He uses fiercely dramatic metaphors to describe the challenges the British soldiers face in the battle with the Russians.

Metaphor A figure of speech that makes a comparison b/t two seemingly unlike things

The Charge of the Light Brigade (cont.)

Main idea in stanzas 3-6 portray the brigades courage against overwhelming odds through the graphic images of being surrounded by cannons.

Constant loss of soldiers coupled with being completely cut off from escape shows how strong the Light Brigades courage was

Lord RandalTheme trust and betrayal Ballad a short, musical narrative poem Each stanza opens with the mother asking a question.

This suggests that the son is answering his mother reluctantly. Why? What literary effect is being used in the questioning?

Lord Randal (cont.)

Main idea In Stanza 4, the mothers question suggests that Lord Randal did not realize he had been poisoned until he saw his dogs die.

He put blind faith in this true-love.

Stanza 5 In typical ballad form, the love story reaches a tragic end through dialogue, repetition, simplicity of detail, and a limited number of characters.

IMAGERY & FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Literary Terms

Literal language the ordinary language of everyday Figurative language use of devices such as figures of speech (similes, metaphors, hyperbole, etc.)

Dreams

What are the two metaphors linked together in this poem that describe dreams?

What do these metaphors imply about the necessity of dreams? What warning does Hughes issue in his poem about dreams?

The Seven Ages of Man

Speaker Jaques (a character from Shakespeares As You Like It) The poem is an example of an extended metaphor. What is the metaphor being extended throughout this poem?

The Seven Ages of Man

Stages of man in the poem

(1) Infancy mewling and puking (2) Child whining school boy (3) Youth of a Lover sighing like furnace (4) Later Youth of a Soldier bearded like the pard (5) Maturity and Middle Age of a Judge in fair round belly

The Seven Ages of Man

Stages (cont.)

(6) Old Age spectacles on nose (7) Senility second childishness

In As You Like It Jaques is a cynic, a man who doubts the goodness and kindness of human beings. Explain how your reaction to the poem changes once you know Jaques personality.

LYRIC POETRY

Lyric Poetry

Poetry in which the speaker reveals personal thoughts and feelings. Comes from the Greek word lyrikos, a short poem sung to the music of the lyre, a small harp-like instrument.

The Courage That My Mother Had

Main Idea - Loss leads the speaker to turn to her inheritance as a consolation, yet she yearns for a less tangible inheritance. What is the rhyme scheme of this poem? Point out some literary devices used by the author in this poem.

The Total Effect

Literary Terms

Literal language the ordinary language of everyday Figurative language use of devices such as figures of speech (similes, metaphors, hyperbole, etc.)

The Total Effect

The title addresses the poets main concern. The speaker is the person or thing that acts as the voice in the poem.

The choice of words should fit the speaker.

The sound of the poem its use of rhyme, rhythm, onomatopoeia, repetition, alliteration, assonance, and parallelism should suit its mood.

The Total Effect (cont)

Imagery and figures of speech, such as personification, simile, and metaphor, should allow the poem to appeal directly to your senses and to your own experience. Remember that narrative poems tell stories and lyric poems express an emotion.

maggie and milly and molly and may

Maggie, Milly, Molly, and May go to the beach. Each discovers a special part of herself in what she sees on the shore.

Maggie troubled; sea comforts her Milly friendly, poetic Molly timid, not inquisitive May alone in a small world

What literary devices are used by Cummings?

Lost

Loneliness is the strongest theme.

The poems strong visual images allow Sandburg to compare a fogbound ship to a lost child (ll. 1-9)

There are some examples of assonance and alliteration in this poem. Identify some of these and discuss their effect on the poem.