Download Unit4PoetryPacket

POETRY PACKET
Name:__________________________________ Class: ____ Today’s Date:___________ Date Due: __________
DIRECTIONS: In this packet, many devices, styles, and elements of poetry are defined and modeled for you. You will see
a * wherever you are asked to model it yourself. There are also poems by famous authors with questions that help you
analyze the poem. All the questions for each poem must be attempted. You must complete the whole packet by the due
date. This packet will be useful to you when you create your end of the unit poem.
Analyzing Poetry
“A Dream Deferred”
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?
About The Author: James Mercer Langston Hughes, (February 1, 1902
– May 22, 1967) is best-known for his work during the Harlem
Renaissance. Lauded as the "Poet Laureate of Harlem" in the 1920s,
Langston Hughes was one of the first African Americans to earn a
living solely as a writer. Hughes was known mainly for his poetry. But
he also wrote plays, novels, a wealth of nonfiction pieces, and even an
opera.
In his explorations of race, social justice, and African-American culture
and art, Hughes' writing vividly captures the political, social, and
artistic climates of Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s. During that time in
Harlem large numbers of African American workers moved to New
York. They came not just for jobs but also to escape the unfairness
and racism of the South. Hughes wanted to tell the stories of his
people in ways that reflected their actual culture, including both their
suffering and their love of music, laughter, and language itself.
-Langston Hughes
Questions to analyze “A Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes
1.What type of figurative language does Hughes use?
2. What is the theme (message) of the poem?
3. How does each comparison show Hughes’ message about dreams? (hint: talk about images)
4. How does Hughes’ poem connect to the times he lived in (1920s/30s, African Americans moving to the North for job
opportunity, racism and segregation)?
5. What does each of the comparisons have in common?
6. Why do you think he chose these comparisons?
“Hope is the Thing with Feathers”
“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soulAnd sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –
And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –
I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of Me.
-Emily Dickinson
About the author: Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) is one of the most famous American
poets. She lived a very isolated life in Massachusetts, staying in her family home most of the time. She wrote nearly 2,000
poems, but only about a dozen were published in her lifetime. Dickinson's poetry reflects her loneliness and the speakers
of her poems generally live in a state of want. In her poems, she often leaves out helping verbs and connecting words; she
drops endings from verbs and nouns. Her disregard for rules and mechanics of language made her famous.
Questions to analyze “Hope is the Thing with Feathers” by Emily Dickinson
1. What is “the thing with feathers”?
2. What is the extended metaphor in the poem? (When there is one metaphor that lasts through the whole poem it is
called extended metaphor).
3. Which of the comparisons between hope and "the thing with feathers" seem the most fitting? Why?
4. What makes a bird a good metaphor for hope? Explain.
5. How does the song keep "so many warm"? What does that mean?
6. What does it say about hope that the bird never "asked a crumb"? Explain.
“Abandoned Farmhouse”
He was a big man, says the size of his shoes
on a pile of broken dishes by the house;
a tall man too, says the length of the bed
in an upstairs room; and a good, God-fearing man,
says the Bible with a broken back
on the floor below the window, dusty with sun;
but not a man for farming, say the fields
cluttered with boulders and the leaky barn.
A woman lived with him, says the bedroom wall
papered with lilacs and the kitchen shelves
covered with oilcloth, and they had a child,
says the sandbox made from a tractor tire.
Money was scarce, say the jars of plum preserves
and canned tomatoes sealed in the cellar hole.
And the winters cold, say the rags in the window frames.
It was lonely here, says the narrow country road.
Something went wrong, says the empty house
in the weed-choked yard. Stones in the fields
say he was not a farmer; the still-sealed jars
in the cellar say she left in a nervous haste.
And the child? Its toys are strewn in the yard
like branches after a storm--a rubber cow,
a rusty tractor with a broken plow,
a doll in overalls. Something went wrong, they say.
About the author: Ted Kooser was born in
Ames, Iowa, in 1939. He received his B.A.
from Iowa State and his M.A. in English from
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Hailed as
a writer who has written more perfect poems
than any poet of his generation, Kooser is
widely praised for his plainspoken style, his
gift for metaphor, and his quiet discoveries of
beauty in ordinary things. Kooser documents
the dignities, habits, and small griefs of daily
life, our hunger for connection, our struggle
to find balance in natural and unnaturally
human worlds. He particularly talks about
small town, Midwestern life. He served as
Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the
Library of Congress from 2004 to 2006.
-Ted Kooser (1980)
Questions to analyze “Abandoned Farmhouse” by Ted Kooser
1.Based on the details about the family that all the objects ( like the walls, the jars, his shoes) tell us, what do you
think happened to them?
2. Are the objects literally talking? What is really happening in the poem?
3.How does imagery help us understand what happened to the family in this poem?
4. What is the major form of figurative language being used in this poem to tell the story of this family? Do you
think using this figurative language was a good way of presenting this poem, why or why not?
Poetic Devices
1.Hyperbole: an expression of exaggeration.
o Example: “It has been raining for a thousand years.”
*Write your own hyperbole.
2. Oxymoron: A combination of two words that appear to contradict each other.
o Example: “He had a pointless point of view.” “My life is bittersweet.”
*Write your own oxymoron.
3. Irony: a contrast or discrepancy between expectation and reality – between what is said and what is really meant,
between what is expected and what really happens, or between what appears to be true and what is really true.
o Example:
*Write your own lines that have irony below.
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
4. Onomatopoeia: words that imitate sound.
o Example: “His heart was the tick of the clock”
*Write your own line with onomatopoeia.
5. Allusion: reference to a statement, person, place, event, or thing that is known from literature, history, religion,
mythology, politics, sports, science, or popular culture in order to explain something complex in a simple way.
o Example: “This place is the Garden of Eden.”
*Write your own line that contains an allusion.
6. Metaphor: a figure of speech that compares two unlike things, without the use of like or as.
o Example:
*Write your own short poem with metaphor below.
“The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on."
-From “The Fog”-Carl Sandburg
7. Personification: Attributing human characteristics to an inanimate object, animal, or abstract idea.
o Example: “The days crept by slowly, sorrowfully.”
*Write your own line of personification.
8. Simile: figurative language that compares two unlike things, using the words like or as.
o Example: “Her eyes are like comets.”
*Write a short poem about an object or person that contains at least two similes.
9. Pun: words with a humorous double meaning, a "play on words."
o Examples: “A gossip is someone with a great sense of rumor.” “It is so wet in England because many kings and
queens have reigned there.” "War does not determine who is right - only who is left."
*Write your own pun.
10. Alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words, usually used to describe something
o Example: “When to the sessions of sweet silent thought / I summon up remembrance of things past” “Sonnet
30”- Shakespeare
*Write a line that contains alliteration.
11. Assonance: the repetition of similar vowel sounds in words that are close together.
o Example:
*Write two lines that contain assonance.
“Upon an island hard to reach,
The East Beast sits upon his beach.
Upon the west beach sits the West Beast.
Each beach beast thinks he's the best beast.”
-From “West Beast East Beast”- Dr. Seuss
12. Idioms: expressions that have a meaning apart from the meanings of the individual words.
o Examples: “He was so angry, you must have rubbed him the wrong way.” “Don’t act like you have a chip on
your shoulder.” “That came out of the blue.”
*Write your own idiom.
13. Imagery: vivid descriptive language that appeals to one or more of the senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste).
Often, metaphors and similes produce imagery.
o Example: “Daffodils”
*Write two lines that have imagery in each line.
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way
-William Wordsworth
14. Symbolism: using an object to represent an idea. A symbol has a literal meaning and also something more.
15. Repetition: The purposeful re-use of words and phrases for an effect.
16. Rhyme: repetition of similar sounds in two or more words, most often at the end of lines in poetry (external/end).
When inside the lines it is called internal rhyme. Many poems have specific rhyme schemes, or patterns.
Types of Poems
1.Couplet: A couplet is a poem that is simply made up of 2 lines with end words that rhyme.
o Example:
Ms. A ain’t cool
But she’s no fool
*Write three couplets of your own:
I.
II.
III.
2. Triplet: A triplet is a poem made up of three lines that have end words that rhyme.
o Example: Often times I wonder why
I spend my time in senior high
I love it here, I cannot lie.
*Write two triplets of your own:
I.
II.
3.Acrostic Poem: a poem in which you write the letters of a word or name down a page. You then need to think of
words that describe that person or object that start with each letter from the word.
o Example: Amiable
Cautious and carefully sneaking around the house
Boisterous
Always laying in the sun
Energetic
Tender and loving to its owner
*Write a nominal poem using your own name or an object.
4. Pattern Seven Poem: This poem has seven lines and has the following rules:
Line 1 names an emotion;
Lines 2 ,3, and 4 name "nots"
Line 5 starts with "but"
Lines 6 and 7 end with the emotion.
o Example:
*Write a pattern seven poem of your own below:
I am tired
Not tired like a dog
Not fall on my face and sleep for a week
Not like Rip Van Winkle
But, I'd like to go home and nap
Sleep for an hour or so tired
Close my eyes and rest tired
4.Diamonte: A diamonte poem is shaped like a diamond. It is has seven lines and follows the following pattern:
Line 1: One Noun
Line 2: Two Adjectives
Line 3: Three Participles (verbs ending in -ing or -ed)
Line 4: Four Nouns (the first 2 relate to line one, the last 2 to line 7)
Line 5: Three Participles (verbs ending in -ing or -ed)
Line 6: Two Adjectives
Line 7: One Noun
(The first and last nouns need to be opposites!)
o Example:
*Write a diamonte of your own in the space below.
Winter
Cold, Frosty
Snowing, Sledding, Skiing
Snowman, Wind, Sun, Beach
Skating, Fishing, Golfing
Warm, Breezy
Summer
5. Haiku: form of unrhymed poetry that originated in Japan and is made up of three lines. The first and the third lines have
five syllables each and the second line has seven syllables. Haiku poems usually depict a scene in nature and often include
a feeling about that scene. A good haiku poem says a lot in a very small amount of space.
o Example: Whitecaps on the bay:
*Write your own haiku in the space below.
A broken signboard banging
In the April wind.
-Richard Wright (1998)
6. Free verse: unrhymed lines without a regular rhythm. The lines may not be equal in length.
o Example: When Lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd,
And the great star early droop'd in the western sky in the night,
I mourn'd and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.
-Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" (1900)
*Write your own 3 line free-verse poem below. Remember, it does not rhyme!
7. Quatrain: rhyming poems of four lines. Poets use letters to express the rhyme pattern or scheme. The four types of
quatrain rhyme are: AABB, ABAB, ABBA, and ABCB.
o Example:
*Write a quatrain below with any of the four rhyme patterns.
Picnic planning in July (A)
Traveling up the mountains so high! (A)
What an adventure for me (B)
Because I prefer mountains to sea! (B)
8. Lyrical poem: subjective, reflective poems with a regular rhyme scheme and meter which reveals the poet's
thoughts and feelings to create a single, unique expression
o Example: “The Road Not Taken”
*Write your own lyrical poem in the space below.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-Robert Frost (1916)
9. Narrative Poem: tells a story (has plot), often making use of the voices of a narrator and characters as well. This poem
can be short or long, often has a rhyming pattern.
o Example: “The Raven”-Edgar Allan Poe (1845)
*Write your own short narrative poem that rhymes. Remember, it must tell a story.
9. Tanka: another Japanese form similar in content to a haiku.
o Example:
I have my own place
Line 1= 5 syllables
Where I can go for hours
Line 2= 7 syllables
I go there to write
Line 3= 5 syllables
It is not difficult to find
Line 4= 7 syllables
Search within your heart and mind.
Line 5= 7 syllables, rhymes with line 4
*Write your own tanka.
10. Shape/Concrete Poem: poem that forms a visible picture on the page reflecting the subject of the poem.
o Example:
*Write your own concrete poem in the space below.
Trees blossoming in the spring
Clouds above give rain
Fruit will come soon
Nature is at work
while
trees
stand
still
12. Prose Poem: poem with ordinary language that is not confined to poetic rules, is usually grouped into paragraphs,
does not looks like poetry, but has poetic devices in it creating heightened imagery and emotional effect.
o Example:
“Toad, hog, assassin, mirror. Some of its favorite words, which are breath. Or handwriting: the long tail of the ‘y’
disappearing into a barn like a rodent’s, and suddenly it is winter after all. After all what? After the ponds dry up in
mid-August and the children drop pins down each canyon and listen for an echo.”
*Write your own paragraph of prose poetry below.