Download My Papa`s Waltz

Poetry
Packet
____________________________
Name
Mrs. Fava
Seven Gold English
1
Poetry Vocabulary
Form: The way a poem looks on paper
Line: a verse of poetry
Stanzas: lines of poem may be arranged in groups
Structured form: poem has a regular repeated pattern of rhyme and/or rhythm
Free Verse: poem has no pattern of rhyme or rhythm
Speaker: voice of poem; it may be the poet or a character he or she creates
Tone: writer’s attitude toward subject. Is he serious, sarcastic or playful? How does the writer
feel about his subject? What is his purpose for the poem?
Mood: the feeling the writer creates for the reader. Setting/atmosphere is important to mood.
How does the poem make the reader feel?
Theme: It is an abstract idea that is expressed through a work of art. A landscape painting
might express beauty. A song might be about love. The story "The Boy Who Cried Wolf"
portrays the author's opinion about honesty.
Imagery and Figurative Language: similar to special effects in a movie, they grab attention and
help create mental pictures and moods.
Simile: comparison between two unlike things, using the word like or as
Metaphor: a comparison between two unlike things that does not contain the word like or as.
Personification: a description of an object, animal, place or idea, as if it were human or had
human qualities
Rhyme: repetition of identical or similar sounds
Rhyme Scheme: pattern of rhyme in a poem
Rhythm (meter): the pattern of sounds created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed
syllables
Alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words
Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds
Onomatopoeia: the use of words whose sounds suggest their meaning like buzz, hiss, and clap
2
Form: The way a poem looks on paper
Structured form: poem has a regular repeated
pattern of rhyme and/or rhythm
“If I Can Stop One Heart from
Breaking”
“In the Event of My Demise”
by Tupac Shakur
By Emily Dickinson
If I can stop one Heart from breaking
I shall not live in vain
If I can ease one Life the Aching
Or cool one Pain
Or help fainting Robin
Unto his Nest again
I shall not live in Vain
In the event of my Demise
when my heart can beat no more
I Hope I Die For A Principle
or A Belief that I had Lived 4
I will die Before My Time
Because I feel the shadow's Depth
so much I wanted 2 accomplish
before I reached my Death
I have come 2 grips with the
possibility
and wiped the last tear from My eyes
I Loved All who were Positive
In the event of my Demise
Principle: value
Demise: death
3
1. How are these two poems structured? Give an example of structure
from each.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. What is Dickinson’s philosophy of life? How do you know?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. What is Tupac’s philosophy of life? How do you know?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4
Free Verse: poem has no pattern of rhyme or rhythm
“Winter Poem”
By Nikki Giovanni
“In the Inner City”
By Lucille Clifton
once a snowflake fell
on my brow and i loved
it so much and i kissed
it and it was happy and called its
cousins
and brothers and a web
of snow engulfed me then
i reached to love them all
and i squeezed them and they
became
a spring rain and i stood perfectly
still and was a flower
in the inner city
or
like we call it
home
we think a lot about uptown
and the silent nights
and the houses straight as
dead men
and the pastel lights
and we hang on to our no place
happy to be alive
and in the inner city
or
like we call it
home
5
1. How do you know “Winter Poem” is free verse? Give two examples.
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
2. What is happening in this poem? Is it really happening?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
3. How does the speaker of “In the Inner City” feel about the inner
city? How does the speaker feel about uptown? Give two examples
to support your answer.
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
6
Tone: writer’s attitude toward subject. Is he
serious, sarcastic or playful? How does the writer
feel about his subject? What is his purpose for the
poem?
“This is Just to Say”
“My Papa’s Waltz”
By William Carlos William
by Theodore Roethke
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing is not easy.
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf
My mother’s countenance
Could not unfrown itself.
forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.
You beat time on my head
With a palm caked hard by dirt,
Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt
Waltz: lighthearted dance
Romped: played
Countenance: facial expression
7
1. In the poem “This is just to say,” is the writer really sorry? What
is his tone? Focus on the last stanza for clues.
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
2. In the poem “My Papa’s Waltz,” what is actually happening? Is
the dad being abusive or playful? Give two examples to support
your opinion.
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
3. What is the tone of the poem? Give an example to support your
opinion.
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
8
Speaker: voice of poem; it may be the poet or a character he or she
creates
“Mother to Son”
by Langston Hughes
Well, son, I’ll tell you.
Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floorBare.
But all the time
I’se been a-climbin’ on,
And reachin’ landin’s,
And turnin’ corners,
And sometimes goin’ in the dark
Where there ain’t been no light.
So boy, don’t you turn back.
Don’t you set down on the steps
‘Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.
Don’t you fall nowFor I’se still goin’ honey,
I’se still climbin,
And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
9
1. How old is the speaker? How do you know?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2. How educated is she? How do you know?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3. What is her economic status? How do you know?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
4. Where does she live? How do you know?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
5. What is her attitude toward life? How do you know?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
6. Who is she talking to and what is she telling him?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
10
“I Never Said I wasn’t Difficult”
By Sara Holbrook
I never said I wasn’t difficult,
I mostly want my way.
Sometimes I talk back or pout
and don’t have much to say.
I’ve been known to yell, “So what,”
when I’m stepping out of bounds.
I want you there for me and yet,
I don’t want you around.
I wish I had more privacy
and never had to be alone.
I want to run away.
I’s scared to leave me home.
I’m too tired to be responsible.
I wish I were boss.
I want to blaze new trails.
I’m terrified that I’ll get lost.
I wish an answer came
every time I asked you, “Why?”
I wish you weren’t a know-it-all
Why do you question when I’m bored?
I won’t be cross-examined.
I hate to be ignored.
I know,
I shuffle messages like cards,
some to show and some to hide.
But, if you think I’m hard to live with
you should try me inside.
11
1. How old is the speaker of “I Never Said I Wasn’t Difficult”? How do you
know?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2. What does the line 24 mean, “I shuffle messages like cards?” What are some
examples of mixed messages the speaker gives out?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3. What is the tone of the speaker?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
4. Make a personal connection with this speaker.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
12
“Little Sister”
by Nikki Grimes
little sister
holds on tight.
My hands hurt
from all that squeezing,
but I don’t mind.
She thinks no one will bother her
when I’m around,
and they won’t
if I can help it.
And even when I can’t
I try
‘cause she believes in me.
13
1. What is the form of this poem? How do you know?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
2. What word would you use to describe the tone? Resentful or
protective? Give one example to support your answer.
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
14
“The Secret in the Cat”
by May Swenson
I took my cat apart
to see what made him purr.
Like an electric clock
or like the snore
of a warming kettle,
something fizzed and sizzed in him
Was he a soft car,
the engine bubbling sound?
Was there a wire beneath his fur,
or humming throttle?
I undid his throat.
Within was no stir.
I opened his chest
as though it were a door:
no whisk or rattle there.
I lifted off his skull:
no hiss or murmur.
I halved his little belly
but found no gear,
no cause for static.
So I replaced his lid,
laced his little gut.
His heart into his vest I slid
and buttoned up his throat.
His tail rose to a rod
and beckoned to the air.
Some voltage made him vibrate
warmer than before.
Whiskers and a tail:
perhaps they caught some radar
code
emitted as a pip, and a dot-anddash
of woolen sound.
My cat a kind of tuning fork?-amplifier?—telegraph?—
Doing secret signal work?
His eyes elliptic tubes:
there’s a message in his stare.
I stroke him
but cannot find the dial.
throttle: lever
emmitted: sent forth
elliptic: two meanings are oval-shaped and mysterious
15
1. What is the gender of this speaker? How do you know?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2. What is the age of this speaker how do you know?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3.What is the education level of the speaker? How do you know?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
4. What is the speaker doing in the poem? How do you know?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
5. What is the attitude (tone) toward the cat? How do you know?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
16
Mood: the feeling the writer creates for the reader.
When you read a poem, you may use some of the
following adjectives to describe the mood: uplifting,
happy, optimistic, hopeful, pessimistic, gloomy,
mournful, suspenseful, eerie.
Listen to a recitation of the following poem. Underline words that
contribute to the mood.
“The Raven”
by Edgar Allen Poe
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door Only this, and nothing more.'
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore Nameless here for evermore.
And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
`'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; This it is, and nothing more,'
Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
`Sir,' said I, `or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
17
That I scarce was sure I heard you' - here I opened wide the door; Darkness there, and nothing more.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, `Lenore!'
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, `Lenore!'
Merely this and nothing more.
Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
`Surely,' said I, `surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; 'Tis the wind and nothing more!'
Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
`Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,' I said, `art sure no craven.
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'
Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning - little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door Bird or beast above the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as `Nevermore.'
But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only,
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
18
Nothing further then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before On the morrow will he leave me, as my hopes have flown before.'
Then the bird said, `Nevermore.'
Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
`Doubtless,' said I, `what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore
Of "Never-nevermore."'
But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore What this grim, ungainly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking `Nevermore.'
This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet violet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!
Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
`Wretch,' I cried, `thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he has sent thee
Respite - respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'
`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted On this home by horror haunted - tell me truly, I implore Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I implore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'
19
`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us - by that God we both adore Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'
`Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!' I shrieked upstarting `Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'
And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted - nevermore!
List some words that contribute to the mood of the poem.
1.
6.
2.
7.
3.
8.
4.
9.
5.
10.
Looking at these words, what is the mood of the poem?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Hopeful
Uplifting
Eerie
Peaceful
20
Theme: an abstract idea that is expressed through a work of art. A
landscape painting might express beauty. A song might be about love.
The story "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" portrays the author's idea about
honesty.
Possible literary themes to consider are listed below.
Ambition
Death
Peace
War
Friendship
Jealousy
Beauty
Loneliness
Betrayal
Love
Loss
Courage
Loyalty
Perseverance
Fear
Prejudice
Freedom
Suffering
Happiness
Truth
Duty
Patriotism
“Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
21
1. What happens in this poem to nature’s first green?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
2. What happens to the Garden of Eden?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
3. What happens to the day?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
4. Frost describes these events for a reason. What do they all have
in common? What is the theme of this poem?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
22
“Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar
I know what the caged bird feels, alas!
When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
And the river flows like a stream of glass;
When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,
And the faint perfume from its chalice steals-I know what the caged bird feels!
I know why the caged bird beats its wing
Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;
For he must fly back to his perch and cling
When he fain would be on the bough a-swing;
And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars
And they pulse again with a keener sting-I know why he beats his wing!
I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,-When he beats his bars and he would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core,
But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings-I know why the caged bird sings!
23
1. What does the caged bird do in Dunbar’s poem?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
2. What type of song does the bird sing? Is it a happy song?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
3. What human experience is Dunbar describing using the
metaphor of the caged bird? What is the theme of this poem?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
24
Imagery and Figurative Language: similar to special effects in a movie,
they grab attention and help create mental pictures and moods. Poems
rich in imagery appeal to the senses to help the reader experience the
text.
“Preludes” excerpt
By T.S. Elliot
The winter evening settles down
With the smell of steaks in passageways.
Six o'clock.
The burnt-out ends of smoky days.
And now a gusty shower wraps
The grimy scraps
Of withered leaves about your feet
And newspapers from vacant lots;
The showers beat
On broken blinds and chimneypots,
And at the corner of the street
A lonely cab-horse steams and stamps.
And then the lighting of the lamps.
“A 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?
25
Pick one of the poems on page 25 and list imagery.
1. What can you smell?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
2. What can you see?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
3. What can you hear?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
4. What can you taste?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
5. What can you feel?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
26
6. Personification: a description of an object, animal, place or idea,
as if it were human or had human qualities
“ Sleeping in the Forest” by Mary Oliver
I thought the earth
remembered me, she
took me back so tenderly, arranging
her dark skirts, her pockets
full of licens and seeds. I slept
as never before, a stone on the riverbed, nothing
between me and the white fire of the stars
but my thoughts, and they floated
light as moths among the branches
of the perfect trees. All night
I heard the small kingdoms breathing
around me, the insects, and the birds
who do their work in the darkness. All night
I rose and fell, as if in water, grappling
with a luminous doom. By morning
I had vanished at least a dozen times
into something better.
“The City is So Big”
By Richard Garcia
The city is so big
Its bridges quake with fear
I know, I have seen at night
The lights sliding from house to house
And trains pass with windows shining
Like a smile full of teeth
I have seen machines eating houses.
And stairways walk all by themselves
And elevator doors opening and closing
And people disappear.
27
List three examples of personification from “Sleeping in the Forest”
1.
2.
3.
List three examples of personification in “The City is So Big”:
1.
2.
3.
28
“Be Like the Bird”
By Victor Hugo
Be like the bird, who
Halting in his flight
On limb to slight
Feels it give way beneath him,
Yet sings
Knowing he hath wings
1. What is the simile? What is the poet asking us to be like?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
2. What happens when the bird stops to rest on the limb?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
3. What does the bird do in line 5 when the branch begins to break?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
4. So when life is difficult and we want to give up, how should we be
like a bird?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
29
“Ode to enchanted light” by Pablo Neruda
Under the trees light
has dropped from the top of the sky.
light
like a green
latticework of branches,
shining
on every leaf,
drifting down like clean
white sand.
A cicada send
its sawing song
high into the empty air
The world is a glass overflowing with water.
List two similes from the above poem:
1.
2.
List one metaphor:
1.
30
Extended Metaphor:
“Scaffolding” by Seamus Heaney
Masons, when they start upon a building,
Are careful to test out the scaffolding;
Make sure that planks won’t slip at busy points,
Secure all ladders, tighten bolted joints.
And yet all this comes down when the job’s done
Showing off walls of sure and solid stone.
So if, my dear, there sometimes seem to be
Old bridges breaking between you and me
Never fear. We may let the scaffolds fall
Confident that we have built our wall.
31
1. What two things are being compared? How do you know?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
2. What do they have in common?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
3. Using this metaphor, what does the poet say about relationships?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
32
“Identity”
by Julio Noboa Polanco
Let them be as flowers,
always watered, fed, guarded, admired,
but harnessed to a pot of dirt.
I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed,
clinging on cliffs, like an eagle
wind-wavering above high, jagged rocks.
To have broken through the surface of stone,
to live, to feel exposed to the madness
of the vast, eternal sky.
To be swayed by the breezes of an ancient sea,
carrying my soul, my seed,
beyond the mountains of time or into the abyss of the bizarre.
I'd rather be unseen, and if
then shunned by everyone,
than to be a pleasant-smelling flower,
growing in clusters in the fertile valley,
where they're praised, handled, and plucked
by greedy, human hands.
I'd rather smell of musty, green stench
than of sweet, fragrant lilac.
If I could stand alone, strong and free,
I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed.
Give an example of a simile:
Give an example of a metaphor:
33
1.What is the extended metaphor of this poem? What is the author
comparing flowers and weeds to?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
2.Looking at the extended metaphor, what is the theme of the poem?
How does the author feel about freedom? Give an example to support
your answer.
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
3.Which would you rather be? A flower or a weed? Why?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
34
Rhyme: repetition of identical or similar sounds
Rhyme Scheme: pattern of rhyme in a poem. Assign each line of a
stanza a letter of the alphabet, starting with “a” for the first line; assign
the same letter to lines that rhyme
There was an old man who supposed a
That the street door was partially closed; a
But some very large rats, b
Ate his coats and his hats, b
While that futile old gentleman dozed. a
Show the rhyme scheme in the following poem:
“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
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.
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
35
Rhythm (meter): the pattern of sounds created by the arrangement of
stressed and unstressed syllables.
Fireworks
by Amy Lowell
You hate me and I hate you,
And we are so polite, we too!
But whenever I see you, I burst
apart
And scatter the sky with my
blazing heart.
In spits and sparkles in stars and
balls,
Buds into roses—and flares, and
falls.
Scarlet buttons, and pale green
disks,
Silver spirals and asterisks,
Shoot and tremble in a mist
Peppered with mauve and
amethyst.
I shine in the windows and light up
trees,
And all because I hate you, if you
please.
And when you meet me, you rend
asunder
And go up in a flaming wonder
Of saffron cubes, and crimson
moons,
And wheels all amaranths and
maroons.
Golden lozenges and spades,
Arrows of malachites and jades,
Patens of copper, azure sheaves.
As you mount, you flash in the
glossy leaves.
Such fireworks as we make, we
two!
Because you hate me and I hate
you.
.
Think and Write! How does the rhythm or meter of the poem contribute
to its tone?
36
Alliteration: the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of
words.
Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds
“Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
Would not take the garbage out!”
by Shel Silverstein
Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
Would not take the garbage out!
She'd scour the pots and scrape the
pans,
Candy the yams and spice the
hams,
And though her daddy would
scream and shout,
She simply would not take the
garbage out.
And so it piled up to the ceilings:
Coffee grounds, potato peelings,
Brown bananas, rotten peas,
Chunks of sour cottage cheese.
It filled the can, it covered the
floor,
It cracked the window and blocked
the door
With bacon rinds and chicken
bones,
Drippy ends of ice cream cones,
Prune pits, peach pits, orange peel,
Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal,
Pizza crusts and withered greens,
Soggy beans and tangerines,
Crusts of black burned buttered
toast,
Gristly bits of beefy roasts. . .
The garbage rolled on down the
hall,
It raised the roof, it broke the wall.
..
Greasy napkins, cookie crumbs,
Globs of gooey bubble gum,
Cellophane from green baloney,
Rubbery blubbery macaroni,
Peanut butter, caked and dry,
Curdled milk and crusts of pie,
Moldy melons, dried-up mustard,
Eggshells mixed with lemon
custard,
Cold french fried and rancid meat,
Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat.
At last the garbage reached so high
That it finally touched the sky.
And all the neighbors moved
away,
And none of her friends would
come to play.
And finally Sarah Cynthia Stout
said,
"OK, I'll take the garbage out!"
But then, of course, it was too late.
..
The garbage reached across the
state,
From New York to the Golden
Gate.
And there, in the garbage she did
hate,
Poor Sarah met an awful fate,
That I cannot now relate
Because the hour is much too late.
But children, remember Sarah
37
Stout
And always take the garbage out!
List some examples of
alliteration of consonance:
List some examples of
assonance:
38
Onomatopoeia: the use of words whose sounds suggest their meaning
like buzz, hiss, and clap
“The moan of doves in immemorial elms,
And murmuring of innumerable bees.”
(From “The Princess: Come Down Oh Maid” by
Tennyson)
Underline the sound words in the following poem:
The rusty spigot
sputters,
utters
a splutter,
spatters a smattering of drops,
gashes wider;
slash,
splatters,
scatters,
spurts,
finally stops sputtering
and plash!
gushes rushes splashes
clear water dashes.
by Eve Merriam
Think and Write! List as many words that sound like what they
are.
39
40