I will be collecting your portfolio on Dec. 2.
In it, you should have the following:
Choose 5-7 of your finely crafted poems. If you have more than 5-7 poems, you will have to select a few to NOT include in your portfolio. Each poem should include evidence of previous drafts.
Remember, your crafted poems should show growth and understanding of poetic techniques taught in class. Review the blog for help.
We covered:
Diction, tone, word choice, meter, rhythm, line length, white space, stanza form, sound imagery, euphony, cacophony, alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia, personification, figurative language, metaphor, simile, imagery, extended metaphor, allusion, symbol, etc.
Please complete the 101 Great American Poems book.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Allusion
So what's all this learnin' for?
Why does a poet or writer need to read the work of so damn many old, dead writers?
The answer: Allusion.
Allusion is a type of figurative language, similar to a symbol. Like a symbol it allows the writer to infuse a word or phrase with additional meaning to avoid TELLING, rather than showing.
An allusion is "a reference to something that belongs properly to a world beyond the sphere of the poem. Often the reference comes from an historical or a cultural context, but not necessarily. Its use is to deepen the definition or to extend the quality of something in the poem." (Mary Oliver)
Look for ALLUSION in William Carlos Williams' poems: "January Morning", "The Sparrow", and FROM: "Paterson, Book II: Sunday in the Park". Find and explain at least 10 allusions in these three poems. Textual render these 3 poems and turn in your 10 definitions of the allusions for next class.
In Lab:
After reading pages 60-62 in 101 Great American Poems and reading the William Carlos Williams poems from class, write a poem in the style of William Carlos Williams. Use any of these prompts to get you started:
1. Describe a private act your speaker of the poem might perform in detail.
2. Similar to 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, choose a time or setting and divide that moment or time into parts. Write about all the fragmentary images that you see (or perhaps their meaning).
3. Compare a loved one (or someone you know well) with an ordinary object. Extend your metaphor.
4. Write a poem for your father.
5. Use white space creatively, but with significance in one of your poems that you write now, or as a different draft of a poem you have already written.
6. Combine prose with poetry.
Throughout all these prompts, remember to use the following poetic tools:
Sound imagery (cacophony, euphony: alliteration, consonance, assonance, onamatopoeia, internal ryhme)
Imagery: allusion, metaphor, simile, personification, symbol
Line: create a pattern or break a pattern to create an effect; use long or short or combination of line breaks; use enjambment; use stanzas and white space to create an effect
Meter: choose a metrical rhythm for your poem; pay attention to beats and syllables
Stuck? Remember the following:
1. All poems should have a character or speaker
2. The speaker should BE somewhere: give your poem a definite setting (even if you don't refer to it)
3. The speaker should have a reason to speak
4. The speaker should speak to someone or something
5. Give your speaker a distinct voice or attitude (tone)
Without these answers clearly formed in your mind, your poem may fail. Use your journal to sketch ideas before you begin.
Why does a poet or writer need to read the work of so damn many old, dead writers?
The answer: Allusion.
Allusion is a type of figurative language, similar to a symbol. Like a symbol it allows the writer to infuse a word or phrase with additional meaning to avoid TELLING, rather than showing.
An allusion is "a reference to something that belongs properly to a world beyond the sphere of the poem. Often the reference comes from an historical or a cultural context, but not necessarily. Its use is to deepen the definition or to extend the quality of something in the poem." (Mary Oliver)
Look for ALLUSION in William Carlos Williams' poems: "January Morning", "The Sparrow", and FROM: "Paterson, Book II: Sunday in the Park". Find and explain at least 10 allusions in these three poems. Textual render these 3 poems and turn in your 10 definitions of the allusions for next class.
In Lab:
After reading pages 60-62 in 101 Great American Poems and reading the William Carlos Williams poems from class, write a poem in the style of William Carlos Williams. Use any of these prompts to get you started:
1. Describe a private act your speaker of the poem might perform in detail.
2. Similar to 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, choose a time or setting and divide that moment or time into parts. Write about all the fragmentary images that you see (or perhaps their meaning).
3. Compare a loved one (or someone you know well) with an ordinary object. Extend your metaphor.
4. Write a poem for your father.
5. Use white space creatively, but with significance in one of your poems that you write now, or as a different draft of a poem you have already written.
6. Combine prose with poetry.
Throughout all these prompts, remember to use the following poetic tools:
Sound imagery (cacophony, euphony: alliteration, consonance, assonance, onamatopoeia, internal ryhme)
Imagery: allusion, metaphor, simile, personification, symbol
Line: create a pattern or break a pattern to create an effect; use long or short or combination of line breaks; use enjambment; use stanzas and white space to create an effect
Meter: choose a metrical rhythm for your poem; pay attention to beats and syllables
Stuck? Remember the following:
1. All poems should have a character or speaker
2. The speaker should BE somewhere: give your poem a definite setting (even if you don't refer to it)
3. The speaker should have a reason to speak
4. The speaker should speak to someone or something
5. Give your speaker a distinct voice or attitude (tone)
Without these answers clearly formed in your mind, your poem may fail. Use your journal to sketch ideas before you begin.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Wallace Stevens - 13 Way of Looking at a...
Please write a poem in the style of Wallace Stevens' poem 13 Ways of Looking at a Black Bird.
Choose an object to be used symbolically.
Choose a significant #.
Write a poem draft.
Label the draft as draft #1.
Turn in when you complete the draft.
Homework: please read Carl Sandburg, Vachel Lindsey, Wallace Stevens in 101 Great American Poems. (Pages 53-60) That's all. Just read. As you read THINK about imagery, meter, diction, tone, sound, structure, line. (I.E. everything we've discussed so far about poetry).
Complete the journal exercise started on 11/19.
Choose an object to be used symbolically.
Choose a significant #.
Write a poem draft.
Label the draft as draft #1.
Turn in when you complete the draft.
Homework: please read Carl Sandburg, Vachel Lindsey, Wallace Stevens in 101 Great American Poems. (Pages 53-60) That's all. Just read. As you read THINK about imagery, meter, diction, tone, sound, structure, line. (I.E. everything we've discussed so far about poetry).
Complete the journal exercise started on 11/19.
Imagery Reimagined - Symbol
Symbol:
Symbols are nouns. These nouns have a connotation attached to them, another meaning beyond their dictionary definition (denotation).
Poets use symbols then to infer or give a noun additional meaning.
Usually this connotative meaning is attached to a theme.
So, in a way, a writer uses a symbol to SHOW the connection between a noun and a theme instead of whacking the reader on the head with a TELLING statement.
Symbols are often culturally or nationally significant. Certain cultures attach meaning to objects in different ways. Thus, understanding a symbol can be difficult if you are from a different culture. Communicating a cultural symbol to someone who is outside of that particular culture is often difficult.
Other symbols are considered universal. These nouns carry additional weight that remain relatively consistent over time. Birds, for example, often symbolize spirituality. An eagle, would, perhaps symbolize spirituality AND freedom, if viewed by U.S. citizens (a particular cultural group).
Some common universal symbols include:
The compass points (north, south, east, west) can refer to intellectualism (north), physicality (south), paradise or beginning (east), end or death (west)
Day & night suggest birth and death
The seasons (Spring suggests birth, summer = youth/life, autumn = middle age, winter = death, or old age)
Some symbols are religious in nature: the cross, for example, represents Christ in Christianity. The Swastika originally symbolized spiritual power before it was “corrupted” by the Nazis during WWII. Thus, you can see, symbols can change their meaning over time, depending on the meaning a culture attaches to it.
Writers often use personal symbols. Certain poets (like Frost) use natural settings or items to suggest human life. A path in the woods may become a symbol for the decisions a human must make in his/her life. A stone wall might symbolize the demarcation of borders between humans or the lack of communication between people. Picking apples might symbolize opportunities and human effort.
When a writer uses a character or person to create a symbol instead of an object, this is called allegory. An allegory is an extended metaphor that attaches connotative meaning to characters, suggesting meaning beyond the normal use of characterization.
Symbols are nouns. These nouns have a connotation attached to them, another meaning beyond their dictionary definition (denotation).
Poets use symbols then to infer or give a noun additional meaning.
Usually this connotative meaning is attached to a theme.
So, in a way, a writer uses a symbol to SHOW the connection between a noun and a theme instead of whacking the reader on the head with a TELLING statement.
Symbols are often culturally or nationally significant. Certain cultures attach meaning to objects in different ways. Thus, understanding a symbol can be difficult if you are from a different culture. Communicating a cultural symbol to someone who is outside of that particular culture is often difficult.
Other symbols are considered universal. These nouns carry additional weight that remain relatively consistent over time. Birds, for example, often symbolize spirituality. An eagle, would, perhaps symbolize spirituality AND freedom, if viewed by U.S. citizens (a particular cultural group).
Some common universal symbols include:
The compass points (north, south, east, west) can refer to intellectualism (north), physicality (south), paradise or beginning (east), end or death (west)
Day & night suggest birth and death
The seasons (Spring suggests birth, summer = youth/life, autumn = middle age, winter = death, or old age)
Some symbols are religious in nature: the cross, for example, represents Christ in Christianity. The Swastika originally symbolized spiritual power before it was “corrupted” by the Nazis during WWII. Thus, you can see, symbols can change their meaning over time, depending on the meaning a culture attaches to it.
Writers often use personal symbols. Certain poets (like Frost) use natural settings or items to suggest human life. A path in the woods may become a symbol for the decisions a human must make in his/her life. A stone wall might symbolize the demarcation of borders between humans or the lack of communication between people. Picking apples might symbolize opportunities and human effort.
When a writer uses a character or person to create a symbol instead of an object, this is called allegory. An allegory is an extended metaphor that attaches connotative meaning to characters, suggesting meaning beyond the normal use of characterization.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Robert Frost Homework
Please read the poems by Robert Frost in 101 Great American Poems. Choose one of the poems on pages 46-52. Analyze the poem, search for imagery, and explain the meaning of the poem: 1. on its surface, denotative meaning and 2. on its connotative, deeper, metaphysical meaning. Explain how the poet uses imagery to help him achieve his goal.
Metaphor/Simile exercises
Simile
A simile is a comparison between two nouns using like or as to make the connection.
Similes are very similar to metaphors but function a little differently.
A poet can use a simile rather than a metaphor for rhythm, sound, and meaning.
Adjectives often are included in a simile to make the comparison more imaginative.
Example: The night was dark and damp like an old trout buried in a moldy sock.
Similes are also a little less forceful and not as bold as metaphors.
Example: The woman is like a tornado. Opposed to: The woman is a tornado.
In the first example the woman is only compared to a tornado. The comparison is only suggested. The woman may also be like something else. In the second example the woman is a tornado. The comparison is stated directly. She is not similar to anything else--she is just a tornado.
Activity: Complete the following phrases by making them into similes. After completing these, complete the exercise on Metaphors and then create a series of short poems heavy on the imagery.
As empty as…
Stumbling like a…
Gathered together like a…
As rough as…
Singing like a…
Trembling like a…
Praying like a …
Stinking like a…
Grinning like a…
The trick, of course, is to avoid cliche.
Metaphor
A metaphor is a comparison between two unrelated nouns.
Metaphors are the backbone of poetry. They communicate in images and ideas which general language cannot convey. As a poetic tool, they are very effective communicators and provide pictures or images.
Activity: Write metaphors for each of the words or phrases below and then for some of the metaphors answer the question who, what, where, when, how and/or why about your comparisons. Use this brainstorming to create a series of short poems.
Heart of...
Mountains of...
War (love) is...
The ocean is...
The moon is...
This house of...
Of course continue these lists using your own subjects. Try to come up with a few originals.
A simile is a comparison between two nouns using like or as to make the connection.
Similes are very similar to metaphors but function a little differently.
A poet can use a simile rather than a metaphor for rhythm, sound, and meaning.
Adjectives often are included in a simile to make the comparison more imaginative.
Example: The night was dark and damp like an old trout buried in a moldy sock.
Similes are also a little less forceful and not as bold as metaphors.
Example: The woman is like a tornado. Opposed to: The woman is a tornado.
In the first example the woman is only compared to a tornado. The comparison is only suggested. The woman may also be like something else. In the second example the woman is a tornado. The comparison is stated directly. She is not similar to anything else--she is just a tornado.
Activity: Complete the following phrases by making them into similes. After completing these, complete the exercise on Metaphors and then create a series of short poems heavy on the imagery.
As empty as…
Stumbling like a…
Gathered together like a…
As rough as…
Singing like a…
Trembling like a…
Praying like a …
Stinking like a…
Grinning like a…
The trick, of course, is to avoid cliche.
Metaphor
A metaphor is a comparison between two unrelated nouns.
Metaphors are the backbone of poetry. They communicate in images and ideas which general language cannot convey. As a poetic tool, they are very effective communicators and provide pictures or images.
Activity: Write metaphors for each of the words or phrases below and then for some of the metaphors answer the question who, what, where, when, how and/or why about your comparisons. Use this brainstorming to create a series of short poems.
Heart of...
Mountains of...
War (love) is...
The ocean is...
The moon is...
This house of...
Of course continue these lists using your own subjects. Try to come up with a few originals.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Figurative language poem #1
1. Write a poem draft using extended metaphor.
2. Take one of your poems and revise. Add imagery in the form of simile, metaphor, personification, allusion, symbol, etc. Remember to label the draft.
2. Take one of your poems and revise. Add imagery in the form of simile, metaphor, personification, allusion, symbol, etc. Remember to label the draft.
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