Understanding Poetry Compiled by Mrs. D. Wittmann
UNIT ONE: POETRY Learning Goals: I can determine and understand the meanings of poems I can make connections between the time period, poet, and the poem I can identify different types of poetry I can analyze a poem using TP-CAASSSTT I can recognize and utilize the devices used in writing poetry I can write an essay analyzing a dramatic monologue
Poetry and Prose Because poetry has a number of distinct and definite forms, most people can tell that a poem is a poem simply by looking at it. There is a break at the end of each line in poetry; prose is constructed of sentences. In poetry, a number of lines form a stanza; in prose, a number of sentences form a paragraph. A poem has other external signs that identify it: a rhyme scheme, a regular stanza pattern, capital letters at the beginning of many lines. Note: Not all poetry conforms to all these standard conventions, but most poetry does.
THE WORD A word has a physical nature (its vowel and consonant structure), a history (its origin and the later changes in its usage), a family life (kinships and affinities with other words,) and a future (the new and unpredictable life that the poet and others can give it). These are the conditions that affect the word’s power to radiate image, sound, and meaning.
Perhaps the most obvious distinguishing feature between poetry and prose is rhythm. Rhythm can be defined as the regular occurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line. A poem contains words arranged in a rhythmical pattern. That is, in poetry – except for free verse – the accents of the syllables in the words fall at regular intervals. Although most poets allow themselves some freedom in accents, they stay within a rhythmical pattern.
Another important difference between prose and poetry is the use of imagery. When words are used to cause us to see, hear, touch, taste, or smell something, they are creating an image. Since poetry is a very compact mode of expression, concentrated images or image patterns are often used to help the reader form a total impression.
IMAGERY Imagery draws the reader into poetic experiences by touching on the images and senses which the reader already knows. Some images can appeal to more than one sense at a time, such as an apple which may provide the visual image of the fruit along with the reminder of the taste of an apple. We speak of the pictures evoked in a poem as “imagery.” Imagery refers to the “pictures” which we perceive with our mind’s eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, and through which we experience the “duplicate world” created by poetic language. Imagery evokes the meaning and truth of human experiences not in abstract terms, as in philosophy, but in more perceptible and tangible forms. This is a device by which the poet makes his meaning strong, clear, and sure. The poet uses sound words and words of colour and touch in addition to figures of speech. As well, concrete details that appeal to the reader’s senses are used to build up images to add interest and meaning to the work. Although most of the image-making words in any language appeal to sight, there are also images of touch, sound, taste, smell, and internal sensations.
Poem Structures Structured Poetry: fixed form – identifiable meter AND a rhyme scheme Blank Verse: identifiable meter (usually iambic pentameter) AND unrhymed Free Verse: WITHOUT an identifiable meter AND may or may not have a rhyme scheme
Three Main Categories of Poetry
NARRATIVE Narrative poetry is based in the traditions of storytelling and folk tales. It always has a plot- something happens. A narrative poem usually tells a story using a poetic theme. Narrative poems were created to explain oral traditions. Types of narrative poems include: Epic - a long, serious poem that tells the story of a heroic figure Ballad - a narrative poem that tells a folk tale or legend and often has a repeated refrain. The ballad’s 4-3-4-3 line beat in matching quatrains has become the most familiar spoken-word and recorded poetic form of modern times. Idyll - either a short poem depicting a peaceful, idealized country scene, or long poems that tell a story about ancient heroes. The word is derived from the Greek word 'eidyllion' meaning "little picture". Idylls can be lyric poems if their subject matter tends towards the pastoral. Lay - a long narrative poems, especially one sung by medieval minstrels and French trouveres.
LYRIC Lyric poetry began in ancient Greece. Stage performances included songs by a chorus, or large group of people, and individual songs accompanied by a lyre - aka lyric. Lyric poetry is what you typically think of when you think of a poem or song. Lyric poems rhyme and follow specific formats, rhythms, and meter. Elegy - formal poem of lamentation, usually about a death, or the symbolic passage of mankind. Ode - serious, long poem which uses elevated language and elaborate structure. Sonnet - set apart by distinct form, commonly about love. Villanelle - a nineteen-line poem with two rhymes throughout, consisting of five tercets and a quatrain, with the first and third lines of the opening tercet recurring alternately at the end of the other tercets and with both repeated at the close of the concluding quatrain Cinquain - a short, usually unrhymed poem consisting of twenty-two syllables distributed as 2, 4, 6, 8, 2, in five lines. Aubade - a song or poem greeting the dawn or describing a dawn parting.
DRAMATIC The dramatic poem consists of the thoughts or spoken statements (or both) of one or more characters other than the poet himself in a particular life situation. It is dramatic rather than narrative since the character is not "written about" by the poet; rather, the poem consists of the character's own thoughts or spoken statements. It is when the characters of the poem speak and move before us. Opera - poetry set to music, dialogue is usually sung Musical comedy - popular entertainment. Example: Once Upon A Mattress, Guys and Dolls Dramatic monologue - single character speaking to a silent audience. Example: My Last Duchess, by Robert Browning Dramatic dialogue - conversation shared in poetic format
DENOTATION The denotation of a word is its exact meaning as stated in the dictionary. Example: the denotation of both skinny and slender is “thin” CONNOTATION The connotation of a word is the suggested meaning of a word in addition to its actual meaning. Connotations can suggest emotions, or positive or negative value judgments. Example: slender has a positive connotation skinny has a negative connotation