ENG3UI Poems to Study: Compiled by Mrs. D. Wittmann
How do poetic devices convey the meaning of the poem?
POETRY PURPOSELY POWERFUL WORDS TO CREATE A REACTION
What is your emotional response to the poem? Favourite line? How was your response formed? (Writer's Craft) You may consider such style elements as diction, tone, structure, syntax, figurative language, and imagery. Your paragraph must be full and complete, with examples from the poem included within your answer.
The Launch: Poesy After writing her first song at age 9, POESY is now fully immersed in the alternative indie world of music. Her name is derived from an archaic word for poetry, and is a callback to her time as an English and Creative Writing major at Western University. POESY finds inspiration in literature, 1970s rock, thrift stores, and bus rides, to create the narratives present in her songwriting. POESY's infatuation with all types of art is behind the short story she wrote to accompany each track on her debut EP, “The Spotless Mind”. Her influences include Freddie Mercury, Katy Perry, Florence Welch, Kurt Cobain, and Stevie Nicks. Soldier of Love Performed by POESY Written by Stephan Moccio, Lindy Robbins Produced by Stephan Moccio
Elizabethan poet Philip Sidney wrote The Defence of Poesie around 1579, although the work wasn’t published until 1595 (after the author’s death). Sidney composed his Defence as a judicial address, an answer to the growing social criticism of poetry, theater and the arts in general—or what we might now call “entertainment”—in his age. Poetry was seen by puritanical critics as frivolous and corrupting. It muddled the mind with fanciful, trivial ideas that distracted attention from Christian ethics, the appreciation of history and the true philosophy of virtue. Sidney defends poetry’s honor by arguing that it brings together the best qualities of history (a lively and engaging narrative) and philosophy (a deep understanding of right and wrong) in a way that is more compelling to many readers than either history or philosophy could be on their own. He concludes that “the ever praiseworthy poesy is full of virtue, breeding delightfulness."
Stanzas In poetry, a stanza (from Italian stanza, "room") is a grouped set of lines within a poem: 2-line stanzas: a couplet 3-line stanzas: a tercet or triplet 4-line stanzas: a quatrain 5-line stanzas: a cinquain or quintain 6-line stanzas: a sestet or sexain 7-line stanzas: a septet 8-line stanzas: an octave (or occasionally an octet)
Sonnets From the Italian sonetto, which means “a little sound or song," the sonnet is a popular classical form that has compelled poets for centuries. Traditionally, the sonnet is a fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter, which employ one of several rhyme schemes and adhere to a tightly structured thematic organization. Two sonnet forms provide the models from which all other sonnets are formed: the Petrarchan and the Shakespearean (Grade 10).
William Shakespeare: The Bard Bardology The Sonnets 1 - 154 1 - 17 PROCREATIC SONNETS Meaning to produce an heir (procreate) The idealized man, fair youth, young, chaste (possibly Henry Wriothesley, the third Earl of Southampton) 18- 126 IMMORTALITY Immortalized through the Arts - Can writing overcome temporality? The lasting effects of writing, the buffer against the limitations of the world 127-154 THE DARK LADY Rougher, painful, agonized, unchaste There are scholars who believe that the dark lady could be one of three historical women: Mary Fitton, a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth; Lucy Morgan, a brothel owner and former maid to Queen Elizabeth; and Emilia Lanier, the mistress of Lord Hundson, patron of the arts
Prologue to Act One Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; Whose misadventured piteous overthrows Do with their death bury their parents' strife. The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, And the continuance of their parents' rage, Which, but their children's end, nought could remove, Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. Palmer's Sonnet (Love at First Sonnet) ROMEO [To JULIET] If I profane with my unworthiest hand This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss. JULIET Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, Which mannerly devotion shows in this; For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch, And palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss. ROMEO Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too? JULIET Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer. ROMEO O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do; They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair. JULIET Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake. ROMEO Then move not, while my prayer’s effect I take. (1.5.91-104) Prologue to Act Two Now old desire doth in his death-bed lie, And young affection gapes to be his heir; That fair for which love groan'd for and would die, With tender Juliet match'd, is now not fair. Now Romeo is beloved and loves again, like betwitched by the charm of looks, But to his foe supposed he must complain, And she steal love's sweet bait from fearful hooks: Being held a foe, he may not have access To breathe such vows as lovers use to swear; And she as much in love, her means much less To meet her new-beloved any where: But passion lends them power, time means, to meet Tempering extremities with extreme sweet.
Reviewing the Sonnet: Romeo and Juliet
Petrarchan Sonnet The first and most common sonnet is the Petrarchan, or Italian. Named after one of its greatest practitioners, the Italian poet Petrarch, the Petrarchan sonnet is normally one stanza divided into the octave (the first eight lines) followed by the answering sestet (the final six lines). The tightly woven rhyme scheme, abba, abba, cdecde or cdcdcd, is suited for the rhyme-rich Italian language, though there are many fine examples in English. Since the Petrarchan presents an argument, observation, question, or some other answerable charge in the octave, a turn, or volta, occurs between the eighth and ninth lines. This turn marks a shift in the direction of the foregoing argument or narrative, turning the sestet into the vehicle for the counterargument, clarification, or whatever answer the octave demands.
John Milton John Milton (Born December 9, 1608 – died November 8, 1674) was an English poet of the late Renaissance period. He is most noted for his epic poem on the fall of Satan and Adam and Eve’s ejection from the Garden of Eden, "Paradise Lost", which he composed after having gone blind. He studied at Cambridge University and was proficient in Latin, Greek, and Italian. His Puritan faith and opposition to the Church of England led to his involvement in the English Civil War. After the ascension of the Puritan general and parliamentarian Oliver Cromwell over the Commonwealth of England, Milton was given a high position, making him essentially head propagandist.
Sonnet 19: When I consider how my light is spent A writer going blind in mid-career. We know the legend that Homer was blind, of course; but Milton’s blindness and Beethoven’s deafness are the twin defining catastrophes of modern European art—catastrophes that did not prevent Beethoven’s writing symphonies, or Milton’s completing Paradise Lost and many other works by means of dictation. This sonnet has beautiful measure, a simple and clear meaning, and manages to talk about the ferment of emotion with an enforced serenity that Wordsworth would later describe (in defining poetry) as “emotion recollected in tranquility.” But the poem is not, as some take it to be, a mere pious sentiment. You must carefully consider the meaning of the term “wait” for someone in service. Yes, some are messengers who rush about carrying instructions; others stand ready. To “wait” is not to be idle, as you know if you’ve ever seen a good waiter or waitress. No, to “wait” is to be actively still; to be ready to act at the proper moment, and constantly attentive until then. How do you “spend your light?” What do you consider a life well-lived?
Annotate the Poem 1. How many lines in this poem? How many sentences in this poem? 2. Find ONE example of an end-stopped line (I) , enjambment , and caesura (II). 3. Annotate the rhythm (meter) and the rhyme scheme. 4. HIGHLIGHT and label ONE example of each of the following: personification alliteration organic imagery allusion paradox shift (volta in a sonnet) assonance consonance 5. Select TWO stylistic devices from Question Four and explain how the poetic techniques convey the meaning of the poem. See Slide Four (TS + PEE + PEE + CS).
"Ozymandias" Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) is one of the most famous poets in all of English literature. He was one of a group of poets who became known as The Romantics. Shelley was well known as a 'radical' during his lifetime and some people think "Ozymandias" reflects this side of his character. Although it is about the remains of a statue of Ozymandias (another name for the Egyptian pharaoh Rameses II) it can be read as a criticism of people or systems that become huge and believe themselves to be invincible. "Ozymandias" is a sonnet (a poem of 14 lines), although it doesn't have the same, simple rhyme scheme or punctuation that most sonnets have. Some lines are split by full stops and the rhyme is irregular at times. It is written in iambic pentameter, which Shakespeare used widely in his plays and sonnets.
‘It is one of the best-known and most accessible poems. It was written sometime between December 1817 and January 1818, and was probably the result of a sonnet competition between Shelley and his friend Horace Smith, who stayed with the Shelleys at their home Marlow between 26 and 28 December. In such competitions two or more poets would each write a sonnet on an agreed subject against the clock. ‘Ozymandias’ was first printed in The Examiner on 11 January 1818; Smith’s sonnet, also entitled ‘Ozymandias’ was published in the same newspaper on 1 February. Shelley’s poem was the last of the ‘other poems’ he included in Rosalind and Helen, published in 1819.
Is Breaking Bad's "Ozymandias" the greatest episode of TV ever written? "Ozymandias" is the fourteenth episode of the fifth of the American television drama series Breaking Bad. The episode of Breaking Bad, the never-more-aptly titled "Ozymandias", is already being talked about as one of the best episodes of TV ever made. In a show famous for its elaborate set-ups to incredible pay-offs, there wasn't a spare second in 45 relentless minutes of pure reckoning. Ozymandias, of course, is the 'king of kings', the forgotten wreckage of whose once-great empire is found crumbling into the desert in Percy Shelley's famous sonnet. How does the poem parallel the television series, and this episode in particular?
Annotate the Poem 1. How many lines in this poem? How many sentences in this poem? 2. Find ONE example of an end-stopped line (I) , enjambment , and caesura (II). 3. HIGHLIGHT and label ONE example of each of the following: visual imagery synecdoche repetition alliteration metaphor symbol irony allusion shift 4. Select TWO stylistic devices from Question Three and explain how the poetic techniques convey the meaning of the poem. See Slide Four (TS + PEE + PEE + CS).
"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" One of the most famous poems in the English language was composed in 1804, two years after Wordsworth saw the flowers while walking by Ullswater on a stormy day with Dorothy, his sister. His inspiration for the poem came from an account written by Dorothy. In her journal entry for 15 April 1802 she describes how the daffodils 'tossed and reeled and danced, and seemed as if they verily laughed with the wind, that blew upon them over the lake.' Wordsworth published his poem,"I wandered lonely as a Cloud", in 1807. He altered it several times, and the final version, published in 1815, is simply a revision of the original, the new lines and vocabulary perhaps reflecting the changes in his lifestyle and where he saw himself in the social hierarchy.
"Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea, Wales, in 1914 (he died in 1953). He was a very popular poet during his lifetime. His most famous works include "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" and "Under Milk Wood", which began life as a radio play and explores a gently sleeping Welsh village in poetic voices. He is one of the most important Welsh poets of the 20th century, although he only wrote in English. He led a tempestuous life, both in terms of the women with whom he was involved and his excessive drinking. He did not serve in the war because of health problems, but instead wrote scripts for the BBC, which were his contribution to the war effort. He was living in London during the time of the Blitz.
The poem is about getting old and close to death. Instead of giving in and going gracefully the poem urges people – and particularly the narrator’s father – to protest and rage against the end of their life. It lists all sorts of people who do exactly that. It is about the end of life, and reactions to that. "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" is a villanelle, a form of poem that has 19 lines. The first and third lines of the first stanza are used alternately as the last lines of the remaining stanzas, except for the last one, where both are used together as a rhyming couplet, making that stanza into four lines rather than three. The middle lines of all the stanzas also rhyme with each other, so the poem follows the rhyme scheme ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA. It is a very formal structure for a poem, and it is unusual for Thomas to use it. This poem is considered to be one of the finest examples of a villanelle.
Mending Wall by Robert Frost - Narrative "Who are bad neighbors? " asked H. D. Thoreau, for the sole purpose of answering his own question. "They who suffer their neighbors' cattle to go at large because they don't want their ill will,—are afraid to anger them. They are abettors of the ill-doers." Thoreau could have as readily asked, "Who are good neighbors?" Whereupon, following his reasoning, one could answer, "Those who build and maintain walls which keep out their neighbors' cattle." How, and indeed whether, the good will of one's neighbor is fostered by boundaries, however, was a general question that would engage Thoreau's latter-day disciple, Robert Frost. Were walls and fences instrumental in the retention and renewal of human relationships Is a question central to "Mending Wall." The answers the poem presents us with are somewhat less than clear- cut. This is so, at least partly, because Frost has purposely and purposefully left out of his poem a piece of important information.
"My Last Duchess" Robert Browning (1812-1889) was heavily influenced as a youngster by his father's extensive collection of books and art. His father was a bank clerk and collected thousands of books, some of which were hundreds of years old and written in languages such as Greek and Hebrew. By the time he was five, it was said that Browning could already read and write well. He was a big fan of the poet Shelley and asked for all of Shelley's works for his thirteenth birthday. By the age of fourteen, he'd learned Latin, Greek and French. Browning went to the University of London but left because it didn't suit him.
He married fellow poet Elizabeth Barrett but they had to run away and marry in secret because of her over-protective father. They moved to Italy and had a son, Robert. Father and son moved to London when Elizabeth died in 1861. Browning is best known for his use of the dramatic monologue. "My Last Duchess" is an example of this and it also reflects Browning's love of history and European culture as the story is based on the life of an Italian Duke from the sixteenth century. The characters mentioned in this poem are based on real life, historical figures. The narrator is Duke Alfonso II who ruled a place in northern Italy called Ferrara between 1559 and 1597. The Duchess of whom he speaks was his first wife,Lucrezia de' Medici who died in 1561 aged 17, only two years after he married her. In real life, Lucrezia died in suspicious circumstances and might have been poisoned.
REVIEW OF GENRES STUDIED SONNET: A 14-line poem with a variable rhyme scheme originating in Italy and brought to England by Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, earl of Surrey in the 16th century. Literally a “little song,” the sonnet traditionally reflects upon a single sentiment, with a clarification or “turn” of thought in its concluding lines. There are many different types of sonnets. LYRIC: This genre encompasses a large portion of the world's poetry; in general, lyrics are fairly brief poems that emphasize musical qualities and human emotions. VILLANELLE: A French verse form consisting of five tercets (triplets) and a final quatrain, with the first and third lines of the first stanza repeating alternately in the following stanzas. These two refrain lines form the final couplet in the quatrain. DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE: A single character, addressing a silent listener at a critical moment, reveals himself or herself and the dramatic situation.