Welcome to Dani's Poetry Unit!
Poetry Unit Prefatory Statement
The theme of this poetry unit is nature. Many different genres of poetry will
be explored throughout this unit. The unit will first be explained to have
a division between closed and open verse poetry. Under closed verse, many
genres will be explored, such as, haiku; sonnet; songs; acrostic; spatial
poetry; and limerick. During this five week unit, students will explore these
different genres, write a poem in each genre, do a webquest on one genre
of their choice as well as make a class collection of poems to be kept in
the library and on the class website.
It is important to do this unit because for those who do not like poetry,
I want to show them that all poetry is not rhymed and in syllabic schemes,
I
want these students to find a genre of poetry with which to connect. For those
who already enjoy poetry, they will be exploring different genres, expanding
their tastes in the subject. Students, who don’t think of themselves
as poets and don’t write poetry, will explore different genres of poetry.
They will also research accomplished poets and find that these poets weren't’t
always successful, and that anyone can write a poem. I think it is important
for students to be familiar with poetry and different genres of it, to understand
music in a different way, to be able to phrase their sentences and their speech
in a different way, and to be more versatile in their social and academic lives.
Poetry can do all of this for them, if they just give it a try.
We are initially exploring a part of the “canon” of poets, which
is not culturally diverse, and does limit the audience that may take effect
to it. However, I think it is necessary for students to get the basis of these
genres with the “canon.” That is why there is the webquest. This
supplement gives options for students to explore culturally diverse poets in
the genre of their choice. I will also be bringing in other poets of different
cultures. I want to make all of my students feel included in this unit; I want
all of my students to find a genre or poet to connect to. That is why we are
going to be exploring so many different genres and poets.
I chose nature as the theme of this unit because it is an easy topic to write
about. Now, you may be thinking, “Yah, easy for you, hard for me.” However,
nature has been the topic of poets for centuries, that is why I think it must
be a tangible subject to write about. Nature is beautiful; therefore, there
are many metaphors and artistic expressions that can be used to describe it.
My students can just go outside, in any kind of weather, in any season and
just think about what is going on around them. If they are in a city, there
may not be grass that they can see, the sky might be gray, the concrete cracked,
and there might be squirrel in the garbage can. This may be someone’s
nature. Describe the gray sky. Describe the lack of grass. Describe the poor
creature grasping for food in the trash can. This can be a poem. Not everything
that one writes will be Walt Whitman, but it will be theirs.
Poetry Unit Class Specification
This unit is designed for 9th or 10th graders in high school or equivalent setting. The works that are featured are somewhat “canonic,” however other authors from different cultures will be looked at as well (see prefatory statement for more explanation).
This unit is appropriate for high school aged students for it is studied at a fast pace and contains poetry that is cognitively challenging for their age group. It is catered more towards the early high school years for it studies more of the structures of the different genres of poetry rather than the poets. Focus on poets will take place in the later years of high school of students.
This unit could be adopted to fit a middle school setting by making the schedule
more consistent as well as approaching the material at a slower pace.
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I believe students learn best when they are interested in the subject they are learning. I also believe that students need to be in a safe environment to learn adequately. Safe means that the students not only feel that no harm will come to them physically in the classroom, but that no harm will come to them emotionally from me or other students. In a safe environment, students should feel open to discuss their view-points and read their work aloud.
I think students learn through approaching material in different ways. For example, if I am teaching haikus, I would tell the students that haikus are traditionally three line poems with 5,7,5 syllables. Then I would read a haiku by Basho and show a picture of Basho. Then we would, as a class, develop a haiku on the board.
Assumptions I have made that I think students will already know before this
unit:
-All of my students can read
-All of my students can write
-All of my students have had some experience with poetry whether good or bad
-All of my students know what a metaphor is
-All of my students know how to count syllables in a line
-All of my students are familiar with the internet
-All of my students know how to type
-All of my students can open their minds to natural world
Desired Outcomes/Standards/Objectives to be Met
By the end of this unit I want my students to have learned that there are different genres of poetry, that all poetry is not the same. Poetry is what one interprets it to be. One person’s poetry may be the works of Walt Whitman, while another’s view of poetry may be the dramatic reading of the ingredients on the Wheaties Box. I want them to know how rhyme schemes, meter, metaphor, symbolism etc. and the absence of these devices forms a picture in one’s mind of the author’s intentions and of one’s own perception of the poem. I want them to find a genre to connect to. My reasoning for wanting to do a poetry unit is that I have ever met a few English majors in college who despise poetry because they think all poetry is the same. I want people, my students, to know that there is’t just one, genre of poetry and that maybe there is one genre that they will like.
By the end of this unit students will be able to identify the characteristics of the different genres of poetry and through writing poetry and about poetry; they will also have learned the process of writing. Students should be able to identify different genres of poetry such as, closed verse vs. free verse. Among closed verse poetry, students should be able to identify the differences between haiku, sonnet, acrostic, spatial, and limerick. They will also be able to identify the differences by meter, rhyme schemes and form. Students will also know the brief history of each of these genres including major poets who write in them. By researching authors and writing about them, as well as writing different drafts of their poems, students will have gone through the writing process. Students will prove that they have this knowledge through their poetry portfolio which will include an original poem from each genre as well as they will complete tasks on the poetry webquest.
Throughout this unit students will meet reading, writing, comprehension and
media literacy standards.
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Possible Whole-Class Activities
1. Writing a poem for each genre together as a class.
2. Putting a book/internet site of different genres of poetry together.
3. Analyzing poetry.
4. Reading poetry.
5. Finding nature!
Possible Small-Group Activities
1. Discussing journal entries.
2. Coming up with definitions.
3. Analyzing poetry.
4. Writing poetry.
Possible Individual Activities
1. Research for webquest.
2. Reading poetry.
3. Writing poetry.
4. Analyzing poetry.
5. Finding themes, key concepts.
6. Speaking poetry.
1. Journals.
2. Webquest.
1. Paper
2. Pencil
3. Computer/word processing and Internet
4. Colored paper
5. Poems and handouts to be given out by instructor
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Three Detailed Lesson Plans for this Unit
Poetry Unit
Week 1
Day 1
Introduction to Poetry Unit
Objective/Standard: Students will learn to make inferences and draw conclusions based on explicit and implied information from texts.
Method:
-Journal for 10 minutes on prompts: “What is Nature?” “What
is Poetry?”
-5 minutes to discuss entry with partner
-Class discussion of what nature is and what poetry is (10 minutes)
-I give students my rationale for poetry unit (5 minutes)
-Read Walt Whitman poem, “Tests” (2 minutes)
-Discuss poem. “Do you like taking tests?” “Do you agree
with Whitman that tests are ‘unapproachable to analysis in the soul’?” (10
minutes)
-Explain homework (8 minutes)
Homework:
Come to class tomorrow with a potential name for this unit. “Poetry Unit” is
generic. Students should hand in these potential names in paper form identifying
why they are an advocate for the name. On this “naming” sheet they
should also have a brief reflection, 1-2 sentences on “Do you connect
with “Tests”? Why or why not?”
Assessment: Students will prove their ability to make inferences and draw
conclusions by their analysis of "Tests."
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Introduction to Sonnets
Objective/Standards: At the end of this lesson students will be able to identify a Shakespearean sonnet by its form. By doing so, they will show that they understand certain poetic devices such as meter and rhyme scheme.
Method:
-Recall on meter and rhyme schemes (5 minutes)
-5 minute journal entry, “What is a sonnet?”
-Ask class what a sonnet is. (2 minutes)
-Hand out Shakespearean sonnets
-Have students read #12 aloud. (2 minutes)
Discussion: (15 minutes)
What makes this poem a sonnet, specifically a Shakespearean sonnet?
Could this poem be sung?
Is there any way this poem could connect to you? (Looking for students to say
“
Through the listening of music or song lyrics”)
What is the rhyme scheme?
What is the meter?
-Time to write sonnet (20 minutes)
-Explain homework (5 minutes)
Homework:
Write a Shakespearean sonnet! Due on Friday.
Bring your favorite song lyrics to class on Friday. Caution! Do not choose
a poem with inappropriate words or content.
Assessment: Students will prove their understanding of iambic pentameter and rhyme schemes with their sonnets. Sonnets will be graded as following: form, 7.5 points (rhyme scheme, syllabic form, 14 lines), theme of nature, 2.5 points; this assignment will be worth 10 points total.
Poetry Unit
Week 4
Day 5
Free Verse + Whitman + Media Literacy
Objective/Standard: By the end of this lesson, students will have learned: The analysis of information in print media, strategies to clarify understanding of a selection; strategies to evaluate the purpose of the article and print media in general and strategies to identify the logical development of an author’s argument.
Method:
Ask students:
-When you write something, do you put some of yourself in it? Do you have your
own style of writing, your own way of explaining details? Do you think you
put some of your opinions in your writing?
-What is the difference between fact and opinion? (5-10 minute discussion)
-Hand out and read article on Walt Whitman. (10 minutes)
-Order of facts in articles? Most important facts are in beginning of article;
least important facts are usually at the end.
-Model a fact and an opinion. (5 minutes)
-Tell students to read article, as they read to look for facts and opinions
in the article; place an
“f” next to a fact and an “O” next to an opinion. Also,
while they are reading, tell
them to look for the author’s intent for the reader.
-Have students get into their groups and come up with one of the author’s
intents. One
person from each group will be designated by the group to write their answer
on the
board. (15 minutes)
-We will all come together again as a class and discuss the author’s
intentions. Are they
Based on opinions or facts? (10 minutes)
-Summarize what we did and why we did it. (5 minutes)
-Discuss homework (2 minutes)
Homework: Write a poem in free verse about nature. Today is Friday; this will
be due on
Tuesday.
Assessment: Students will turn in their articles with opinions and facts identified. They will also show participation and learning by writing an author’s intent on the board. The discussion will assess who really understands the concept of media literacy. Students will get a participation grade for the day.
Week 1
Day 1 Monday
1) Introduction to poetry unit
“What is poetry?”
“What is nature?”
2) Read Walt Whitman’s “Tests”
“Do you connect to this poem? Why or why not?”
Homework: Think of a name for this unit. Bring potential names written on a piece of paper with why they are good candidates tomorrow. Also, write down your response to, “Do you connect with the poem?” on this sheet as well. Sheet will be worth participation points and will be included in your unit portfolio.
Day 2 Tuesday
1) Collect potential names, write them on the board and have class vote for
unit name.
2) Explain how unit will be conducted:
-It will take approximately five weeks
-Cover different genres of poetry
-Theme of nature
-Webquest, final class project and portfolio will all be part of assessment
-My rationale for teaching this unit
Day 3 Wednesday
1) Metaphors and poetry
-Students brainstorm metaphors for nature in small groups
2) Read a Basho haiku,
An old pond
A frog jumps in-
The sound of water.
~Basho
3) “What is the significance of this haiku? Are there any metaphors?”
4) Give students handout on haikus. Write haiku as a class.
Homework: Students must write a haiku and hand it in on Friday.
Day 4 Thursday
1) Closed vs. Open verse
-Explain difference between “Tests” and the Basho poem
-Rhyme schemes and meter handout
-Time to work on haiku!
Homework: Haiku is due tomorrow!
Day 5 Friday
1) Little history tid-bit on haiku
2) Students read haikus to class (collect poems)
3) Journal, “How did it go writing your haiku? Do you like writing them?
Why or why not?”
For Monday: We will meet in computer lab to start webquests.
Week 2
Day 6 Monday
1) Meet in computer lab to start webquests
2) Explain by modeling how to look at the different genres in the webquest.
3) Allow students time to explore the webquest and choose a genre.
Homework: Students must submit their chosen genre on a piece of paper tomorrow.
Day 7 Tuesday
1) Hand back haiku assignment and go over the results
2) Discuss how the process of writing the haikus went
3) Discuss how the webquests are going
4) Collect papers with students selected genres stated
Day 8 Wednesday
1) Recall last Thursday’s discussion of rhyme schemes and meter.
2) Sonnets
-Read Shakespearean sonnet 12 “When I do count the clock…”
-Figure out rhyme scheme as a class
-Explain: This is the rhyme scheme for Shakespearean sonnets.
-Shakespearean sonnet handout
3) Time to start writing or brainstorm Shakespearean sonnet in class
Homework: Write a Shakespearean sonnet for tomorrow. Bring your favorite (school content appropriate) song lyrics to class on Friday.
Day 9 Thursday
1) Look at sonnets in groups of three.
2) Class discussion, “Is this difficult? Why or why not?”
Homework: Bring perfected sonnet tomorrow. Also, bring favorite song lyrics tomorrow (content appropriate).
Day 10 Friday
1) Explain how sonnets are similar to their favorite song lyrics because they
were both made with the intentions of being sung.
2) Model assignment in class with a song
3) Assignment started in class:
a. Look at your lyrics, are they closed or open verse?
b. How can you tell?
c. Is there a rhyme scheme and if so, what is it?
d. What metaphors are used?
4) Collect sonnets
Homework: Lyric papers due on Monday. Go to computer lab on Monday.
Week 3
Day 11 Monday
1) Webquest: Work on task 1
2) Collect lyric papers
Day 12 Tuesday
1) Hand back sonnets and discuss how they went
2) Explain genre of acrostic poetry
3) Acrostic poetry handout
4) Write acrostic poem in class and share with class
Homework: Hand in Acrostic poem tomorrow
Day 13 Wednesday
1) If nice, go outside in nature!
2) Class update day. Journal 10 minutes on how this unit is working/now working
and how to improve unit.
3) Discuss journal entries
4) Read more acrostic poems from yesterday
5) Collect acrostic poems
Day 14 Thursday
1) Hand back lyric papers and explain how they were graded
-2 pts for each of the a-d that they answered plus 2 points for choosing content
appropriate lyrics = 10 pts total.
2) Spatial poetry and e.e. cummings
3) Spatial poetry handout
4) Write spatial poems in class
Homework: Bring draft of a spatial poem tomorrow.
Day 15 Friday
1) Read another e.e. cummings poem and find the metaphors as a class
2) Read and look at spatial poems in small groups of 3 or 4
3) Share poems with class
Homework: Perfected spatial poems due on Monday. Meet in computer lab on Monday.
Week 4
Day 16 Monday
1) Webquest: work on Task 2
2) Collect spatial poems
Day 17 Tuesday
1) Journal, “What is a limerick? Have you ever heard of one before?”
2) Discuss journal entries
3) Handout on limerick structure
4) Write limerick as a class
5) Students write limericks in small groups and read them to each other.
Homework: Hand in limerick tomorrow.
Day 18 Wednesday
1) Give students their spatial poems and discuss how they went
2) Collect limericks
3) Metaphysical poetry handout, “Metaphysical poetry is kind of like
a mystery…”
4) Show students my metaphysical poem and see if they can guess what it is
5) Time to write metaphysical poems in class
Homework: Metaphysical poems due on Friday.
Day 19 Thursday
1) Journal: What do you think of free verse?
2) Discuss journal entries
3) Handout on free verse
4) Recall, “Tests” and read Sherman Alexie’s Defending Walt
Whitman
5) Time to write or discuss with partner metaphysical poem
Homework: Metaphysical poems due tomorrow!
Day 20 Friday
1) Collect metaphysical poems
2) Media Literacy Lesson using Whitman article
3) Turn in media literacy findings
Homework: Write a free verse poem for Tuesday. Bring drawings for your poem that you will want submitted into the class book on Monday or Tuesday. Meet in computer lab on Monday.
Week 5
Day 21 Monday
1) Webquest, work on task 3. Webquests are due on Thursday!
2) Read William Wordsworth’s, “Lines Written in Early Spring” to
students while they are typing.
Homework: Free verse poem due tomorrow! Bring drawings or pictures tomorrow!
Day 22 Tuesday
1) Read free-verse poems in small groups
2) Discuss how poems went; do not collect, they will be in portfolios.
Homework: Turn in tomorrow which poem you have selected to be in the class book and website. Submit drawings with poem tomorrow.
Day 23 Wednesday
1) Turn in selected poem with artwork.
2) Discuss cover of book
3) Start making portfolios
Portfolios must contain:
a. Cover page with student name, hour, date, title, my name
b. Table of contents
c. At least one poem from each genre studied in the order of favorite to
least favorite, include drafts at end of portfolio
d. Webquest
e. Lyric paper
f. Potential names paper
Homework: Webquests due tomorrow. Will finish portfolios in class tomorrow and start putting class book together tomorrow.
Day 24 Thursday
1) Webquest due today!
2) Finish putting together portfolios
3) Put class book together, designate one or two students to put on classroom
internet site.
Homework: Portfolios due tomorrow!
Day 25 Friday
1) Book Release Party! Make classroom look like a coffee shop
2) Poetry reading with snacks
-Each student will read his/her poem in the class book if he/she chooses to
-People will snap, not clap at end of reading
-Juice and cookies will be served my me
3) Collect Portfolios
Supporting Material for Teachers
Studying Poetry is a great resource for definitions of poetic terms as well as it is a great refresher on why and how to read poetry.
Matterson, Stephen and Jones, Darryl. Studying Poetry. New York, New York:
Arnold
Publishing, 2000.
Sound and Sense also is a great resource for poetic terminology as well as it is a great source for questions to go along with poems.
Perrine, Lawrence and Arp, Thomas R. Sound and Sense 8 ed. Orlando, Florida:Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, 1992.
A haiku is a three-line poem that usually incorporates a theme of nature. The usually structure for a haiku is: first line with five syllables, the second line with seven syllables and the third line with five syllables. The poem usually has a twist or significant thought to ponder in the last line.
For example:
An old pond (3)
A frog jumps in-(4)
The sound of water (5).
~Basho
This poem by the famous haiku poet Basho, is about an old pond and a frog jumping in it. The significant thought is “The sound of water.” Usually when one thinks of a pond or a body of water, the way it looks and how cool it is, is what is sensed. Basho choose to listen to nature, listen to the pond to find a sound.
This poem is written with a 3, 4, 5 syllabic structure. You will be writing your haiku in a 5, 7, 5 structure.
An example with a twist:
I went for a walk (5)
I found one hundred dollars (7)
Suddenly I woke (5).
~Ms. Veit
This is haiku is written in the classic 5,7,5 structure with a twist at the end. The person is on a walk, and finds one hundred dollars, but then he/she wakes up and it was all a dream.
Try to write your own haiku with 5, 7, 5 syllabic structure ending in either a provoking thought or a twist. Have fun!
Rhyme Scheme and Meter Handout
Rhyme scheme refers to the pattern of rhyme in a poem. For example:
Roses are Red (a)
Violets are blue (b)
Sugar is sweet (c)
and so are you. (b)
This rhyme scheme is a,b,c,b. “Blue” and “you” rhyme.
Meter will be dealt with more in your later years of high school. However, it is important for you to be familiar with it when it is referred to during this unit. Meter refers to the type of foot used to measure a line of poetry, i.e. anapest, dactyl, iambus, spondee, trochee.
anapest UUS
choriamb SUUS
cretic SUS
dactyl SUU
dibrach UU
iamb US
spondee SS
trochee SU
Iambic: meter with a unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. For example:
Come live with me and be my love. (Marlowe)
U S U S U S U S “U” indicates unstressed syllable
“S” indicates stressed syllable
Information in this selection taken from:
Studying Poetry by Matterson and
Jones, 2000, and Lynn Trygestad (my 12th
grade teacher).
According to Studying Poetry, a Shakespearean sonnet is, “literally, ‘little
song’, a poem of fourteen iambic pentameter lines with various rhyme
schemes. In the English sonnet [Shakespearean sonnet], the first twelve lines
are divided into quatrains and the turn comes immediately before a concluding
couplet; the rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg” (Matterson and Jones
176).
Example of Shakespearean sonnet:
When I do count the clock that tells the time, a
And see the brave day sunk in hideous night; b
When I behold the violet past prime, a
And the sable curls [all] silver’d o’er with white; b
When lofty trees I see barren of leaves, c
Which erst fro heat did canopy the herd, d
And summer’s green all girded up in sheaves c
Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard: d
Then of thy beauty do I question make e
That though among the wastes of time must go, f
Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake, e
And die as fast as they see others grow, f
And nothing ’gainst Time’s seythe can make defense g
Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence. g
~William Shakespeare
Stanza: a group of poetic lines, often repeated according to a fixed pattern throughout the poem.
Quatrain: a four-line stanza.
Couplet: paired lines of verse, often rhyming.
Acrostic poetry is a form of short verse constructed so that the initial letters
of each line taken consecutively form words. The term is derived from the
Greek words akros, "at the end," and stichos, "line." The
word acrostic was first applied to the prophecies of the Erythraean Sibyl,
which were written on leaves and arranged so that the initial letters of
the leaves always formed a word. Acrostics were common among the Greeks of
the Alexandrine period and with the Latin playwrights Ennuis and Plautus.
Medieval monks and poets also made this form of poetry popular during the
Middle High German and Italian Renaissance periods.
An example of an acrostic written by the popular Edgar Allan Poe was found
in his cousin Elizabeth Herring's album. Based on the handwriting and signature,
it was probably written between 1831 and 1834.
ELIZABETH
ELIZBETH -- it surely is most fit
[Logic and common usage so commanding]
In thy own book that first thy name be writ,
Zeno 1 and other sages notwithstanding;
And I have other reasons for so doing
Besides my innate love of contradiction;
Each poet -- if a poet -- in persuing
The muses thro' their bowers of Truth or Fiction,
Has studied very little of his part,
Read nothing, written less -- in short 's a fool
Endued with neither soul, nor sense, nor art,
Being ignorant of one important rule,
Employed in even the theses of the school --
Called -- I forget the heathenish Greek name --
[Called anything, its meaning is the same]
" Always write first things uppermost in the heart."
The acrostic spells "Elizabeth Rebecca," Poe's cousin; her full name
was Elizabeth Rebecca Herring. Miss Herring says that Poe wrote her love poetry
in the early days.
Poem in this selection taken from:
Emory University website, Jason Chang, 1999
http://www.emory.edu/ENGLISH/classes/Handbook/acrostic.html
spatial poem
A fixed form in the sense that whatever its composition in terms of stanzas,
meter, or rhyme its typographical appearance on the page represents a recognizable
shape. It might be an abstract geometric shape (like a sphere, or a triangle)
or a figurative shape that relates to the theme of the poem. The seventeenth-century
English poet George Herbert created some of the best-known early examples:
see his Easter Wings and The Altar in the first volume of The Norton Anthology
of English Literature (fourth edition).
You Try! Try writing a poem in a shape about nature.
e.e. cummings may be considered a spatial poet for he does not write his poetry
in a conventional manner.
e. e. cummings - !black
!black
k
agains
t
(whi)
te sky
?t
rees whic
h fr
om droppe
d
,
le
af
a:;go
e
s wh
IrlI
n
.g
Poem in this selection taken from:
http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/eecummings/blac.shtml
The limerick usually takes the form of a quintet rhyming AABBA; occasionally
the third and fourth lines are combined into a single line with internal
rhyme. Metrically, the lines combine iambs and anapests to give the familiar
jogalong
rhythm.
Example:
A vice both obscure and unsavoury
Kept the bishop of Leicester in slavery.
Amidst terrible howls,
He deflowered young owls,
In a crypt fitted out as an aviary.
Another Example:
Limerick Poem
There was a little girl with curls
who felt like she was going to hurl
she got on the bus
and threw up on a kid named Gus
that was the story of the little girl
Some information in this selection taken from:
http://www.wwp.brown.edu/encoding/training/lg/fixed_forms.html
http://www.edu.pe.ca/cardigan/grassroots/GR7M/POETRY/limerick.htm
To understand metaphysical poetry , a historical perspective is essential.
The term metaphysical poetry is used to describe a certain type of seventeenth
century poetry because of the highly intellectual and often abstruse imagery
involved.
Metaphysical poetry was a revolt against the romantic conventions of the Elizabethan
love poetry and especially the typical Petrarchan conceits like rosy cheeks,
eyes like stars, etc. The metaphysical verse by Donne often sounds rough in
comparison to the smooth conventions of other poets.
The result is that these poems used a rugged irregular movement that seems
to suit the content of poems. In addition to challenging the conventions of
rhythm, the metaphysical poets also challenged conventional imagery.
Their tool for doing this was the metaphysical conceit. A conceit is a poetic
idea, usually a metaphor. There can be conventional ideas, where there are
expected metaphors:
The Object of Your Light by Ms. Veit
Long, tan, and intertwining is what grows from the base of which stands on
thy desk
The curls roll into one another from that flat body
I cannot see the veins of which you depend
But I wish they were mine.
They are your fingerprints and your germs that are impressed within this knob
This knob that twists the vein and surges your eyes
I cannot see how the vein is turned on
But I wish I could turn you on.
Round, pink, and firm is what shades your fingerprints and mushrooms the pole
It does not touch the glass
It does not touch the vein
It puts pressure on the pole.
I can see the vein coming out of the glass placed in between the pole and
the shade
It looks thin and weak, but when you twist the knob
The vein lets you see,
I wish I could make you see.
Questions: What is this object? What is the conceit?
Some information taken from: http://student.fortlewis.edu/CWRIGHT/historical.html
The information found in this selection is from the poetry
portal website.
http://www.poetry-portal.com/styles2.html
Free verse poetry usually does not have a metered structure as well as it may have long or short line length.
What is free verse poetry?
Almost anything today. Free verse poetry is patterned by speech and images
rather than by regular metrical schemes. Brief introductions: English88 and
Electric Library. Freedom applies not only to freedom from traditional metre,
but freedom to use visual and sound effects as desired – for surprise,
thickening of meaning, symmetry, repetition, or simply for fun. Lines can also
be shortened for speed, or segmented into clots of words or syllables to slow
down the reading or comprehension.
Who's writing it?
Most contemporary poets – in widely differing forms. Two traditions in free verse poetry run through American and British literature. The first originates in The Bible and Walt Whitman and comes down through Allen Ginsberg and Robert Bly. This is a personal style tending to use asymmetric and often long lines, parallelism, repetition of words and phrases, stresses in unexpected places and mixtures of idiom. The second is more tightly written, with lineation coinciding with grammatical units (D.H. Lawrence, Wallace Stevens and Carl Sandburg) or not so coinciding (Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams and Robert Creeley.
Significance of free verse poetry
How poets write often governs what they can write, and free verse has been a rallying call in the avant-garde's enlargement of the scope and subject matter of poetry. Battle continues. The formalists (e.g. Steele, below) contend that free verse is neither novel nor liberating. The various factions of the avant-garde often distinguish themselves through their free verse styles, or use it to argue a direction or not that poetry should now be taking.
Grading will be assessed through the work students have competed during the unit, which will be organized into the form of a portfolio.
Portfolio must contain:
a. Cover page with student name, hour, date, title and instructor’s name
(2.5 pts)
b. Table of contents (2.5 pts)
c. At least one poem from each genre studied in the order of favorite to
least favorite, include drafts at end of portfolio (70 pts: 7.5 pts for
each poem in genre 2.5 pt for each poem having theme of nature)
d. Webquest (30 pts: 10 pts. each task)
e. Lyric paper (10 pts)
f. Potential names paper (5 pts participation for doing it)
g. Media Literacy (5 points)
Portfolio is worth 125 pts.
A 125 112
B 111 100
C 99 88
D 87 75
Any student who does not get at least a B- may talk to me and do extra credit to receive a B-. Any student who turns in work that is below 75%, will see me and do extra credit to receive what ever grade (B- as highest) he/she would like to earn.
Defending Walt Whitman
by: Sherman Alexie
Basketball is like this for young Indian boys, all arms and legs
and serious stomach muscles. Every body is brown!
These are the twentieth-century warriors who will never kill,
although a few sat quietly in the deserts of Kuwait,
waiting for orders to do something, to do something.
God, there is nothing as beautiful as a jumpshot
on a reservation summer basketball court
where the ball is moist with sweat,
and makes a sound when it swishes through the net
that causes Walt Whitman to weep because it is so perfect.
There are veterans of foreign wars here
although their bodies are still dominated
by collarbones and knees, although their bodies still respond
in the ways that bodies are supposed to respond when we are young.
Every body is brown! Look there, that boy can run
up and down this court forever. He can leap for a rebound
with his back arched like a salmon, all meat and bone
synchronized, magnetic, as if the court were a river,
as if the rim were a dam, as if the air were a ladder
leading the Indian boy toward home.
Some of the Indian boys still wear their military hair cuts
while a few have let their hair grow back.
It will never be the same as it was before!
One Indian boy has never cut his hair, not once, and he braids it
into wild patterns that do not measure anything.
He is just a boy with too much time on his hands.
Look at him. He wants to play this game in bare feet.
God, the sun is so bright! There is no place like this.
Walt Whitman stretches his calf muscles
on the sidelines. He has the next game.
His huge beard is ridiculous on the reservation.
Some body throws a crazy pass and Walt Whitman catches it
with quick hands. He brings the ball close to his nose
and breathes in all of its smells: leather, brown skin, sweat,
black hair, burning oil, twisted ankle, long drink of warm water,
gunpowder, pine tree. Walt Whitman squeezes the ball tightly.
He wants to run. He hardly has the patience to wait for his turn.
"
What's the score?" he asks. He asks, "What's the score?"
Basketball is like this for Walt Whitman. He watches these Indian boys
as if they were the last bodies on earth. Every body is brown!
Walt Whitman shakes because he believes in God.
Walt Whitman dreams of the Indian boy who will defend him,
trapping him in the corner, all flailing arms and legs
and legendary stomach muscles. Walt Whitman shakes
because he believes in God. Walt Whitman dreams
of the first jumpshot he will take, the ball arcing clumsily
from his fingers, striking the rim so hard that it sparks.
Walt Whitman shakes because he believes in God.
Walt Whitman closes his eyes. He is a small man and his beard
is ludicrous on the reservation, absolutely insane.
His beard makes the Indian boys righteously laugh. His beard
frightens the smallest Indian boys. His beard tickles the skin
of the Indian boys who dribble past him. His beard, his beard!
God, there is beauty in every body. Walt Whitman stands
at center court while the Indian boys run from basket to basket.
Walt Whitman cannot tell the difference between
offense and defense. He does not care if he touches the ball.
Half of the Indian boys wear t-shirts damp with sweat
and the other half are bareback, skin slick and shiny.
There is no place like this. Walt Whitman smiles.
Walt Whitman shakes. This game belongs to him.
This poem can be found at:
Beloit Poetry Journal, December 2003
http://www.bpj.org/walt.html
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Lines written in Early Spring
by William Wordsworth
I HEARD a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.
To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.
Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths; 10
And 'tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.
The birds around me hopped and played,
Their thoughts I cannot measure:--
But the least motion which they made
It seemed a thrill of pleasure.
The budding twigs spread out their fan,
To catch the breezy air;
And I must think, do all I can,
That there was pleasure there. 20
If this belief from heaven be sent,
If such be Nature's holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man?
1798.
This poem can be found at:
Bartleby.com, December 2003 http://www.bartleby.com/145/ww130.html