Poetry “ “ The difference between The difference between the right word and the the right word and the almost right word is the almost right word is the difference between difference between lightning and a lightning and a lightning bug.” lightning bug.” -Mark Twain -Mark Twain
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Poetry “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” -Mark Twain.
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Poetry““The difference between the The difference between the right word and the almost right right word and the almost right word is the difference between word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”lightning and a lightning bug.”-Mark Twain-Mark Twain
Concrete vs. Abstract
• Poetry is concerned with the concrete, the specific, the particular
• Concrete terms- sensory language
• “The poet is a professor of the five bodily senses.”
• Concrete- violet, bread, sunlight, surf and blond
Abstract
• refer to ideas or concepts; they have no physical references.
• Examples of abstract terms include love, success, freedom, good, moral, democracy, and any -ism ( Communism, feminism, racism). These terms are fairly common and familiar, and because we recognize them we may imagine that we understand them—but we really can't, because the meanings won't stay still.
Abstract Ideas Concrete Images
We mean you no harm. To you our swords have leaden points,
Mark Antony…
We cannot trust anyone. Where we are, there’s daggers in
men’s smiles…
I often change my mind. I am a feather for each wind that blows.
In a Station of a Metro
The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
-Ezra Pound
Types of Poems
Ballad: A poem that uses simple language and a great deal of repetition to tell a sensational story of tragedy or adventure.
Lyric Poem: A poem that expresses a writer’s thoughts and feelings on a given subject.
Narrative Poem: A poem that tells a story or relays a sequence of related events.
Alliteration
Alliteration: The repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are close together.
It is used to create musical effects, speed or slow the pace of the meter, or cause an image to “stick” in the mind of the reader.
Assonancerepetition of vowel sounds but not
consonant sounds
Examples: Try to light the fire. He gave a nod to the officer with
the pocket.
“The Eagle”by Alfred Lord Tennyson
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
Alliteration and Consonance
Alliteration: The repetition of thesame or similar consonantsounds at the beginning of wordsThat are close together.Consonance: The repetition oflike consonant sounds in themiddle and end of words.Assonance: The repetition ofsimilar vowel sounds.
Alliteration, Consonance, andAssonance are used to createmusical effects and to establishMood and tone.
From “Song of Myself #1”by Walt Whitman
“I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loaf and invite my soul, I lean and loaf at my ease, observing a spear of summer grass…”
Diction = Word Choice
A poet communicates through the words he
uses. He often draws on the Connotative
meaning of words to reveal his attitude or
tone. The Connotation of a word is the
emotional attachment or association with its
meaning. The Denotative meaning is the
word’s Dictionary definition.
Let’s Explore Connotation!
What is the dictionary or denotative meaning of the word “loser”?
What does the word “loser” imply connotatively?
What is the dictionary or denotative meaning of the word “gifted.”
Tone may be playful, formal, intimate, angry, serious, ironic, outraged, baffled, tender, serene, depressed, etc.
“Apparently with no Surprise”
Apparently with no surpriseTo any happy FlowerThe Frost beheads it at its play –In accidental power – The Blonde Assassin passes on – The Sun proceeds unmovedTo measure off another DayFor an Approving God.
~ Emily Dickinson
“A Dream Deferred”by Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry upLike 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 sagsLike a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Poetry:Reflect on one of the following quotes in your notes
Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.
~Kahlil Gibran
A poem is never finished, only abandoned. ~Paul Valéry
To see the Summer SkyIs Poetry, though never in a Book it lie –True Poems flee.