A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.
Emily Dickinson
THE POETRY COLLECTION
Our Objectives

What is it we want to accomplish with this unit?
∆ Identify literary elements used in poetry with
special emphasis on imagery.
∆ Identify and analyze literary elements used in
poems with special emphasis on figures of speech.
∆ Respond to poetry using a variety of techniques.
Essay Assignment

Within an essay, compare and contrast two poems
that we will be covering in this unit.
 Choose
any two poems that are alike in one important
way.
 Take
notes over the information that is presented.
 The poems that you compare or contrast may have similar
subjects or themes or similar figures of speech.
 Your essay will focus on how each poem uses one or more
features.
Analysis
Features that
are shared
Differences
in Poem #2
Differences
in Poem #1
Writing


Are the two selections alike or different? In what
ways? Write a summary of what you have
discovered. More than likely, this will be a part of
your thesis statement.
Like all essays, a comparison/contrast essay has
three basic parts:
 Introduction
 Body
 Conclusion
Reading Poetry – page 489





Look for punctuation in the poem telling you where
sentences end and begin.
If a passage of a poem is difficult to understand,
look for the subject.
Be alert for figurative language.
Read the poem out loud.
After you have read the poem, read it again.
A Narrow Fellow in the Grass
page 490

Identify the subject.

Identify the figurative language.

Read the poem out loud.

Interpretation?
Walt Whitman
A noiseless patient spider,
I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated, Mark'd how
to explore the vacant, vast surrounding,
It launched forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself.
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.
And you O my soul where you stand,
Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space, Ceaselessly
musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them.
Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold,
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.
Elements of Literature


Setting the scene can be internal, external or both.
How does imagery in poetry evoke feelings and
create sensory impressions?
 An
image is a single word or phrase that appeals to
one of our senses.
When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer
page 496



What words or phrases are repeated in lines 1 -4?
How does the repetition help the reader understand
the speakers mood?
In this poem, how many scenes do you see?
Carl Sandburg page 503
Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.
-Carl Sandburg
Fog
The fog comes
On little cat feet.
It sits looking
Over harbor and city
On silent haunches
And then moves on.
page 503
Foggy Weather


Sandburg’s poem “Fog” appeals to our sense of
motion by comparing the movement of fog to the
movement of a cat.
This is called extended image.
E.E. Cummings
in Justspring
when the world is mudluscious the little
lame balloonman whistles
far
and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring
when the world is puddle-wonderful
the queer
old balloonman whistles
far
and
wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing
from hop-scotch and jump-rope and
it's
spring
and
the
goat-footed
balloonMan
whistles
far
and
wee
and wee
in Just

page 505
A cliché is an overused, worn-out expression or
phrase.
 Poets
want to find fresh images that help us see the
world in an unusual or original way.
in Just


Cummings uses spacing, word position, and
repetition to give this poem a very musical quality.
He also chooses his words with great care. What
does the word Just mean?
What do the images ‘mud-luscious’ and ‘puddlewonderful make you think of?
Figurative Language

Figures of speech are words or phrases that
describe one thing in terms of another different
thing.
 In
a simile, the writer compares two unlike things using
a word such as like or as.
 In personification, the writer speaks of something
nonhuman as if it has human qualities.
 Life
dealt him a heavy blow.
Figurative Language


A tool authors use to help the reader visualize or
see what is happening in a story or poem.
In everyday language, we describe
things by comparing them with other
things. Examples of similes:
 She
was as brave as a lion.
 His face felt like sandpaper.
 She addressed the class like a sergeant-major.
Pop Quiz

Similes or Metaphors?
 Love
is a red, red rose.
 Joe is a walking encyclopedia.
 Chris looks as white as a sheet.
 Keisha has a mind like a razor.
 Angela blossoms in the spring.
 Mitch can be as cold as ice.
Personification

In personification, the non-human is
identified with the human or given
human characteristics.
 Life
dealt him a heavy blow
Pop Quiz

Complete the following sentence:
 You
should have the subject of each sentence do
something that a human would do.
 Mike’s
truck ________________.
 Fear wrapped its ________________.
 Jealousy _____________.
 The moon ________________.
 The wind ______________.
Making Meanings



All of these poems contain images of moments and
miracles in nature. What image in Fog and in Just
did you find most striking?
Why do you think Sandburg thought the fog was
like a cat? What other cat actions could fit in Fog?
E.E. Cummings is famous for his unusual
pronunciation and arrangements of words. Why do
you think Cummings made single words out of the
names Eddie and Bill, Betty and Isbel?
Imagine: Writing Focus


The experience of reading a poem can be like
taking a trip through time and space.
Think about how poets use their own imagination to
stir the imagination of the reader.
I Never Saw a Moor

I never saw a moor,
I never saw the sea;
Yet know I how the heather looks,
And what a billow must be.
I never spoke with God,
Nor visited in heaven;
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the chart were given.
Reading
Dickinson
Out Loud


http://laughingsquid.com/bill-murray-reading-poetry-to-construction-workers/
(begin 2:35)
Check for understanding
Yes or No
My understanding of a poem improves
with several readings.
I find that I understand a poem better if I
analyze its use of figurative language.
I appreciate a poem more if I pause to
visualize the imagery.
It is helpful to hear other people read a
poem aloud.
Making Connections


Read Beware: Do Not Read This Poem page 531
Read Eyeglasses for the Mind page 532
 How
does Steven King’s interview relate to Beware: Do
Not Read This Poem?
 What figurative phrases does King use to personify the
door?
 How does King make ‘eyeglasses for the mind’?
 In both King and Reed’s writing, they have elements of
a thriller. Music is often used to prepare viewers in
movies for what they are about to see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvCI-gNK_y4 jaws theme
Robert Frost
Fire and Ice
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Fire and Ice



page 541
With what emotion does the speaker indirectly
compare fire? Ice?
What does the speaker suggest by saying the
world may end in either fire or ice?
What does the effect of the word ‘suffice’ at the
end of the poem?
Alice Walker’s Women
They were women then
My mama's generation
Husky of voice--stout of
Step
With fists as well as
Hands
How they battered down
Doors
And ironed
Starched white
Shirts
How they led
Armies
Headragged generals
Across mined
Fields
Booby-trapped
Ditches
To discover books
Desks
A place for us
How they knew what we
Must know
Without knowing a page
Of it
Themselves.
page 556
Conflict


page 570
External conflict is where a character struggles
against some outside force
Internal conflict is a struggle between opposing
needs or desires or emotions with a single person.