[Type the company name] Unseen Poetry Exercises Ms Temple Imagery in a poem is used to create a picture in our minds, so a lot of information is ‘shown’: implied or suggested, rather than explicitly written. Start by highlighting and labelling the imagery in this poem. 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. Task: 1. List all the ways we know that the eagle is very high up, even though we aren’t explicitly told so. Just quote phrases. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 2. Notice the line: ‘The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls ‘; what can you say about the words ‘wrinkled’ and ‘crawls’ being used together in one image? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3. What does this emphasise in the poem? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Here imagery and layout work together to ‘show’ the point the poet is making. Constantly Risking Absurdity BY LAW RENCE FERLINGHETTI [B. 1919] Constantly risking absurdity and death whenever he performs above the heads of his audience the poet like an acrobat climbs on rime to a high wire of his own making and balancing on eyebeams above a sea of faces paces his way to the other side of day performing entrechats* and sleight-of-foot tricks and other high theatrics and all without mistaking any thing for what it may not be For he's the super realist who must perforce perceive taut truth before the taking of each stance or step in his supposed advance toward that still higher perch where Beauty stands and waits with gravity to start her death-defying leap And he a little charleychaplin man who may or may not catch her fair eternal form spreadeagled in the empty air of existence entrechats* [say on-trish-ahs ] In ballet, a leap in which the dancer's legs are crossed rapidly in the air and the heels are beaten together Task: 1. Quote the simile that is sustained throughout in metaphors , layout and implied meaning. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 2. Notice the layout: how does it support the point the poet is making? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3. What do you notice about the punctuation? Think about what this might contribute to the image. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4. Condense what Ferengetti says about the poet into 4 brief points. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. When writing about any poem it is essential to discuss the imagery using the correct terminology. You also need to do more than name the figure of speech [e.g. simile], you need to discuss how it contributes to what the poem is trying to show or emphasise. Read this poem and highlight all the imagery; underline other words that contribute, for example using the words associated with one idea to write about another. In the Friendly Dark - by DENNIS BRUTUS In the friendly dark, I wheel Dennis Brutus served 18 months of hard labour on Robben Island due to his political activities during the Apartheid era, after which he was permitted to leave South Africa with his wife and family. as a bird checks in flight to glide down streams and planes of slanting air so I turn, worn by work 5 and the dull teeth of care to find your face, your throat and the soft dark of your hair; flesh lies snuggled in sheets the brain, wrapped close in folds 10 of the still-blanketing night, awaits the easy balm of dreams, but my heart soars and wheels hurtling through the friendly dark to find your mouth and your heart 15 and nest quietly there. Task: 1. Name the figures of speech you’ve found e.g. [metaphor, oxymoron, personification etc] by labelling the poem. 2. Write about the central image in the poem. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3. What does this emphasise in the poem? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Do not neglect the title or the punctuation when exploring a poem: both carry useful information. As you read the poem below, think about what they contribute. The Coffins BY Michael Chitwood Two days into the flood they appear, moored against a roof eave or bobbing caught in the crowns of drowned trees. Like fancy life boats from an adventurer’s flag ship, brass plating and grips, walnut sheen, scroll work, they slip through the understory on this brief, bad river. What have they discovered and come back to account? Or is this the beginning of the marvellous voyage and they plan never to return? Task: 1. In 4 brief points, say what the poet does in each of the 4 sentences. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 2. Why do you think the poet says it is a ‘brief, bad river’? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3. The ‘understory’ is literally a layer of small trees and bushes below the level of the taller trees in a forest; but poets choose words for the associated ideas of a word too… How would you link ‘understory’ to the questions that end the poem? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. In a poem, key words often carry more than one connotation [idea associated with the word]. As you read this poem, notice how the poet uses connotations for effect. Base details by Siegfried Sassoon If I were fierce, and bald, and short of breath, I'd live with scarlet Majors at the Base, And speed glum heroes up the line to death. You'd see me with my puffy petulant face, Guzzling and gulping in the best hotel, Reading the Roll of Honour. "Poor young chap," I'd say--"I used to know his father well; Yes, we've lost heavily in this last scrap." And when the war is done and youth stone dead, I'd toddle safely home and die--in bed. Task: 1. Give two meanings suggested by the title, ‘Base details’. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 2. What meanings can be associated with ‘scarlet Majors’? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3. The rhyme scheme of the poem – abab – ending with a couplet, is typical of a sonnet, yet the poem is only 12 lines long. How might the poet be deliberately using the hint [suggestion] of a sonnet that is unfulfilled to support his message. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4. What is the implication of the opening word ‘If’? ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Often a poem is superficially about one thing, but at a deeper level about another. Read this description of the swans and look beyond it to what it tells us of the speaker’s feelings. [Autobiographical information on Yeats suggests he’s expressing his own feelings on this occasion] The Wild Swans At Coole by W.B. Yeats THE trees are in their autumn beauty, The woodland paths are dry, Under the October twilight the water Mirrors a still sky; Upon the brimming water among the stones Are nine-and-fifty Swans. The nineteenth autumn has come upon me Since I first made my count; I saw, before I had well finished, All suddenly mount And scatter wheeling in great broken rings Upon their clamorous wings. This poem is set in Coole Park where W.B. Yeats spent his summers for 20 years [from the age of 32] as the guest of his patron, Lady Augusta Gregory. I have looked upon those brilliant creatures, And now my heart is sore. All's changed since I, hearing at twilight, The first time on this shore, The bell-beat of their wings above my head, Trod with a lighter tread. Unwearied still, lover by lover, They paddle in the cold Companionable streams or climb the air; Their hearts have not grown old; Passion or conquest, wander where they will, Attend upon them still. But now they drift on the still water, Mysterious, beautiful; Among what rushes will they build, By what lake's edge or pool Delight men's eyes when I awake some day To find they have flown away? Task: 1. Highlight words and phrases that, as well as describing the scene, suggest that Yeats is middle-aged at the time of writing. 2. In stanza four there is an implied comparison between the swans’ and Yeats’ situation. Say in what ways he feels the swans are better off. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..