Do something meaningful. Share your message.
Be Heard
Poetry is said to be a window into the soul. Our project will explore the concept
of HUMANITY and focus on using our voices as tools for social change. By
analyzing, creating and performing poetry, we will illuminate the SOUL and
make our voices heard.
Major Deliverables:
Poetry Explication Essay
Free Poetry Portfolio
BE HEARD Lyrical Podcast
DA VINCI DESIGN
VANCE 9th Grade English
Poetic Devices Part One
AUDITORY DEVICES: Poetic devices that affect the sound of the
poem, but not usually its meaning.
Term
Definition
Example
Alliteration
The repetition of
consonant (B, C, D, etc.)
sounds –usually at the
beginning of words.
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled
peppers. A peck of pickled peppers
Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper
picked a peck of pickled peppers
How many pickled peppers did
Peter Piper pick?
Assonance
The repetition of vowel
(A, E, I, O, U) sounds
with different
consonantal sounds
following to set the
mood.
YOU better LOSE yourself in the
MUsic, the moment. You own it,
you BETter NEVer LET it GO. You
only get one SHOT, do NOT miss
your chance to BLOW. This
opportunity comes once in a
lifetime YO.
Consonance The repetition of
consonant sounds with
different vowel sounds
preceding it.
Rhyme
The repetition of vowel
and consonant sounds
at the end of words.
Rhythm
The beat in a poem
created by emphasis
and pattern of
syllables.
"Rap rejects my tape deck, ejects
projectile. Whether Jew or gentile,
I rank top percentile. Many styles,
More powerful than gamma rays.
My grammar pays, like Carlos
Santana plays."
Rhyme, time, climb
http://youtu.be/kqhPp-ptoJA
COMPANY
Poetic Devices Part Two:
COGNITIVE DEVICES: Poetic devices that affect the meaning and
understanding of the poem.
Term
Connotation
Definition
Example
The emotional
Snake or angel.
meaning of a word (+
What a dog.
or –).
Denotation
The literal or
dictionary meaning
of the word.
Figurative
Language
Language which
cannot be taken
literally.
An extreme
exaggeration to
make a point.
Language which
appeals to the five
senses. Creates a
picture for the
reader.
A comparison of
dissimilar items
which lend additional
meaning to the items
compared.
Hyperbole
Imagery
Metaphor
Mood
The emotions the
poem creates in the
reader.
Dog: a small
domesticated
carnivore.
Alright, the sky misses
the sun at night.
It’s raining cats and
dogs outside!
Sight, sound, taste,
smell, touch
Broken heart
Light of my life
The apple of my eye
Happy, sad, eerie,
Term
Definition
Onomatopoeia Words which sound
like their meanings.
Paradox
A seeming
contradiction.
Personification Human
characteristics given
to non-living objects.
Repetition
Simile
Speaker
Stanza
Tone
Irony
The deliberate use of
the same words or
phrases to achieve a
sense of expectation.
A comparison of
dissimilar items using
a comparative word:
like, as, such as, than
resembles.
The speaker of the
poem. These can be
different people.
Example
Bam, bee, buzz, growl,
meow, woof
Poor little rich boy.
Vance’s hair stood on
end when I didn’t do
my homework
Nevermore,
nevermore,
nevermore.
Her eyes were like
shining stars in the
night.
A unit of a poem that
is repeated in the
same form
(paragraph).
The attitude of the
Happy, sad, curious,
poet about the topic. disapproving.
When the opposite of what is expected occurs
VERBAL/DRAMATIC/SITUATIONAL
Poetic Devices Part Two:
FORMS: There are several forms of poetry that serve different
purposes for communicating a feeling, meaning or lesson.
LYRIC POETRY
Poems that express personal feelings or emotions.
Used in songs.
SATIRE
To criticize with use of ridicule or humor in order to bring
about change.
Saturday Night Live; some sit-coms
NARRATIVE POETRY
Poetry that tells a story.
It contains the elements of short story: plot, setting,
characters, theme, conflict, climax, etc.
LAMENT
A poem expressing sorrow or grief over
Death, a Situation or Circumstances
BLANK VERSE
Unrhymed lines with a pattern of 5 stressed and 5 unstressed ‘
syllables (iambic pentameter)
ta Dum, ta Dum, ta Dum, ta Dum, ta Dum
SONNET
14 line poem; Iambic Pentameter
SHAKESPEAREAN SONNET
a.k.a. Elizabethan or English Sonnet. 3 quatrains & a couplet
abab/cdcd/efef/gg
How to Explicate Poetry
Step 1
How does the TITLE add information to help
you interpret the poem?
Step 2
READ the poem - ALOUD is preferred because
poetry is an auditory (hearing) event.
Step 3
Look for PATTERNS in the poem.
Step 4
Note the AUDITORY EFFECTS (rhythm, rhyme,
onomatopoeia, alliteration, consonance,
assonance, etc.)
Step 5
Determine how the COGNITIVE EFFECTS add
to the meaning of the poem (metaphor, irony,
personification, simile, hyperbole, etc.)
Step 6
Step 7
Determine the LITERAL meaning.
Determine if there is a FIGURATIVE
meaning(there may not be).
I AM
(unearthing meaning) theme
Me Against the World
By TupacShakur
With all this extra stressin
The question I wonder is after death, after my last breath
When will I finally get to rest? Through this supression
They punish the people that's askin questions
And those that possess, steal from the ones without possessions
The message I stress: to make it stop study your lessons
Don't settle for less - even a genius asks-es questions
Be grateful for blessings
Don't ever change, keep your essence
The power is in the people and politics we address
Always do your best, don't let the pressure make you panic
And when you get stranded
And things don't go the way you planned it
Dreamin of riches, in a position of makin a difference
Politicians and hypocrites, they don't wanna listen
If I'm insane, it's the fame made a brother change
It wasn't nuttin like the game
It's just me against the world
Questions to Answer:
1. What is the essential overall meaning of Tupac’s lyrics?
2. What are the forces that create a “Me against the world” situation in the poem?
3. How does Tupac suggest we overcome oppression?
4. If the poet’s circumstances are so dire and life has so much injustice, why would the
poet tell the reader to “Be grateful for your blessings”?
5. Why does the poet insist the listener should not “ever change/keep your essence”?
(unearthing meaning) theme
Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
by Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
Questions to Answer:
1. What is the essential meaning of Dylan Thomas’s poem?
2. How does the poetic tool of repetition emphasize meaning in Thomas’ poem?
3. Essentially, what do you think “Do not go gentle into that good night” is really
saying?
4. What are the unspoken beliefs about life do you believe the speaker of the poem
holds?
(unearthing meaning) theme
Tonight I Can Write
by Pablo Neruda
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
Write, for example, 'The night is starry
and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance.'
The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.
Through nights like this one I held her in my arms.
I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.
She loved me, sometimes I loved her too.
How could one not have loved her great still eyes.
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.
To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.
What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
The night is starry and she is not with me.
This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
My sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer.
My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.
The same night whitening the same trees.
We, of that time, are no longer the same.
I no longer love her, that's certain, but how I loved her.
My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.
Another's. She will be another's. As she was before my kisses.
Her voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes.
I no longer love her, that's certain, but maybe I love her.
Love is so short, forgetting is so long.
Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms
my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer
and these the last verses that I write for her.
Alliteration
“A to G”
by Blackalicious
--We're going to learn to hear words with vowel "A" sound... Listen with care
(Gift of Gab)
I be the analog arsonist, aimin at your arteries
All-seeing abstract, analyze everything
Adding on, absolutely abolishing
Average amateur's arsenal just astonishing
1. How does this make me
feel?
2. What is the meaning of
this stanza?
--Next, we'll learn words that begin with letter "B"
I be the big, bad body rockin Bombay to boulevard bully BACK
Better bring a bomb to the battlefield
Bloody black beats bringing bottoms that boom
Basically build barriers bewilder buffoons
--Listen now to words that begin with letter "C"
Crazy character, constantly creating concontions
Catalyst, a cannabalistic rhymes conqueror
Correctly connecting, craniums crumble down
Consistent capacity
--Next we'll hear words that start with letter "D"
Done did that done did this diddle don
Domination don't dignify diction
Doin' it deep down dialect daring
Doomsday dut devastate during the duration
--Listen to our song for vowel "E"
Extraterrestrial electrical, effortless
Eons of energy, everyone affected
Efficiently epitomize excellent
Extravagant elevate where the essence is
“Kubla Khan”
by Samuel Coleridge
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled
round:
And here were gardens bright with
sinuous rills
Where blossomed many an incensebearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the
hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
But oh! that deep romantic chasm which
slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn
cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was
haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless
turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were
breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was
forced;
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding
hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's
flail:
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once
and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy
motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river
ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless
to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from
far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!
The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves:
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of
ice!
A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 't would win me
That with music loud and long,
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them
there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.
Explication (paragraph 1: thesis; paragraph 2: title and patterns; paragraph 3: auditory effects; paragraph
4: cognitive effects; paragraph 5 literal and figurative meaning)
Note: For this assignment, a paragraph includes a persuasive statement, a quote, and your commentary
about the importance of the quote.
Assonance and Consonance
CODE:
“I Get A Kick Out Of You”
By C. Porter
___ Assonance
___ Consonance
My story is much too sad to be told,
But practically everything leaves me totally cold.
The exception I know is the case
When I'm out on a quiet spree,
Fighting vainly the old ennui,
And I suddenly turn and see your fabulous face.
I get no kick from champagne.
Mere alcohol doesn't thrill me at all.
So tell me why should it be true
That I get a kick out of you?
Some, they may go for cocaine.
I'm sure that if I took even one sniff
It would bore me terrifically, too.
Yet I get a kick out of you.
I get a kick every time I see
You standing there before me.
I get a kick though it's clear to see
You obviously do not adore me.
I get no kick in a plane.
Flying too high with some gal in the sky
Is my idea of nothing to do.
Yet I get a kick - um you give me a boot - I get a kick out of you.
What is the effect of the author’s use
of Assonance and Consonance?
Rhyme
Sonnet 130
by William Shakespeare
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
Label the matching rhymes
 A & A rhyme
 B & B rhyme
What is the effect of the
author’s use of Rhyme?
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wire, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses demask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes in there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground;
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
Shakespearean Sonnet=14 lines
Written in Iambic Pentameter=abab/cdcd/efef/gg
Rhyme
“Young Folks”
By Peter, Bjorn and John
If I told you things I did before
Told you how I used to be
Would you go along with someone like me?
If you knew my story word for word
Had all of my history
Would you go along with someone like me?
I did before and had my share
It didn't lead nowhere
I would go along with someone like you
It doesn't matter what you did
Who you were hanging with
We could stick around and see this night
through
And we don't care about the young folks
Talking 'bout the young style
And we don't care about the old folks
Talking 'bout the old style to0
And we don't care about their own faults
Talkin' 'bout our own style
All we care 'bout is talking
Talking only me and you
It doesn't matter what we do
Where we are going to
We can stick around and see this night
through
And we don't care about the young folks
Talkin' 'bout the young style
And we don't care about the old folks
Talkin' 'bout the old style too
And we don't care about their own faults
Talkin' 'bout our own style
All we care 'bout is talking
Talking only me and you
And we don't care about the young folks
Talkin' 'bout the young style
And we don't care about the old folks
Talkin' 'bout the old style too
And we don't care about their own faults
Talkin' 'bout our own style
All we care 'bout is talking
Talking only me and you
Talking only me and you
Usually when things hasgone this far
People tend to disappear
No one will surprise me unless you do
I can tell there's something goin' on
Hours seem to disappear
Everyone is leaving
I'm still with you
Talking only me and you
Rhyme
“We Real Cool”
By Gwendolyn Brooks
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
Rhyme
“The Raven”
By Edgar Allan Poe
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I
pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume
of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping,
suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping
at my chamber door.
" 'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping
at my chamber door;
Only this, and nothing more."
Presently my soul grew stronger;
hesitating then no longer,
"Sir," said I, "or madam, truly your
forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is, I was napping, and so
gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping
at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you." Here I
opened wide the door;--Darkness there, and nothing more.
Ah, distinctly I remember, it was in the
bleak December,
And each separate dying ember
wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; vainly I
had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow,
sorrow for the lost Lenore,.
For the rare and radiant maiden whom
the angels name Lenore,
Nameless here forevermore.
Deep into the darkness peering, long I
stood there, wondering, fearing
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals
ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the
stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the
whispered word,
Lenore?, This I whispered, and an echo
murmured back the word,
"Lenore!" Merely this, and nothing more.
And the silken sad uncertain rustling of
each purple curtain
Thrilled me---filled me with fantastic
terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my
heart, I stood repeating,
" 'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at
my chamber door,
Some late visitor entreating entrance at
my chamber door.
This it is, and nothing more."
Back into the chamber turning, all my soul
within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping, something
louder than before,
"Surely," said I, "surely, that is something
at my window lattice.
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this
mystery explore.
Let my heart be still a moment, and this
mystery explore.
" 'Tis the wind, and nothing more."
Open here I flung the shutter, when,
with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven, of
the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not
a minute stopped or stayed he;
But with mien of lord or lady, perched
above my chamber door.
Perched upon a bust of Pallas, just
above my chamber door,
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad
fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of
the countenance it wore,
"Though thy crest be shorn and
shaven thou," I said, "art sure no
craven,
Ghastly, grim, and ancient raven,
wandering from the nightly shore.
Tell me what the lordly name is on the
Night's Plutonian shore."
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."
As if his soul, in that one word he did
outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered; not a
feather then he fluttered;
Till I scarcely more than muttered,
"Other friends have flown before;
On the morrow he will leave me, as
my hopes have flown before."
Then the bird said, "Nevermore."
Startled at the stillness broken by
reply so aptly spoken,
"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is
its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master,
whom unmerciful disaster
Followed fast and followed faster, till
his songs one burden bore,--Till the dirges of his hope that
melancholy burden bore
Of "Never---nevermore."
But the raven still beguiling all my sad
soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in
Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to front of bird, and bust and door;
hear discourse so plainly,
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I
Though its answer little meaning, little betook myself to linking
relevancy bore;
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this
For we cannot help agreeing that no
ominous bird of yore -living human being
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly,
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird gaunt and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking "Nevermore."
above his chamber door,
Bird or beast upon the sculptured
Thus I sat engaged in guessing, but no
bust above his chamber door,
syllable expressing
With such name as "Nevermore."
To the fowl, whose fiery eyes now
But the raven, sitting lonely on that
burned into my bosom's core;
placid bust, spoke only that one word This and more I sat divining, with my
On the cushion's velvet lining that the
lamplight gloating o'er
But whose velvet violet lining with the
lamplight gloating o'er
She shall press, ah, nevermore!
head at ease reclining
whom the angels name Lenore--Quoth the raven, “Nevermore”.
"Be that word our sign of parting, bird
or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting-"Get thee back into the tempest and
the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of
that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! -- quit
the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and
take thy form from off my door!"
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."
Then, methought, the air grew
denser, perfumed from an unseen
censer
Swung by seraphim whose footfalls
tinkled on the tufted floor.
"Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent
thee -- by these angels he hath
Sent thee respite---respite and
nepenthe from thy memories of
Lenore!
Quaff, O quaff this kind nepenthe, and And the raven, never flitting, still is
sitting, still is sitting
forget this lost Lenore!"
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore!"
my chamber door;
"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!-And his eyes have all the seeming of a
prophet still, if bird or devil!
demon's that is dreaming.
Whether tempter sent, or whether
And the lamplight o'er him streaming
tempest tossed thee here ashore,
throws his shadow on the floor;
Desolate, yet all undaunted, on this
And my soul from out that shadow
desert land enchanted-that lies floating on the floor
On this home by horror haunted--tell
Shall be lifted---nevermore!
me truly, I implore:
Is there--is there balm in Gilead?--tell
me--tell me I implore!"
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."
"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil-prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that heaven that bends above us-by that God we both adore-Tell this soul with sorrow laden, if,
within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden, whom
the angels name Lenore--Clasp a rare and radiant maiden,
Irony
“My Last Duchess”
By Robert Browning
That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now: Fra Pandolf's
hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
Will't please you sit and look at her? I said
"Fra Pandolf" by design, for never read
Strangers like you that pictured
countenance,
The depth and passion of its earnest glance,
But to myself they turned (since none puts
by
the curtain I have drawn for you, but I)
And seemed they would ask me, if they
durst,
How such a glance came there; so not the
first
Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, 'twas not
Her husband's presence only, called that
spot
Of joy into the Duchess's cheek: perhaps
Fra Pandolf chanced to say "Her mantle laps
Over my lady's wrist too much," or Paint
Must never hope to reproduce the faint
Half flush that dies along her throat": such
stuff
Was courtesy, she thought, and cause
enough
For calling up that spot of joy. She had
A heart--how shall I say?--too soon made
glad,
Too easily impressed; she liked whate'er
She looked on, and her looks went
everywhere.
Sir, 'twas all one! My favor at her breast,
The dropping of the daylight in the West,
The bough of cherries some officious fool
Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule
She rode with round the terrace--all and each
speech,
Or blush, at least. She thanked men--good!
but thanked
Somehow--I know not how--as if she ranked
My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
With anybody's gift. Who'd stoop to blame
This sort of trifling? Even had you skill
In speech--(which I have not)--to make your
will
My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
With anybody's gift. Who'd stoop to blame
This sort of trifling? Even had you skill
In speech--(which I have not)--to make your
will
Quite clear to such a one, and say, "Just this
Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss
Or there exceed the mark"--and if she let
Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set
her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse
--E'en then would be some stooping; and I
choose
Never to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt
Whene'er I passed her; but who passed
without
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave
commands;
Then all smiles stopped together. There she
stands
As if alive. Will't please you rise? We'll meet
the company below, then. I repeat
The Count your master's known munificence
Is ample warrant that no just pretense
Of mine dowry will be disallowed
Though his fair daughter's self, as I avowed
At starting, is my object. Nay, we'll go
Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,
Taming a sea horse, thought a rarity,
Which claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for
me!
Would draw from her alike the approving
Irony
“American Idiot”
By Green Day
Don't want to be an American idiot.
Don't want a nation under the new media
And can you hear the sound of hysteria?
The subliminal mind f**k America.
Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Where everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
For that's enough to argue.
Well maybe I'm the f****t America.
I'm not a part of a redneck agenda.
Now everybody do the propaganda.
And sing along to the age of paranoia.
Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Where everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
For that's enough to argue.
Don't want to be an American idiot.
One nation controlled by the media.
Information age of hysteria.
It's calling out to idiot America.
Welcome to a new kind of tension.
All across the alien nation.
Where everything isn't meant to be okay.
Television dreams of tomorrow.
We're not the ones who're meant to follow.
For that's enough to argue.
Irony/Pastoral Imagery
“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”
By Christopher Marlowe
Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.
And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.
And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;
A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;
A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me, and be my love.
The shepherds' swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.
Questions to consider:
1. What is the overall mood/tone of the poem?
2. What are some of the themes within this poem?
3. What is pastoral? How is this term relevant to our understanding of the
poem?
Irony/Pastoral Imagery
“The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd
By Sir Walter Raleigh
If all the world and love were young,
And truth in every shepherd's tongue,
These pretty pleasures might me move
To live with thee and be thy love.
Time drives the flocks from field to fold
When rivers rage and rocks grow cold,
And Philomel becometh dumb; nightingale
The rest complains of cares to come.
The flowers do fade, and wanton fields
To wayward winter reckoning yields;
A honey tongue, a heart of gall,
Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall.
Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses,
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies
Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten-In folly ripe, in season rotten.
Thy belt of straw and ivy buds,
Thy coral clasps and amber studs,
All these in me no means can move
To come to thee and be thy love.
But could youth last and love still breed,
Had joys no date nor age no need,
Then these delights my mind might move
To live with thee and be thy love.
Questions to consider:
1. Compare and contrast the Nymph’s reply with the Shepherd’s intentions.
2. What is the mood/tone of this poem?
3. What is the theme of this poem?
Rhythm
“Duluth”
By Mason Jennings
Nobody says the things he says
Nobody moves like he moves
Nobody makes me feel this way
I'm going to marry that boy, oh lord
I'm going to marry that boy
Oh my mother said to me
Girl you better watch yourself
'cause a railroad man is an absent man
I'm going to marry that boy, oh lord
I'm going to marry that boy
We'll live in a little town
North of duluth
Where my grandmother
Lived in her youth
When he comes home at night
He'll call to me
My sweet darling girl
Come lay with me
And oh mother nothing compares
Nothing even comes close
To the way he comes up under me
I'm going to marry that boy, oh lord
I'm going to marry that boy
Marry him in his easter clothes
Marry me in white
Beneath a canopy
Of unearthly light
And our friends and family
Will all come to say
God bless this union
God bless this day
Soon his burdens will be mine
Soon this love will set us free
All my hope lies with him now
I'm going to marry that boy, oh lord
I'm going to marry that boy
I'm going to marry that boy, oh lord
I'm going to marry that boy
Lyrical Rhythm
“Get Rhythm”
By Johnny Cash
Hey, get rhythm when you get the blues
Come on and get rhythm when you get the blues
Get a rock 'n' roll feelin' in your bones
Get taps on your toes and get gone
Get rhythm when you get the blues CHORUS
Little shoeshine boy never gets low down
But he's got the dirtiest job in town
Bendin' low at the peoples' feet
On the windy corner of the dirty street
Well, I asked him while he shined my shoes
How'd he keep from gettin' the blues?
He grinned as he raised his little head
Popped a shoeshine rag and then he said VERSE # 1
Hey, get rhythm when you get the blues
Hey, get rhythm when you get the blues
Yes a jumpy rhythm makes you feel so fine
It'll shake all the trouble from your worried mind
Get rhythm when you get the blues
Get rhythm when you get the blues
Hey, get rhythm when you get the blues
Get a rock 'n' roll feelin' in your bones
Get taps on your toes and get gone
Get rhythm when you get the blues CHORUS
Well, I sat down to listen to the shoeshine boy
And I thought I was gonna jump for joy
Slapped on the shoe polish left and right
He took a shoeshine rag and he held it tight
He stopped once to wipe the sweat away
I said you're a mighty little boy to be workin' that way
He said "I like it" with a big wide grin
He kept on a poppin' and he said again VERSE #2
Get rhythm when you get the blues
Come on and get rhythm when you get the blues
It only costs a dime, just a nickel a shoe
Does a million dollars worth of good for you
Get rhythm when you get the blues
CHORUS
Lyrical Poetry
“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”
By William Wordsworth
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
Lyrical Rhythm
“Waiting on the World to Change”
by John Mayer
Me and all my friends
We're all misunderstood
They say we stand for nothing
And there's no way we ever could
Now we see everything that's going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don't have the means
To rise above and beat it
So we keep waiting
(Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
(Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
It's hard to beat the system
When we're standing at a distance
So we keep waiting
(Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
Now if we had the power
To bring our neighbors home from war
They would have never missed a Christmas
No more ribbons on their door
And when you trust your television
What you get is what you got
Cause when they own the information
Oh, they can bend it all they want
That's why we're waiting
(Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
(Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
It's not that we don't care
We just know that the fight ain't fair
So we keep on waiting
(Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
And we're still waiting
(Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
(Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
One day our generation
Is gonna rule the population
So we keep on waiting
(Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
No, we keep on waiting
(Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
(Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
Waiting on the world to change
Waiting on the world to change
Waiting on the world to change
How to Explicate Poetry in Writing
NOVICE
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
INTRODUCTION:
a. The poem, “______,” written by _____, presents the conflict of ______.
b. It speaks to the bigger topic of _____ by creating a _____ mood by using
(auditory device).
c. Also, the meaning of the poem is developed through the use of ______
(cognitive device).
d. Lastly, it takes on the form of a ______ to ultimately cause the reader to
______ (purpose).
e. By looking at “________”, it is evident ____ uses cognitive and auditory
devices to convey ___________(theme/meaning); this is important because
_______. (THESIS)
PATTERN 1: AUDITORY
a. The auditory devices used in this poem create a _____ mood by employing
_____ (auditory device used).
b. He/She emphasizes the mood in the line _____ stating, “___________.”
c. MEAN: By stressing _____________, he intends to make the reader feel as
though _________.
d. MATTER: Through the _____ mood, the author develops the idea that ____.
e. Transition statement.
PATTERN 2: COGNITIVE
a. The cognitive devices used in this poem also develop the figurative meaning
of the poem by employing _____ (cognitive device used).
b. For example, in the line _____, the author states, “____________.”
c. MEAN: By comparing ____ and ____, the author is suggesting _____.
d. MATTER: Through the metaphor/hypebole/imagery of ______, the author
connotes that _______.
e. Transition statement.
FORM and PURPOSE
a. The poem takes the form of a ____ in order to _____ (purpose for audience).
b. This poem uses _______ (rhyme/rhythm/lyrics/satire/lament/blank
verse/sonnet); for example, in line ____ the author states, “____.”
c. ______ poems are known to ____.
d. Along with the mood and the figurative language, the author continues to
develop the underlying theme, _____.
e. Transition Statement
CONCLUSION: Literal and Figurative Meanings, Theme Analysis
a. Although the literal meanings suggest the poem is about ____, the figurative
meanings convey otherwise.
b. To develop this deeper meaning, the author creates a ___ mood by _____.
c. Additionally, she/he uses the cognitive device _____ to suggest ___ about
____.
d. Lastly, the ____ form of the poem emphasizes _____ which lend to the
figurative meanings of the poem.
e. “____” is a poem that teaches us ______.
How to Explicate Poetry in Writing
PROFICIENT
1. INTRODUCTION
a. Introduce poem title, author and summary.
b. Bigger topics and auditory device used.
c. Describe cognitive device used.
d. Describe form of poem and purpose.
e. Thesis statement (how b, c and d create the deeper meaning/theme).
2. PATTEN 1: AUDITORY
a. Device used and mood created
b. SAY: Evidence with lead-in
c. MEAN: Explain quote’s mood
d. MATTER: Connection to theme or deeper meaning
e. Transition Statement
3. PATTERN 2: COGNITIVE
a. Device used and figurative meaning of poem
b. SAY: Evidence with lead-in
c. MEAN: Explain comparison created in figurative language
d. MATTER: Intended meaning of author
e. Transition Statement
4. FORM and PURPOSE
a. Form of poem and intended purpose
b. SAY: Evidence
c. MEAN: Description of form’s purpose
d. MATTER: developing theme
e. Transition Statement
5. CONCLUSION
a. Literal meanings
b. Restate Pattern 1
c. Restate Pattern 2
d. Restate Form and Purpose
e. Figurative meaning (theme)