• One of the three major types of literature (the others being prose and drama)
• “Literature that makes use of highly concise, musical, and emotionally charged language.”
• May “make use of imagery, figurative language, and special devices of sound such as rhyme.”
• Often divided up into lines and stanzas with regular rhythms or meters.
From Prentice Hall Literature:
Timeless Voices, Timeless
Themes

Poetry is a picture, painted with words.
The poet is an artist and language is his color palette. At first glance, the picture may appear to be random brushstrokes, but when the eye looks more deeply, it sees the whole picture as it was meant to be seen.

1. Beguiling- tricking; charming
2. Desolate-deserted; abandoned
3. Languid- drooping; weak
4. Bafflement- puzzlement; bewilderment
5. Chortled- made a jolly, chuckling sound
6. Diverged- branched out in different directions

7. Pallid- pale
8. Depravity- crookedness; corruption
9. Respite- rest; relief
10. Quaint- strange; unusual (in an oldfashioned way)

‘Twas brillig and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snickersnack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
“And has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought —
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
He chortled in his joy.
‘Twas brillig and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
And stood awhile in thought.
And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
Page 352 of your textbook

• What is a stanza?
(Hint: Refer to handout)
• How many stanzas make up
“Jabberwocky”?

• Can you tell what the general idea of the poem is?
• What clues do you get from the poem as to the meaning?
• Even though many of these words are not familiar to you, why can you still get a general idea? Hint: Think structure.

• This poem uses portmanteau words.
• A portmanteau word is an invented word; some are formed by blending two words into one.
• What two words form chortled?
• “O frabjous day!”
• What two words might be blended to form the word “frabjous”?

• You can determine parts of speech for many of these portmanteau words by looking at their function and position in the sentence.
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
Parts of speech:
Slithy:
Toves:
Gyre:
Gimble:
Wabe:

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
Parts of speech:
Slithy: Adjective (modifies toves)
Toves: Noun (probably an animal)
Gyre: Verb (action done by the toves)
Gimble: Verb (action done by the toves)
Wabe: Noun (probably a place)

• Get together in a group of three or four
• Choose one person to write.
• Wherever the poet uses a portmanteau word, replace it with a word that you know.
• Try to make the poem make sense.
• Pick a person to read your new version out loud.

• Did everyone have similar “translation” versions?
• Whose version did you like the best?
• Which parts of the poem are serious?
• Funny?

(see handout)
(see handout)

• A narrative poem is a poem that tells a story, such as Lewis
Carroll’s
“Jabberwocky”

Ballads
A ballad is a poem that tells a story similar to a folk tale or legend. Ballads often have repeated refrains
Epics
An epic is a long, serious poem that tells the story of a heroic figure. A famous example of an epic poem is Homer’s
Odyssey. Stay tuned for more on work.

Page 832

• What is the narrator doing at the beginning of the story?
• What does he hear?
• What is the time of year?
• Why is the narrator sorrowful?
• Who is Lenore?
• How does the narrator feel in stanza
3?
• What does he tell himself in order to calm down?
• What does he do in stanza 4?

• What word does the narrator hear upon opening the door?
• What does he tell himself that he is hearing?
• What does he see when he flings the shutter open?
• What literary device is used in line 41?
• What words does Poe use to create a suspenseful mood in stanza 8?
• What word does the raven continue to repeat?

• How does the speaker rationalize the raven’s behavior?
• In lines 79-84, what does the speaker determine is the raven’s purpose?
• What sudden change occurs in Line 85?
• What question is the speaker asking the bird?
• What is the raven’s answer to this question?
• What does the speaker want the raven to do in next to last stanza?
• How does the raven respond?
• How does the poem end?

• Write at least two paragraphs about what the raven might symbolize and why
Poe chose the raven instead of another bird. Be sure to give details that support your answer.

Write about a time when you have been truly scared. How did it make you feel? Were you alone or with someone else? What were the circumstances? Be as detailed as possible.

• A lyric poem is highly emotional in nature.
• It expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet
• Lyric poetry has a musical feel to it and may resemble a song
Examples from your book:
“The Eagle,” by Alfred,
Lord Tennyson
(page 796)

Ode-Serious and thoughtful with a precise, formal structure.
Sonnet- 14 lines long, divided into two groups; English and Italian. (see handout for terms)
– English- also called Shakespearean, composed of three quatrains and a final couplet
– Italian- also called Petrarchan, divided into two quatrains and a six-line sestet.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and
I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

• This poem is symbolic of a larger topic than simply walking down the road? What is that larger topic?
• What is the author’s tone?
– Remember…tone is the author’s attitude toward his subject
• What has made all the difference?
• What is the rhyme scheme?

• Choose a song that you like and either copy it down by hand or print out the lyrics Make sure your poem adheres to the following guidelines:
• No obscenities or obscene references (songs with obscene references will result in a failing grade for this assignment)
• You should be able to find at least one example of figurative language such as metaphor, simile, symbolism, or imagery.
• Write 1 paragraph that details the meaning of the song and 1 that addresses the literary devices used. (Bonus points for extra literary devices)

• “Elephant Love
Medley” from Moulin
Rouge
• Personification
• Metaphor

• A haiku is a Japanese poem composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables.
• Haiku often focus on nature.
• See page 844 of your textbook for examples

• A limerick is a light, humorous poem of five lines with a rhyme scheme of aabba.
• Limericks usually have a specific rhythmic pattern
There once was a lady from Niger
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger
They returned from the ride
With the lady inside
And the smile on the face of the tiger

It’s a classical poetry form
In which rhythm and rhyme must conform but it gets no respect which you’d clearly expect
Unless it decides to reform.

• “Dream Deferred”
(pg 798)
• Simile, imagery
• “Dreams”
(pg 799)
• “Summer”
(pg 815)
• “I Wandered Lonely
As a Cloud”
• Metaphor
• Onomatopoeia
• Personification

Choose one poem that we have covered, or another in the book, and make a collage that embodies the topics and themes of the poem. Use a piece of posterboard and cover it with pictures either from magazines or other sources. Leave no white space.