Poetry Notes-Practice

Warm Up: Answer the ?
below
What do you think you

should do as you read
poetry?
Get out your A Tale Tell Heart
Comprehension ?’s and Assignment
or CC if it is incomplete
Introduction to
th
8 Grade Poetry
Recognize challenges as opportunities for creative growth
What I think you should do as you
Read Poetry?
 As you read each poem, read it with a pencil in hand.
 Take notes (read with a purpose).
 Highlight or underline parts of the poem that you like or find
puzzling.
 Circle words in the poem that you enjoy or find interesting.
 Write down questions about each poem to be raised in class
discussion.
Remember, when we read poetry out loud, it is meant to be read

with feeling and appropriate tone..
What makes writing a poem
vs. a story?
 poetic language appeals to feelings –
description
 set in a special form
 has a special rhythm to it
 words chosen on how they sound as well as
what they say
Example #1
As the cat
climbed over
the top of Line break –
the jam closet the break in a
first the right forefoot
carefully
line of poetry.
then the hind What is the effect
stepped down of these deliberate
into the pit of the empty breaks on: Pace?
flowerpot Focus? Meaning?
- William Carlos Willams
Questions to ask when reading a poem:
 When/where is the poem set?

 What situation does it describe?
 What story does it tell?
 Who is the speaker?
Poetry is about suggestion rather than direct

statements. You have to think about all elements to
figure out what it means to you.
Elements of Poetry
 sound
 shape MEANING
 images
Topic = subject
Theme = message
Example #2
 This is just to say I have eaten the plums
that were in the icebox and which you were
probably saving for breakfast forgive me
they were delicious so sweet and so cold
Example #2
This is just to say
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably saving for breakfast
forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
Literal v. Figurative
Language
ES: Demonstrate intellectual courage
Literal v. Figurative Analysis
 Literal (Denotative) Level – looking at the
words for their usual meaning without
exaggeration or imagination.
 Figurative (Connotative) Level – using

words out of their ordinary meaning to add
beauty and force.
Figurative (Connotative) Language
 language that represents one thing in terms
of another, usually by comparison.
 Figurative language creates vivid sensory

images in our minds and makes poems
fresh and original.
The Eagle
 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.
- Alfred Lord Tennyson

 Summary - Denotative
 The poem has a very simple concept. It focuses on one eagle, alone in the
wild. In the first line, the eagle is atop a mountain, poised to strike. He is
high up where no other animal or human can go. He is alone in his
grandeur, with the sun and the bright blue sky forming the perfect
background scenery.
 The second stanza shows the only action of the eagle. The first and second
line show that as he watches from his high perch, the sea moves below
him. Then, in the final line, the eagle makes a grand dive towards the sea.
The poem ends here, with the reader not quite sure why the eagle dived
off his mountain roost.
The Eagle: Analysis
LITERAL:
Analysis: Tennyson provides the image of a predatory bird scouring the sea
for prey.
FIGURATIVE:
Example: "He clasps the crag with crooked hands." (line 1).
Analysis: The hard consonant sounds combined with images of crags and
crooked hands set up the desolateness of nature and its cruelty.
Example: "And like a thunderbolt he falls." (line 6).
Analysis: Tennyson employs a simile, comparing the eagle's descent to a

thunderbolt. It hints at the suddenness at which life can end.
Types of Figurative Language
 metaphor - a direct comparison between two seemingly unlike things.
 simile - a comparison between two seemingly unlike things using like or

as.
 personification - giving human characteristics to inanimate objects.
 allusion - a reference to a famous person, event, or other literary work.
 hyperbole - a deliberate exaggeration.
 pun – a play on words - when a word or phrase is used with two

different meanings.
Figurative Language:
Simile and Metaphor
ES: Make decisions after reflection and
review
SIMILE
Descriptions of people, places, or things are often made
more vivid through the use of comparisons.
Definition: Any comparison that is introduced by the

preposition like or as
 Harold was like a werewolf, waiting for the moon to turn

full.
 Linda’s personality is as exciting as a carton of low-fat

cottage cheese
METAPHOR
Metaphors offer a more dramatic way of drawing a
comparison. Unlike similes, there are no prepositions
used.
Definition: draws a comparison. States that one thing is

something else. Just watch that you don’t over-use them –
then they become clichés…
 Life is just a bowl of cherries
 He is a stuffed shirt
 Jane is a tower of strength

Cliché
 a phrase or opinion that is overused and
betrays a lack of original thought.
 Meek as a mouse
 As old as the hills
 Busy as a bee
 Strong as a bull
 Brave as a lion
 etc.
Other Poetic Devices
ES: Make decisions after reflection and
review
Vivid and precise Word Choice
 Use what we learned about simile and
metaphor yesterday to make these mundane
sentences sparkle! Select any 3 - but avoid
clichés!
 The moon was full
 The tidal wave was big
 The diamond was bright
 The keys on the jailer’s belt were heavy
 The tea was hot
 The man walked quickly
Personification
 A figure of speech where animals, ideas, or
inorganic objects are given human
characteristics
 “The wind stood up and gave a shout. He
whistled on his two fingers.”
 The thunder grumbled like an old man.
(personification and simile)
 Read “Autumn”
What is this poem personifying?
It squats,
head hanging low,
patient
It watches through my skylight
as the sun fades into the trees,
Then suddenly becomes alert,
preparing for the assault
of darkness
When night creeps through it raises its metal-sheathed head

so its gaping mouths face the oncoming foe
Click!
Allusion
 A reference in a work of literature to a person,
place, or event in another work of literature,
history, art, or music
 He gave a Herculean effort during the football
game.
 He was a real Scrooge when asked to donate to
the organization.
 I thought the software was safe to open, but it was
a Trojan Horse.
Grass- Carl Sandburg
Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo,
Shovel them under and let me work –
I am the grass: I cover all
And pile them high at Gettysburg.

And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.
Shovel them under and let me work.
Two years, ten years, and the passengers ask the conductor:
What place is this?
Where are we now?
I am the grass.
Let me work.
“Grass” – Carl Sandburg
Literal: Read aloud first time and answer questions:
 What is the setting?
 Who is the narrator?
 What story does it tell?
 Where is the crucial moment where the action shifts? – what do you make
of this change?
Figurative: Read again silently and try to answer the following questions:
 Where do you see examples of PERSONIFICATION
 What is the TONE of the poem? ( I hear 2 distinct tones…)
 What are possible THEMES of the poem?( A couple work here…)
 What is Sandburg saying about these themes?
Hyperbole
 An extravagant exaggeration
 You’ve grown like a bean sprout.

 I’m older than the hills.
Symbolism
 Many words like “fire” can have multiple
meaning – literal and figuratively. This adds
to the mystery of poetry
And Now for Words Related to Sound
 Alliteration
 Assonance
 Rhyme
 Meter
Alliteration
 The repetition of consonant sounds (often a
the beginning of words) – often used in
advertising/slogans
 “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too!”
 Many tongue twisters are examples of alliteration
– Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
Assonance
 The repetition of vowel sounds
 “I like Ike”
 “He gives his harness bells a shake” (from Robert
Frost’s “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy
Evening”)
 A blinding sight
Rhyme and Rhyme Scheme
 Rhyme-A word that corresponds with another
in related sound
 Behold, cold, bold, sold, doled, polled, etc.
 Rhyme Scheme is the pattern in which
sounds in lines of poetry end.
 Each new sound in a poem is assigned a different
letter. (The first line of a rhyming poem is always
assigned the letter “a.”)
 If a sound repeats, it is assigned the same letter as
the line in which the same sound appeared.
Meter
 The measured arrangement of words in
poetry, as by accentual rhythm, syllabic
quantity, or the number of syllables in a line
 There are several types of set meter

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Warm Up: Answer the ?

What do you think you

Remember, when we read poetry out loud, it is meant to be read

 When/where is the poem set?

Poetry is about suggestion rather than direct

 Figurative (Connotative) Level – using

 Figurative language creates vivid sensory

- Alfred Lord Tennyson

Example: "And like a thunderbolt he falls." (line 6).

Analysis: Tennyson employs a simile, comparing the eagle's descent to a

 simile - a comparison between two seemingly unlike things using like or

 personification - giving human characteristics to inanimate objects.

 allusion - a reference to a famous person, event, or other literary work.

 hyperbole - a deliberate exaggeration.

 pun – a play on words - when a word or phrase is used with two

Definition: Any comparison that is introduced by the

 Harold was like a werewolf, waiting for the moon to turn

 Linda’s personality is as exciting as a carton of low-fat

Definition: draws a comparison. States that one thing is

 Life is just a bowl of cherries

 Jane is a tower of strength

When night creeps through it raises its metal-sheathed head

And pile them high at Gettysburg.

 You’ve grown like a bean sprout.

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