AGENDA

•Discussion: Sestina/Villanelle

• Terms 24- 30

• Lecture: Free Verse

•Guided Writing: Free Verse

•Project #1

THE REVIEW

18.English Sonnet

19. Italian Sonnet

20.Stanza

21.Couplet

22.Quatrain

23.Octave

24.Sestet

THE VILLANELLETHE SESTINA

DISCUSSION SUBJECT: 10 MINUTES

Share your work. Identify both

form and general conventions.

TERMS

24 SestinaA poem of thirty-nine lines and written in iambic pentameter. Its six-line stanzas repeat in an intricate and prescribed order the final word in each of the first six lines. After the sixth stanza, there is a three-line envoi, which uses the six repeating words, two per line.

25 VillanelleA nineteen-line lyric poem that relies heavily on repetition. The first and third lines alternate throughout the poem, which is structured in six stanzas --five tercets and a concluding quatrain. Examples include Bishop's "One Art," Roethke's "The Waking," and Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night."

26. Tercet

A three-line stanza, as the stanzas in Frost's "Acquainted With

the Night" and Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind." The three-line

stanzas or sections that together constitute the sestet of a

Petrarchan or Italian sonnet.

27. Elision

The omission of an unstressed vowel or syllable to preserve the

meter of a line of poetry. Alexander uses elision in "Sound and

Sense": "Flies o'er th' unbending corn...."

28. PersonificationThe endowment of inanimate objects or abstract concepts

with animate or living qualities. An example: "The yellow

leaves flaunted their color gaily in the breeze." Wordsworth's "I

wandered lonely as a cloud" includes personification.

29. Free verse (Open form)

Poetry without a regular pattern of meter or rhyme. The verse is "free" in not

being bound by earlier poetic conventions requiring poems to adhere to an

explicit and identifiable meter and rhyme scheme in a form such as the

sonnet or ballad. Modern and contemporary poets of the twentieth and

twenty-first centuries often employ free verse. Williams's "This Is Just to Say" is

one of many examples.

30. Image

A concrete representation of a sense impression, a feeling, or an idea.

Imagery refers to the pattern of related details in a work. In some works one

image predominates either by recurring throughout the work or by

appearing at a critical point in the plot. Often writers use multiple images

throughout a work to suggest states of feeling and to convey implications of

thought and action. Some modern poets, such as Ezra Pound and William

Carlos Williams, write poems that lack discursive explanation entirely and

include only images. Among the most famous examples is Pound's poem "In

a Station of the Metro":

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;

Petals on a wet, black bough.

• FREE VERSE

Writing Free Verse

LECTURE SUBJECT

In A Station Of The Metroby Ezra Pound

The apparition of these faces in the

crowd:

Petals on a wet, black bough.

Title is really a

line in the poem

No extra words

Imagery/

metaphor

List of the "don'ts" that Pound laid down in his 1913 essay on

imagism:

"Use no superfluous word,"

"Go in fear of abstractions,"

"Don't be 'viewy.'"

The Snow Man by Wallace Stevens

One must have a mind of winter

To regard the frost and the boughs

Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;

And have been cold a long time

To behold the junipers shagged with ice,

The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think

Of any misery in the sound of the wind,

In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land

Full of the same wind

That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,

And, nothing himself, beholds

Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

What conventions

make this a poem

rather than prose?

The Snow Man by Wallace Stevens

One must have a mind of winter

To regard the frost and the boughs

Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;

And have been cold a long time

To behold the junipers shagged with ice,

The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think

Of any misery in the sound of the wind,

In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land

Full of the same wind

That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,

And, nothing himself, beholds

Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

Metaphor: A snow man for

a man in the snow

Assonance: one must:

metaphor/ mind of winter

Imagery

imagery

Assonance: distant glitter

Any misery in

Sound/wind

Sound

Sound/land

Same Wind

Same place

Listener/listens

Nothing x3

La Figlia Che Piange (The Weeping Girl)

by T. S. Eliot

Stand on the highest pavement of the stair —

Lean on a garden urn —

Weave, weave the sunlight in your hair —

Clasp your flowers to you with a pained surprise —

Fling them to the ground and turn

With a fugitive resentment in your eyes:

But weave, weave the sunlight in your hair.

So I would have had him leave,

So I would have had her stand and grieve,

So he would have left

As the soul leaves the body torn and bruised,

As the mind deserts the body it has used.

I should find

Some way incomparably light and deft,

Some way we both should understand,

Simple and faithless as a smile and a shake of the hand.

What

conventions

make this a

poem rather

than prose?

La Figlia Che Piange (The Weeping Girl)

by T. S. Eliot

Stand on the highest pavement of the stair —

Lean on a garden urn —

Weave, weave the sunlight in your hair —

Clasp your flowers to you with a pained surprise —

Fling them to the ground and turn

With a fugitive resentment in your eyes:

But weave, weave the sunlight in your hair.

So I would have had him leave,

So I would have had her stand and grieve,

So he would have left

As the soul leaves the body torn and bruised,

As the mind deserts the body it has used.

I should find

Some way incomparably light and deft,

Some way we both should understand,

Simple and faithless as a smile and a shake of the hand.

A

B

A

C

B

D

A repetition of line

three

A repetition of So I

would have had

A

B

C Repetition of As

D

E

B Rep of Some way

F couplet

F simile

Free verse, despite the seeming lack of

restrictions, should be as carefully fashioned

as any formal poem. It is as difficult to write

a good free verse poem as one in a

traditional form because you must not only

invent your own conventions but fulfill them

as well.

There is no standard, of course, for how long

a free verse poem line should be. Usually a

line will have at least three beats to it if it's to

have any substance to it. A single word as

an entire line is to be used sparingly as it

gives one word inordinate emphasis.

Even though the lines of a free verse poem don't have

to have a fixed meter, they should still have cadences

and patterns and repetitions of sounds, which give the

words their music. These rhythms help carry the reader

along or slow the reader down. Natural stresses of the

language will call attention to certain words. In a free

verse poem, you have the freedom to place these

words so they draw extra attention to create tension.

Likewise, while lines of rhymed poetry are more regularly

end stopped, the syntax of free verse allows for

enjambment. These pauses are part of the meter and

rhythm of the line.

A big challenge is avoiding the abstract and focusing on

the concrete to create images.

An abstraction is anything that is not tangible, a noun that

does not bring a picture to mind. Love, hate, grief, justice,

and time are all abstractions. Images are nouns that are

universally seen similarly in our minds. Tables, canyons and

trees are all images. People imagine them in similar ways.

Concrete images give us the ability to understand another

viewpoint.

Abstractions are often unavoidable, and that’s where

metaphor, simile, and personification come in handy. You

can use this figurative language to help connect an

abstraction with an image: My love is a rose

Formatting a poem can make an essential difference in rhythm and

meaning. Short lines, emphasis, and indentations create pauses in

the reader’s mind. Try indenting to break up ideas or isolate lines you

see as important. Experiment with formatting; use it to change

rhythm and speed.

Formatting also includes italicization, bolding, quotation marks, and

parentheses. These devices can be used to identify different voices.

Use italics to suggest a whisper and bold as a shout or clear-ringing

voice. Parentheses will likely be read as an aside. Quotation marks

emphasize words. Use these techniques to make the voices more

exciting and dynamic.

Grammatical Errors: Do not disregard common grammatical rules

unless there is substantial need for it. Use punctuation that fits the

purpose: capitalize and use correct spelling.

Clichés: Don’t write something you’ve heard. Analyze images and

ideas for originality. Abstractions are far more overused than images,

so think of something fresh and new to describe.

Alliteration: Forms of alliteration can make a poem taste good. Just

don’t overdo it. Assonance is less noticeable but often more effective

than consonance or alliteration.

Repetition: Repetition works sometimes, but it is often overused. Don’t repeat the same exact lines just to take up space. Repetition in

formatting and theme is often necessary and very effective.

Know what you are writing about. If you can’t

completely dissect your poem and tell a reader what

every single word’s purpose is, then you can improve

your verse. Be aware of how every symbol and

metaphor complements your poem as you write it.

Later you can edit it, but if there isn’t a strong base

there will not be a strong finished piece.

The more you read and write poetry, the better you’ll

read and write poetry.

GUIDED WRITING

This Is Just To Sayby William Carlos Williams

I have eatenthe plumsthat were inthe icebox

and whichyou were probablysavingfor breakfast

Forgive methey were deliciousso sweetand so cold

Think about something that you did or

said to someone that you regret.

Write a poem of apology, comprising

three to five four-line stanzas, with the

same number of stressed syllables in

each line.

Avoid sentimentality. Rely on images,

rhythm, and structure to convey your

regret.

Ratatouille A spicy

French stew.

Susquehanna A

river in

Pennsylvania.

Umbrella

Protection from

sun or rain.

Penumbra A half-

shadow.

Opulent Lush,

luxuriant.

Mellifluous Sweet

sounding.

Lithe

Slender

and

flexible.

Languor

Listlessness,

inactivity.

Ingénue A naïve

young woman.

Gossamer

The finest

piece of

thread, a

spider's silk

Furtive Shifty,

sneaky.

Flowers, panther, cinnamon, sunset, rain, cookies

Ephemeral Short-

lived.

Dalliance A brief

love affair.

Bungalow A small,

cozy cottage.

Fetching

Prettyisolate

justify

deepen

define

Epiphany A sudden

revelation.

Harbinger

Messenger

with news of

the future

Bucolic In a lovely rural setting

resist

resonate Propinquity An

inclination. Brood

To think alone..

envision

evaluate

willowy

drab

mundane

tarnished

desolate

Make a list of ten

words. Incorporate

these words into a

poem made up of

three stanzas

composed of five

lines each.

"When you have nothing to say, say

nothing."

- Charles Caleb Colto

"The only thing

necessary for the

triumph of evil is

for good men to

do nothing."

-Edmunde Burke

"The first rule of Fight Club is--

you do not talk about Fight

Club."

(Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden,

Fight Club)The three grand

essentials of

happiness are:

something to do,

someone to love,

and something to

hope for. --

Alexander

Chalmers

Choose an aphorism and write a poem that

incorporates the words or

meaning into it.

Make a list of

things you're

grateful for.

Beneath each

item, free-

associate a list of

objects. Pick ten

from your lists of

objects and use

them to write a

poem.

Write a poem that

addresses a past or

future version of

yourself. Write in the

second-person

singular. Reassure a

younger self, send

warnings to a future

self, or ask questions to

which you don’t know

the answers.

POETRY: PROJECT #1: 50 POINTS

For this project, choose two or three different kinds

of poems from your collection to submit for a grade.

For example, you might submit a Haiku, Free Verse,

and a Sonnet. If you are submitting longer poems,

you might submit only two: for example, a Sestina

and a Villanelle or your Blank Verse and a Sonnet.

Writer’s Feedback Workshop: Class 6

Final project due Friday, week 4, before noon.

Submit through Kaizena.

HOMEWORK

•Post # 5: Free Verse

•Choose two or three different-style poems to revise for project 1.

•Bring copies of your proposed project for each member of your group to our next class meeting.

• Study Terms: 1-30: Test at our next meeting