Poetry Po·et·ry...

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Name Period Date

Poetry Po·et·ry ˈPōətrē/

Poetry Classifications

A. By Content: How a poem’s subject matter is presented 1. Narrative: Tells a story and thus utilizes the elements of fiction (i.e., plot, setting, characterization,

etc.) 2. Dramatic: Speaker is someone other than poet; uses dialogue & presented to an audience (seen or

unseen) 3. Lyric: Expresses an idea or emotion or paints a picture

B. By Form: How a poem is structured

1. Rhymed Verse: Utilizes some regular meter and end rhyme 2. Blank Verse: Employs unrhymed iambic pentameter 3. Free Verse: Contains no regular meter or rhyme

NARRATIVE POETRY: tells a story.

The Title: What is a highwayman?

The Highwayman

By Alfred Noyes

1 The wind was a torrent1 of darkness among the gusty trees,

The moon was a ghostly galleon2 tossed upon cloudy seas,

The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,

And the highwayman came riding--

Riding--riding--

The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.

2 He’d a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,

A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin;

They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh.

And he rode with a jeweled twinkle,

His pistol butts a-twinkle,

His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jeweled sky.

3 Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,

He tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;

He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there

But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,

Bess, the landlord's daughter,

Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

4 And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked

Where Tim the ostler3 listened; his face was white and peaked;

His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like moldy hay,

But he loved the landlord's daughter,

The landlord's red-lipped daughter,

Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say--

1 A violent stream of liquid 2 heavy square-rigged sailing ship of the 15th to early 18th centuries used for war or commerce 3 one who takes care of horses or mules

What is a metaphor? Underline 3 metaphors in stanza 1 and list the two things being compared.

Rhyme Scheme: What is the poem’s rhyme scheme?

Label similar sounding words with the same letter.

Start with “A”.

What is alliteration?

Give an example of alliteration in stanza 3 and 4. Example: “love” and “long” – “L” sound, which reinforces the depth of their love.

Who is Tim? Highlight the diction

that describes his physical as well as emotional state. How might Tim pose a threat to Bess

and the Highwayman?

Highlight the highway man’s physical description and note its

connotations.


5 “One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I’m after a prize tonight,

But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;

Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry4 me through the day,

Then look for me by moonlight,

Watch for me by moonlight,

I’ll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way.”

6 He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,

But she loosened her hair in the casement. His face burnt like a brand

As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;

And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,

(Oh, sweet black waves in the moonlight!)

Then he tugged at his rein in the moonlight, and galloped away to the West.

7 He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon;

And out of the tawny sunset, before the rise of the moon,

When the road was a gypsy’s ribbon, looping the purple moor,

A red-coat troop came marching--

Marching--marching--

King George's men came marching, up to the old inn-door.

8 They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale instead,

But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed;

Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets at their side.

There was death at every window;

And hell at one dark window;

For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride.

9 They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest.

They had bound a musket beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast.

“Now keep good watch!” and they kissed her. She heard the doomed man say--

Look for me by moonlight;

Watch for me by moonlight;

I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!

10 She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good.

She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood.

They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years,

Till, now, on the stroke of midnight,

Cold, on the stroke of midnight,

The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!

11 The tip of one finger touched it. She strove no more for the rest.

Up, she stood up to attention, with the muzzle beneath her breast.

She would not risk their hearing; she would not strive again;

For the road lay bare in the moonlight;

Blank and bare in the moonlight;

And the blood of her veins, in the moonlight, throbbed to her love’s refrain.

4 to force to move along by harassing

Stanza 8 & 9 Why has “King George’s men”

shown up & why do they treat Bess as they do? Who snitched?

Stanza 10 What is a symbol?

Given the twisted plot that’s developing, what object(s) might serve as a symbol?

What is personification? Find the example of personification in stanza 10? What is being personified?

Stanza 11 What diction heightens the suspense and increases the

tension?

Imagery (stanza 6 & 7) Highlight the colors that help paint a vivid mental picture.

What are the connotations of these colors? Given these facts, what do

you predict might happen?

Connotation (Stanza 5) What are the connotations and/or symbolism associated with the following: “kiss,” “yellow,” “morning,” and

“moonlight”?


12 Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hoofs ringing clear;

Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did not hear?

Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,

The highwayman came riding,

Riding, riding!

The red-coats looked to their priming! She stood up, straight and still!

13 Tlot-tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot-tlot, in the echoing night!

Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!

Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath,

Then her finger moved in the moonlight,

Her musket shattered the moonlight,

Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him--with her death.

14 He turned; he spurred to the west; he did not know who stood

Bowed, with her head o'er the musket, drenched with her own red blood.

Not till the dawn he heard it, his face grew gray to hear

How Bess, the landlord’s daughter, The landlord’s black-eyed daughter,

Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.

15 Back, he spurred like a madman, shouting a curse to the sky,

With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high!

Blood-red were his spurs in the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat,

When they shot him down on the highway,

Down like a dog on the highway,

And he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat.

16 And still of a winter’s night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,

When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,

When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,

A highwayman comes riding--

Riding--riding--

A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.

17 Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard;

He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred;

He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there

But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,

Bess, the landlord's daughter,

Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

Subject: In a word or two, what is “The Highwayman” about?

Theme Statement: In “The Highwayman,” Alfred Noyes suggests that...

Stanza 12 What is onomatopoeia?

Highlights examples of this sound device in stanzas 12. Stanza 13 Oh no! What happened?

Highlight the diction that reinforces the tragic violence.

Stanza 14 What is foreshadowing? Highlight the diction that

foreshadows a future tragedy.

What is simile?

List an example of a simile in stanza 15. What two things are

being compared?

The final stanzas repeat part of the poem’s story, but with a twist.

What word does Noyes change in the final stanza? What does this word let readers

know has changed? How has the symbol introduced in stanza 10 changed? What is its significance now? What is irony?

Return to the title: Who has

robbed whom now?


DRAMATIC POETRY: presents the voice of an imaginary character (or characters) speaking directly, without any additional

narration by the author.

Incident in a Rose Garden

By Donald Justice Gardener: Sir, I encountered Death

Just now among our roses.

Thin as a scythe he stood there

I knew him by his pictures.

He had his black coat on, 5

Black gloves, a broad black hat.

I think he would have spoken,

Seeing his mouth stood open.

Big it was, with white teeth.

As soon as he beckoned me, I ran. 10

I ran until I found you.

Sir, I am quitting my job.

I want to see my sons

Once more before I die.

I want to see California. 15

Master: Sir, you must be that stranger

Who threatened my gardener

This is my property, sir.

I welcome only friends here.

Death: Sir, I knew your father. 20

And we were friends at the end.

As for your gardener,

I did not threaten him.

Old men mistake my gestures.

I only meant to ask him 25

To show me to his master.

I take it you are he?

Subject: In a word or two, what is “Incident in a Rose Garden” about?

Theme Statement: In “Incident in a Rose Garden,” Donald Justice suggests that...

TPFASTT Title: What are the connotation associated with the poem’s title?

Consider symbolism & allusion.

Paraphrase: What is literally said or done in the poem?

Figurative Language: How does the gardener recognize Death?

Highlight and annotate ALL diction that connotates death.

Highlight color diction & note its symbolism.

What is the image of Death?

What is the literary device at work given that Death is alive?

Highlight & label examples of

juxtaposition. Highlight & label examples of irony.

Attitude: What is the overall TONE of the poem? Subject:

The poem is about ? Theme: What does the author suggest about this

subject? Title:

Return to the title. How does the title now take on a greater

significance? Irony? Pun? What?


LYRIC POETRY: (from Greek lyra “song”) a short poem with one speaker (not necessarily the poet) who expresses thought

and feeling. Figurative Language: language that goes beyond the actual meanings of words so that the reader gains new insights

into the objects or subjects in the work. Common figures of speech include simile, metaphor, personification, symbol, hyperbole, and onomatopoeia.

I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud – Simile

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, 5

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: 10

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Outdid the sparkling waves in glee;

A poet could not but be gay, 15

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, 20

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

TPFASTT

Title: What are the connotation associated with the poem’s title?

How might a cloud be lonely?

Paraphrase: What is literally said or done in the poem? Figurative Language: Highlight & label the main simile. Highlight & label examples if vivid imagery.

Highlight & label the connotations of ALL nature & celestial diction. Highlight & label ALL diction that connotates

loneliness & happiness. What literary device is at work?

Attitude:

What is the overall TONE of the poem? Subject: The poem is about ?

Theme: What does the author suggest about this subject?

Title:

Return to the title. How does the title now take on a greater significance? Irony? Pun? What?


A Dream Deferred – Simile

By Langston Hughes What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore--

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over--

like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Dreams -- Metaphor

By Langston Hughes Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams

For when dreams go

Life is a barren field

Frozen with snow.


What does “deferred mean? Paraphrase: What is literally said or done in the poem? Figurative Language: Highlight & label the main simile.

Highlight & label examples if vivid imagery. Highlight & label ALL diction that connotates disgust and/or decay.

Attitude: What is the overall TONE of the poem?

Subject: The poem is about ? Theme:

What does the author suggest about this subject? Title:

Return to the title. How does the title now take on a greater significance? Irony? Pun? What?

TPFASTT

Title: What are the connotation associated with the poem’s title?

What does “deferred mean?

Paraphrase: What is literally said or done in the poem?

Figurative Language: Highlight & label the main simile. Highlight & label examples if vivid imagery.

Highlight & label ALL diction that connotates disgust and/or decay.

Attitude: What is the overall TONE of the poem? Subject:

The poem is about ? Theme: What does the author suggest about this

subject?

Title:

Return to the title. How does the title now take on a greater significance? Irony? Pun?

What?


Hope Is a Thing with Feathers -- Metaphor

By Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune--without the words,

And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard; 5

And sore1 must be the storm 1 great or severe

That could abash2 the little bird 2 to make ashamed or self-conscious

That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,

And on the strangest sea; 10

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.

MARK TEXT AS YOU READ and complete all activities. Activities mirror, but also extend normal TPFASTT activities.

1. Define “hope” in your own words.

2. What figure of speech does Dickinson use to define “hope”? Cite three examples of diction and its line number that proves answer.

3. What imagery does Dickinson use to help visualize and hear “hope”? What symbolism/allusions arise when using this visual imagery?

4. Why does the bird “perch” in the soul? How would hope “perch,” and why does it perch in the soul?

5. The bird “sings.” Is this a good or a bad thing? Explain.

6. The tune is “without words.” Is hope a matter of words, or is it a feeling about the future, a feeling which consists both of desire and expectation?

7. What does the word “gale” connotate? Why is hope “sweetest” when “the gale is heard”? When do we most need hope?


8. What are the connotations of the word “sore”? How “sore” could this apply to the human condition? 9. If the bird is “abashed,” what would happen to the individual’s hope?

10. Why does Dickinson suggest by describing “hope” as a “little bird”?

11. Cite a juxtaposition in stanza three. What does Dickinson suggest about where hope exists through this juxtaposition?

12. What are the various connotations of the word “chillest”? What are the connotations of the word “warm” (line 8)? Which meaning of “chillest” best fits with hope keeping an individual “warm”?

13. What are the connotations of “strangest” (or strange)? How could hope be heard here?

14. What are the connotations of “sea”? What symbolism arises by the use of this word?

15. The last two lines are introduced by “Yet.” What does this particular word signal in a poem? What kind of connection does “yet” establish with the preceding ideas/stanzas? What are the various connotations of the word “extremity”? How might

these various connotations relate to the poem? 16. What are the connotations of the word “crumb”? Is “a crumb” appropriate for a bird? Explain. Would you be satisfied if you teacher/parent/employer offered you only “a crumb” in payment for your work?

17. What is the overall tone of the poem (from Tone brochure choose two adjectives)? 18. Does “Hope” have a definite rhyme scheme? Explain how Dickinson’s choice helps

reinforce the poem’s theme. What type of poem is “Hope is a thing with feather” by its form?

19. Subject: “Hope” is about (duh!)

20. Theme: In “Hope is a Thing with feathers,” Dickinson suggests...


The Bells – Onomatopoeia

By Edgar Allen Poe

HEAR the sledges with the bells, Silver bells! What a world of merriment their melody foretells! How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, In the icy air of night! 5 While the stars, that oversprinkle All the heavens, seem to twinkle

With a crystalline delight; Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme, 10 To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells

From the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells— From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

Hear the mellow wedding bells, 15 Golden bells! What a world of happiness their harmony foretells! Through the balmy air of night How they ring out their delight! From the molten-golden notes, 20 And all in tune, What a liquid ditty floats

To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats On the moon! Oh, from out the sounding cells, 25 What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!

How it swells! How it dwells On the Future! how it tells Of the rapture that impels 30

To the swinging and the ringing Of the bells, bells, bells, Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells—

To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells! 35 Hear the loud alarum bells, Brazen bells! What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells! In the startled ear of night How they scream out their affright! 40 Too much horrified to speak,

They can only shriek, shriek, Out of tune, In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire, In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire, 45

Leaping higher, higher, higher, With a desperate desire, And a resolute endeavor Now—now to sit or never,

By the side of the pale-faced moon. 50 Oh, the bells, bells, bells! What a tale their terror tells Of Despair!

How they clang, and clash, and roar! What a horror they outpour 55 On the bosom of the palpitating air!

Yet the ear it fully knows, By the twanging And the clanging,


When are the various occasions bells might ring?

Paraphrase: What is literally said or done in each stanza?

Identify & define ALL unfamiliar words.

Figurative Language: ALL stanzas highlight & label

examples of onomatopoeia. Identify the type of bell?

Highlight & label ALL

diction that characterizes this type of bell.

Highlight & label the various

figures of speech such as imagery, alliteration, assonance, and allusion.

Attitude: What is the TONE in each stanza?


How the danger ebbs and flows; 60 Yet the ear distinctly tells, In the jangling And the wrangling, How the danger sinks and swells,— By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells, 65

Of the bells, Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells— In the clamor and the clangor of the bells!

Hear the tolling of the bells, 70 Iron bells! What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!

In the silence of the night How we shiver with affright At the melancholy menace of their tone! 75 For every sound that floats

From the rust within their throats Is a groan. And the people—ah, the people, They that dwell up in the steeple, 80

All alone, And who tolling, tolling, tolling, In that muffled monotone, Feel a glory in so rolling

On the human heart a stone— 85 They are neither man nor woman, They are neither brute nor human, They are Ghouls:

And their king it is who tolls; And he rolls, rolls, rolls, 90 Rolls A pæan from the bells;

And his merry bosom swells With the pæan of the bells, And he dances, and he yells: 95 Keeping time, time, time,

In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the pæan of the bells, Of the bells: Keeping time, time, time, 100 In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the throbbing of the bells, Of the bells, bells, bells— To the sobbing of the bells;

Keeping time, time, time, 105 As he knells, knells, knells, In a happy Runic rhyme, To the rolling of the bells,

Of the bells, bells, bells: To the tolling of the bells, 110 Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells—

To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.

TPFASTT continued Paraphrase: What is literally

said or done in each stanza? Identify & define ALL

unfamiliar words. Figurative Language: ALL stanzas highlight & label examples of onomatopoeia.

Identify the type of bell?

Highlight & label ALL diction that characterizes

this type of bell. Highlight & label the various figures of speech such as

imagery, alliteration, assonance, and allusion. Attitude:

What is the TONE in each stanza? What is the overall tone of the poem? Subject: The poem is about ?

Theme: What does the author suggest about this subject?

Title:

Return to the title. How does the title now take on

a greater significance? Irony? Pun? What?


TPCASTT & POETRY ANALYSIS

For ALL THREE poems follow the TPCASTT model by which to analyze a poem. Make notes, paraphrase, and annotate poems as you compete the CONNOTATION section. ALL other sections MUST be recorded on handout.

We Real Cool

By Gwendolyn Brooks THE POOL PLAYERS. SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL.

We real cool. We

Left school. We

Lurk late. We

Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We

Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We

Die soon.

Grass

By 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 passengers ask the conductor:

What place is this?

Where are we now?

I am the grass.

Let me work.

Winter Poem

By Nikki Giovani

once a snowflake fell

on my brow and i loved

it so much and i kissed

it and it was happy and called its cousins

and brothers and a web

of snow engulfed me then

i reached to love them all

and i squeezed them and they became

a spring rain and i stood perfectly

still and was a flower

https://www.poets.org/node/45683

http://www.flowermeaning.com/snowdrop-flower-meaning/


TPCASTT for Poetry Analysis

T Title

What do the words of the title suggest to you? What denotations are presented in the title? What connotations or associations do the words posses?

P Paraphrase

Translate the poem in your own words. What is the poem about?

C Connotation

What meaning does the poem have beyond the literal meaning? Fill in the chart below.

Form Diction Imagery

Point of View Details Allusions

Symbolism Figurative Language Other Devices (antithesis, apostrophe, sound

devices, irony, oxymoron,

paradox, pun, sarcasm,

understatement)

A Attitude

What is the speaker’s attitude? How does the speaker feel about himself, about others, and about the subject? What is the author’s attitude? How does the author feel about the speaker, about other characters, about the subject, and the reader?

S Shifts

Where do the shifts in tone, setting, voice, etc. occur? Look for time and place, keywords, punctuation, stanza divisions, changes in length or rhyme, and sentence structure. What is the purpose of each shift? How do they contribute to effect and meaning?

T Title

Reanalyze the title on an interpretive level. What part does the title play in the overall interpretation of the poem?

T Theme

List the subjects and the abstract ideas in the poem. Then determine the overall theme. What message is the author trying to convey? What lesson is being taught? The theme must be written in a complete sentence.

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