Transcript Jazz Fantasia

By Carl Sandburg
This poem, like all the other poems we have
read so far, is lyric poetry
Lyric poetry is
 Heavy on poetic sound devices
 Uses a lot of figurative language
 Focuses on capturing emotions and imagery
 Does NOT tell a story
Narrative poems
•Contain either simple or complicated plots
•Have characters
•Often contain dialog
•Use all the devices and elements of prose
stories
•Narrative poems are still written in verse,
not sentences and paragraphs
It conveys an image
Uses many sound and poetic devices such as
alliteration and assonance
Uses a lot of figurative language
Does NOT tell a story
Sandburg is encouraging the jazz musicians to play
their music…
Drum on your drums, batter on your banjoes,
sob on the long cool winding saxophones.
Go to it, O jazzmen.
This is called an apostrophe…
not like the punctuation. In
poetry, an apostrophe is a
direct address, directly
talking to someone or
something by name.
Sling your knuckles on the bottoms of the happy
tin pans, let your trombones ooze, and go husha-
husha-hush with the slippery sand-paper.
“Slippery sand-paper” is an
oxymoron. An oxymoron is a
pair of words that are used
together but are opposites.
Like “jumbo shrimp”
Moan like an autumn wind high in the lonesome treetops,
moan soft like you wanted somebody terrible, cry like a
racing car slipping away from a motorcycle cop, bang-bang!
you jazzmen, bang altogether drums, traps, banjoes, horns,
tin cans — make two people fight on the top of a stairway
and scratch each other's eyes in a clinch tumbling down
the stairs.
The people fighting
on the stairs is a
metaphor. Why?
This stanza uses
similes to help bring
the music alive.
Stanza #4
Can the rough stuff . . . now a Mississippi steamboat pushes
up the night river with a hoo-hoo-hoo-oo . . . and the green
lanterns calling to the high soft stars . . . a red moon rides
on the humps of the low river hills . . . go to it, O jazzmen.
•This stanza is rich with imagery. The steamboat,
the green lanterns, the red moon and the river
hills all help to create a picture in the reader’s
mind.
•These gentle images help to show the softer and
smoother sound jazz can have, as opposed to the
loud, harsh sounds captured in the previous
stanza.
Jazz music is beautiful and diverse. It can be
pleasant and soothing or rough and exciting.
What literary elements does Sandburg use to
convey this theme?
1.
2.
3.
 A general statement:
 “Poets use many different poetic elements to
convey their message or theme.”
 A question:
 “What is the most effective way to share a theme
or message with a reader when writing a poem?”
 A shocking statement.
 “Many people hate poetry, but they should at
least appreciate the methods and elements used
to write a poem”
In his free verse poem “Jazz Fantasia,” Carl
Sandburg uses imagery, onomatopoeia and
form to convey the theme that jazz is a
beautiful genre of music that can be both
soothing and exciting.
Be sure to have a topic sentence.
Use specific examples from the poem.
You must analyze each example.
You should have three examples that you
analyze in each paragraph.
Restate your thesis.
Do not simply copy your thesis. You must
reword it!
Don’t introduce any new material!
Sum up your points.
Come to a conclusion!
 Tonight, you just have to write a paragraph, with
a clear topic sentence including TAG, that
characterizes and analyzes Sandburg’s diction.
 The paragraph must be handwritten on looseleaf.
 It should have at least three pieces of evidence
that you ANALYZE!!
 It should end in a clincher sentence that returns
to your main idea.
 It’s due at the beginning of class!