Transcript Poetry Forms - Mr. Prezioso

Poetry Forms
Power Point #5
Epic
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A long narrative poem – that tells
an exciting story
Serious tone
Usually doesn’t rhyme
Many lines and stanzas
Usually begins with an appeal to a
muse (Greek origins) for inspiration
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Epics have 6 main characteristics:
-the hero is of imposing stature, of
national or international importance,
and of great historical or legendary
significance
-the setting is vast, covering many
nations, the world, or the universe
-the action consists of deeds of great
valor or requiring superhuman courage
-supernatural forces--gods, angels,
demons--interest themselves in the
action
-a style of sustained elevation is used
-the poet retains a measure of
objectivity
Epic - Sample
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Examples:
– The Faire Queene by
Edmund Spencer
– Paradise Lost by John Milton
– Gilgamesh
– The Iliad & The Odyssey by
Homer
– Beowulf
The Faerie Queene: Book I (1596)
Gentle Knight was pricking on the plaine,
Y cladd in mightie armes and siluer shielde,
Wherein old dints of deepe wounds did remaine,
The cruell markes of many' a bloudy fielde;
Yet armes till that time did he neuer wield:
His angry steede did chide his foming bitt,
As much disdayning to the curbe to yield:
Full iolly knight he seemd, and faire did sitt,
As one for knightly giusts and fierce encounters fitt.
Sonnet
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A 14 line poem
Has specific rhyme pattern
Usually written to praise
Many are written about
love
Formal/serious tone
Iambic pentameter
(rhythm)
Two Kinds of Sonnets
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Petrarchan (Italian)
– Two stanzas: one of
eight lines, followed by
a six line stanza
– Abbaabba / cdecde
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Shakespearean
(English)
– Four stanzas: three
four line stanzas,
followed by one couplet
– Abab / cdcd / efef / gg
Sonnet – Sample
Sonnet 18
By William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
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Ode
“Ode To Cheese”
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Celebrates a single object
or idea
Single purpose and deals
with a single subject
Is there rhyme here?
Can be written on just How many stanzas?
about anything
May or may not rhyme
Lines and stanzas can vary
Elaborate tone
Ode To Cheese,
Which Makes Us Smile,
When Cameras go Clack.
Ode To Cheese,
Which make us taste,
The greatest of flavors,
the wackiest of whack.
Ode To Cheese,
Blue, Gorgonzola,
American and Cheddar.
Ode To Cheese,
Beja and Feta,
In all types of weather.
Ode To Cheese,
For those on a diet,
or trying to get fatter.
Ode To Cheese,
with crackers and wine,
with grapes can flatter.
Ode To Cheese,
when you're sad and happy,
Cheese just fits.
Ode To Cheese,
Mountains and Mountains,
or bits and bits.
Ode to the Cheese,
To appreciate,
eat,
and take pictures.
Elegy
•A formal poem that reflects on
death or another solemn theme
•Written to memorialize
someone
•Formal & serious tone
•May or may not rhyme
•Lines and stanzas vary
“She Dwelt Among Untrodden Ways”
By William Wordsworth
She dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A Maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love:
A violet by a mossy stone
Half hidden from the eye!
Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky.
She lived unknown, and few could know
When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and, oh,
The difference to me!
What is the poet reflecting on in this
poem?
Who is he memorializing?
Epitaph
•text honoring the deceased,
most commonly inscribed on a
tombstone or plaque.
•Traditionally an epitaph is in verse,
but there are exceptions.
•Many poets have been known to
compose their own epitaphs prior to
their death.
•A good epitaph is considered to be
one that is memorable, or at least
makes one think.
•A wry trick of many successful
epitaphs is to 'speak' to the reader
and warn them about their own
mortality.
Do Believe I’ll Never Leave You
Do believe I’ll never leave you:
Always I’ll be in your heart.
Don’t forget my soul is near you,
And so we’ll never be apart.
Do believe I’ll never leave you:
Always I’ll be in your heart.
Don’t forget my soul is near you:
Death might take my presence from you,
Yet we’ll never be apart.
~Nicholas Gordon
Do not stand at my grave and weep
Do not stand at my grave and weep;
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there, I did not die.
~Mary Frye
Epitaph - continued
I knew if I waited around long enough
something like this would happen
— George Bernard Shaw
Pardon me for not getting up
— Ernest Hemingway
Here lies Ann Mann,
Who lived an old maid
But died an old Mann.
~Dec. 8, 1767
Here lies the body
of Jonathan Blake
Stepped on the gas
Instead of the brake.
"I told you I was sick!"
Concrete
•Poetry in which the typographical
arrangement of words is as important in
conveying the intended effect as the
conventional elements of the poem, such as
meaning of words, rhythm, rhyme and so on.
•It is sometimes referred to as visual poetry
•May or may not rhyme
•Subject can be just about anything
•Tone is usually playful or light-hearted
•The arrangement of lines and stanzas
depends on the shape the poet wishes to
make
Concrete - Samples