Poetry — Page 10

HW due 9/30: Villanelles, Couplets, and Keats!

September 29, 2015 By Sean Leon

1.Read and annotate John Keats Ode to a Nightingale. As we go through the term, we will explore various schools of poetry and we will do this chronologically. So, tonight we begin with the English Romantic, Keats!

2. Today, you (and your partner) were assigned a couplet with a set meter. Tonight you are to write an accompanying couplet continuing the meter and including rhyme. You must maintain the theme/narrative established in your assigned couplet. Tomorrow, you are you partner will have a few minutes to finalize your quatrain (the assigned couple plus your couplet equals four lines of verse…a quatrain). Then, we share!

3. Continue working on your villanelle. Remember, your poem must have a set meter but it doesn’t have to be iambic pentameter. Your chosen meter must be repeated throughout the poem. And don’t forget your refrain and its repetition throughout the poem.

HW due 9/29: Poetry Scansion and Villanelle

September 28, 2015 By Sean Leon

Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night–Poetry Scansion. Label the rhyme and meter of the poem. This means review as many lines of verse necessary to establish metrical trends in the poem (i.e meter). Then, label the meter (i.e. trochaic pentameter).
Villanelle–This is poem number 2 for us! The Dylan Thomas poem is a classic villanelle so revisit it for form requirements. Begin to draft your poem tonight and bring in a work in progress tomorrow.

HW12D due 9/28: Continuing Our Focus on Sound

September 24, 2015 By Sean Leon

We will continue to share our poems at the beginning of class. The two students who spoke to me about sharing at the beginning of class should confirm with me soon.

1. Hello folks! You must have the following printed out and in your Poetry Seminar folder:

All three documents above are critical for a technical understanding of poetry. Be sure to have all three with you on Monday. For Monday, READ the handout entitled poetry explications, paying particular attention to the section on meter.

2. Print out and annotate the following two poems. Focus your annotations on sound (meter and rhyme) and theme!

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas

3. Rhyming exercise–Discover as many rhymes as you can for the word girl (masculine rhyme) and for the word martyr (feminine rhyme). Masculine and Feminine rhyme is defined in the fundamentals of poetry handout. Then, wander your house/apt (or anywhere for that matter…just wander) and write down as some of the things that you see, smell, or hear. They can be nouns, processes, actions, or deeds. If you are in a cafe you might write down: smoking, steam, raincoat, sipping, jazz music, etc. Write at least 10 words! Once you have done that, settle down and see how many rhymes you can come up with for each word.

HW12D due 9/21: Draft and The Raven

September 17, 2015 By Sean Leon

1. Our First Poem–Consider this an exercise in getting to know one another and an exercise in conscious manipulation of sound in our poetry. First choose the subject for you poem. That subject must be the feeling/emotion with which you are most closely acquainted. Let’s consider feelings/emotions as people. Which one do you know best? Give it life in poetic form. The one condition in this poem is that you must use one or more of the poetic devices we have talked about (i.e. alliteration, assonance, and consonance). Pay attention to the sound of your piece. Don’t overdo the alliteration as you could achieve an effect that you didn’t intend.

Every other aspect of the poem is up to you. But you must make creative decision consciously! Meaning, if your poem is literal, then it is literal for a reason. If you rely heavily on imager, then you do so for a reason. And so on. Number of stanzas and length of stanzas are up to you. Remember, poetry is the best words in the best order! This is a draft with the final, typed version to be due on Tuesday.

2. The Raven–Print, Read and Annotate the poem. Most of you I am sure have read it already…good! Focus your annotations on sound…all techniques employed to affect the sound of the piece.