Poetry month

1. Discussion.
2. Why do people write poetry? What do they try to express with it?

What stylistic devices are used?
What types of poetry do you know?
What's the difference between a haiku, a ballad and a sonnet?
What is a limerick?
Who is a bard?
Do you have a favourite poem?
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Poetry quiz

1. The author of a poem is called a(n)...?

• Writer
• Author
• Poet
• Speaker

2. A group of lines placed together to create a poem is called a(n)...?

• Stanza
• Paragraph
• Form
• Poem

3. A phrase or line repeated throughout the poem?

• Repetition
• Refrain
• Rhyme
• Rhythm

4. "Boom" "Crack" "Pow"

These are all examples of:

• Alliteration
• Imagery
• Onomatopoeia
• Repetition

5. The beat created by the sounds and words in the poem is called?

• Refrain
• Repetition
• Speaker
• Rhythm

6. When a word inside a line rhymes with another word inside the same line it is called?

• External Rhyme
• Inside Rhyme
• End Rhyme
• Internal Rhyme

7. A word or sound repeated throughout a poem is called?

• Refrain
• Rhythm
• Rhyme
• Repetition

8. What is it called when a word or image is used to represent something else?

Ex: An apple representing education

• Imagery
• Symbolism
• Onomatopoeia
• Alliteration

9. What is the pattern of rhyme a poem follows called?

• Rhyme
• Rhythm
• Rhyme Scheme
• Alliteration

10. What is it called when the word at the end of a line rhymes with a word at the end of another line?

• End Rhyme
• Line Rhyme
• Internal Rhyme
• External Rhyme

11. A group of words together to create a poem is known as...?

• Form
• Stanza
• Line
• Sentence

12. The way the lines look on the page is known as...?

• Stanza
• Line
• Form
• Poem

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How is poetry used in this episode? What purpose does it serve?

1. What part of the film is this scene?
2. What do we learn about the hostage from this episode?
3. Why does the man recite the poem to the hostage?
4. Who else is there?
5. Why does this scene look like a piece of theatre play?
6. Is it a good idea to use poetry in films? Do you know any other films that have poems?

And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his Gods.

(- Lays of Ancient Rome, Thomas Macaulay, 1881)

1. Explain the meaning of these lines.
2. In what context could they be initially used?
3. The poem was written in 1881, it describes the events that took place in Ancient Rome. The year of events described in the film Oblivion is 2077. How could the context change? What is similar? What is different?
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How does the text of the poem explain the title? Why is the girl mad?

"I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
And arbitrary blackness gallops in:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed
And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

God topples from the sky, hell's fires fade:
Exit seraphim and Satan's men:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.

I fancied you'd return the way you said,
But I grow old and I forget your name.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

I should have loved a thunderbird instead;
At least when spring comes they roar back again.
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)"

1. What stylistic devices can you notice in this poem?
2. Are there metaphors, repetitions or refrains?
3. Is there a contrast?
4. What is special about stanzas in this poem?
5. Is this poem oriented inwards or outwards? Why?
6. What do we learn about the poet's feelings?
7. Sylvia Plath, the author of this poem, was diagnosed chronical depression. How does this poem reveal her psychologcal ill-being? Can poetry help with depression?

GRAMMAR POINT

All the world drops dead.

'drops' is an example of a link verb, it is followed by an adjective 'dead'.

Find one more example of a VERB + ADJECTIVE combination.

Here are some more examples:

• His face turned red.
• The bag burst open.
• The blue dress looks better.
• Your plan seems realistic.

Where do the verbs show the following ?

• the change of state
• a sense
• a perception

Put these verbs in the right category (change-of-state, sense, perception):

look, feel, taste, smell, sound

seem, appear

become, grow, get, go, turn

Which verbs can also be action verbs?

1. Which of these sentences is correct?

a. The cake tasted beautifully

b. The cake tasted beautiful

c. The cake tasted well

d. The cake tasted perfectly

2. Which of these sentences is not correct?

a. I always feel happily when I see you

b. I always feel good when I see you

c. I always feel happy when I see you

d. I always feel happier when I see you

3. Which of these sentences is correct?

a. She looked carefully at the photograph

b. She looked closer at the photograph

c. She looked close at the photograph

d. She looked careful at the photograph

4. Which of these sentences is not correct?

a. Your voice sounds terrible – are you ill?

b. Your voice sounds awfully – are you ill?

c. Your voice sounds rotten – are you ill?

d. Your voice sounds bad – are you ill?

5. Which of these sentences is correct?

a. His job seemed hardly at first, but it soon got easier

b. His job seemed hard at first, but it soon got easily

c. His job seemed hardly at first, but it soon got easily

d. His job seemed hard at first, but it soon got easier

6. Which of these sentences is correct?

a. Your idea sounds reasonability

b. Your idea sounds reasonable

c. Your idea sounds reasonably

d. Your idea sounds reason

❦❦❦❦❦❦ How is poetry different from prose?

“. . . a stone, a leaf, an unfound door; a stone, a leaf, a door. And of all the forgotten faces.

Naked and alone we came into exile. In her dark womb we did not know our mother's face; from the prison of her flesh have we come into the unspeakable and incommunicable prison of this earth.

Which of us has known his brother? Which of us has looked into his father's heart? Which of us has not remained forever prison-pent? Which of us is not forever a stranger and alone?

O waste of lost, in the hot mazes, lost, among bright stars on this weary, unbright cinder, lost! Remembering speechlessly we seek the great forgotten language, the lost lane-end into heaven, a stone, a leaf, an unfound door. Where? When?

O lost, and by the wind grieved, ghost, come back again.”

― Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward, Angel

1. Summarise the extract. What is the main idea?
2. How does the author feel?
3. What does he compare his life to?
4. What words are repeated? Do you perceive words ' a stone, a leaf, an unfound door' in the same way at the beginning and at the end of the text?
5. What makes this text closer to poetry?
6. What can you say about the word order? Can you find examples of inverted word order?
7. Why does the author ask questions?

Compare this text to the poem 'Mad's Girl Love Song'.

1. What is the main theme in both?
2. How does repetition work in both?
3. How do these texts make you feel?
4. Do they have anything in common?