STEP 1: POETIC FORMS Ballad – song hits, folk music, and folktales or any song that tells a story are loosely called ballads. In more exact literary terminology, a ballad is a narrative poem consisting of quatrains of iambic tetrameter alternating with iambic trimeter. Common traits of the ballad are that (a) the beginning is often abrupt, (b) the story is told through dialogue and action (c) the language is simple or "folksy," (d) the theme is often tragic--though comic ballads do exist, and (e) the ballad contains a refrain repeated several times. 1. Song format 2. Repetitive chorus 3. Narrative ie tells a story 4. example = Last Kiss remade by Pearl Jam
Blank verse NO RHYME BUT RHYTHM or BEAT But soft what light through yonder window breaks It is the east and J is the sun 1. NO RHYME 2. BEAT usually iambic pentameter 3. Shakespeare’s wealthier characters typically speak in blank verse Example I know a bank where the wild thyme blows Find Macbeth Tomorrow and tomorrow and tom….
– (also called unrhymed iambic pentameter) unrhymed lines of ten syllables each with the even-numbered syllables bearing the accents. Blank verse has been called the most "natural" verse form for dramatic works, since it supposedly is the verse form most close to natural rhythms of English speech, and it has been the primary verse form of English drama and narrative poetry since the mid-sixteenth Century. Such verse is blank in rhyme only; it usually has a definite meter. (Variations in this meter may appear occasionally.) Free verse – NO RHYME NO RYTHM poetry based on the natural rhythms of phrases and normal pauses rather than the artificial constraints of metrical feet. It often involved
the counterpoint of stressed and unstressed syllables in unpredictable but clever ways. Its origins are obscure. Some poets use it not because it is easy, but because the format matches the topic or theme in some way. Elegy – An elegy is a type of lyric poem of mourning or lamentation for the dead. Usually it expresses
sorrow over the death of someone the poet admired or loved or respected; sometimes it simply mourns the passing of all life and beauty. In classical Greco-Roman literature, it refers to any poem
written in elegiac meter (alternating hexameter and pentameter lines). More broadly, elegy came to mean any poem dealing with the subject-matter common to the early Greco-Roman elegies--complaints about love, sustained formal lamentation, or somber meditations. The poem tends to be longer than a lyric but not as long as an epic and is not plot-driven. ELEGY (Dylan Thomas) Lyric poetry – 1. short poem (12 upwards of 50-60 lines 2. songlike 3. does not have a plot 4. expresses the feelings 5. THE LAKE ISLE OF INNISFREE Narrative – Tells a story – moving through time, point of view, etc. Ballads are a form of narrative poem There are many other forms are told from a defined point of view, often the poet’s, so there is feeling as well as specific and often sensory details provided to get the reader involved in the elements of the poem. OUT, OUT
Italian Sonnet – also known as the Petrarchan Sonnet. 14 Lines Iambic Pentameter
METER is a measure of rhythm The measurements are called feet The feet vary, but will be repeated to form a pattern Iambs are 2 syllables long, with stress on the second syllable PENTA = 5 which means that there are 5 iambs in a line of iambic pentameter An example of a word that is also an iamb is to-day Today today today today today = iambic pentameter (A word that is 2 syllables but does not have stress on the second syllable, and therefore is NOT iambic, is ho-ly.) Stress is incorrectly applied by outsiders to the word Newfoundland. Try the same with ONtaRIo
Part 1 (STANZA 1) = 8 lines aka Octave, makes a complaint ABBA ABBA Part 2 (STANZA 2) = 6 lines aka Sestet, supplies a solution, or method of coping CDCDCD or CDECDE ON HIS BLINDNESS
Elizabethan aka ENGLISH Sonnet 14 Lines Iambic Pentameter
METER is a measure of rhythm The measurements are called feet
The feet vary, but will be repeated to form a pattern Iambs are 2 syllables long, with stress on the second syllable PENTA = 5 which means that there are 5 iambs in a line of iambic pentameter An example of a word that is also an iamb is to-day Today today today today today = iambic pentameter (A word that is 2 syllables but does not have stress on the second syllable, and therefore is NOT iambic, is ho-ly.) Stress is incorrectly applied by outsiders to the word Newfoundland. Try the same with ONtaRIo
also known as the Shakespearean Sonnet. 3 quatrains (4 lines each) Quat. 1 abab cdcd efef gg Quatrain 2 cdcd 3 efef
1 couplet (2 lines) gg Quatrains are observation Couplet is a conclusion
Example: Orange Round Bouncy Conclusion basketball
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It uses three quatrains; each rhymed differently, with a final, independently rhymed couplet that makes an effective, unifying climax to the whole. Its rhyme scheme is abab, cdcd, efef, gg. Typically, the final two lines follow a "turn" or a "volta," (sometimes spelled volte, like volte-face) because they reverse, undercut, or turn from the original line of thought to take the idea in a new direction TO A PRAYING MANTIS and HAPPY YE LEAVES!
It has an eight line stanza (called an octave) followed by a six line stanza (called a sestet). The octave has two quatrains rhyming abba, abba, the first of which presents the theme, the second further develops it. In the sestet, the first three lines reflect on or exemplify the theme, while the last three bring the poem to a unified end. The sestet may be arranged cdecde, cdcdcd, or cdedce. Elizabethan aka ENGLISH Sonnet – also known as the Shakespearean Sonnet. It uses three quatrains; each rhymed differently, with a final, independently rhymed couplet that makes an effective, unifying climax to the whole. Its rhyme scheme is abab, cdcd, efef, gg. Typically, the final two lines follow a "turn" or a "volta," (sometimes spelled volte, like volte-face) because they reverse, undercut, or turn from the original line of thought to take the idea in a new direction TO A PRAYING MANTIS and HAPPY YE LEAVES!
Villanelle – 19 lines 5 tercets – 3 line stanzas 1 quatrain = 4 lines Whole lines are repeated in a specific order (don’t panic about the order)
poetry consisting of nineteen lines--five tercets and a concluding quatrain. The form requires that whole lines be repeated in a specific order, and that only two rhyming sounds occur in the course of the poem. DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT
STEP 2: SOUND DEVICES Alliteration – repetition of the same beginning sound (c, s) Rhyme– repetition of the same ending sound Assonance - repetition of the same vowel sound * placement does not matter! Consonance – repetition of the same consonant sound* placement does not matter! Rhythm or Beat, specifically know Iambic Pentameter Euphony – pretty sounds euphonium is an instrument (lullaby is an example of euphony, and many lullabies use euphony. They don’t always make sense, but they sound pretty and help babies sleep) Cacophony – harsh sounds McLobster Sandwich concrete hiss spit We don’t examine the meaning of words when we talk about euphony or cacophony, but it makes sense that we use sounds that are yucky for words that mean yucky things. Notice how we use the Celtic and English words for animals (cows, chicken, etc.) but we use the French words for the food (beef, poultry, etc.). French origin words have softer sounds than those of Celtic or English (ie German) words.
PUNCTUATION AND FONT For stylistic, emphatic, or other reasons, poets may bend the rules when they use capitals, lower case letters and punctuation. See the work of ee cummings Period – (.) used to indicate the end of a sentence. Also used at the end of a command, indirect question or for abbreviations. Dash – (--) used for separating words in the middle of a sentence or adding words to the end of a sentence both are used for added emphasis on a part of a sentence. Semicolon – (;)used to join related independent clauses in compound sentences and to separate items in a series if the elements of the series already include commas. Colon – (:) used before an extended quotation, explanation, example, series, etc. and after the salutation of a formal letter. Hyphen – (-) is probably the most debated form of punctuation, but it is generally used to form compound words and prefixes.
Quotation marks – (") used to show that the phrase was originally said by another or to show that the sentence is being said by a character. Exclamation points – (!) used to show emphasis or surprise. If a character is using it, they may be shouting. FONT Capitalization – (A) used for the first letter of a sentence or a quoted sentence, proper nouns or words derived from proper nouns (ex English from England) and for titles of publications except for little words such as a, an, the, but, as, if, and, or, nor, when used internally (if used externally capitalize them). *Note: There are many more rules and uses concerning people’s titles such as doctor, president etc. Italics – (a) are not really punctuation, but they can be used to indicate titles of major or complete works, foreign words that are not usually used in English, words used as words themselves (as in when giving a definition of the word) and words or phrases that one wishes to emphasize. Note: Some fonts are more formal than others. Times New Roman (here) is a standard, formal font. Comic sans is an informal font.
__________________________________________________________________ ______ DICTION When considering the word choice, or diction, a writer uses, give some thought to the following (as well as other concepts): Denotation – the dictionary definition of a word. For example, “hound” is a specific kind of dog used for hunting (greyhound, bloodhound, wolfhound, etc.). Connotation – the implied meanings that colour our understanding of the word. For example, “hound” implies loyalty and persistence. Euphony and Cacophony (see sound devices) Colloquialism – informal words, or phrase of conversational language that brings colour to everyday speech and a friendly, conversational tone to writing. Many are figures of speech not meant to be taken seriously. Colloquialisms are universal. Slang – nonstandard language particular to a time and often to a specific locale; acceptable in everyday speech, slang should be avoided in formal contexts and, with few exceptions, in writing.
Informal – casual, sounds like it should be spoken. Formal – very rigid structure with very ornate vocabulary