Friday, March 6th 2020

Today we had our last conversation with Jessie Wollen for the season!  We will continue having many conversations around the subjects she spoke about after spring break.

Students who have not here for some of our poetry lessons, please see the criteria for the poems we have done so far.  You are expected to write the following types of poems, using the poetic devices we've been reviewing over the past two weeks: simile, metaphor, hyperbole, personification, rhyme scheme, assonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia, oxymoron.

An acrostic poem:

·      chooses a word

·      uses all the letter from that word as the beginning letter for the subsequent lines

·      describes the chosen word

·      uses poetic devices

Examples:

Blake

Brilliant, he’s a shining star

Loving, a delight to know

Adventurous, always on the go

Kindness, this he does show

Energetic, made for action

An ode poem:

·      addresses a particular thing

·      expresses personal and emotional feeling

·      originated in Ancient Greece

·      uses similes, metaphors, and hyperbole (and other poetic devices)

Example:

Ode to an Olive

Oh Olive,


You are as precious to me as any gem,


With your beautiful, pure skin as smooth as silk


And as green as the grass in summertime.


I love your taste and the smell of your tender fruit


Which hides beneath your green armour.


Olive, sweet, tasty Olive,


How I love you so and my mealtimes wouldn't be the same

If you weren't in my life.

Oh Olive,


Nothing can compare to you, nothing at all,


You are food of the gods, a king's riches

And, most importantly, you are mine, oh Olive!

A haiku poem: 

·      has three lines (1^st line = 5 syllables, 2^nd line = 7 syllables, 3^rd line = 5 syllables)

·      is about nature

·      uses poetic devices

Examples:

Winter

thick blanket of snow

snuggling the flowerbeds

with a winter wrap

Heavenly Herald

dainty daffodil

your golden trumpet fanfares

the dawning of spring

Ballad

A ballad is an old poem or song that was chanted or sung in order to pass a story on before everyone was able to read or write.  This is considered folk culture.  They use many poetic devices to paint a picture with words.

See below the beginnings of two famous ballads.

1) The Lady of Shalott (1832) By Alfred Lord Tennyson

2) The Highway Man           By Alfred Noyes

On either side the river lie Long fields of barley and of rye, The clothe the wold and meet the sky; And thro’ the field the road runs by             To many-tower’d Camelot; The yellow-leaved waterlily The green-sheathed daffodilly Tremble in the water chilly             Round about Shalott. Willows whiten, aspens shiver. The sunbeam showers break and quiver In the stream that runneth ever By the island in the river             Flowing down to Camelot. Four gray walls and four gray towers Overlook a space of flowers, And the silent isle imbowers             The Lady of Shalott

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees. The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas. The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor, And the highwayman came riding—             Riding—riding— The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door. Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard. He tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred. He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there But the landlord’s black-eyed daughter,             Bess, the landlord’s daughter, Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

Have a great weekend!!