Elegy: A poem with a very sad, melancholy mood. Often an elegy is written for someone who has recently died. Example: Source Cited:

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1 Student Name: Period: Use this as a Pre-reading Activity to our Poetry Unit. Please read the terms and highlight the ones that are familiar to you. I have given you the definition and an example of each term. Please find your own example of each term and then cite the source for each. The Structure of Poetry Stanza: Several lines of poetry grouped together, with white space above and below. The stanza is the basic unit of a poem, and is similar to a paragraph in fiction or a verse in a song. Couplet: Two lines of poetry that stand alone or apart from the rest of the poem. Often these two lines will rhyme and have the same meter, but not always. Soliloquy: Though used in prose occasionally, soliloquies are most often found in poetry. One character will speak aloud for a long period of time, describing his or her thoughts and feelings. A soliloquy is private, and not directed to another character. In Hamlet, the To be or not to be speech is a soliloquy. Meter: The rhythmic structure of the poem the way it sounds when read aloud. Certain syllables are stressed (emphasized) while others are left unstressed, which creates a certain rhythmic feel. Iambic pentameter: A specific poetic meter. A line of iambic pentameter has exactly ten syllables, and the first syllable is unstressed. The line follows this pattern: unstressed, stressed, unstressed, stressed, etc. Here is an example by Shakespeare, with the stressed syllables in bold: Shall I compare thee to a summer s day?

2 Types of Poetry Free verse: This type of poetry is free-form, and doesn t stick to a particular structure or rhythm. It does not have regular rhymes, and the lines may be of different lengths and have different patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables. Blank verse: Blank verse is a form of poetry that does not rhyme, but has a regular meter. Each line has the same (or close to the same) rhythm of stressed and unstressed syllables and words. A popular meter used in blank verse is iambic pentameter. Narrative poem: This kind of poem tells a story, much like a novel does. Their structures vary greatly, but every narrative poem has to have some form of plot and characters. Often these poems are long, and the many possible varieties include epics and ballads. Sonnet: A type of poem commonly written by Shakespeare and other English writers in the sixteenth century. It has a very strict 14-line structure. Each line must contain exactly ten syllables and be written in iambic pentameter. In a typical Shakespearian sonnet, the last couplet (two lines) of the poem rhymes. Elegy: A poem with a very sad, melancholy mood. Often an elegy is written for someone who has recently died.

3 Poetic Techniques Alliteration: A poem is using alliteration when several words that start with the same consonant are placed close together. For example: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Onomatopoeia: A word that sounds like what it represents. Words for animal sounds, such as meow and oink, are onomatopoeias, as are words like pop and click that sound like the noise they are naming. Consonance: Consonance is similar to alliteration, because it involves the same consonant being repeated several times close together. However, this time the consonant doesn t have to always be at the beginning of the word. For example: She sells seashells by the seashore. Repetition: Often in poetry a word or phrase is repeated in order to emphasize a certain idea or image. Repetition may also help give structure to the poem, the same way the repeated chorus in a song gives it a predictable structure. To be or not to be repeats the phrase to be twice, giving it greater emphasis. Imagery: Descriptive language that creates pictures in the reader s mind is known as imagery. Certain words and comparisons are used to help the reader see what s going on and evoke a certain mood or emotion. Personification: This is when an object or animal is given human qualities. The poem may describe an object as though it can think and feel, or describe an animal that can talk or think logically. In William Blake s poem Two Sunflowers, he personifies the flowers when he writes: Ah, William, we're weary of weather, said the sunflowers, shining with dew.

4 Rhymes Internal rhyme: When two or more words in the same line of a poem rhyme, that line is said to have internal rhyme. For example, the first line of The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe reads, Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary. Dreary and weary rhyme, meaning this line of poetry has internal rhyme. End rhyme: This term can refer to two things: rhyming lines of poetry and rhyming words. When two or more lines of poetry end with a rhyming word which is considered an end rhyme. Also, two words that rhyme on their last syllable, such as showers and flowers, are said to have end rhyme. Mrs. Honkala Language Arts Source Cited:

5 Friends in the Klan by Marilyn Nelson 1923 Black veterans of WWI experienced such discrimination in Veterans' hospitals that the Veterans' Administration, to save face, opened Tuskegee, a brand-new hospital for Negroes only. Under white control. (White nurses, who were legally excused from touching blacks, stood holding their elbows and ordering colored maids around, white shoes tapping impatiently.) The Professor joined the protest. When the first black doctor arrived to jubilation, the KKK uncoiled its length and hissed. If you want to stay alive be away Tuesday. Unsigned. But a familiar hand. The professor stayed. And he prayed for his friend in the Klan. Themes, Issues, Concepts: African American poet bullies courage history in poetry contrast in poetry racism civil rights movement

6 Literary Terms images figurative language metaphor structure repetition What is courage? What is courage? Must it be physical? Who are two people (people you know, fictional characters, people from the news) who have courage? Why do you think these people are courageous? What qualities do these people show? Person Courageous Qualities Person Courageous Qualities Write about the following If you were going to write to George Washington Carver or to his friend in the Klan, what would you say? Make a list of questions you would ask each person. Or write one of them a letter.

7 Junkyards Junkyards by Julian Lee Rayford You take any junkyard and you will see it filled with symbols of progress remarkable things discarded What civilization when ahead on all its onward-impelling implements are given over to the junkyards to rust The supreme implement, the wheel is conspicuous in the junkyards The axles and the levers the cogs and the flywheels all the parts of dynamos all the parts of motors fall the parts of rusting. Themes, Issues, Concepts: What is "progress"? recycling life cycles archeology of junk

8 Literary Terms structure lament Write about the following Try writing about something you have either kept that you should have discarded or something you discarded you wish you had kept? Describe the object. What was you attachment to it? How did you finally come to make your decision about it? Complete the following Time Capsule sheet. What would you place in a Time Capsule? Why would you include this item?

9 You're Korean, aren't you? Speak Up by Janet S. Wong Why don't you speak Korean? Yes. Just don't, I guess. Say something Korean. C'mon. Say something. I don't speak it. I can't. Halmoni. Grandmother. Haraboji. Grandfather. Imo. Aunt. Say some other stuff. Sounds funny. Sounds strange. Hey, let's listen to you for a change. Listen to me? Say some foreign words. But I'm American, can't you see? Your family came from somewhere else. Sometime. But I was born here. So was I.

10 Themes, Issues, Concepts: Asian American poet being "American' tension in a poem immigration stereotypes racism Literary Terms: tone character poem in two voices Answer the following question: "Speak Up" poses an interesting question: just what does make someone an American? Is it something you can see? Is it about where you were born? Is it about where your ancestors came from? Is it about what you can contribute to your country? Complete the following family tree chart

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12 Complete the following about the Character in "Speak Up" Character 1 Qualities Character2 Qualities Evidence, Details Evidence, Details