Poetry project Essay

He is that fallen lance that lies as hurled, That lies unlifted now, come dew, come rust, But still lies pointed as it plowed the dust. If we who sight along it round the world, See nothing worthy to have been its mark, It is because like men we look too near, Forgetting that as fitted to the sphere, Our missiles always make too short an arc. They fall, they rip the grass, they intersect The curve of earth, and striking, break their own; They make us cringe for metal-point on stone. But this we know, the obstacle that checked And tripped the body, shot the spirit on Further than target ever showed or shone. How does poetry help you see yourself/your world differently? Imagery Imagery is when the poet describes the items in the poem and the reader can picture or feel as the poet wants them to. When poets use imagery they want the reader to be able to see in their mind what the poem is about. Imagery is used with adjectives. The Gladiator Kevin Prufer When I died When my blood feathered away and I stared blankly and sideways into the grass. When the grass ceased against my cheek, I could not help but remember the gladiator who, in falling, never groans, who, ordered to accept it,  does not contract his neck for the final blow. And the hillside grew quiet. The bombers passed withering the trees and the city to flame. The empire fell. My empire, like a blood drop into the grass. It is of little consequence to the observer if the gladiator falls forward into the dirt. He is of a mind, merely, to do as he is told. He will not see the emperor’s thumbs. His city fell to its knees and burned, rolled on its side, but he won’t think of it. Those who once cheered for him are cheering still. The airplanes flew over the hill and I, crouched in the grass, was terrified but did not look up, did not complain  when a lost bomb startled me away. Seal William Jay Smith See how he dives From the rocks with a zoom! See how he darts Through his watery room Past crabs and eels. And green seaweed Past fluffs of sandy Minnow feed! See how he swims With a swerve and a twist, A flip of the flipper, A flick of the wrist! Quicksilver-quick, Down he plunges Softer than spray, Down he plunges And sweeps away; Before you can think Before you can utter Words like â€Å"Dill pickle† Or â€Å"Apple butter,† Back up he swims Past sting-ray and shark, Out with a zoom, A whoop, a bark; Before you can say Whatever you wish,  He plops at your side With a mouthful of fish! 1. In â€Å"Seal† how does the use of rhyme scheme keep you entertained throughout the poem? 2. After you have read both poems: How do the authors compare and contrast in their use of imagery? Which one did you like better? Why? After you read: How did your poem compare to these ones? How was yours different. Did you like the way these poets used imagery? Why/Why not? Figures of Speech A figure of speech is the use of a word or multiple words that can do many things. Simile – A comparison of two things using like or as. Example: I am as sly as a fox. Metaphor – A comparison of two things not using like or as. Example: Life is a Journey. Personification – Giving an inanimate object human quality. Example: The tree waved. Hyperbole – An extreme exaggeration of something. I stood there, waiting for you, for 74 hours. And there are other kinds of Figures of Speech but these are the most common ones. Before You Read: Do you use figures of speech when you write your poems? Why do you use them or don’t use them? While you are reading: Do you understand these uses of figures of speech? Why does the author use the simile/metaphor/etc. in this way? The Writer Richard Wilbur In her room at the prow of the house Where light breaks, and the windows are tossed with linden, My daughter is writing a story. I pause in the stairwell, hearing From her shut door a commotion of typewriter-keys Like a chain hauled over a gunwale. Young as she is, the stuff Of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy: I wish her a lucky passage. But now it is she who pauses, As if to reject my thought and its easy figure. A stillness greatens, in which The whole house seems to be thinking, And then she is at it again with a bunched clamor. Of strokes, and again is silent. I remember the dazed starling Which was trapped in that very room, two years ago; How we stole in, lifted a sash And retreated, not to affright it; And how for a helpless hour, through the crack of the door, We watched the sleek, wild, dark And iridescent creature Batter against the brilliance, drop like a glove To the hard floor, or the desk-top, And wait then, humped and bloody, For the wits to try it again; and how our spirits Rose when, suddenly sure, It lifted off from a chair-back, Beating a smooth course for the right window And clearing the sill of the world. It is always a matter, my darling, Of life or death, as I had forgotten. I wish What I wished you before, but harder. What are frail? Spring blossoms and youth; What are deep? The ocean and truth. How can sorrow be heavy as said in the poem? Today and Tomorrow be brief? Youth be frail? And truth be deep? Sounds of Poetry Sounds of poetry contain many different elements including rhyme, rhythm, onomatopoeia, alliteration, and there subtopics. Rhyme –The repetition of the sound of the stressed vowel and anything after it. Approximate rhyme –Not exact rhyme, not an echo. Internal rhyme –Rhyme inside of a line or lines. End rhyme –Usual rhyme at the end of lines. Rhythm –A musical quality of repetition. Meter –Regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. Iamb –Unstressed followed by stressed. Foot –Stressed followed by one or more unstressed. Trochee –opposite of an iamb. Anapest –Two unstressed followed by a stressed. Dactyl –Stressed followed by two unstressed. Spondee –Two stressed syllables. Onomatopoeia –Words that sound like what they mean. Alliteration –The repetition of the same consonant sound in several words. Assonance –The repetition of vowel sounds.