What do you think this means?
In what ways do poets push the
boundaries of language?
 Alliteration
o“From forth the fatal loins of these two foes;/ A
pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life.”—
Shakespeare
 Assonance
o“Hear the mellow wedding bells”—Edgar Allen
Poe
 Consonance
o“Rap rejects my tape deck, ejects
projectile/Whether Jew or gentile, I rank top
percentile/Many styles, more powerful than
gamma rays/ My grammar pays, like Carlos
Santana plays.”—The Fugees
 Onomatopoeia
o “It went zip when it moved and bop when it
stopped,/And whirr when it stood still./ never knew
just what it was and I guess I never will.”—Tom
Paxton
 Rhythm
o “ Tyger! Tyger! burning bright/In the forests of
the night”—Blake
 Rhyme
o“Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool?/Yes
sir, yes sir, three bags full!”
Jazz Fantasia
Carl Sandburg
1.
Drum on your drums, batter on your banjoes,
sob on the long cool winding saxophones.
Go to it, O jazzmen.
2.
Sling your knuckles on the bottoms of the happy
tin pans, let your trombones ooze, and go hushahusha-hush with the slippery sand-paper.
Moan like an autumn wind high in the lonesome treetops,
moan soft like you wanted somebody terrible, cry like a
racing car slipping away from a motorcycle cop, bang-bang!
you jazzmen, bang altogether drums, traps, banjoes, horns,
tin cans — make two people fight on the top of a stairway
and scratch each other's eyes in a clinch tumbling down
the stairs.
Can the rough stuff . . . now a Mississippi steamboat pushes
up the night river with a hoo-hoo-hoo-oo . . . and the green
lanterns calling to the high soft stars . . . a red moon rides
on the humps of the low river hills . . . go to it, O jazzmen.
3.
4.
5.
Activity #1
How does the author use
onomatopoeia? Describe
the effect.
Where can you find
alliteration? Describe the
effect.
Why is the poem’s
irregular rhythm
appropriate? At what
point in the poem does
the rhythm change?
What diction conveys the
roughness and power of
jazz? Which images create
an altogether different
mood?
Where does the poem use
similes, metaphors, and
personification? Describe
the effect.
A poets’ word choice is very
deliberate and thoughtful.
 Tone
 Mood
 Imagery
“Mother’s the Word” by David Ward
The Guardian, 25 November 2004
Think about the word mother: does it make you burst into a fantastic smile as you think of
the woman you will love with a passion for all eternity, she who guides your destiny
towards freedom, liberty and perhaps tranquility?
If your answer is yes, you will have embraced your mum and the 10 English words that
came top in a survey of favourites conducted by the British Council.
You may, on the other hand, reply: "Oi! I am flabbergasted that such a loquacious,
hilarious and far from gorgeous explosion of nouns and adjectives should have been
plucked from serendipity under the umbrella of so cosmopolitan and sophisticated an
organisation." In which case, you will have clocked up 10 more words from the list of 70
gathered to mark the council's 70th birthday. You can use up eight more by pulling on your
flip-flop, reaching for your coconut and riding with a giggle over the rainbow on your cute
kangaroo to your hen night before you turn into a pumpkin.
The wordlist, which contains only one verb (cherish) which is not also a noun, emerged
after the council asked more than 7,000 learners in 46 countries what they considered the
most beautiful words in English language. Some 35,000 other people registered their
favourites in an online poll run in the non-English speaking countries where the council
operates.
"It's interesting that mother, the only word of the 70 that describes a direct relationship
between people, came top of the poll," said Greg Selby, the council's communications and
marketing officer, who managed the project.
The magnificent 70
1 Mother
2 Passion
3 Smile
4 Love
5 Eternity
6 Fantastic
7 Destiny
8 Freedom
9 Liberty
10 Tranquillity
11 Peace
12 Blossom
13 Sunshine
14 Sweetheart
15 Gorgeous
16 Cherish
17 Enthusiasm
18 Hope
19 Grace
20 Rainbow
21 Blue
22 Sunflower
23 Twinkle
24 Serendipity
25 Bliss
26 Lullaby
27 Sophisticated
28 Renaissance
29 Cute
30 Cosy
31 Butterfly
32 Galaxy
33 Hilarious
34 Moment
35 Extravaganza
36 Aqua
37 Sentiment
38 Cosmopolitan
39 Bubble
40 Pumpkin
41 Banana
42 Lollipop
43 If
44 Bumblebee
45 Giggle
46 Paradox
47 Delicacy
48 Peekaboo
49 Umbrella
50 Kangaroo
51 Flabbergasted
52 Hippopotamus
53 Gothic
54 Coconut
55 Smashing
56 Whoops
57 Tickle
58 Loquacious
59 Flip-flop
60 Smithereens
61 Oi
62 Gazebo
63 Hiccup
64 Hodgepodge
65 Shipshape
66 Explosion
67 Fuselage
68 Zing
69 Gum
70 Hen night
© 2012 Guardian
News and Media
Limited or its
affiliated
companies. All
rights reserved.
Activity #2:
Write down 10 words that you would put on your “Beautiful Words”
list. Think about sound over meaning.
Write a nonsense poem using at least seven of your beautiful
words. The poem should not rhyme but should use some of the
sound devices you’ve been learning. The poem does not need to
make sense, but instead should play with the sounds of words. Be
playful with your word choices and make your writing look like a
poem by using short lines, breaking for a new line when you want
to add emphasis.
 Examples




White space
Line breaks
Punctuation
Stanza breaks
Foul Shot
Edwin A. Hoey
With two 60’s stuck on the scoreboard and two seconds hanging on the
clock, the solemn boy in the center of eyes squeezed by silence seeks out
the line with his feet, soothes his hands along his uniform, gently drums
the ball against the floor. Then measures the waiting net, raises the ball
on his right hand, balances it with his left, calms it with fingertips,
breathes, crouches, waits, and then through a stretching of stillness,
nudges it upward. The ball slides up and out, lands, leans, wobbles,
wavers, hesitates, exasperates, plays it coy until every face begs with
unsounding screams—and then, and then, and then, right before ROARUP, dives down and through.
Foul Shot by Edwin A. Hoey
With two 60’s stuck on the scoreboard
And two seconds hanging on the clock,
The solemn boy in the center of eyes,
Squeezed by silence,
Seeks out the line with his feet,
Soothes his hands along his uniform,
Gently drums the ball against the floor,
Then measures the waiting net,
Raises the ball on his right hand,
Balances it with his left
Calms it with fingertips
Breathes,
Crouches,
Waits,
And then through a stretching of stillness,
Nudges it upward.
The ball slides up and out,
Lands,
Leans,
Wobbles,
Wavers,
Hesitates,
Exasperates,
Plays it coy
Until every face begs with unsounding screams—
And then
And then
And then,
Right before ROAR-UP,
Dives down and through.
Activity #3:
Find a paragraph you can transform into a
poem. It could be in a novel, an article, a
textbook, an email, a particularly long
Facebook post, a set of instructions, a flyer
or advertisement, the back of a cereal box…
Think about how to use white space, line
breaks, and punctuation to create an overall
effect.






Metaphor
Simile
Allusion
Personification
Hyperbole
Irony
 Apostrophe: An address to
a dead or absent person, or
personification as if he or she
were present
 Paradox: A statement that
seems to contradict or oppose
itself, yet actually reveals some
truth.
o It’s hard work doing nothing.
o Youth is wasted on the young.
o The more we know, the less
we understand.