P.S. I need all of our literature and language books back by
FRIDAY! Losing one of these books will result in a hefty fee
that will keep you from getting your yearbook and from
registering for classes.
We will be having a poetry test covering the entire
poetry unit at the end of next week. If you will be gone,
you need to address this BEFORE you leave. Things in
YELLOW will likely be on the test. Take notes.
Words with Music
 Words in a good poem create there own music. The
English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge said poetry is
“the best words in the best order.” Listen to the
opening lines of one of his poems, Kubla Khan.
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
 Even if you don’t understand the content, the music
still comes through. It takes work to make such a
poem.
Rhythm
 Rhythm is the repetition of stressed and unstressed
syllables. These stressed and unstressed syllables,
when formed in a pattern, create a beat.
 Ever notice how some syllables are naturally stressed
or emphasized?
 Which syllable takes the stress (the emphasis)?
Because
Be-CAUSE
Cincinnati
Cin-cin-NAT-I
Mountain
MOUN-tain
Read this limerick aloud. A limerick is a short, humorous poem
with a definite rhythm.
A gentleman dining at Crewe
Found quite a lrge mouse in his stew
Said the waiter, “Don’t shout,
And wave it about,
Or the rest will be wanting one too!”
This poem has a particular Meter.
 Meter is a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.
1 A gentleman dining at Crewe
2 Found quite a large mouse in his stew
3 Said the waiter, “Don’t shout,
4 And wave it about,
5 Or the rest will be wanting one too!”
 Not only do you naturally hear this meter, but when put like this,
you can even SEE how it forms a pattern. The pattern for lines 1,2,
and 5 are the same. The pattern for lines 3 and 4 are the same.
Rhyme
 Rhyme adds to the music of a poem. There are many different types of
rhymes.
End Rhyme: These happen at, you guessed it, the ends of
lines.
A gentleman dining at Crewe
Found quite a large mouse in his stew
Said the waiter, “Don’t shout,
And wave it about,
Or the rest will be wanting one too!”
 Two end rhyme lines in a row creates a couplet.
“The panther is like a leopard,
Except it hasn’t been peppered.”
Internal rhymes occur within the lines. (Think “internal
organs” inside of your body)
Exact rhymes are words that rhyme exactly.
Find the internal and exact rhymes.
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping,
Suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping,
Rapping at my chamber door–
--Poe, The Raven
Approximate Rhyme
 Approximate rhymes are rhymes that sound similar
but do not rhyme exactly. Examples might include:
Fellow/Hollow
Cat/Catch
Bet/Bit
 Some poets prefer approximate rhymes because
they feel that they make the poem sound more
real, less artificial.
Free Verse
 Free verse poetry doesn’t need meter or a rhyme pattern, but that
doesn’t mean that “anything goes.” These poems still work to be
rhythmic and beautiful. They just don’t follow any set structure.
Give me the splendid silent sun with
All his beams full-dazzling,
Give me the juicy autumnal fruit ripe and
Red from the orchard,
Give me a field where the unmowed
Grass grows
Give me an arbor, give me the trellised
Grape…
--Walt Whitman
Other factors that create “music”…
Alliteration: The repetition of certain consonant sounds. In this
example, the author uses alliteration to try to mimic the rustling
sound that is happening in the poem.
And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple
curtain
Assonance: Like alliteration, but the repetition of vowel sounds.
Onomatopoeia: Words that sound like what they mean:
 Sizzle, plop, tic, boom. Onomatopoeias help us hear what’s happening
in the poem.
Punctuation: The punctuation in poems is there for a reason.
Read a poem the way you’d read a book. Use a natural, flowing voice.
Stop at periods and commas. Emphasize things in quotations or
followed by exclamations.
Write down the following stanza from Edgar Allen
Poe’s “The Raven.” Double space it.
Homework: Due tomorrow. We are going to ANNOTATE this poem.
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door Only this, and nothing more."
1. Draw circles around any internal rhymes.
2. Draw squares around any end rhymes.
3. Underline places that use alliteration ONCE
4. Underline onomatopoeias TWICE
5. Link any exact rhymes with a line
6. Label any couplets by writing the word “couplet” next to it
7. Meter: Mark ALL the syllables like this: stressed=
’ unstressed=
-
.