POETRY
Introduction:
• How is poetry defined?
• How do you read it?
• How do you analyze it?
• How do you write about?
How Is Poetry Defined?
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A short story condensed
From “concentrate” – just add the water
of your imagination (needs dilution)
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-compressed, distilled, dense, nutritive value
“Condensed by contraction of volume, with
proportional increase of strength.”
■ without superfluity, excess
How Is Poetry Defined?
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Subjective
Emotional
Lyrical
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Narrative
Descriptive
Argumentative
Philosophical
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(expresses thoughts, feelings of a single speaker)
(waxes philosophic, embodies a philosophy)
Metaphoric
Dramatic
Didactic
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(teaches, preaches, imparts knowledge)
How to Read Poetry
Notice PUNCTUATION:
□ question marks, exclamation marks, period
□ is a line (or more) a question or a statement
□ adjust your inflection accordingly
Read to a COMMA or SEMICOLON or PERIOD:
□ don't stop necessarily at the end of each line
□ this is called enjambment
How to Read Poetry
Sparingly and Cautiously use PERSONAL experiences or
personal tastes, attitudes, beliefs:
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while your own views may, occasionally, shed light on the work more often
than not, they can lead to misinterpretations and prejudices (objectivity
vs. subjectivity)
Realize that the SPEAKER and the POET are not necessarily one
and the same:
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because poetry is by nature quite subjective and emotional,
we readers have a tendency to confuse the views expressed in the poem
with the views held by the writer
Disclaimer: “Please understand that the opinions, views, and comments
that appear in the poem will not necessarily reflect the views held by the
poet….”
How to Read Poetry
Notice the POETIC ELEMENTS employed:
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diction, symbolism, imagery, metaphors,
similes, conceit, meter, rhythm, rhyme,
stanza, persona, alliteration, assonance …
Note the RHYME SCHEME and RHYTHM:
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at the end of each line, note the rhyme with a letter (a, b,
c, …)
read the poem aloud, noticing and enunciating each piece
of punctuation, to discover its rhythm
How to Read Poetry
READ, PARAPHRASE, and then SUMMARIZE:
□ read the poem through the first time
□ then begin to put it into your own words, to simplify its
meaning (paraphrase)
□ then summarize the entirety in a brief statement relating to
its meaning, message, “theme” (summarize)
EXPLICATE and ANALYZE:
□ explain each line of the poem; interpret line by line
(explicate)
□ analyze the piece focusing on a single literary/poetic element
(analyze)
Writing About Poetry
I. LITERAL LEVEL
□ Paraphrase: (parts)
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put lines into your own words
simplify the language and syntax
Summarize: (whole)
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the gist/thrust of the entire work
succinct, short
Writing About Poetry
II. ANALYTICAL LEVEL
□ Explication:
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“close reading”
line-by-line analysis
tone, persona, imagery, symbolism, meter, …
how the poetic elements work together to form a
unified whole & reveal hidden meanings
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Edgar Allan Poe’s “unity of effect”
* arrive at a conclusion about the work
Writing About Poetry
II. ANALYTICAL LEVEL
□ Analysis:
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focus on a single poetic element
note its relationship to the whole, especially in
terms of meaning
Writing About Poetry
III. HOW to QUOTE POETRY
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Slash marks: word space slash space word
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Line numbers: end quote” space (line #).
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no “line” or “#,” just the numeral
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End punctuation: include ? or !, otherwise omit
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Ellipses: word space . space . space . space word
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Quoting multiple lines: block quote style
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indent all, no “ ”
period at the end space (line #s)
Brackets: when you change a letter or a word
Langston Hughes
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1902-67
Born in Joplin, Missouri
Wrote: Fiction, Drama, Essays,
Biographies,
Newspaper column
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In the Chicago Defender
Jesse B. Simple (fictional Everyman)
Langston Hughes
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“Harlem” (1951)
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Langston Hughes
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“Harlem” (1951)
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11 lines
1st and last –
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questions
1-line stanzas
Middle stanzas = 4 questions (possibilities)
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re-titled in 1959 as “Dream Deferred”
Which do you prefer?
2 lines, 2 lines, 1 line, 2 lines
similes
last = not a question
Last line = italicized
Langston Hughes
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“Harlem” (1951)
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Thesis Question:
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“What happens to a dream deferred?”
Answers:
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dries up (raisin in sun)
festers (sore)
stinks (rotten meat)
crusts over (sweet syrup)
sags (heavy load)
explodes (bomb)
Langston Hughes
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“Harlem” (1951)
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Diction
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Dream =
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Fester =
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Burden
Slaves carrying bales of cotton, supplies
Raisin, sore, black meat, syrup, bomb =
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to rot, puss, ulcerate
(ugly, repulsive images)
Heavy load & sag =
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hopes, aspirations, wishes, talents
delusion
color
Syrup =
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Not so disgusting
Why?
Langston Hughes
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“Harlem” (1951)
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Title
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Harlem Renaissance (1920s)
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“New Negro Movement”
post-Civil War, move North
Harlem, Manhattan, New York
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@ 3 miles, @ 175,000 African Americans
WEB DuBois, Langston Hughes
Countee Cullen, Zora Neale Hurston,
Jazz Age, Roaring ’20s
Great Depression, Harlem Riots
Langston Hughes
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“Harlem” (1951)
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Title
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Harlem, 1950s
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Racial inequality
Riots: 1935, 1943, 1964 (Watts 1965, Detroit 1967)
How did people react?
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Rot
Anger, frustration festers
■ Anger, frustration explodes
Langston Hughes
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“Harlem” (1951)
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Questions
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Why are the 1st and last lines separated?
Why is the last line italicized?
Why is the last line w/o simile?
Why is the “heavy load” not a question?
What is the answer to the thesis question?
Why are “load” and “explode” the only rhymes?
Why the break from disgusting images with syrup?