PoetryWarm ups and Journals

KWL• Fill out the KWL Chart. The “K” column is what you

already know about poetry. The “W” column is what you want to know. Leave the “L” column empty for now.

K W L

“A Blessing”• Answer the following questions in complete sentences:

1) What is the setting of the poem – Where and when does the story take place

2) How do the ponies feel about the visit? Each other?

3) Why does the speaker feel especially fond of one of the ponies?

4) What human qualities and feelings does the speaker give to the ponies? Support your answer with lines from the poem

Name That Trope• “Garry’s giraffe gobbled gooseberries

greedily, getting good at grabbing goodies.”

• Give me the name of the trope and how it is that particular term

“I Wandered Lonely as A Cloud”• Answer the following questions in complete

sentences.

1) Which literary trope do we see the most in this poem?

2) What is being personified in the poem?

3) Some say that “Nature serves as the best teacher.” How does this poem support this?

Personify• Write a paragraph personifying this

animal. Four to five sentences please!

“Fog”

1) What animal does Sandburg compare the fog to?

2) What does the fog do at the end of Sandburg’s poem?

3) What qualities does fog share with the animal in Sandburg’s poem? Could fog also be compared to an elephant? A snake? A dog?

Name That Rhyme! Highlight/Underline It• Rewrite this verse. Name the type of rhyme and

explain why it is that type of rhyme:

• “The ship was cheer’d, the harbor clear’d,And every day, for food or play,In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,..Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,Glimmer’d the white moonshine.”

“Fire and Ice”

1) Which side of the argument does the speaker agree with?

2) How could the world end in fire?

3) How could the world end in ice?

4) How would you define desire as Frost uses the word in the poem? How is desire like fire? How could desire bring on the end of the world?

“Once by the Pacific”• 1) What is the mood of this poem? What words/lines and

images help reveal the poem’s mood?

• 2) Where is the speaker in “Once by the Pacific” standing as he observes the ocean? What are the waves doing?

• 3)Whose “rage” is described in line 12? What could cause that rage?

• 4) What do you think the theme, or message, of this sonnet is?

• 5) How much does this differ from “Fire and Ice”? What does this tell you about Frost? Anything about his life?

Identify the Rhyme Scheme• A sign of beauty

A symbol of graceIts pride runs strongAt a very fast pace.

It's wild like a wolfIt's gentle like the breezeAnd it has a burning honourIt's not eager to please.

 

Emily Dickinson• 1830 – 1886• Lived in Massachusetts• She was a recluse: a person who lives in seclusion, or

apart, from society. She did this by choice and had few visitors. These visitors she did have contact with created an impact in her life.

• Reverend Charles Wordsworth – possible love interest and left the town right after visiting her home in 1860. He is possible responsible for her sadder poems

• She also stayed up-to-date on the world because her father was a popular politician

• Her poems were not published until after her death in 1890 – 1955

• After her death, her family discovered 1,800 poems

“Hope” is the thing with feathers• 1) What does hope (or the bird) ask for in return

for its song?

• 2) A gale is a strong wind. What do you think the “gale” symbolizes, or stands for, in this poem?

• 3) How do you interpret what the speaker says about hope in the last stanza?

• 4) How does the metaphor of a bird give life to abstract idea of hope?

What is…..?

•What is an oxymoron?

•Give me three examples.

Juliet S. Kono• Hawaiian poet and novelist. She is

also part Japanese• She was a former police dispatcher• Graduated from the University of

Hawaii at Manoa• Received a Creative Artist Exchange

Fellowship from the Japan-United States Friendship Commission in 1998.• Won the Hawaii Award for Literature

in 2005.• She also serves as a Buddhist priest

“Internment” Background• Takes place after the Japanese attacked

Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941• Anti-Japanese feelings ran high in the US• On February 19, 1942: FDR signed

Executive Order 9066, requiring all Japanese Americans to leave their homes and relocate to military-style internment camps• More than 110,000 were imprisioned

“Internment”• In the first stanza, what events happen to the girl before

she falls asleep?

• Describe the place where she finds herself upon walking.

• In Kono’s poem, what does the girl find beautiful? Why is shr reluctant to find beauty in her situation?

• What could the dewdrops in Kono’s poem symbolize? (Consider the significance of the fact that the fragile dewdrops are “impaled” on the barb wire but are sill “golden.”)

Ho Xuan Hu’o’ng

• Vietnamese poet (1770s-1820s)• Lived in a time of political turmoil and

social collapse. They were in war with the north and allied with foreign powers

• She often attacked male authority since women had little status at that time.

• She was well known and admired for her poetry at the time.

“Country Scene”• What was the speaker looking at?

• What dos the speaker think when she hears the bell?

• According to the speaker, what outlasts both nature and love? In your opinion, which is more lasting – love or poetry?

• How would you describe the tone of the lyric? Is it pessimistic or positive? Cite details from the poem to support your answer.

What is this?

• “Five years have passed;Five summers, with the length ofFive long winters! And again I hear these waters

•Which literary device is this? Define it and explain how you knew.

e.e. cummings• Born October 14, 1894 in Cambridge, Mass.• Innovative poem known for his stylistic and

structural difference in poetry.• Went to Harvard and served in WWI as a

volunteer for the ambulance corps overseas.• Known for his focus on nature, sexuality, and

love• Died on September 3, 1962 in New

Hampshire

“in Just-”• What season of the year is the setting for this poem?

What’s the weather like at that time of year?

• List 3 activities that are mentioned in the poem.

• Who is the central character in this poem? How many times was he mentioned?

• What sound does this person make? Who is attracted to the sound?

• Cummings is known for his unusual punctuation and arrangement of words. How do the words mimic the children? What did he combine names Eddie & Bill, Betty and Isabel?

Harlem Renaissance• A Cultural movement that spanned the 1920s.• Known as the “New Negro Movement”• African-American cultural expressions spread

across the Northeast and Midwest United States.• This expansion in culture happened through

music, art, and literature.• Langston Hughes was one of the most influential

writers of this time.• Now look up some facts about him.

“Life is Fine”• What is the mood of this poem?

• Hughes is known for connecting with his audience with various life matters. What type of life matter does he discuss?

• Why might be the reason why the speaker jumped off the building?

• What does the speaker mean when he says, “Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine!”

What do these idioms mean?

• A hot potato• At the drop of a hat• Ball is in your court• Best thing since sliced bread• Cut Corners• Elvis has left the building.

‘The Bells”• What do the different types of bells symbolize in

this poem? Why do you think this poem shifts from a peaceful reflection to a scary one?

• Why do you think the speaker in this poem is so attuned to their sound? Were you ever affected this way by a sound?

• People in the 19th century definitely heard more bells in their daily lives. What sound do you think replace bells if you were going to update this poem for the 21st century?