Thursday, May 26, 2011

Elegies & Free verse & General Significance :]

Elegies

Definition: a song or poem expressing sorrow especially for one who is dead

Example:

Elegy
 
Too proud to die; broken and blind he died
The darkest way, and did not turn away,
A cold kind man brave in his narrow pride

On that darkest day, Oh, forever may
He lie lightly, at last, on the last, crossed
Hill, under the grass, in love, and there grow

Young among the long flocks, and never lie lost
Or still all the numberless days of his death, though
Above all he longed for his mother's breast

Which was rest and dust, and in the kind ground
The darkest justice of death, blind and unblessed.
Let him find no rest but be fathered and found,

I prayed in the crouching room, by his blind bed,
In the muted house, one minute before
Noon, and night, and light. the rivers of the dead

Veined his poor hand I held, and I saw
Through his unseeing eyes to the roots of the sea.
(An old tormented man three-quarters blind,

I am not too proud to cry that He and he
Will never never go out of my mind.
All his bones crying, and poor in all but pain,

Being innocent, he dreaded that he died
Hating his God, but what he was was plain:
An old kind man brave in his burning pride.

The sticks of the house were his; his books he owned.
Even as a baby he had never cried;
Nor did he now, save to his secret wound.

Out of his eyes I saw the last light glide.
Here among the liught of the lording sky
An old man is with me where I go

Walking in the meadows of his son's eye
On whom a world of ills came down like snow.
He cried as he died, fearing at last the spheres'

Last sound, the world going out without a breath:
Too proud to cry, too frail to check the tears,
And caught between two nights, blindness and death.

O deepest wound of all that he should die
On that darkest day. oh, he could hide
The tears out of his eyes, too proud to cry.











Free verse

Definition: poetry whose lines do not have a regular pattern

Example:

Religion

I am more an ancient Grecian than a Christian
As they say it, in accents of exclusion and
Brimstone. What kind of fool do I take myself for,
Forcing first one side and then the other
Between my double-praying lips and expecting
Not to choke? They don't ask the
Questions to my answers, they add or subtract
As their hearts dictate what will happen when
The beats stop.
Frank words
Are the enemy of long thick walls, and 
More now would cause mental lockjaw.
What do they say about me when two seats are empty?
What if infinite universes lie above and below,
A pair for every thought ever formed in every head?
We are great because we think we are
But believing is not in thought-- 
The verbal lance is still sticking out, and in as
Well, and I don't want him in hell either--
But my mind is racing, not rationalizing
And the pain is radiating from
My heart.


Significance:  make listeners or readers feel the events in the story thanks to the rhyme scheme. 

Odes & Sonnet & Lyric :]

Lyric:
Definition: a short poem which expresses the personal thoughts and feelings of the person who wrote it

Example:

Love Lyric
by: Jake Erkens

Guitar strings strummed
The drum sticks beating
And the vocalist singing

A 
love lyric to his beloved one
A love lyric for all star-crossed lovers
A love lyric to true love

Going falsetto
And three notes lower
His girlfriend in the front row
Lifts her hands up high in the air

As he sings a love lyric
While the band plays the notes

A love lyric to his beloved one
A love lyric for all star-crossed lovers
A love lyric to true love









Sonnets

Definition: a verse form consisting of 14 lines with a fixed rhyme scheme

Example:

Shakespeare’s Sonnet #18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest,
Nor shall death brag thou wanderest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest.

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

By William Shakespeare

Odes
Definition: a lyric poem with complex stanza forms

Example:


An Ode to Halloween
I am new to writing poems and I hope I can learn from all of you.
By the way, I learned how to write this kind of poem because of
An Ode to Christmas. Thank you very much!
An Ode to Halloween
When you see a child
In a costume scary and wild
You know it is Halloween.

When kids go trick-or-treats
And get lots and lots of sweets
You know it is Halloween.

When the trees give up their yellow leaves
And the dead give back their R.I.P.s
You know it is Halloween.

An Ode to scrumptious snacks
An Ode to skeletons that clack

An Ode to Dracula
An Ode to tarantulas
An Ode to Halloween

An Ode to the year’s best time
An Ode to clocks that chime
An Ode to Halloween 






Epic


Epic

Definition: a book, poem, or film that tells a long story about brave actions and exciting events

Example:

Tiddalick - The Frog Who Caused a Flood

In the time of dreaming
Before the earth was old
Myths were in the making
Legends yet untold

Here began a story
Of one huge enormous frog
Solemn in his glory
He drank from every bog

Tiddalick the great one
Had to quench his mighty thirst
He drank from all the waterholes
So much he nearly burst

He drained the lake and river
The stream and billabong
Soon there was no water left
It was very wrong

Others now grew thirsty
There was no sign of rain
Hot sun scorched the arid earth
No water did remain

Tiddalick's swollen stomach
Was squelchy round and wide
He was so big he couldn't move
The water was inside

Animals assembled
Men gathered with them too
They had to end this great distress
And work out what to do

Boomerangs were useless
Spears bounced off his side
Getting angry didn't help
Even though they tried

The kookaburra had a plan
We need to make him laugh
To hold his side and open wide
We need to show some gaffe

If only we can do that
The water will pour out
We all must work together
To end this mighty drought

C'mon laugh you big fat frog
You're like a bursting pot
If only you could see yourself
Squelching as you squat

Tiddalick moved his mournful head
He had a doleful face
He didn't see the humour
Of smiles there were no trace

The kangaroo and platypus
Wombat and emu
All tried their best to make him laugh
But Tiddalick stayed blue

Some danced and some told stories
Others somersaulted
Tiddalick grew tired and bored
And slept when antics halted

The last to try was Norang the Eel
He was their final hope
He turned himself into a hoop
And wriggled like a rope

The rope stood upright on the sand
Then it began to spin
It went round like a whirlwind
Tiddalick began to grin

Then out slopped some water
Before it reached the sand
Man and beast began to drink
It worked like they had planned

But Norang went on spinning
Till he was scarcely seen
Tiddalick began to chuckle
It really made a scene

As his belly rumbled
The frog rocked to and fro
With his hands upon his sides
A stream began to flow

Tiddalick's mouth was open wide
With water gushing out
A surging tidal river
Spewed like a water spout

It swept away the animals
And covered all the sand
A shining lake of water
Had spread over the land

Now Tiddalick has shrunken
He's just a little frog
Who sometimes hides in desert sands
Or sits upon a log



Narrative & Ballad :]

Narrative

Definition: a description of events, especially in a novel.

Example:

"By the shore of Gitchie Gumee, 
By the shining Big-Sea-Water, 
At the doorway of his wigwam, 
In the pleasant Summer morning, 
Hiawatha stood and waited."
Excerpt from Hiawatha's Departure from The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Ballads

Definition: a story in a song, usually a narrative song or poem.

Example:

Mary - A Ballad by Robert Southey
Author Note: The story of the following ballad was related to me, when a school boy, as a fact which had really happened in the North of England. I have
adopted the metre of Mr. Lewis's Alonzo and Imogene--a poem deservedly
popular.


I.

Who is she, the poor Maniac, whose wildly-fix'd eyes
Seem a heart overcharged to express?
She weeps not, yet often and deeply she sighs,
She never complains, but her silence implies
The composure of settled distress.


II.

No aid, no compassion the Maniac will seek,
Cold and hunger awake not her care:
Thro' her rags do the winds of the winter blow bleak
On her poor withered bosom half bare, and her cheek
Has the deathy pale hue of despair.


III.

Yet chearful and happy, nor distant the day,
Poor Mary the Maniac has been;
The Traveller remembers who journeyed this way
No damsel so lovely, no damsel so gay
As Mary the Maid of the Inn.


IV.

Her chearful address fill'd the guests with delight
As she welcomed them in with a smile:
Her heart was a stranger to childish affright,
And Mary would walk by the Abbey at night
When the wind whistled down the dark aisle.


V.

She loved, and young Richard had settled the day,
And she hoped to be happy for life;
But Richard was idle and worthless, and they
Who knew him would pity poor Mary and say
That she was too good for his wife.


VI.

'Twas in autumn, and stormy and dark was the night,
And fast were the windows and door;
Two guests sat enjoying the fire that burnt bright,
And smoking in silence with tranquil delight
They listen'd to hear the wind roar.


VII.

"Tis pleasant," cried one, "seated by the fire side
"To hear the wind whistle without."
"A fine night for the Abbey!" his comrade replied,
"Methinks a man's courage would now be well tried
"Who should wander the ruins about.


VIII.

"I myself, like a school-boy, should tremble to hear
"The hoarse ivy shake over my head;
"And could fancy I saw, half persuaded by fear,
"Some ugly old Abbot's white spirit appear,
"For this wind might awaken the dead!"


IX.

"I'll wager a dinner," the other one cried,
"That Mary would venture there now."
"Then wager and lose!" with a sneer he replied,
"I'll warrant she'd fancy a ghost by her side,
"And faint if she saw a white cow."


X.

"Will Mary this charge on her courage allow?"
His companion exclaim'd with a smile;
"I shall win, for I know she will venture there now,
"And earn a new bonnet by bringing a bough
"From the elder that grows in the aisle."


XI.

With fearless good humour did Mary comply,
And her way to the Abbey she bent;
The night it was dark, and the wind it was high
And as hollowly howling it swept thro' the sky
She shiver'd with cold as she went.


XII.

O'er the path so well known still proceeded the Maid
Where the Abbey rose dim on the sight,
Thro' the gate-way she entered, she felt not afraid
Yet the ruins were lonely and wild, and their shade
Seem'd to deepen the gloom of the night.


XIII.

All around her was silent, save when the rude blast
Howl'd dismally round the old pile;
Over weed-cover'd fragments still fearless she past,
And arrived in the innermost ruin at last
Where the elder tree grew in the aisle.


XIV.

Well-pleas'd did she reach it, and quickly drew near
And hastily gather'd the bough:
When the sound of a voice seem'd to rise on her ear,
She paus'd, and she listen'd, all eager to hear,
Aud her heart panted fearfully now.


XV.

The wind blew, the hoarse ivy shook over her head,
She listen'd,--nought else could she hear.
The wind ceas'd, her heart sunk in her bosom with dread
For she heard in the ruins distinctly the tread
Of footsteps approaching her near.


XVI.

Behind a wide column half breathless with fear
She crept to conceal herself there:
That instant the moon o'er a dark cloud shone clear,
And she saw in the moon-light two ruffians appear
And between them a corpse did they bear.


XVII.

Then Mary could feel her heart-blood curdle cold!
Again the rough wind hurried by,--
It blew off the hat of the one, and behold
Even close to the feet of poor Mary it roll'd,--
She felt, and expected to die.


XVIII.

"Curse the hat!" he exclaims. "Nay come on and first hide
"The dead body," his comrade replies.
She beheld them in safety pass on by her side,
She seizes the hat, fear her courage supplied,
And fast thro' the Abbey she flies.


XIX.

She ran with wild speed, she rush'd in at the door,
She gazed horribly eager around,
Then her limbs could support their faint burthen no more,
And exhausted and breathless she sunk on the floor
Unable to utter a sound.


XX.

Ere yet her pale lips could the story impart,
For a moment the hat met her view;--
Her eyes from that object convulsively start,
For--oh God what cold horror then thrill'd thro' her heart,
When the name of her Richard she knew!


XXI.

Where the old Abbey stands, on the common hard by
His gibbet is now to be seen.
Not far from the road it engages the eye,
The Traveller beholds it, and thinks with a sigh
Of poor Mary the Maid of the Inn.




Speaker :]

Definition:  The person who is reading the poem out loud to an audience, which is known as the poet or can be a first person poem.

Significance: to exchange the ideas. : It is important to have a speaker because, without a speaker a poem won't be said out loud. Poems were made to be read out loud.

Example:  The speaker read the poem with perfect enunciation.



Lines :]

Definition: Line is basically the line in a poem.

Significance: separate ideas

Example:

I just want one more day with you 
by Cyndi
I'm so sad and depressed
Is all I want to do is rest
I go to sleep at night
But my dreams I just can't fight

I think of you lying in that bed
And wonder if there is anything I could have said
I wish you were still here
But I know that you are still near

I love you more than you know
I just wish you didn't have to go
I just want one more day with you
And I know thats what you would have wanted too

I miss you more and more each day
There is so much more we had to say
I know I will see you again
But my life is just started to begin.



Symbol :]

Definition:  a word, phrase, image, or the like having a complex of associated meanings and perceived as having inherent value separable from that which is symbolized, as being part of that which is symbolized, and as performing its normal function of standing for or representing that which is symbolized
Significance: stimulate the readers’ imagination
Example:

“A Sick Rose”

by William Blake, 1794
Rose, thou art sick!
The invisible worm
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.



Onomatopoeia :]

Definition:  the formation of a word ,means sounds that suggests meaning
Significance: help readers get a vision of what is described in the story
Example:
Crack an Egg
Crack an egg.
Stir the butter.
Break the yolk.
Make it flutter.
Stoke the heat.
Hear it sizzle.
Shake the salt,
just a drizzle.
Flip it over,
just like that.
Press it down.
Squeeze it flat.
Pop the toast.
Spread jam thin.
Say the word.
Breakfast's in .
by Denise Rodgers


Assonance :]

Definition: a refrain of vowel sounds to create rhythm
Significance: connect different points and add music to the poem
Example:

Bells
By Edgar Allan Poe
Hear the mellow wedding bells,
Golden bells!
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!
Through the balmy air of night
How they ring out their delight!
From the molten-golden notes,
And an in tune,
What a liquid ditty floats
To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats
From the fourth stanza:
What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!
In the silence of the night,
How we shiver with affright
At the melancholy menace of their tone!
For every sound that floats
From the rust within their throats
Is a groan.




Alliteration :]

Definition: Repetition of consonant and vowel in words those are close together

Significance: to create mood and make music to emphasize something
Example:

KATY'S KITCHEN
Katy is a kind-hearted kinswoman
with kneecaps knurled and knobbly, 
She keeps her kitchen (for kinsfolks
come knocking) kinda kooky and kinky- 
 With knick-knacks, kits, kettles, knives,
kumquats, kale, kebabs and kedgeree,
Ketchup, kippers, ketupat, kringle,
keftedes, kiwi, kingfish and kimchee.



Meter :]

Definition:  is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse

Significance: Meter brings feelings and emotions to readers while reading. It also makes a poem has tone and rhyme. It makes the poem interesting to read.

Example:
Anapestic Tetrameter
from "The Destruction of Sennacherib," by George Gordon Lord Byron
........1.......................2..........................3......................4
The As SYR..|..ian came DOWN..|..like the WOLF..|..on the FOLD,
........1.......................2..........................3....................4
And his CO..|..horts were GLEAM..|..ing in PUR..|..ple and GOLD
.........1.........................2.............................3.......................4
And the SHEEN..|..of their SPEARS..|..was like STARS..|..on the SEA 
P/s: if you want to know more, click this website , http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xmeter.html


Elegy :]

Definition: a mournful and thoughtful poem, a poem dealing with things of loss, of death, and sad things

Significance: express sorrow for someone who has died

Example:

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
by
Thomas Gray
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.


Couplet :]

Definition: a pair lines of verse, especially a pair that rhyme and are of the same length

Significance: helps links ideas in a poem. The rhyme usually written at the end of the sentence.

Example:

My friend has eyes like mud.
He always chews his cud.


Rhyme :]

Definition: be similar in sound, especially with respect to the last syllable or Words with ending rhyme have the same final vowel sound and following consonant sound(s)

Significance: It’s important to include rhyme because it sounds fun. The words make the audience interested to the poem. Rhymes usually for kids poems than hardcore adult poems.

Example:
Sweet Spring
When the gloomy gray sky turns to clear azure blue,
And the snow disappears from the ground,
When the birds start to sing, and our moods start to lift,
Then we know Spring is coming around.
When the first flower bulbs poke their heads toward the sun,
Golden daffodils, hyacinths, too;
When the brown grass turns green, and the wildflowers bloom,
Then sweet Spring makes its showy debut.
Once again we awake from cold winter's pale dream,
As our minds and our bodies revive;
We rejoice and delight in spring’s colorful sight;
Each new spring makes us glad we’re alive!
By Joanna Fuchs

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Rhythm :]

Definition: the basic rhythmic unit in a piece of music.

Significance: make listeners or reader feel the story easier.

Example:
I hear the sound I love, the song of the human voice, 
I hear all sounds running together, combined, fused, or following, 
Sounds of the city and sounds out of the city, sounds of the day and night,
Talkative young ones to those that like them, the loud laugh of work-people at their meals...


Personification :]

Definition: an object or an animal that describe by adjectives that you use to describe human.

Significance: make the story more interesting and readers imagine the objects with human qualities

Example:
My Town
The leaves on the ground danced in the wind
the brook sang merrily as it went on its way.
The fence posts gossiped and watched cars go by
which winked at each other just to say hi.
The traffic lights yelled, ”Stop, slow, go!”
The tires gripped the road as if clinging to life.
Stars in the sky blinked and winked out
while the hail was as sharp as a knife.