Wednesday, October 8, 2014

1. Discuss some elements of poetry.


SOUND PATTERNS
Three other elements of poetry are rhyme scheme, meter (ie. regular rhythm) and word sounds (like alliteration). These are sometimes collectively called sound play because they take advantage of the performative, spoken nature of poetry.
 
RHYME 
Rhyme is the repetition of similar sounds. In poetry, the most common kind of rhyme is the end rhyme, which occurs at the end of two or more lines. It is usually identified with lower case letters, and a new letter is used to identify each new end sound. Take a look at the rhyme scheme for the following poem :
 

I saw a fairy in the wood,
He was dressed all in green.
He drew his sword while I just stood,
And realized I'd been seen. 

The rhyme scheme of the poem is abab.
.
Internal rhyme occurs in the middle of a line, as in these lines from Coleridge, "In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud" or "Whiles all the night through fog-smoke white" ("The Ancient Mariner"). Remember that most modern poems do not have rhyme.


NOTE: Rhyme (above) and rhythm (below) are two totally different concepts!




RHYTHM AND METER
 I recommend starting with this podcast on rhythm and meter.

Meter: the systematic regularity in rhythm; this systematic rhythm (or sound pattern) is usually identified by examining the type of "foot" and the number of feet.

1. Poetic Foot: The traditional line of metered poetry contains a number of rhythmical units, which are called feet. The feet in a line are distinguished as a recurring pattern of two or three syllables("apple" has 2 syllables, "banana" has 3 syllables, etc.). The pattern, or foot, is designated according to the number of syllables contained, and the relationship in each foot between the strong and weak syllables.



2. The Number of Feet: The second part of meter is the number of feet contained in a line.

Thus:
one foot=monometer
two feet=dimeter
three feet=trimeter
four feet=tetrameter
five feet=pentameter
six feet=hexameter (when hexameter is in iambic rhythm, it is called an alexandrine)

Poems with an identifiable meter are therefore identified by the type of feet (e.g. iambic) and the number of feet in a line (e.g. pentameter). The following line is iambic pentameter because it (1) has five feet [pentameter], and (2) each foot has two syllables with the stress on the second syllable [iambic].


3. Irregularity: Many metered poems in English avoid perfectly regular rhythm because it is monotonous. Irregularities in rhythm add interest and emphasis to the lines. 

The first foot substitutes a trochee for an iamb. Thus, the basic iambic pentameter is varied with the opening trochee.

 

4. Blank Verse: Any poetry that does have a set metrical pattern (usually iambic pentameter), butdoes not have rhyme, is blank verse. Shakespeare frequently used unrhymed iambic pentameter in his plays; his works are an early example of blank verse.


5. Free Verse: Most modern poetry no longer follows strict rules of meter or rhyme, especially throughout an entire poem. Free verse, frankly, has no rules about meter or rhyme whatsoever! [In other words, blank verse has rhythm, but no rhyme, while free verse has neither rhythm norrhyme.] So, you may find it difficult to find regular iambic pentameter in a modern poem, though you might find it in particular lines. Modern poets do like to throw in the occasional line or phrase of metered poetry, particularly if they’re trying to create a certain effect. Free verse can also apply to a lack of a formal verse structure.

WORD SOUNDS Another type of sound play is the emphasis on individual sounds and words:

Alliteration: the repetition of initial sounds on the same line or stanza - Big bad Bob bouncedbravely.Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds (anywhere in the middle or end of a line or stanza) - Tilting at windmillsConsonance: the repetition of consonant sounds (anywhere in the middle or end of a line or stanza) - And all the air a solemn stillness holds. (T. Gray)
Onomatopoeia: words that sound like that which they describe - Boom! Crash! Pow! Quack! Moo!Caress...
Repetition: the repetition of entire lines or phrases to emphasize key thematic ideas.Parallel Stucture: a form of repetition where the order of verbs and nouns is repeated; it may involve exact words, but it more importantly repeats sentence structure - "I came, I saw, I conquered".

2. Discuss the limerick, its origins, patterns, and uses.
3. Write three limericks.

LIMERICKS

A limerick is a short, sometimes vulgar, humorous poem in five-line anapestic meter with a strict rhyme scheme (AABBA). Lines 1, 2, and 5 have seven to ten syllables, rhyme, and have the same verbal rhythm. The 3^rd and 4^th lines have five to seven syllables, rhyme, and have the same rhythm.

Examples:

There was a young rustic named Mallory,

who drew but a very small salary.

When he went to the show,

his purse made him go

to a seat in the uppermost gallery.

There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, “It is just as I feared!
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!

Writing a Limerick's absurd,

Line one and line five rhyme in word,

And just as you've reckoned

They rhyme with the second;

The fourth line must rhyme with the third.