Poetry Quiz
"Yet Do I Marvel," Countee Cullen
(First Person Perspective) Theme: -The narrator is asking why does God allow evil and suffering in the world even though He is good. -The narrator knows God is good. He isnt questioning God; he is questioning his purpose in life. Poetic Devices: Rhyme Allusion -a brief reference to some person, historical event, work of art, biblical or mythological, situational or character (Example: "Make plain the reason tortured Tantalus") He is referencing a mythological character, Tantalus. Alliteration Shift (started second to last line) Connotation: the emotional psychological or social overtone of word; its implications and association apart from its literal meaning (Example: dark gloomy; Personification: giving non living things human characteristics (Example: the clouds danced in the sky) ● Message: The author is wondering about why God lets suffering happen ● He wonders why God can't tell us why these things happen ● He knows that it is impossible to understand what goes through God's mind when God lets these things happen, but he can't help but wonder why. ● He alludes to many mythological events that include someone suffering greatly. ○ Tantalus is cursed to always starve, but he can never be fed. ○ Sisyphus is doomed to roll a boulder up a hill forever. ● At the end, he wonders why God would make him black and a poet. ○ Ambiguous ending ■ Because this is unclear about whether this is an amazing thing that he is a black poet and given the chance to use his voice or a bad thing thing because he suffers b/c he's black
"Musee des Beaux Arts," W.H. Auden
1. Message: When something important is happening, people often turn away and don't care. Some don't even know it's happening. 2. Allusion: It alludes to Jesus' birth and crucifixion, the Greek myth of Icarus, and the painting of Icarus. 3. Imagery: It's used to describe a scenario in which a Christmas could occur unnoticed or uncared for, and the scene of the painting "Icarus" laid out in description of the distress of the victim. 4. Tone: It's chiding against being ignorant to suffering, but also just calmly stating that as a fact. 5. Rhyme: It uses the rhyme to link phrases that relate to each other to each other. a. "About suffering they were never wrong, / The old Masters: how well they understood / Its human position: how it takes place / While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;" i. What they were never wrong about was how it takes place "While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;"
Apostrophe
A figure of speech that is used to speak directly to someone who is not present, whether they be dead or alive, or to an inanimate object
Personification
A figure of speech when something that is clearly not human, such as an inanimate object or animal is given human attributes or abilities.
Ambiguity
A piece of writing that contains more than one possible meaning.
pun
A pun is a play on words that produces a humorous effect by using a word that suggests two or more meanings, or by exploiting similar sounding words that have different meanings.
rhyme
A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounding words, occurring at the end of lines in poems or songs.
simile
A simile is a figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different things. Unlike a metaphor, a simile draws resemblance with the help of the words "like" or "as." Therefore, it is a direct comparison.
Contrast
A tool that writers use to differentiate between two very unlike people, places or things. The writer will usually use a word such as "unlike" to show the difference.
Onomatopeia
A word that is used to imitate the sound of some event, such as "pow" being the sound of something being hit. They make sentences much more expressive
cliche
Cliché refers to an expression that has been overused to the extent that it loses its original meaning or novelty.
connotation
Connotation refers to a meaning that is implied by a word apart from the thing which it describes explicitly.
denotation
Denotation is generally defined as literal or dictionary meanings of a word in contrast to its connotative or associated meanings.
cacophony
In literature, however, the term refers to the use of words with sharp, harsh, hissing, and unmelodious sounds - primarily those of consonants - to achieve desired results.
"Morning Poem," Mary Oliver
In short summary, the message behind the poem is that the world is yours to take. You have to dare to go out and take what it has to offer, rather than sit back and watch it go away. Uses a lot of imagery to portray what the world has to offer. In one instance it uses euphony in its description of the flowers. Assonance because of the "I" sounds throughout the poems, like "blazing lilies... lavishly, every morning." The perspective comes from a second person view. Repetition is presented at the end to emphasize the overall message of the poem.
alliteration
It is a stylistic device in which a number of words, having the same first consonant sound, occur close together in a series.
"Barter," Sara Teasdale
Life has a lot of good in it and it is important to focus on the good and not the bad. If you forget to look at all the wonderful aspects of life you will forget what it feels like to be happy. "Barter" talks about how you should do everything you can to be happy and not limit yourself to money or time. It is important to find your own happiness, not somebody else's. It also shows how valuable life is and how much it has has to offer. We must appreciate what we have and not take it for granted. Meter~ Iambic ● The message is saying that people should enjoy the good in life and every moment in life because you do not know when you may lose something, someone, or you may die. ● Iambic tetrameter First two stanzas talk about all the beautiful things life has to sell, but the last stanza creates a shift because it demands you to spend all you have on happiness
metaphor
Metaphor is a figure of speech that makes an implicit, implied, or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated, but which share some common characteristics.
Consonance
Most of the time consonance occurs in quick succession, it is the repetition of sounds produced by consonants used in a word or phrase.
repetition
Repetition is a literary device that repeats the same words or phrases a few times to make an idea clearer and more memorable.
"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud," William Wordsworth
Setting: Field full of daffodils Through the poem you see that a man is wandering and suddenly stumbles upon a field of golden daffodils. The imagery used in this poem brings out the beauty in which becomes part of the man himself by the view of the flowers. Along with personification it uses human characteristic to explain how the flowers dance which gives a better view of how it affected the man. It also has an iambic tetrameter. -Message/theme: the message is telling the audience to enjoy life and appreciate nature. It is also saying that, even when we are by ourselves, we can look around us and find so much beauty. -Gets the message across using similes to help us fully comprehend how beautiful our lives really are. Ex: "continuous as the stars that shine" -Meter: This poem is a consistent iambic tetrameter - Message is finding happiness in little things and holding onto them when one is alone or sad. - Strict rhyme scheme and meter, breaks often. - ABABCC - Iambic tetrameter
Symbolism
Signifying ideas and qualities with the use of symbols, in this literary device things are given a symbolic meaning that is not what their literal meaning is.
Trachoic
Stressed unstressed
"My Papa's Waltz," Theodore Roethke
The majority of this poem is trying to decipher if the narrator is being abused, or if they are simply just dancing. In this poem there are a few distinct things we know for sure. The narrator is talking about his father, who is drunk or atleast tipsy. The two people in the story 'dance' around the kitchen while the narrator's mother watches. The words or phrases he uses are ambiguous in that there could be a possible double meaning behind words for example dance, either its the actual word or he's being abused and thrown around. It is obvious the boy is clingy to his father, and has an attachment to him, despite being possibly abused. The poem's rhyme scheme is ABAB. The meter is iambic trimeter (the poet structured his poem like a waltz)
Euphony
The purposeful use of words with the intent of them sounding musical or lovely when read aloud. Specifically with the use of smooth consonants and vowel repetition.
euphemism
The term euphemism refers to polite, indirect expressions that replace words and phrases considered harsh and impolite, or which suggest something unpleasant.
"My Mistress's Eyes are Nothing Like the Sun," William Shakespeare
Theme: His mistress is not the prettiest woman, yet he still loves her despite all of her flaws. Aspects: 1. It has an iambic pentameter like all his other sonnets. 2. It has an ABABCDCDEFEFGG rhyme scheme. GG is the couplet. 3. First line is a metaphor: "My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun." 4. Whole poem is contrast. It is contrasting the woman to pretty things and comparing her to ugly things. 5. The Shakespeare sonnets always have 14 lines. 6. Euphemism: "That music hath a more pleasing sound." ● My mistresses eyes are nothing like the sun ○ Wrote in iambic pentameter ○ Keeps saying throughout the poem that she doesn't have ideal beauty qualities ( my mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun) ○ Shift of poem (I love to hear her speak... and so on) - nothing is wrong with her, just with all these false comparisons in literature ○ Rhyme scheme - ab ab, last line cc ■ Sonnet- 14 lines, ends in a couplet ○ Message - I think my love as unique as any woman misrepresented by all these false comparisons
Iambic
Unstressed stressed
Assonance
When a series of words that are close to each other do not repeat the same consonant sound, but do repeat the same vowel sound. ``
hyperbole
figure of speech that involves an exaggeration of ideas for the sake of emphasis.
metonymy
figure of speech that replaces the name of a thing with the name of something else with which it is closely associated. (The oval office is hard at work)
Allusion
is an indirect comparison to a person, place, thing or event in a written work. The author expects the reader to know what they are referencing.
