Poetic Devices
When Angelou uses a "caged bird" to represent enslaved black people, she is using an example of...
(half-points for symbolism)
Identify 2 poems that talk about heartbreak
and I run child-like
with God's anger a step behind,
back to simple sunlight,
wondering
as the world goes by
with curled smile
if anyone else
saw or sensed my crime
BUKOWSKI: Death Wants More Death
A claim of men’s conflict and struggle of letting out his actual feelings just because of a stigma set by society. With the use of metaphors the poet represents the feeling of not being able to express yourself only because of other’s opinions and stereotypes.
Bukowski's Bluebird
A depiction of the complexity and intricacy of women as well as their beauty in a patriarchal society in comparison to men. This poem takes what is often criticised about women’ and interestingly turns them into strengths of what forms and nurtures women into who they are.
Bukowski's Cows in Art Class
Enjambment is a literary device in which a line of poetry carries its idea or thought over to the next line without a grammatical pause.
Which poet is more prone to using enjambment in their work?
Charles Bukowski
Identify 2 poems that use extended metaphors
ANGELOU: I Know why the Caged Bird Sings,
BUKOWSKI: Hooray said the Roses, A Smile to Remember, Bluebird, I Like your Books, Death Wants More Death, Hemingway Never Did This
One day they hold you in the
Palms of their hands, gentle, as if you
Were the last raw egg in the world. Then
ANGELOU: Men
A free verse poem that captures the depressing reality of society’s dependence on material objects, whilst ironically expressing that the only way to deal with loneliness is together.
Angelou's Alone
A heartbreakingly real exposure to the pain of being the “other-woman”, ending in an ominous enjambment of emptiness.
Angelou's They Went Home
A cadence is an intentional break or pause (indicated by a "-" or ";") within a rhythmic poem, changing the melody of how that line is read.
Identify a poem that uses a cadence.
ANGELOU: They Went Home
half-point for:
BUKOWSKI: Cows in Art Class
Identify 2 poems that address discrimination
ANGLEOU: Phenomenal Women, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, And Still I Rise, Weekend Glory, Men, Kin, A Plagued Journey
BUKOWSKI: Bluebird, Alone with Everybody, Cause & Effect
age is no crime
but the shame
of a deliberately
wasted
life
among so many
deliberately
wasted
lives
is.
BUKOWSKI: Be Kind
A personal method in which the speaker directly expresses to the reader in an offended and resigned tone about the bothersome feeling of helplessness to the loss of a poem.
Bukowski's Hemingway Never Did This
A free verse poem of how humans tend to meddle with natural events that have no concern towards them. It paints a picture of the dark & selfish purpose we give into our actions while also trying to hide that selfishness from anybody else.
Juxtaposition is a literary device that implies comparison or contrast. Writers create juxtaposition by placing two entities side by side to create dramatic or ironic contrast.
Name 2 things that are juxtaposed in Bukowski's Death Wants More Death
flies/spiders & innocense
A broom & a weapon
Identify 2 Angelou poems that do NOT use repetition
Weekend Glory, Men, A Plagued Journey, Kin
at a table further down are 3 men
with very tiny heads
and long necks
like ostiches.
BUKOWSKI: Another Day
An outstanding example of power vs powerlessness that takes the reader into the mindset of a woman who has been a victim of patriarchy. The selection of words and anatomical imagery used to allude to men and women demonstrate the latter’s vulnerable need for the former.
Angelou's Men
A rhythmic and compact encouragement for self-confidence, and living within your means. A woman shares her belief on the quality of finding true happiness rather than to be miserable with large amounts of money. Through the use of allusions the speaker criticizes those who are prompt to look down at others, and hint at how she is proud of finding satisfaction in simplicity.
Angelou's Weekend Glory
Parallelism is the repetition of grammatical elements in writing and speaking.
Identify & explain a poem in which one of the poets uses parallelism.
ANGELOU: Phenomenal Women, I Know why the Cages Bird Since, A Still I Rise, Men, A Brave & Startling Truth
BUKOWSKI: Alone with Everybody, Bluebird, Another Day
Name 2 poems that tell stories (with a clear plot progression).
ANGELOU: Weekend Glory, Men, A Plagued Journey, They Went Home
BUKOWSKI: Death Wants More Death, Another Day, Hemingway Never Did This, I Like your Books, A Smile to Remember
When we release our fingers
From fists of hostility
And allow the pure air to cool our palms
ANGELOU: A Brave and Startling Truth
A quick read, however, it provides options for interpretation, where it can be related to suicide or someone being misunderstood in literature. It has a conflicted and melancholic tone about someone who feels misunderstood.
Bukowski's Cause & Effect
It criticises the double faced nature of people which preach; because as the poem tells, what they preach about is something that is closely connected to them and often need in their lives. Letting us know of the cautious nature we need to not get influenced by their own dependency and conflict in that idea.
Bukowski's The Genius in the Crowd