poetic vocab
At six o'clock we were waiting for coffee,
waiting for coffee and the charitable crumb
that was going to be served from a certain balcony
--like kings of old, or like a miracle.
It was still dark. One foot of the sun
steadied itself on a long ripple in the river.
The first ferry of the day had just crossed the river.
It was so cold we hoped that the coffee
would be very hot, seeing that the sun
was not going to warm us; and that the crumb
would be a loaf each, buttered, by a miracle.
At seven a man stepped out on the balcony.
He stood for a minute alone on the balcony
looking over our heads toward the river.
A servant handed him the makings of a miracle,
consisting of one lone cup of coffee
and one roll, which he proceeded to crumb,
his head, so to speak, in the clouds--along with the sun.
sestina
Name 4 examples of assonance (repeated vowel sounds) in this poem and describe what sound the author is attempting to mimic.
Who knows why the cold wind blows
Or where it goes, or what it knows.
It only flows in passionate throes
Until it finally slows and settles in repose.
o-knows, blows, goes, throes, repose
the wind
How many stanzas does this poem have?
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
3
What would it mean for something to have an "aura of the divine"?
Annotate the rhyme scheme using A, B, C, D, etc.
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
AABA CCDC
Those pretty wrongs that liberty commits,
When I am sometime absent from thy heart,
Thy beauty, and thy years full well befits,
For still temptation follows where thou art.
Gentle thou art, and therefore to be won,
Beauteous thou art, therefore to be assail’d;
And when a woman woos, what woman’s son
Will sourly leave her till he have prevail’d?
Ay me! but yet thou might’st my seat forbear,
And chide thy beauty and thy straying youth,
Who lead thee in their riot even there
Where thou art forced to break a twofold truth:–
Hers by thy beauty tempting her to thee,
Thine by thy beauty being false to me.
sonnet
Name 3 words for COMPARISONS
What is the difference between free verse and blank verse?
blank verse has rhythm but no rhyme; free verse has neither
What is an allusion? What do most allusions refer to?
reference to something; mythology, Shakespeare, Bible
What is an internal rhyme? How does it differ from an end rhyme?
Internal rhyme is a rhyme WITHIN a line; end rhymes are when the end syllables of lines rhyme
Where is the volta in a Shakespearean sonnet and what does the volta actually do?
last 2 lines; it's a turn or reversal in thought or tone
What is an allusion?
Reference to something (usually mythology, the Bible, or Shakespeare)
What is enjambment? How does it affect the pace of a poem?
line breaks break up sentences; tends to speed it up
Which type of poem would NOT have a negative or death-like connotation? a. eulogy b. lament c. ode d. dirge
C
Does blank verse have rhyme? Does free verse have rhyme?
Neither one rhymes
Who is the speaker in this poem?
I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful‚
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I think it is part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.
Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,
Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.
a mirror
Match the devices to their definitions: 1. juxtaposition 2. irony 3. paradox
a. the opposite of what is expected happens b. 2 things that shouldn't happen at the same time do c. two opposites are put next to each other to deepen contrast
1. c
2. a
3. b
What is the most common poetic meter (also famous because used by Shakespeare)
iambic pentameter
What would it mean to have "naive optimism"?
hopeful and positive about the future to the extent that you aren't being realistic
What are the last two rhyming lines of a sonnet called?
couplet or volta
The caesura in this poem comes between which 2 words?
I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -
The Stillness in the Room
Was like the Stillness in the Air -
Between the Heaves of Storm -
"buzz" and "when"
What is the difference between 3rd person omniscient and 3rd person limited POV?
omniscient = thoughts/feelings of all characters
limited = thoughts feelings of 1 character
1. 1st person 2. 2nd person 3. 3rd person 4. speaker
a. you, your, thy, thee; talking TO someone b. he, she, narrator is NOT involved in story c. narrator of poem d. I, me, we, us, personal
1. d
2. a
3. b
4. c
Annotate the meter using U and I:
Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green
Like the leaves of the forest when
u u / u u / u u
summer is green
/ u u /
What type of rhyme is this?
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
internal