Examples
Beowulf, The Odyssey, The Illiad
What is epic poem?
an expression of emotion or state of mind
What is mood?
"...the forepart of each
of the sturdy nails to steel was likest, —
heathen’s hand-spear..."
What is claws?
"T'was a dark and stormy night..."
What is suspenseful?
"A solemn ship swept across a swelling sea."
What is alliteration?
the recurring patterns of stress and silence
which create the flow of sound, especially in
music or poetry
What is rhythm?
"...it is in a warrior
noble strength to bind fast his spirit,
guard his wealth-chamber, think what he will."
What is mind or spirit?
"When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze."
What is calm/reflective/happy?
What is caesura?
the repition of consonant sounds in words
or syllables that appear next to one another
What is alliteration?
"...bright blade, when the blood gushed o’er it,
battle-sweat hot; but the hilt I brought back
from my foes."
What is blood?
"She listened with a flitting blush,
With downcast eyes and modest grace;
For well she knew, I could not choose
But gaze upon her face."
What is loving/romantic?
"battle-tool," meaning sword
What is kenning?
a metaphorical compound word or phrase popular in Old English or Norse poetry.
What is kenning?
"The bright sky-candle shines from the south,
Bringing warmth and light to middle-earth..."
What is the sun?
"
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door."
What is dark/moody/dramatic?
"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;..."
What is rhythm?
a rhetorical break in the flow of sound in the middle of a poetic verse
What is caesura?
"And now my spirit twists
out of my breast,
my spirit
out in the waterways,
over the whale's path
it soars widely
through all the corners of the world"
What is the ocean?
"Often alone, in the first light of dawn,
I have sung my lament. There is none living
to whom I would dare to reveal clearly
my heart's thoughts."
What is thoughtful/lonely?