10th Poetry

Tone – the attitude of the author/speaker toward his or her subject

                -can be serious, casual, distant, personal, angry, humorous

Images- sensory experiences that give clues to the tone

Tone is what the speaker chooses to share with the reader through images.

Whatever the speaker writes in the poem must be significant in some way!

Tone changes with just a few word adjustments.

For example: The poor innocent boy passed away quietly last night. VS.

That idiot got himself killed last night.

Poems to study tone, theme and speaker:

“After Apple-Picking” p. 196

            “Mowing” Frost p. 198

            “Conscientious Objector” p. 266

            “A Man” p. 267

            “The Weary Blues” p. 268

            “Jazz Fantasia” p. 270

            “Thoughts of Hanoi” p. 398

            “The Bean Eaters” p. 458

English 9 Plot Diagram

11th John Milton

Paradise Lost By John Milton (blind poet, borrows from Latin)

Written as an epic- long narrative poem featuring a larger-than-life hero, and reflecting the values of the society in which it was created

Shares traits of a Homeric epic:

                A story that begins in the middle of the action (in medias res)

                An opening invocation in which the poet calls for divine aid in telling his story

                Extended similes (comparisons using like or as)

Milton’s poetic concerns were shaped by the English Civil War (1642-1649). The war originated from King Charles I vs. Parliament along with new radical religious ideas such as Puritanism and development of own conscience instead of blindly following the king’s church.

Paradise Lost – epic poem of the Biblical story of the creation, fall and redemption of humanity.

Satan rebelled against God and his army has just lost the war. They have been expelled from heaven and plummeted into Hell (“one great furnace flamed, yet from those flames / No light, but rather darkness visible / Served only to discern sights of woe.”) Then tells the story of Adam and Eve.

Satan’s war is a symbol for England’s Civil War and the dark, destructive forces that have torn through the nation.

3 parallels: Like Satan, the English had rebelled against their traditional ruler

                Like Satan, the English king had demonstrated excessive pride

    Like Satan, England had been abruptly plunged from one condition into another

Themes: 

Reason and Free Will – Humanity can see the difference between right and wrong. With that ability comes the freedom to choose between the two.

Free Will and Predestination – God knows everything that is, was, and will be. Yet God’s foreknowledge of a person’s actions does not mean that the person’s choices were determined in advance, by God. People have free will.

10th Poetry

Theme - a central idea, concern, or message about life
- can be directly stated (found in the title or lines of poetry
- implied (suggested through events, actions of a character, a speaker's words and attitude)

"Acquainted with the Night" & "Things"
Theme = Lonliness

"Success is counted sweetest" & "I dwell in possibility"
Theme = Achievement

11th Poetry

“To His Coy Mistress” By Andrew Marvell (p. 447)

Tone – Humorous

Rhyme – couplets AABBCCDD…

Summary/Meaning – carpe diem Latin “seize the day”, enjoy life

Speaker’s Attitude – urges the lady to enjoy love now, while they are still in their youthful prime

“To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” By Robert Herrick (p. 449)

Tone – Humorous

Rhyme – ABAB CDCD

Summary/Meaning – The speaker advises the readers to enjoy the rosebuds-the joys of youth- because the days are short. Opportunities missed now may be lost forever.

Speaker’s Attitude – Uses images like rosebuds and the sunrise/set to symbolize things that are beautiful but do not last long.

“Song” By Sir John Suckling (p. 450)

Tone – Humorous (because it is mocking)

Rhyme – ABABB

Summary/Meaning – The speaker advises his listener to move on and not waste time on someone who doesn’t care.

Speaker’s Attitude – He advises his friend to stop moping. If she won’t love him, there’s nothing he can do to make her love him.

9th English Poetry

Figurative Language – language that uses figures of speech (to say one thing but mean another)

Simile – compares one thing to another using the word like or as

Metaphor – compares one thing to another

Personification – gives human characteristics to an animal, object or idea

Alliteration - the repetition of initial consonant sounds

Inverted Word Order – changes the subject-verb-complement pattern of normal word order in English to draw attention to the complement

Rhyme Scheme – regular pattern of the rhyming words at the end of each line in a poem

Poetic Contractions – words in which a letter is replaced by an apostrophe

Diction – word choice

Elevated Diction – formal diction

Symbol – an object, person, or idea that represents something beyond itself

Imagery – the descriptive or figurative language used in literature to create word pictures for the reader (sight, sound, taste, touch, smell or movement)

Tone – writer’s attitude toward his or her audience and subject

I am poem

　

FIRST STANZA

I am (2 special characteristics you have)

I wonder (something of curiosity)

I hear (an imaginary sound)

I see (an imaginary sight)

I want (an actual desire)

I am (the first line of the poem repeated)

SECOND STANZA

I pretend (something you actually pretend to do)

I feel (a feeling about something imaginary)

I touch (an imaginary touch)

I worry (something that bothers you)

I cry (something that makes you sad)

I am (the first line of the poem repeated)

10th Poetry

Figurative Language

Monday “Africa” p. 216

“The Wind – Tapped Like a Tired Mann” p. 950

“A Pace Like That” p. 951

“Metaphor” p. 952

“Right Hand” p. 954

Simile

A simile uses the words “like” or “as”

to compare one object or idea with another to suggest they are alike.

Example: busy as a bee

Metaphor

The metaphor states a fact or draws a verbal picture by the use of comparison.

A simile would say you are like something; a metaphor is more positive - it says you are something.

Example: You are what you eat.

Personification  

A figure of speech in which human characteristics are given

to an animal or an object. Example: My teddy bear gave me a hug.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same initial letter, sound, or group of sounds in a series of words.

Alliteration includes tongue twisters. Example: She sells seashells by the seashore.

Onomatopoeia

The use of a word to describe or imitate a natural sound or the sound

made by an object or an action. Example: snap crackle pop

Hyperbole

An exaggeration that is so dramatic that no one would believe the statement is true.

Tall tales are hyperboles.

Example: He was so hungry, he ate that whole cornfield for lunch, stalks and all.

Idioms

An expression that does not mean what it literally says. Example: You’re driving me up a wall.

Anaphora

The same expression or word is repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, clauses or sentences. Example: As I ebb'd with the ocean of life, As I wended the shores I know, As I walked where the ripples continually wash  you Paumanok.

Apostrophe

The speaker directs speech to an imaginary person or abstract quality or idea. Example: O eloquent, just and mighty Death!