Course Overview

Poetry is a semester elective course. You will read selected poems that are meant to encourage and motivate further reading. Poems will be read and analyzed, and you will be required to respond in writing. Recitation is a major part of understanding the emotion involved in poetry, and so you will be required to submit recordings to your teacher frequently.



INTRODUCTION TO POETRY





Unit Overview

In this unit, you will be introduced to poetry; why it is important and what its purpose is.  You will read your first poems by Billy Collins and Ogden Nash.



I. An Introduction to Poetry

Poetry is something that is written in many forms and styles because it is an art form. When you read a poem, you should not only try to figure out what it is about, but you should also reflect on your own life. What does it remind you of?

Many students say, “What’s the point of poetry?” It seems strange, sometimes disorganized, or so deep it’s incomprehensible. Why in the world should anyone take it seriously? The only way you can answer this question is if you study the subject first. You must be honest with yourself.

Furthermore, it is important to understand what poetry tries to do. You are supposed to enjoy it. Lose yourself. Have you ever listened to a song? Have you ever put on earphones, closed your eyes, and just let it be? That is poetry.  If poems remind us of our lives and what is in the world around us, then poetry has a proper place in our world.

Read the following poem by Billy Collins. Are you the student he describes?




Now answer questions 1-3.



You may have already noticed that the form of poetry differs from that of prose. Billy Collins explains the difference: "The critical difference between prose and poetry is that prose is kind of like water and will become the shape of any vessel you pour it into. Poetry is like a piece of sculpture and can easily break."

The form of poetry is precise and intentional. If the poet wants you to read a three-line stanza, it has to be printed that way. Billy Collins’ poem, “Introduction to Poetry” has seven stanzas that range from one to four lines each. A stanza is an arrangement of lines that forms a division of a poem. The word comes from the Latin word stare, “to stand.”

Let’s look at stanza one and two:


I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

             


If you were to delete the space between them, the poem would “break” as Collins said.


I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.

 

Listen to both versions. In the first, it is obvious that Collins wants you to pause before saying, “or press an ear against its hive.” Rushing the lines together interrupts the flow of the poem. It’s like a verbal train wreck.

Throughout this course, you will learn the names of different poetic forms. Collins is a more modern poet who does not follow traditional forms- his lines are straightforward and follow a rhythm.  Stephen Dunn, a poet, once wrote, “We seem to always know where we are in a Billy Collins poem, but not necessarily where he is going.”




Now answer questions 4-9.





II. The Epigrams of Ogden Nash


What is an Epigram? In a nutshell, it’s a funny saying. Ogden Nash’s “Ice Breaking” will serve to illustrate:


The word "epigram" comes from the word epigraphein, meaning “to write on” and it initially referred to the inscriptions written on Ancient Greek monuments. The 1st century poet Martial became the model for the modern epigram.

Longer poems are sometimes made up of epigrams. A concise, clever, and usually paradoxical statement, an epigram only expresses a single thought or observation. There are many famous poets who have composed epigrams, like Oscar Wilde, John Donne, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Coleridge demonstrates the wit and humor normally associated with this form. Here is an epigram that is commonly attributed to him:


Ogden Nash is known for his epigrams. He is the most widely appreciated and imitated writer of this type of verse.


Born in New York in 1902 to a distinguished family, he attended Harvard but dropped out, worked briefly on Wall Street and then as a schoolteacher. In 1925 Nash began work as a copywriter, and his first poems were published in 1930 in The New Yorker.

His comic verse, sometimes completely and hilariously nonsensical, is characterized by puns, startling rhymes, amusing parenthetical statements, and asymmetrical lines.

As you read the poetry of Ogden Nash below, try to decipher what makes his verse so funny. You should also notice that the last word of a line will always rhyme with the last word of  the line after it. Read “The Termite,” and you will see:





Wood rhymes with good, and May rhymes with today. This systematic wordplay is not necessary, but Ogden Nash's epigrams usually rhyme. Nash has built his poetry off of couplets, which are two lines of verse that rhyme. His short poems usually consist of four lines, or two couplets.




Read “The Common Cold”  below. It is one of Nash’s longer poems, but it will prove to be very funny! It is full of stand-alone epigrams.





Now answer questions 10-27.





III. Recitation



Recitation is the mother of memory. The serious poetry student must be held accountable for what they have read. Recitation is also an art form- the feelings and emotions of a particular work can be said with real feeling.

Download and save this PDF file. It contains all of the poems you have read in this unit. Read them aloud to yourself.

Unit 01 Seleced Poems


In order to become a good speaker, you must be a good listener. Try to find a podcast that recites classic poetry, or even a radio show. You’ll notice that the speakers always speak calmly and clearly.

Search online for a podcast or radio station that recites poetry. Podomatic.com is a great place to start, as it hosts several short “minicasts” that showcase poetry recitation. Click on the button below to follow a link and listen to a classic poetry podcast:



Click on this PDF File to view the webpage's index.





Now answer question 28.






For the Teacher: Optional Extra Credit