14 days!

Warm-Up:How would you define poetry?

What makes something a poem?

Pick up ONE of the songs from the front!

reminders

• 6-Word Memoir due Monday.

• Extra Credit CD due Friday, May 23rd

**If you have not turned in your Alas, Babylon today, your name will be turned in to the fine sheet. You need to bring your novel as soon as possible! **

What poems do you know?

“We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members

of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. Medicine,

law, business, engineering, these are

noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life.

But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”

Dead Poets Society“So avoid using the word

‘very’ because it’s lazy. A man is not very tired, he is

exhausted. Don’t use very sad, use morose. Language

was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women

- and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do. It also won’t do in your essays.”

Poetry Official definition: literature in rhythmic form

Concentrated, powerful language ~ EVERY word has meaning and significance.

Often about love, heartbreak, or other powerful experiences and emotions.

Poetry is really indefinable a.) It doesn’t have to rhyme b.) It doesn’t have to be short (Just look at the Odyssey!) c.) It doesn’t have to be in stanzas

• Prose is “normal” text, like in a novel or newspaper.

• Poetry is “broken” text, using lines grouped in stanzas

• Poetry can break grammatical rules

• When reading a poem, stop at punctuation, just like prose. A break at the end of the line doesn’t mean the thought is complete.

Rhyme Scheme

• A repeated pattern of end rhymes; usually marked with letters of the alphabet

• Example: A flea and a fly in a flue Were caught, so what could they do? Said the fly, "Let us flee." "Let us fly," said the flea. So they flew through a flaw in the flue.

Song Lyric Analysis1. What do you already know about your musician?

Write what you know already on the back of your paper. (3 things)

2. Does your song have a rhyme scheme? If so, identify it using letters. (ABAB, AABB, etc.)

3. What is your songs chorus? Write it. What message is the artist trying to communicate here? Why is this message worth repeating?

4. What poetic devices do you notice? Find 3 you spot and tell the meaning of it.

5. Why does this song speak to you? Why did you choose it?

Homework Reminders• Read required pages for Book Club #2 on

block day!– Legend: Pages 81-157– The Maze Runner: Chapters 17-33– The Fault in Our Stars: Chapters 7-13– Birthmarked: Chapters 8-15– A Separate Peace: Chapters 5-7

• Vocabulary Workshop Unit 10 due Friday! Study for your LAST vocab quiz!

Warm-Up:Why do you think people are so intimidated by poetry (both reading and writing it)? Why is poetry so much more daunting than writing an essay, for example?

Daddy’s Little GirlFrom the other side of the world he bought me a “kimono.”It was beautiful; he had one too.In them, we pose, he kneeling and I learning.He holds me as if I were glass:A China doll not to be shattered.His chin to the crown of my head, I am a princess.Around us are the pieces of my parents’ marriage.The Sony television that lasted till this day,The solid, wooden bookcases that still stand,And books on the tables, everywhere. Three years later in the same roomMy parents sat, faces sober and drawn,On opposite ends of the room.Shelves, television and books between them,A great, yawning distance.My mother took the books,My father stole the bookshelves.My mother bargained for the television.Father fought for the table.And Mother won the children. Erin - Connecticut – 17

JokerYou would be surprisedTo know that the funny manIs also a sad manLike a clown fallen from his stilts. But this is his career Never will the joker feel secure in a serious environment He will keep telling jokes Never will a joker feel secure with his insecurities He will keep telling jokesIn the process of getting myself out of a holeA hole I dug for myselfA bottomless pitI will die…Like the product of a punA misunderstandingThe saddest joke… A clown lying by his stilts, full of regret. Michael – 16

_____

Just because I love darkness

Doesn’t mean I’m depressed

Doesn’t mean I can’t love

Doesn’t mean I’m blind.

Just because I love my Mom

Doesn’t mean I’m not a rebel

Doesn’t mean I can’t love others

Doesn’t mean I’m a mama’s boy.

Just because I act psycho

Doesn’t mean I need medication

Doesn’t mean I can’t be compassionate

Doesn’t mean I don’t cry.

Marcel – 16

Tupac Shakur• American rapper and

promising actor• Raised in Harlem; both

parents were members of the Black Panther party.

• Sold over 75 million albums• Spent 11 months in prison• September 1996 – killed in

a drive by shooting in Vegas

• Thought to be a victim of the East Coast – West Coast Hip Hop Rivalry

The Rose that Grew from Concrete

Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete? Proving nature's law is wrong, it learned to walk without having feet. Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams, it learned to breathe fresh air. Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else ever cared.