what is poetry? let’s brainstorm…

What is poetry?

Let’s brainstorm…

www.wordle.net/create

Today’s Learning Objective

How do poets paint a picture in our mind?

Imagery in writing involves…

The Senses:

Sight, hearing, touch, taste & smell

Colors, shapes or images

Figurative language

…To create a “mental picture”

Examples of Imagery

The red wheelbarrow

The creeeeaking door

The razor-sharp edge of broken glass

The bit t er taste of ginger root

The putrid smell of rotting garbage

Langston Hughes(1902 -1967)

Photo by Nikolas Muray

Get ready to sketch!

The City

In the morning the city

Spreads its wings

Making a song

In stone that sings.

In the evening the city

Goes to bed

Hanging lights

About its head.

“The City”by Langston Hughes

In the morning the citySpreads its wingsMaking a songIn stone that sings.

In the evening the cityGoes to bedHanging lightsAbout its head.

What did you see in your mind? What did you sketch?

Literary Devices(also known as figurative language)

• Simile

• Metaphor

• Personification

What’s a simile?

Simile

Comparing 2 things using “like” or “as”

The rain was like a little mouse

Quiet, small and gray.

It pattered all around the house

And then it went away.

From “Rain Poem”

by Elizabeth Coatsworth

Write a simile about life.

Life is like…

What’s a metaphor?

Metaphor

Comparing 2 things using the verb “to be”

To be = I am/was… We are/were…

You are…They are…Erin & Al are…She is/was…He is…It is…The thing is…

The world is

a glass overflowing

with water.

From “Ode to Enchanted Light”

by Pablo Neruda

Hold fast to dreamsFor if dreams dieLife is a barren fieldFrozen with snow

From “Dreams”by Langston Hughes

Metaphors are harder to use

Try to describe the weather with a metaphor.

How about a parent or sibling?

Personification

Giving an inanimate object human or animal qualities

Pencils too pointed break their points and then laugh at you.

Proud pencils get furious waiting to be sharpened.

Pencils in pockets and boxes shove each other and nearly come to fighting.

From “Pencils”

by Carl Sandburg

Practice Personification…

Think of something that is difficult to do…

Does that thing laugh at you?

Does it seem like it has a life of its own?

Let’s review!How do poets paint a picture

in the reader’s mind?

What literary devices do poet’s use to create imagery?

Simile

Metaphor

Personification

Works Citedhttp://www.wordle.net/create

http://michelemiller.blogs.com/marketing_to_women/2004/04/eye_of_the_beho.html

ClipArt from Microsoft

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photography-boy-smell-flower-image5191417

http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_I.html#imagery_anchor

Heard, Georgia. 1998. Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Press.

Perfect, Kathy A. 2005. Poetry Lessons: Everything You Need. New York: Scholastic.

http://poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/83

http://www.geh.org/ar/strip18/htmlsrc/m197701891477_ful.html

Presentation by K. Coolman

Nov. 17, 2009