Structure in poetry and prose

Of course, this is just a smattering of what you could analyse and apply.

How to use SPIDER in analysing a poem

I've used FLIRT but this is good, too.  It's a useful acronym for examining unseen poetry. Ken Archer offers clear advice here on how to read a poem and write about it.

Scansion as a technique for understanding poems

Here's an excellent blogsite where you will find a range of poems where scansion has been applied and then used for analysis. The Vermont Poet also has a page in which he or she explains how to use 'basic' scansion.

http://poemshape.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/the-road-not-taken/

Poetic Form - The Structure of a Villanelle

AO2 examines language, form and structure. We have been studying a couple of villanelles for unseen tests. Emily Bishop's "One Art" and Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" are both well known examples of this form. AS students should read the article below as its points on how to comment on the structure of villanelles is exemplary.
http://poetry-forms.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_structure_of_a_villanelle

"Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night"

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

by Dylan Thomas

What Is Poetry ? An exeptional learning unit from the Open University

As one might expect from the O.U. it is a thorough unit with brief audio interviews with established poets to aid oral learners. Sheer excellence!
http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=201288

"My Love Is Like A Red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns

Creative AS Anthology Poetry Presentations

I like the presentation given above as the meaning of the poem is clear through how Augustine declaims it. His enthusiasm for the poem is present too. (He does not let the passing aeroplane distract him either!)

You (my students who drop by here) can take a number of different, creative approaches to present your learning on your chosen poems.

You can:

Memorise,act out and declaim your poem in a dramatic manner as Augustine does above. A friend can film it. Find suitable background music that you can use whether you film your work or not.

Write an formal essay in which you analyse the poem and prepare a handout which deals appropriately with the poem's themes, form, imagery, language (key words and phrases) use of rhythm, tone, style of narration, and other poetic techniques such as assonance, alliteration, sibilance, etc. (See the class hand-out for this.)

Produce a collage of the poem's central ideas, words and images and then justify and explain your work.

Produce a series of photographs that higlight key words, ideas and images that are central to your chosen poem.

Produce with friends a series of freeze frames which help explain the narrative or key ideas/themes and images in a poem.

Annotate a poem on A2 and present and discuss your annotations.

Produce a Powerpoint presentation or Blog on the poem by breaking your presention into key analytical features of the poem. (For instance, themes form, narration, imagery, language, tone, features such as alliteration, assonance, etc. as appropriate.)

Find and present on the electronic whiteboard a paintings/music that can be associated with your poem. Explain how their imagery and thematic links and relationships can be linked with your poem.

A short film of your chosen poem that highlights its key ideas and features.

A storyboard of the poem in which film language helps depict the poem's key ideas, themes and images.

Your ideas. But do run them by me, first.

Good luck!

Advice on essay structure/paragraphs for writing up your presentations on ballads/other poems

Go over your exam board's assessment objectives to help you organise your paragraphs.

Introduce each paragraph with a clear topic sentence (a sentence that introduces and sums up your paragraph.)

Here is a suggested paragraph plan (although you can vary the order when writing).


1.  Give the title of your poem/ballad and sum up what it is about.


2.  Write about the point of view, symbolism, themes and ideas.


3.  Analyse the poem's language for imagery, use of adjectives, verbs, etc. where appropriate.


4.  Write about the poem's form and structure.


5.  Give various interpretations of the ballad/poem and explain how and why different versions of ballads changed over time.


6.  Give your interpretation of the ballad/poem and what you think of it.


7.  Write about the ballad/poem's literary, cultural and historical contexts. (This may lead you into linking them with the ballad/poem's themes.)


The advice above mostly relates to ballads.

STRIVE or STRIDE (Help with reading and writing unseen poems in exams)

The acronym S T R I V E is a useful aid to the analysis of poetry. It is particularly useful in an exam situation where you need to kick-start your response to an unseen poem fairly rapidly.

Subject:
What does the poem appear to be about? Is it obvious or ambiguous? Is it narrative in nature, telling a story; or is it more abstract and concerned with feelings and emotions? Is there a clear link between its subject and its title?

Tone:
Does the poem convey a feeling of celebration, sadness, rage, joy, regret, love, hate, irony, satire, pathos? Does the tone of the poem appear to give an insight into the poet's state of mind at the time the poem was written?

Rhythm and Rhyme:
Is there a clear rhythm to the poem? Is there a discernible rhyme scheme? Does it rhyme at all? If so, how and where? Are all the lines of roughly the same length? Are short lines intermixed with long lines? What effect does this have as the poem is being read? Does it help to emphasise the poem's meaning?

Imagery:
What visions and pictures fill your head when you read the poem? Are they beautiful, gentle, savage, awe inspiring, confused, picturesque, horrific...?

Vocabulary (lexis):
What words, phrases and register does the poet use to add impact and power to the poem? Can you identify the use of metaphor, simile, personification, or any other imaginative devices?

Effects:
What sound effects does the poet use and why? Scan the poem for the use of, for example, onomatopoeia, assonance, alliteration, cacophony...

STRIVE does not have to be applied mechanically to a poem. Apply the letters in any order you like. Many of the categories will almost certainly overlap anyway. Treat it as an aid, not a rigid set of rules. You can also adapt it to STRIDE, with the 'D' standing for the appropriate term, 'Diction', rather than 'Vocabulary'.

Remember!!! Poetry is an extremely condensed and concentrated form of text in which form and meaning are closely interwoven. Everything in a poem - every word, comma, space and sound - has been carefully selected with this in mind. The relevance within the poem of everything you decide to comment upon should be thought through just as carefully.


TERMS YOU SHOULD TRY TO USE IN YOUR CRITICAL WRITING:
Stanza The correct word for a verse in poetry.
End-rhyme A rhyme occurring at the end of a line of poetry.
Eye-rhyme Looks as though it should rhyme but does not ... Home / Come.
Pathos Evocation of intense deep feeling.
Irony The literal meaning is not the intended meaning.
Satire Irony employed in a moralistic way.
Simile Likening one thing to another to illuminate meaning using as or like.
Metaphor Imaginatively representing one thing in terms of something else.
The ship ploughed through the waves.... Peter was a rock.
Assonance Repetition of similar vowel sounds .... How now brown cow.
Alliteration Repetition (most commonly) of the initial consonant .... Peter Piper ...
Cacophony The use of clashing and jarring words for effect.
Hyperbole Exaggeration.
Oxymoron The combination of opposites for effect .... A thunderous silence.
Ambiguity Inability to establish definitive meaning from information provided.
Allusion A subtle or blatant reference to something else.
Euphemism Substituting a gentle phrase for a blunt one ... Passed away/died.
Allegory A work with more than one level of meaning.
Elision Omitting or slurring part of a word for rhythmic effect ... O'er/Over.
Cliche Trite, over used ideas and rhymes ... Breeze/Trees.
Onomatopoeia Words which imitate that which they represent ... Zip/Buzz/Plop.

Great poetry website for finding unseens

Ya can also hear the likes of T.S. Eliot and . . . Robert Browning, too!
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/themes.do

A really helpful website for Sylvia Plath!

Should be really woof-ful for unseens.

http://www.sylviaplathforum.com/

Psssst! Need some more practice before the exam for Unseens? Try these moving pair of poems by Tony Harrison: "Bookends 1 and 2.

This is also an excellent site to find other unseens that you can use for practice.

http://www.bryantmcgill.com/World_Poetry/~T/Tony_Harrison/