Poetry Diagnostic

Directions: This is to see how much you already know about poetry. This WILL be graded on your effort. Do your best!

Carefully read the poem below and answer the questions.

"Ars Poetica" by Archibald Macleish

A poem should be palpable and mute
As a globed fruit,

Dumb
As old medallions to the thumb,

Silent as the sleeve-worn stone
Of casement ledges where the moss has grown

A poem should be wordless
As the flight of birds.

A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs,

Leaving, as the moon releases
Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,

Leaving, as the moon behind the winter leaves,
Memory by memory the mind

A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs.

A poem should be equal to:
Not true.

For all the history of grief
An empty doorway and a maple leaf.

For love
The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea--

A poem should not mean
But be.

1. Parts of a poem:

a. What is a stanza?

b. How many stanzas are there in this poem?


c. Put parentheses ( ) around one stanza in the poem.


d. Number the lines in the poem.

2. Rhyme Scheme:

a. Label the poem's rhyme scheme (example: AA BB, etc.)

b. List 3 pairs of rhyming words in the poem.

3. Literary Devices

a. What is a simile?

b. Write an example of a simile.

c. How is a simile different than a metaphor?

d. Write down an example of a metaphor from the poem above.

e. Write down one examples of imagery from the poem.

4. What is the main idea of this poem? Do the best you can to summarize it in at least 2 complete sentences.


5. Your opinion:

a. Do you like reading poetry?

b. Writing poetry?

c. What's you favorite poem, poet, or both?

d. Other comments:

Poetry Opinion Survey

Answer each of the following questions by circling the response that you identify with most.

1. I enjoy reading poetry.

Poetry KWL

K   What do you already KNOW about poetry?

W   What do you WANT to know?

L   What have you LEARNED?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poetry KWL

Types of Poetry

Acrostic - a word is written down the side of the paper, and each letter is used to begin a word or phrase describing the up-and-down word

Lyric - a highly musical verse that expresses the observations of a single speaker
Examples: "Summer" by Walter Dean Myers, "The Sniffle" by Ogden Nash, "Elegy" by Alexander Pushkin

Ballad - a songlike poem that tells a story, and often has a refrain
Examples: "The Unquiet Grave," "Sir Patrick Spens"

Free Verse - poetry not written in a regular rhythmic pattern
Examples: "Slam, Dunk, and Hook" by Yusef Komunyakaa, "The Heart" by Stephen Crane

Cinquain - a short, usually unrhymed poem consisting of twenty-two syllables distributed as 2, 4, 6, 8, 2, in five lines, or as follows:

Line 1: Noun
Line 2: Description of Noun
Line 3: Action
Line 4: Feeling or Effect
Line 5: Synonym of the initial noun

Nonsense - a poem that uses either nonsensical words, or in a nonsensical order, to convey its meaning.
Examples: "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll, "Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town" by E. E. Cummings

Narrative - tells a story
Examples: "Casey at the Bat" by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, "Mummy Boy" by Tim Burton, "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe, "Children's Story" by Ricky Walters

Sonnet - 14-line lyrical poem with three 4-line stanzas followed by a couplet (2 lines)
Examples: "The Greater Cats" by Victoria Sackville-West, "Sonnet - to Science" by Edgar Allen Poe, "Sonnet 116"by Shakespeare

Limerick - a rhymed humorous or nonsense poem of five lines, with a set rhyme scheme of a-a-b-b-a

Persona Poem

Your persona is the role or personality that you let other people see.

Here is one example of a persona poem:

Katie -
zany, creative, competitive, generous
teacher of 9th graders
who loves babies, running, and great books
who is afraid of the dentist, semi trucks, and bad grammar
who wants to see the Grand Canyon, her future children, and all 4s on the EOC
resident of Rocky Mount, North Carolina
- Smith

1st line:
2nd line:
3rd line:
4th line:
5th line:
6th line:
7th line:
8th line:

Now, try writing your own Persona-Poem:

When you have finished, look over your poem. Make sure it really says something specific and unique about YOU! Now you're ready to copy it onto your construction paper and add pictures, photos, drawings, or small treasures that represent you!

1st line:
2nd line:
3rd line:
4th line:
5th line:
6th line:
7th line:
8th line:

Poetry Assignment

Directions: Use the glossary of your book and the lyrics on the back of this paper to answer the following questions.

1. Read the definition of a narrative poem. Write the definition in your own words.


2. Read the definition of a lyric poem. Write the definition in your own words.

3. Read the definition of allusion. Write the definition in your own words.

4. Read the definition of rhyme. Write the definition in your own words.

5. Read the song "Through the Wire" on the other side of this paper. Why do you think this song could be considered a narrative poem? (Answer in complete sentences.)


6. Reread your definition of allusion. Write down three examples of allusions from "Through the Wire."

7. Write down three more pairs of rhyming words from "Through the Wire."
mine * sign


8. Reread "Through the Wire"In your own words, summarize the story that is being told.