HOW A POEM WORKSppt课件

1、1Reading a poem and appreciating a poem is actually a very simple thing to do: we sit down and make ourselves comfortable, read the poem, and we either like it or dont like it or cant make up our minds and maybe read it again. What we dont do is then dissect it like some doctor cutting up a dead bod

2、y to find out why it died, or a scientist analyzing some rocks just brought back from the moon.But in the academic world, poems are analyzed to get at their meaning or meanings, and to find out how they say what they mean and how they work.This may seem a rather dry and boring thing to do, but when

3、we have learned to analyze we have also learned how to read closely and, perhaps, read better. We can learn to read more deeply and understand more. We can learn to distinguish between good writing and poor writing. We can even, perhaps, learn to distinguish between truth and lies.2HOW DOES A POEM W

4、ORK? (This is a very good question.)3The audience of a poem on the page has to take the pictorial pattern of the poem into consideration in interpreting the content of the poem, as the pictorial pattern of the poem is semiotically significant in the meaning making of the poem. By arranging the poem

5、in a particular pattern, the poet is foregrounding some meanings. Further, in English poetry, both the beginning and the end of a line have greater weight. 4I stepped into the cinema alone.I steppedInto the cinema alone.I stepped into the cinemaAlone.IStepped into the cinema alone.5Here is our first

6、 technical term: Enjambment Enjambment is the continuation of a sentence or clause over a line-break.So, I stepped into the cinemaAlone.is an example of enjambment.6And just while were talking about lines, there is one other term you should know, and that is “end-stopped”.an end-stopped line is a li

7、ne of poetry that ends with either a full-stop, or a comma, or something like that. Its the opposite of enjambment.7Words and MeaningsWords carry two different types of meaning: the denotative meaning and the connotative meaning. The denotative meaning is the first level of understanding. It is the

8、literal meaning.The connotative meaning is the second level of understanding and analysis. It is the associations, the implications, or the shared emotional attachment of the words used in the design of the poem. This second level is more complicated than the first because it involves puzzling out e

9、xpression, hidden meanings, indeterminancy and abstractions. Some of the interpretations we come to will, of necessity, be subjective.8Inversion and ForegroundingInversion of normal word order is a literary device used sometimes as an expedient to fit meter and rhyme, but often it serves to foregrou

10、nd certain words.Foregrounding is achieved by some degree of deviation from the normal use of language. As the verbal and syntactic choices depart further from expectation, so the emphasis becomes greater.The following is an example of using inversion as a literary device to fit meter and rhyme:My l

11、usts they do me leave,My fancies all be fled,And tract of time begins to weaveGrey hairs upon my head.An example of inversion to foreground might beFull many a glorious morning I have seen (Shakespeare, Sonnet 33)9Recurrence and PatterningRecurrence in English poetry is an important literary device

12、that both pens up and controls poetic associations through patterning. The relationship between recurrence and patterning is psychological . It affects the way in which we perceive the world. Our mind ends to perceive some kind of formal patterning or relationship when some features are held constan

13、t , and this can form an important source for the persuasive power of poetic language. A poem will have a higher degree of patterning and recurrence than ordinary language. If it does not, one might even say it is not recognizably a poem.10Recurrence and patterning may be in sound effects, words and

14、 grammatical structures. For example:Mirage by Christina RossettiThe hope I dreamed of was a dream,Was but a dream; and now I wake,Exceeding comfortless, and worn, and old,For a dreams sake.I hang my harp upon a tree,A weeping willow in a lake;I hang my silenced harp there, wrung and snaptFor a drea

15、ms sake.Lie still, lie still, my breaking heart;My silent heart, lie still and break:Life, and the world, and mine own self, are changedFor a dreams sake.11 THE TECHNIQUES OF POETRYOr what makes a poem sound like a poem?12There are 4 basic mechanisms we need to look at :MeterRhythmRhymeSound13Poetic

16、 MeterMeter is the rhythm of a poem. There are specific ways to analyze meter so that we can say something clear about a poems rhythmic pattern. 14Scanning a PoemWe “scan” a poem to determine its basic rhythm and to consider the relevance of that rhythm to the meaning of the poem. Poetry has much in

17、 common with music, and both have mathematical foundations.When we scan a poem, we can begin by saying the lines aloud, paying careful attention to the syllables which seem to be stressed (pronounced with more emphasis).15Scanning a Poem“Aunt Jennifers Tigers” by Adrienne Rich (1951)Aunt Jennifers t

18、igers prance across a screen,Bright topaz denizens in a world of green.They do not fear the men beneath the tree; They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.Aunt Jennifers fingers fluttering through her woolFind even the ivory needle hard to pull.The massive weight of Uncles wedding bandSits heavily upo

19、n Aunt Jennifers hand.When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lieStill ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.The tigers in the panel that she madeWill go on prancing, proud and unafraid.16A Scan of Lines 1 and 2To “scan” a poem, we mark each stressed and each unstressed syllablewith a mark. He

20、re, well use / for stressed and x for unstressed. x / x x / x / x / x / Aunt Jennifers tigers prance across the screen x / x / x x / x / x /Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.Then we count the stressed syllables in a single line. Here there are 5 stressed syllables in each line.17Counting Str

21、essed SyllablesOnce we have taken a count of the stressed syllables in each line, we have a good idea of what the dominant meter of the poem is. Every line may not be the same, but usually there will be one dominant pattern. In Richs poem, we could scan all the lines and we would see that there are

22、generally 5 stresses (5 stressed syllables) to each line.Poetry scansion makes use of some Greek-derived words to label the meter of a poem. We measure the meter of a poem using the measurement of poetic feet. A foot in poetry is one stressed syllable plus the unstressed syllables that seem to go wi

23、th it.18Poetic meterThese terms show the number of stresses or feet to a line:One stress (foot) per line = mono + meter = monometerTwo = di + meter = dimeterThree = tri + meter = trimeterFour = tetra + meter = tetrameterFive = penta + meter = pentameterSix = hex + a + meter = hexameterSeven = hep +

24、a + meter = heptameterEight = oct + a + meter = octameterSince Richs poem has 5 stresses per line, or five poetic feet per line, we can say that its meter is pentameter.19Finally, we try to determine the dominant type of stressed plus unstressed syllable combination which seems prominent throughout

25、the poem.In Richs poem, there are many alternations back and forth between unstressed and stressed syllables. Many look like this: x / x / x /This pattern of x / also has a name derived from Greek: it is called an iamb.Although there are some exceptions - notably the pattern x x / in Richs lines - w

26、e can say that the dominant, most common pattern is the iamb, or the iambic pattern.20There are 7 basic kinds of feet:The iamb (adjective, iambic) x/ : an unaccented followed by an accented syllable: e.g. despise, relate. This is the foot most commonly found in English verse.The trochee (trochaic) /

27、x : an accented syllable followed by an unaccented syllable: e.g. faithless, tiger.The anapest (anapestic) xx/ : two unaccented syllables followed by an accented syllable: e.g. ascertain, intervene.The dactyl (dactylic) /xx : an accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables: e.g. absolute,

28、mockery.The spondee (spondaic) / / : two accented syllables together: e.g. household, singsong.The pyrrhus (pyrrhic) x x : two unaccented syllables together. This is so uncommon that the reference book couldnt even give examples.The amphibrach (amphibrachic) x / x : This is so rare and boring 21Desc

29、ribing Poetic meterAbout Richs poem, “Aunt Jennifers Tigers,” then, we could say that its meter is iambic pentameterThis tells readers that the dominant meter of the poem is 5 stresses to a line (pentameter) and that the dominant pattern or “foot” of syllable stress is x / (iambic).22But Why?Poetry

30、is a musical art form. It depends for its impact on its rhythm as well as on its language. Being able to describe the pattern of a poems meter can help us to analyze its meaning.Sometimes, however, especially with more modern poetry, you will find that there is no clear dominant meter, that the poet

31、 has written the line as it would be spoken, in a more casual mix of syllables, a more conversational tone. However, in this course most of the poems we are looking at are pre-20th century, and conventional meter will be common in them.23Common rhythmsThe iamb is very common in the English language:

32、 we often speak in iambic pentameter without realizing it: x / x / x / x / x /Id like to have you meet a friend of mine. x / x / x / x / x /Did you take out the garbage yesterday?24Rhythm and MeaningWhile the iamb x / easily represents a natural rhythm and emphasis often used in English, the trochee

33、 / x gives a feeling of pressing forward, of more urgency or insistence: / x / x / x / xCharging down the Kings path steadyOn to meet our death charge readyThe anapest is used for a galloping kind of rhythm x x / or for a light, almost comic feeling: x / x x / x x / There once was a fellow at Drew W

34、ho spotted a mouse in his stew, Told the waiter about it, who said “Well dont shout it” Or the rest will be wanting one too!” 25A stanza is a division in the formal pattern of a poem. Usually the stanzas of a given poem have a uniform number of lines, length of lines, and pattern of rhymes. In Engli

35、sh poetry, there are a great many stanzas which have no name, but some occur so frequently that they have been given names, e.g. couplets, quatrains, etc.Sometimes a stanza is just called a verse, but in the academic world songs have verses, poems have stanzas.26SCANSIONIn measuring verse and talkin

36、g about its structure, we use three different units: the foot, the line and the stanza. The process of measuring verse is referred to as scansion. To scan any verse we must do three things:a) identify the footb)name the number of feet in a line, if this follows any regular patternc)describe the stan

37、za pattern, if there is one27Rhyme Rhyme is the repetition of the accented vowel sound and all succeeding sounds in two or more different words. white light delight tonightinternal rhyme: a rhyme in which one or more of the rhyme-words occur within the lineend rhyme: rhyme that occurs at the ends of

38、 lines28The following 3 techniques are also used for making the sounds of words repeat in some ways: alliterationthe repetition of consonants, esp. at beginning of words (misty when mild, cold when clear)assonancethe repetition of identical or related vowel sounds(mad/hatter free/easy)consonancethe

39、repetition of a pattern of consonants (a great giant drift apart all night) There is also eye rhyme, where there is no phonetic rhyme but there is a visual parallel e.g. love and move (pronunciation may have changed)29Rhyme is important because it relates directly to the art of structuring in Englis

40、h poetry. Two important linguistic phenomena in English poetry are repetition and deviation, and their psychological effect of foregrounding. Rhyme achieves its effect by foregrounding and deviating at the same time: rhyme is deviant from the norm, and so therefore the words are more prominent. 30So

41、und Rhythm, meter and rhyme are 3 fundamental mechanisms poets use to make the language of poetry more musical and pleasing to the ear than ordinary language. Key to these three mechanisms is sound repetition or phonetic parallelism. If you look closely into poetry that has a particularly satisfying

42、 sound you will find that some of its effect is due to sounds being repeated in it.What are the basic ways to reinforce meaning through sound?31Onomatopoeia:A figure of speech commonly used where words sound like what they mean. 2. Phonetic Intensive:The use of a word whose sound to some degree conn

43、ects with its meaning. Nobody really knows how or why this works, but it does.Examples:flmoving light (flame, flare, flash, flicker)gllight, usually still (glare, gleam, glint, glimmer, glow, glisten)slsmoothly wet (slippery, slick, slide, slime, slop, slosh)ststrength (staunch, stalwart, stout, stu

44、rdy, stable, stern)short ismallness (bit, chip, sliver, slink, chit, sip, little, slim)long o or oomelancholy or sorrow (moan, groan, woe, doom gloom)323. EuphonyWhere the poet tries to create smooth and pleasing sounds using devices such as alliteration and internal rhyme e.g. “so smooth and so swe

45、et” alliterates and also has long vowel sounds resulting in a euphonious sound effect.4. Cacophony The opposite of euphony. The poet uses sounds unpleasing to the ear e.g. “a cracked cricket bat” which has a lot of stopped consonants grouped together.33Speed and MovementA poet can control the speed

46、and movement of lines in a poem through his choice and arrangement of meters, vowels, consonants and pauses. e.g.a) in meter, unaccented syllables usually go faster than accentedb) if 2 unaccented syllables come together, the usual effect is for the pace of the line to speed up; 2 or more accented s

47、yllables coming together will slow it down.the pace will also be affected by vowel lengths and by whether the sounds are easily run together. Examples:She is a winsome wee thing,She is a handsome wee thing,She is a loe come wee thing,This wee sweet wife omine.- Robert BurnsDry clashd his harness in

48、the icy cavesAnd barren chasms, and all to left and rightThe bare black cliff cland round him, as he basedHis feet on juts of slippery crag that rangSharp-smitten with the dint of armed heels And on a sudden, lo! The level lakeAnd the long glories of the winter moon.- Alfred Lord Tennyson 34Sound, m

49、eter and foregroundingA poet can control both sound and meter in such a way as to foreground words that are important in meaning. The usual techniques to do this area) alliteration, assonance, consonance and rhymeb)by placing important words before a pausec)by skillfully placing or displacing them i

50、n the metrical schemeRemember:My lusts they do me leave,My fancies all be fled,And tract of time begins to weave Grey hairs upon my head.35THE COMPONENTS OF POETRYWe now move from language elements to the other elements that make up a poem.These arespeakersettingsubjecttheme36Who is the speaker in t

51、he poem?We usually assume that it is the poet, especially when there is an “I” there, but it is often safer to assume that the I is not the poet. Poets, like novelists and dramatists, often invent and change details of their own experience to make the poem more universal. Read the poem closely and d

52、o not assume that the speaker is actually the poet. Having said that, in the poems we will look at the “I” is usually the poet; adoption of a persona is a more modern strategy.37What is the setting of the poem?The setting of the poem may be significant in the overall meaning of the poem. The more pr

53、onounced and unusual the setting, the more significant its contribution to the poem is likely to be.It is not always going to be relevant to take note of the setting of a poem, and often there is no particular setting, but it should always be considered, even if it is then discarded in your analysis

54、 of the poem.38What is the subject of the poem, and what is the theme?The subject is what the speaker is saying. This is often confused with the theme, which is what the poet wants us to experience and feel. This latter, some might argue, is the ultimate purpose in reading a poem, but it is also the

55、 most open to subjectivity and dispute. Subject and theme can often be discussed together. Dont lose sleep over trying to keep them apart.39ABSTRACTION AND CONCRETIONLiteral and figurative statementsA literal statement is a statement where the words follow their usual meaning, without any additional meanings.A figurative st