Sonnets

Written first during the 14th century, these fourteen line rhyming poems were originally written in Italian. As time has gone on, rules have developed around the style, but it remains, as it always has been, a sing-song style of poetry, whose focus is the emotion of a moment.

When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself, and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,

Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least;

Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising,

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,

Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

They have a few simple rules:

1. They follow a rhyme scheme: abab-bcbc-cdcd-ee
2. Sonnets follow iambic pentameter: a style of poetry where one line contains 5 stressed syllables, each preceded by an unstressed syllable.

Examples:

“So foul and fair a day I have not seen.” – Macbeth, I.iii.38

“Must be provided for; and you shall put This night’s great business into my dispatch, Which shall to all our nights and days to come Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom.” – Lady Macbeth, I.v.64-68

From one of our amazing eighth graders:

I will recall that night during my days

It is a feeling that I can’t quite place

I will remember those candle like rays

I won’t neglect your oh so handsome face

Now I’ll feel like I am just to erase

I see my sister, I must stay in tact

I’ll have to court the rich to fill that space

Cash is the base for him to interact

I’ll be naive to set aside that fact

But now my sister is your perfect wife

I really wish I’ve never been your act

At least I’ll keep your eyes inside my life

And truly bless you both as groom and bride

I bid he always stays next to your side

-Ally "Satisfied"

Limerick

An 18th century English invention, the limerick is a humorous style of poetry that attempts to get a laugh out of its readers. Most of the time it accomplishes this by being obscene, but we will be practicing a slightly more challenging goal: a clean limerick.

"The limerick packs laughs anatomical

Into space that is quite economical.

But the good ones I've seen

So seldom are clean

And the clean ones so seldom are comical."

Limericks have a few important rules:

1. They follow a AABBA rhyme scheme
2. Comedic, sometimes body humor theme
3. The first line will often introduce a character and a place
4. A final line that has some sort of reveal or twist

Examples:

"There was a young man from Japan

Whose limericks never would scan.

And when they asked why,

He said "I do try!

But when I get to the last line I try to fit in as many words as I can."

---

"There was an Old Man with a beard,

Who said, "It is just as I feared!—

Two Owls and a Hen, four Larks and a Wren,

Have all built their nests in my beard."

Slam Poem

Form: The term "slam poem" is really an umbrella category for all poems meant to be performed for a live audience in a competitive environment. All styles of poetry, from haiku to sonnets to love poems, can be considered slam or spoken word poems. Slam poems are traditionally:

• Story form poem using voice, humor, rhythm, exaggeration, and wordplay.
• Long (usually).
• Meant for performance to an audience.

Your Job: Each student will write poem to perform onstage for the rest of the class at an in-class "slam". The only rule, aside from the constant need to be school-appropriate (no profanity or gratuitous references to sex or drug or alcohol use), is that it needs to be entertaining for the audience.

How to Write a Slam Poem: Slam poems generally fall into three categories: The funny, the emotionally powerful, and the funny-and-emotionally-powerful. The third camp has the most winners in it.

• As with poems written for the page, all the poetry elements are key: Say something interesting, be precise and clear and original, use imagery and metaphors and sound elements like rhythm and rhymes.
• Use comical exaggerations, unconventional angles, surprise twists, and big emotions like love, heartbreak, or outrage.
• Borrow a lot from hip-hop styles, using plenty of internal rhymes, rhythmic flows without a rigid rhyme scheme, and slang.
• The most powerful poems often contain self-revelations and personal secrets and fears, rather than just outrage turned outward at, say, political leaders. If you can let your secrets and weaknesses and fears and joys out and alleviate the tension with humor and not come across as self-pitying but as honest and wise-in-retrospect, you're a real slam poet.

How to Perform: Think of your poem as 50% poetry, 50% dynamic stage performance.

• Traditional slam poems are no longer than three minutes. Use that time well.
• Use the bare minimum of notes OR consider memorizing.
• Consider, but don’t feel compelled to use voices to imitate or take a moment to move around performing the action in your poem.

On Scoring: While performances will be in front of the class, they will not be scored by your classmates, instead Mr. Jasper will be scoring you according to:

1. Performance- I will be looking to see if you are performing, rather than reading your work.
2. Writing- I will be looking for mastery of the poetry style you are practicing.

Literary Devices:

Figurative Language:

• Allusions- an expression or story designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly. An indirect reference.
• Similes- comparing two things using “like” or “as” o Ex: “Your face, my Thane, is as a book where men may read strange matters”
• Metaphors- comparing two things not using “like” or “as” o Ex: “I have begun to plant thee, and will labor to make thee full of growing”
• Personification- giving an inanimate object human characteristics o Ex: “If chance will have me King, why, chance may crown me”
• Symbol- a part of the story that is used to represent a larger theme or idea. o Ex. Birds= flight, escape; Water = baptism, rebirth, cleanliness

Poetic Devices:

• Alliteration- the beginning sound of each word is repeated several times. A poetic device. o Ex: “Give solely sovereign sway and masterdom”
• Iambic Pentameter- a meter of poetry in which one line contains 5 stressed syllables, each preceded by an unstressed syllable.
• Blank Verse- poetry written in regular meter (same syllables for each line) but unrhymed endings to the lines
• Soliloquy- a speech that a character makes while alone on stage, to reveal his or her inner thoughts to the audience Aside- a remark the character makes in an undertone to the audience or another character, but other characters on stage do not hear.
• Foreshadowing- a warning or indication of future events in the story.