Creative Writing 4-1 4-2

Creative Writing

Unit 4 Poetry Pt.1

4-1 What Makes a Poem a Poem?

4-2 The Image inside Imagination

4-1 Due Date 4/02

4-2 Due Date 4/04

4-3 Due Date 4/11

4-4 Due Date 4/16

4.5.2 CST & 4.5.3 TST Due 4/19

​Objectives 4-1

​

• Explore how using your senses can create images that "show" and don't "tell" in your poetry.

• Observe and explore the use of vivid images and details in poetry through guided close reading.

• Explore how words carry connotations, what denotation reveals about words, and how knowing the history of a word can change its meaning.

• Write a poem that uses vivid imagery and language.

​4.1.1 page 3

​Poetry is the opening and closing of a door, leaving those who look through to guess what was seen during a moment.

—Carl Sandburg, American poet and editor (1878 – 1967)

​Even when a poem is short, it still packs a lot into its small space by using vivid imagery and detail.

Between its opening and closing lines, we may have the sensation that we've peeked into another world, often discovering a much larger story with just that one glance.

Even epic poems use compression to create image-rich moments — stringing them together to move the reader through a larger story as well.

​4.1.1 page 8

​You probably noticed right away that Hughes uses sentences and everyday punctuation, but the sentences don't determine the way the writing moves down the page.

Instead, the poem is broken into lines of varying lengths. Some poems will also use indentation or other visual arrangements of the lines.

​4.1.1 page 9

​One of the most common ways to structure a poem is through the use of the stanza.

A stanza in poetry is similar to a paragraph in prose. Both paragraphs and stanzas organize the ideas in a longer text. Check out two stanzas from a poem by Emily Dickinson. Can you see how the text's division into stanzas helps to organize the poem's ideas?

​A Drop fell on the Apple Tree —
Another — on the Roof —
A Half a Dozen kissed the Eaves —
And made the Gables laugh —

A few went out to help the Brook
That went to help the Sea —
Myself Conjectured were they Pearls —
What Necklaces could be —

​4.1.1 page 9 cont'd.

​The first stanza is about drops of rain falling onto both an apple tree and the roof of a house. The second stanza is about drops of rain falling into water. Dickinson used two stanzas to organize the ideas in this poem. Almost all of Dickinson's poems are structured in short stanzas of three or four lines each.

Match

Match the following

• Imagery

• Compression

• Glimpsed moment

• Stanza

Words or phrases that appeal to the senses

Cutting down words and details to let the reader fill in the gaps

What a good poem is able to show you; similar to looking through a window into another world.

One or more lines, grouped together; similar to a pragraph in prose

• Words or phrases that appeal to the senses

• Cutting down words and details to let the reader fill in the gaps

• What a good poem is able to show you; similar to looking through a window into another world.

• One or more lines, grouped together; similar to a pragraph in prose

​4.1.1 page 11 A Prose Poem

​4.1.1 page 11 cont'd.

​Most poems use lines in some way, but not all poems. A prose poem is a poem that looks more like a paragraph of prose: a chunk of sentences on the page.

A prose poem may use creative writing tools with a sharper focus or for a more intense effect than regular prose. And you might get a similar sensation when reading a prose poem as when reading a poem with lines — a door opens briefly on a vivid moment or you experience an exciting movement from one image or feeling to someplace new.

​4.1.1 page 12 Play with Puncutation

​Maybe you noticed how it slows you down, making you pay attention to the individual words and phrases in a new way.

Poetry often explores language and its uses in innovative, unusual ways. Not every poem has to have strange punctuation — but as a poet you have the freedom to play with punctuation if you think it serves the poem and the effect you hope to achieve.

​4.1.1 pages 13 - 14

​Some people strongly associate poetry with a more formal form, one that might include a named pattern of rhyme, rhythm, beats, or repetition, or a specific poem length or shape. Some poets write exclusively in traditional forms, while others may write in a variety of forms, including some traditional and nontraditional styles.

Rhyming is traditional but isn't mandatory.

​4.1.1 page 15

​Poetry is to prose as dancing is to walking.

—John Wain, English novelist, poet, and critic (1925 – 1994)

​Let's consider it for a moment. If walking gets us somewhere in a plain and fairly direct fashion, dancing might get us there through exciting and dynamic movements or a series of graceful gestures.

​4.1.3 Study

​This Study focuses on Compression and Word Choice.

It also discusses Poetic License on page 11

Poetry allows more freedom in word order and grammar than prose, as long as it's being used in a purposeful way and serving the larger poem.

​4.1.3 page 12

​Have some fun exploring Found Poetry and Erasure Poems. Kind of different and very creative!

Your 4.1.5 Journal will be to create an ERASURE POEM.

Try to submit a copy of the original text so I can see what you were working with.

Fun!

​Objectives 4-2

​Many poets believe that poetry is valuable because it makes us see ordinary things in a new way and also allows us to experience new things through imagery.

• Explore how using your senses can create images that "show" and don't "tell" in your poetry.

• Observe and explore the use of vivid images and details in poetry through guided close reading.

• Explore how words carry connotations, what denotation reveals about words, and how knowing the history of a word can change its meaning.

• Write a poem that uses vivid imagery and language.

​4.2.1 page 1

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils

—"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud," William Wordsworth, English poet (1770 – 1850)

The poetic version is much better than:

"I wasn't feeling very happy until I went for a walk and saw some flowers"?

​4.2.1 Study Page 7

​Concrete vs. Abstract

Abstract words don't actually have a connection to the physical world but instead represent ideas.

On the other hand, a concrete word is something real that exists in the world.

​We know that imagery whether we describe something concrete or abstract helps create tone. page 9

Vivid images help convey the poet's thoughts. page 10

They don't even have to make sense. page 12

​4.2.1

​4.2.1 Review

​4.2.3 Read

​Read three poetic selections. Just click the titles... they are links to the poems.

"A Cave of Angelfish Huddle Against the Moon" by Ron De Maris.

"Shirt" by Robert Pinsky

"I am Offering This Poem" by Jimmy Santiago Baca

Don't forget the Reading Guide.

​4.2.5 page 2- 3 Word Choice

​Because poems are often so short and compressed, it's crucial that a poem has impeccable word choice to get its ideas across!

• A word's denotation is its literal meaning. Sometimes the difference between similar words comes from slight differences in denotation.

• A word's connotation is its implied definition, or the meaning given to a word depending on personal experience, culture, or other factors.

​4.2.5 pages 7 - 9

​Knowing etymology can be a powerful tool in exploring word choice. Every word comes from somewhere. In English, most words come from other languages.

The relationship between the idea a word represents and where it originated in the physical world can be interesting and useful when writing your poems. The more you know about a word's origins, the more informed you are of its connotations and possible uses.

​Review 4.2.5

​4.2.7 Practice

​Write a poem in which you focus on sensory detail, connotation, and etymology. Pay attention to word choice, making sure you have a reason to use each word you've chosen. Poetry doesn't just tell a story; it can work on many other levels as well. Try to select words whose connotations work together to create an interesting image in the mind of the reader. Look up the etymologies of some of your words and see if they suggest interesting ideas to write about as well. Use a clean, easily readable font. Your final poem should be at least 14 lines long.

​IN THE CHAT:
MESSAGE TO ME


An example of an abstract concept .... but give it a concrete example that more clearly defines it.