Poetry Intro Warm Up before Music/Poetry Presentation

Interpretation of Poetry:

​What does poetry mean to you?

Poetry is a part of being human. Like art and music, it is a means of expression. Any emotion can be captured in poetry. It can reflect the struggle of one's life or timeframe. It can be beautiful and filled with lovely imagery; it can reflect anger, fear, misery, or sorrow; it has often been a medium for encouraging change; a commentary on how things are and could be different. It is heard in music, on stages, and felt in the soul.
Poetry has been around since humans could talk.

FUN FACT:
Poems can even be used to "diss" or insult people.
Examples:

“But, when you have died, you will lie [in the grave] and there will never be any memory of you
nor will there be any desire [for you] afterward.
- Sappho, Ancient Greek Poet
- "You speak an infinite deal of nothing" from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

- "Without your art you are nothing. I would have made you famous, splendid, magnificent. The world would have worshipped you, and you would have borne my name. What are you now? A third-rate actress with a pretty face."

Match

Can you match the poem excerpts to the dates they were written?

• She is one girl, there is no one like her. She is more beautiful than any other. Look, she is like a star goddess arising at the beginning of a happy new year; brilliantly white, bright skinned; with beautiful eyes for looking, with sweet lips for speaking;

• jollymerry
  hollyberry
  jollyberry
  merryholly
  happyjolly
  jollyjelly
  jellybelly
  bellymerry
  hollyheppy
  jollyMolly
  marryJerry
  merryHarry
  happyBarry
  heppyJarry

• I want them to waterski
  across the surface of a poem
  waving at the author's name on the shore.

  But all they want to do
  is tie the poem to a chair with rope
  and torture a confession out of it.

• there's a bluebird in my heart that
  wants to get out
  but I'm too clever, I only let him out
  at night sometimes
  when everybody's asleep.
  I say, I know that you're there,
  so don't be
  sad.
  then I put him back,
  but he's singing a little
  in there, I haven't quite let him
  die

• Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
  Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
  Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
  And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
  Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

1000 BC

1968

1988

1992

1609

• 1000 BC

• 1968

• 1988

• 1992

• 1609

Explanation

Poem from 1000 BC = LOVE POEM FROM ANCIENT EGYPT Extract from a 3,000 year-old papyrus.
Poem from 1968 = The Computer's First Christmas Card by Edwin Morgan
Poem from 1988 = Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins
Poem from 1992 = Bluebird by Charles Bukowski
Poem from 1609 = Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare