Poetry Review

What is a stanza?

• A paragraph

• A story

• a group of lines forming the basic recurring metrical unit in a poem

• Something that rhymes

Read these lines from the poem.

I will confine myself to a meditation/ upon the giant tortoises/ withering finally on a remote island.

By using specific diction, the poet emphasizes --

• a need for a meditation on animals

• a sense of isolation

• a lack of awareness

• an ever-present element of danger

also known as sensory language; appeals to the 5 senses

the author's or speaker’s attitude toward a subject

the repetition of the same or similar sounds occurs in two or more words, usually at the end of lines in poems

a comparison of two things, calling one thing another

the author’s specific word choice to create an effect

Read these lines from the poem.

lumbering up the steps, under the archways/ toward the square glass altars/ where the brittle gods are kept,/ the relics of what we have destroyed,/ our holy and obsolete symbols

The poet uses imagery to --

• condemn the construction of churches in the giant tortoise’s habitat

• celebrate the contribution humans have made to honoring the giant tortoise

• explain how turtles struggle to climb steps in an urban environment

• highlight that tortoises are not the first to face human destruction

Read the following lines from the poem.

their small heads pondering from side to side, their useless armour sadder than tanks and history

What is the effect of the author’s use of figurative language?

• It reveals the confusion the tortoise’s feel as they slowly approach extinction.

• It highlights that the tortoise’s evolutionary protection was not enough to protect them from human interference.

• It emphasizes the sad notion that the animals are as useless as machines due to human interference.

• It shows how the tortoise’s movement parallels machinery often found in wars and battles.

The pattern of end rhymes in a poem.