4. THE VILLANELLE AND THE
SESTINA
DISCUSSION SUBJECT:
10 MINUTES:
Share your work. Identify both
form and general conventions.
5. TERMS
24 Sestina
A poem of thirty-nine lines and written in iambic pentameter. Its
six-line stanzas repeat in an intricate and prescribed order the
final word in each of the first six lines. After the sixth stanza,
there is a three-line envoi, which uses the six repeating words,
two per line.
25 Villanelle
A nineteen-line lyric poem that relies heavily on repetition. The
first and third lines alternate throughout the poem, which is
structured in six stanzas --five tercets and a concluding
quatrain. Examples include Bishop's "One Art," Roethke's "The
Waking," and Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good
Night."
6. 26. Tercet
A three-line stanza, as the stanzas in Frost's "Acquainted With the
Night" and Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind." The three-line stanzas
or sections that together constitute the sestet of a Petrarchan or
Italian sonnet.
27. Elision
The omission of an unstressed vowel or syllable to preserve the
meter of a line of poetry. Alexander uses elision in "Sound and
Sense": "Flies o'er th' unbending corn...."
28. Personification
The endowment of inanimate objects or abstract concepts with
animate or living qualities. An example: "The yellow leaves flaunted
their color gaily in the breeze." Wordsworth's "I wandered lonely as
a cloud" includes personification.
7. 29. Free verse (Open form)
Poetry without a regular pattern of meter or rhyme. The verse is "free" in not being
bound by earlier poetic conventions requiring poems to adhere to an explicit and
identifiable meter and rhyme scheme in a form such as the sonnet or ballad. Modern
and contemporary poets of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries often employ free
verse. Williams's "This Is Just to Say" is one of many examples.
30. Image
A concrete representation of a sense impression, a feeling, or an idea. Imagery
refers to the pattern of related details in a work. In some works one image
predominates either by recurring throughout the work or by appearing at a critical
point in the plot. Often writers use multiple images throughout a work to suggest
states of feeling and to convey implications of thought and action. Some modern
poets, such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams, write poems that lack
discursive explanation entirely and include only images. Among the most famous
examples is Pound's poem "In a Station of the Metro":
The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
9. In A Station Of The Metro
by Ezra Pound
The apparition of these faces in the
crowd:
Petals on a wet, black bough.
Title is really a line
in the poem
No extra words
Imagery/
metaphor
List of the "don'ts" that Pound laid down in his 1913 essay on
imagism:
"Use no superfluous word,"
"Go in fear of abstractions,"
"Don't be 'viewy.'"
The Snow Man https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM7LrsIhWqc
10. The Snow Man
by Wallace Stevens
One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.
What conventions
make this a poem
rather than prose?
11. The Snow Man
by Wallace Stevens
One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.
Metaphor: A snow man for a
man in the snow
Assonance: one must:
metaphor/ mind of winter
Imagery
imagery
Assonance: distant glitter
Any misery in
Sound/wind
Sound
Sound/land
Same Wind
Same place
Listener/listens
Nothing x3
12. La Figlia Che Piange (The Weeping Girl)
by T. S. Eliot
Stand on the highest pavement of the stair —
Lean on a garden urn —
Weave, weave the sunlight in your hair —
Clasp your flowers to you with a pained surprise —
Fling them to the ground and turn
With a fugitive resentment in your eyes:
But weave, weave the sunlight in your hair.
So I would have had him leave,
So I would have had her stand and grieve,
So he would have left
As the soul leaves the body torn and bruised,
As the mind deserts the body it has used.
I should find
Some way incomparably light and deft,
Some way we both should understand,
Simple and faithless as a smile and a shake of the hand.
What
conventions
make this a
poem rather
than prose?
“La Figlia Che” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9Wvp5AiIX8
13. La Figlia Che Piange (The Weeping Girl)
by T. S. Eliot
Stand on the highest pavement of the stair —
Lean on a garden urn —
Weave, weave the sunlight in your hair —
Clasp your flowers to you with a pained surprise —
Fling them to the ground and turn
With a fugitive resentment in your eyes:
But weave, weave the sunlight in your hair.
So I would have had him leave,
So I would have had her stand and grieve,
So he would have left
As the soul leaves the body torn and bruised,
As the mind deserts the body it has used.
I should find
Some way incomparably light and deft,
Some way we both should understand,
Simple and faithless as a smile and a shake of the hand.
A
B
A
C
B
D
A repetition of line
three
A repetition of So I
would have had
A
B
C Repetition of As
D
E
B Rep of Some way
F couplet
F simile
14. Free verse, despite the seeming lack of
restrictions, should be as carefully fashioned as
any formal poem. It is as difficult to write a good
free verse poem as one in a traditional form
because you must not only invent your own
conventions but fulfill them as well.
15. There is no standard, of course, for how long a
free verse poem line should be. Usually a line
will have at least three beats to it if it's to have
any substance to it. A single word as an entire
line is to be used sparingly as it gives one word
inordinate emphasis.
16. Even though the lines of a free verse poem don't have to
have a fixed meter, they should still have cadences and
patterns and repetitions of sounds, which give the words their
music. These rhythms help carry the reader along or slow the
reader down. Natural stresses of the language will call
attention to certain words. In a free verse poem, you have the
freedom to place these words so they draw extra attention to
create tension. Likewise, while lines of rhymed poetry are
more regularly end stopped, the syntax of free verse allows
for enjambment. These pauses are part of the meter and
rhythm of the line.
17. A big challenge is avoiding the abstract and focusing on the
concrete to create images.
An abstraction is anything that is not tangible, a noun that does
not bring a picture to mind. Love, hate, grief, justice, and time are
all abstractions. Images are nouns that are universally seen
similarly in our minds. Tables, canyons and trees are all images.
People imagine them in similar ways. Concrete images give us
the ability to understand another viewpoint.
Abstractions are often unavoidable, and that’s where metaphor,
simile, and personification come in handy. You can use this
figurative language to help connect an abstraction with an image:
My love is a rose
18. Formatting a poem can make an essential difference in rhythm and
meaning. Short lines, emphasis, and indentations create pauses in the
reader’s mind. Try indenting to break up ideas or isolate lines you see as
important. Experiment with formatting; use it to change rhythm and speed.
Formatting also includes italicization, bolding, quotation marks, and
parentheses. These devices can be used to identify different voices. Use
italics to suggest a whisper and bold as a shout or clear-ringing voice.
Parentheses will likely be read as an aside. Quotation marks emphasize
words. Use these techniques to make the voices more exciting and
dynamic.
19. Grammatical Errors: Do not disregard common grammatical rules unless
there is substantial need for it. Use punctuation that fits the purpose:
capitalize and use correct spelling.
Clichés: Don’t write something you’ve heard. Analyze images and ideas for
originality. Abstractions are far more overused than images, so think of
something fresh and new to describe.
Alliteration: Forms of alliteration can make a poem taste good. Just don’t
overdo it. Assonance is less noticeable but often more effective than
consonance or alliteration.
Repetition: Repetition works sometimes, but it is often overused. Don’t
repeat the same exact lines just to take up space. Repetition in formatting
and theme is often necessary and very effective.
20. Know what you are writing about. If
you can’t completely dissect your
poem and tell a reader what every
single word’s purpose is, then you
can improve your verse. Be aware of
how every symbol and metaphor
complements your poem as you
write it. Later you can edit it, but if
there isn’t a strong base there will
not be a strong finished piece.
The more you read and write poetry,
the better you’ll read and write
poetry.
22. This Is Just To Say
by William Carlos
Williams
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold
Think about something that you did or
said to someone that you regret.
Write a poem of apology, comprising
three to five four-line stanzas, with the
same number of stressed syllables in
each line.
Avoid sentimentality. Rely on images,
rhythm, and structure to convey your
regret.
23. Ratatouille A spicy
French stew.
Susquehanna A
river in
Pennsylvania.
Umbrella Protection
from sun or rain.
Penumbra A half-
shadow.
Opulent Lush,
luxuriant.
Mellifluous Sweet
sounding.
Lithe
Slender and
flexible.
Languor
Listlessness,
inactivity.
Ingénue A naïve
young woman.
Gossamer
The finest
piece of
thread, a
spider's silk
Furtive Shifty,
sneaky.
Flowers, panther, cinnamon, sunset, rain, cookies
Ephemeral Short-
lived.
Dalliance A brief
love affair.
Bungalow A small,
cozy cottage.
Fetching
Pretty
isolate
justify
deepen
define
Epiphany A sudden
revelation.
Harbinger
Messenger with
news of the
future
Bucolic In a lovely rural setting
resist
resonate Propinquity An
inclination. Brood
To think alone..
envision
evaluate
willowy
drab
mundane
tarnished
desolate
Make a list of ten words.
Incorporate these words
into a poem made up of
three stanzas
composed of five lines
each.
24. "When you have nothing to say, say nothing."
- Charles Caleb Colto
"The only thing
necessary for the
triumph of evil is for
good men to do
nothing."
-Edmunde Burke
"The first rule of Fight Club is--
you do not talk about Fight
Club."
(Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden, Fight
Club)The three grand
essentials of
happiness are:
something to do,
someone to love,
and something to
hope for. --
Alexander Chalmers
Choose an aphorism and
write a poem that
incorporates the words or
meaning into it.
25. Make a list of
things you're
grateful for.
Beneath each
item, free-
associate a list of
objects. Pick ten
from your lists of
objects and use
them to write a
poem.
Write a poem that
addresses a past or
future version of
yourself. Write in the
second-person
singular. Reassure a
younger self, send
warnings to a future
self, or ask
questions to which
you don’t know the
answers.
26. POETRY: PROJECT #1: 75 POINTS
For this project, choose two or three different kinds of
poems from your collection to submit for a grade. For
example, you might submit a Haiku, Free Verse, and a
Sonnet. If you are submitting longer poems, you might
submit only two: for example, a Sestina and a Villanelle or
your Blank Verse and a Sonnet.
Writer’s Feedback Workshop: Class 6
Final project due Friday, week 4, before
noon. Submit through Kaizena.
27. HOMEWORK
• Post # 5: Free Verse
• Choose two or three different-
style poems to revise for
project 1.
• Bring copies of your
proposed project for each
member of your group to our
next class meeting.
• Study Terms: 1-30: Test at our
next meeting
