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Jared Freeman's Digital Portfolio
Unit IV: Poetry
To what extent can we communicate aspects of the human condition through the power of language?
In my opinion aspects of the human condition come out in how we, as humans, express ourselves for what we value in life. A vehicle to spread our knowledge and insight is language. People all thoughout history have given speeches, written letters and acted out in their attempt to convey something to an audience. All of these powerful moments are examples of the human condition being effecively communicated through the power of language.
The Poetry Project:
The goal of this project was to learn and practice how to analyze poems! Then by being able to throughly understand the meaning and structure of poems we could then write a paragraph summing up what we have interpreted and observed from the poem that we read.
1st Step: We had to find a poem online that we could connect to "The Human Condition". So I went online and I found one that I thought sounded promissing straight from the title. It was titled "Remember" By: Dawn Jenson and to see the link from where I found this poem, click the button below!
2nd Step: We had to analize this poem that we found based on the nine steps that we were given and had practiced in class. These nine steps were...
1. Show No Fear (its just a poem)
2. Read the Title ... Then STOP
3. Read the Poem All the Way Through
4. Annotate, Annotate then Annotate Some More
5. Look Up Words You Don't Know (be honest)
6. Idenitfy the Speaker (not always the narrator)
7. Notice Shifts or Changes Within the Stanzas
8. Figure Out the Meter of the Poem
9. Read it Again One More Time
We used these simple steps to guide our thinking when annotating our poem properly. Some of the ways of going about the annotation process was looking for literary terms and writing down any comment, connections or any other cool things we like about the poem.
To the right is a blank copy of the poem that I used for this project. Feel free to use is for whatever you like!
Down below this you will see the actual poem that I annotated for this proeject!
COMING SOON AFTER MIDTERMS
To the rJust in case you want to print out the annotated poem I have included that word document to the right!
3rd Step: We now had to write a five-6 sentence paragraph explaining how the poem that we have found and annotated realtes or conveys a message that connects to the uniit question. We had to include a line (or two) from the poem, weave it in correctly and cite it per MLA format correctly. Down below is my paragraph that I wrote .... enjoy!
The speaker in Dawn Jensen’s poem, “Remember” conveys that one has to be fortunate for what they have in life and all that it gives to them. The speaker of the poem is reflecting upon his or her life and all that they have done during that time period. They are letting the reader know that “life can be short” (Jensen 18) and that one has to live life to its fullest extent and that eventually “everything will fall into place when the time comes” (22-23). The wisdom that is conveyed in these few lines implies that the speaker has been through hardships many times in life and has learned to get over them. The poem uses ‘life’ as this “unexpected” (23) supernatural force as “we try to takes its punches” (24). This use of personification demonstrates that sometimes life is out of our control and it is best just to get through it and not focus on that event too long. This whole idea of persistence and being grateful are great ways to avoid dwelling in the past instead of living in the present and looking into the future. One has to surround themselves with things they enjoy in order to appreciate life for all that it is worth.
As always if you want that paragraph in document form all you have to do is click the icon to your right.
Overall I felt this was a very creative way to help get us prepared for the writing section on out Mid-Term while exploring our new unit that helps expose us to others ways people convey feelings through another form of literature. We are using the power of poetry within language to respond to these ideas, which are reflections of our views on the human condition.
The Evolution of Poetry...
Since our next unit of study is poetry I thought it would be very interesting and beneficial to look into the roots of what we call poetry today. Things like slam poetry or modern day song lyrics are the result of poetry evolving over time as a popular way of expressing ones ideas. So I created this timeline below that shoes how poetry has changed over the course of history!
I give all of the credit for the information used in the timeline to this website below. Click on the button to go to that website and learn more about poetry in great detail!
The Poetry Timeline!
???? - 2000 B.C.E
1200 B.C.E - 455 C.E.
456 C.E. 1485 C.E.
1486 C.E. -1660 C.E.
1661 C.E. -1790 C.E.
1791 C.E. 1830 C.E.
1831 C.E. - 1901 C.E.
1902 C.E. - 2015 C.E.
2016 C.E. - ?????
During this time in history... poetry from then is now called "epic poetry". Often this was the written version of orally passed down stories. Most famous "poem" of that time was The Epic of Gilgamesh.
During this time in history... epic poetry was still very popular with the Romans and the Greeks. Some of the famous poets from this time were Homer and Hrdiod. They were the authors of the "Illiad/Oddyssey" and "Works and Days" respectivley.
During this time in history... poets started to be more expiremental with the way poems were written. A midevil poet Geoffrey Chaucer used vernacular instead of Latin which was a first for the time.
During this time in history... known as the Renaissance period, people like William Shakespeare created their own unique meters and preformed their peices as whatwe now call verse drama. Poems also started to have deeper meanings.
During this time in history... known as the enlightenment period, people went back to writing in the styles of the ancient Greeks. Poetry followed more strict rules during these years.
During this time in history... known as the romantic period, poems did not tend to follow traditional styles, an intead focussed on creativity with the writing. People valued nature and individuality through the trancendentalist movement.
During this time in history... known as the Victorian period, traditional styles and techniques became less and less common as writers expiremented with free verse poetry.
During this time in history... there has been an lots of new forms of poetry that are becoming more and more popular. We noe consider songs as a new method of poetry, which has taken off. Other types of poetry like slam poetry allow for furthur expression of ideas.
During this time in history... we hope that poetry continues to evolve as a wonderful, unique and creative art form!
It's very interesting to see how poetry has changed over time and to make connections to how our modern day language has been effected by this journey!
In general poetry is a great way to convey ideas about anything to an aduience. But as poetry has expanded into all sorts of different forms it has been able to reach more and more people. This shows the power of the human condition for responding to this type of language in such as way to spread ideas of joy, sadness and everything in between. For just this reason poetry has proven to be an amazing way to communicate aspects of the human condition.
Poetry Pen Pal Project!
Part 1: The Poem Adaptation
First in class as a part of our poetry unit we read this poem written by Judith Viorst called "If I were in Charge of the World". You can see the full poem below.
"If I Were In Charge of the World"
By: Judith Viorst
If I were in charge of the world
I'd cancel oatmeal,
Monday mornings,
Allergy shots, and also
Sara Steinberg.
~
If I were in charge of the world
There'd be brighter nights lights,
Healthier hamsters, and
Basketball baskets forty eight inches lower.
~
If I were in charge of the world
You wouldn't have lonely.
You wouldn't have clean.
You wouldn't have bedtimes.
Or "Don't punch your sister."
You wouldn't even have sisters.
~
If I were in charge of the world
A chocolate sundae with whipped
Cream and nuts would be a vegetable.
~
All 007 movies would be G,
And a person who sometimes forgot to brush,
And sometimes forgot to flush,
Would still be allowed to be
In charge of the world.
If you want acess to the orginal document with the original poem click the icon to the right!
We then wrote our own version of this poem that fit the realitvly same format as the orginal.
"If I Were In Charge of the World"
By: Jared Freeman
If I were in charge of the world
I’d cancel cold weather,
Violence, Disrespect, and
Cruelty.
~
If I were in charge of the world
There’d be more time to relax,
Healthier food to eat,
And appreciation for teachers
And all of the work that they do.
~
If I were in charge of the world
People would never be alone
And the words
Disease
Death and
Discrimination would never be known.
~
If I were in charge of the world
Everyone would have equal opportunities,
The news would only report happy things.
Power wouldn’t rely on money, instead knowledge.
~
How can the beautiful flower of life seemly have so many flaws?
To the right is the word document with this exact version of my poem that I adapted from this original!
Part 2: Pen Pal!
Durring class we were then told that we were going to be assigned a pen pal that we were going to now be commmunicated with! I was now going to be writing to a girl named Maya! Our first task was to send them an initial letter with the "If I Were in Charge of the World" poem included. So I choose to adjust the apperance of the poem to make it more appealing to a younger person!
Here is the updated poem that that I formated to send to Maya!
As well as sending her the poem I had to write a letter to introduce myself to her as well as explaining the poem that I send. Again I had a great time ajusting the fonts and colors to make it a very cool graphic project while still writing to my pen pal for the first time!
The final letter is shown below...
If you want the full three page document with the letter on it just select the icon to the right!
She then also wrote me a letter introducing herself to me! Then for practice we then went and corrected their grammar in their letter. In the letter she wrote about her favorite childhood memory of going to sea world and kissing a dolphin! I really enjoyed learning more about her life and it gave me some ideas on what I should write about next, to her.
So as a responce I wrote a second letter to her explaining one of my favorite childhood memories!
Here is the second letter I wrote and if you want to see it for yourself click the icon to the right!
Then for Valentines Day we were assigned the project of sending them mini Valentines Day cards. Except these were not just any old Valentines Day cards, on each card we would demonstrate one of the poetic devices that we were learning durring this unit.
So our first step was to define all of the poetic devices that we would then have to write examples for. You can see mine down below!
Definitions
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Personification -- When a statement gives human like qualities to a non-human thing.
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Simile – A comparison that uses like and as.
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Metaphor – A comparison that does not use like or as.
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Hyperbole – An statement that uses an exaggeration.
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Iambic Pentameter – A ten syllable sentence with five unstressed and five stressed syllables or five iambs.
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Iambic Tetrameter – An eight syllable sentence with four unstressed and four stressed syllables or four iambs.
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Couplet – Two consecutive lines that have an end rhyme.
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Alliteration – A series of words where the first letter repeates.
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Assonance – A series of words when a vowel sound is repeated.
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Consonance – A series of words where a letter is repeated in different parts of the word.
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Enjambment – When there is a break in the line without punctuation.
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Internal rhyme – When words rhyme within the same line.
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Onomatopoeia – Words are spelled like the sound that it makes.
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Imagery – A statement or passage that uses vivid sensory details to construct an image in the readers mind.
The second step was to write Valentines Day messages that made use of each of the poetic devices that I defined above. You can see mine down below!
Messages
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Personification - Hope your Valentines Day sings with content.
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Simile – Hope your Valentines Day is as wonderful as an new born puppy.
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Metaphor – Hope your journey of life is able to appreciate this day of kindness.
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Hyperbole – Hope your Valentines Day feels thousands like eternity.
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Iambic Pentameter – I hope your life is filled with love and joy
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Iambic Tetrameter – I hope your day is nice and sweet.
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Couplet – I hope every moment of your life is bright. Cherish the moments that fill you with delight.
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Alliteration – I hope your Valentines Day seems like something sweet.
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Assonance – On Valentines day be lively for everyone to see
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Consonance – On Valentines Day never underestimate oneself
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Enjambment – Hope your valentines day is very is very
-
sweet
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Internal rhyme – Valentines Day is something you should not forget nor fret.
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Onomatopoeia – Hope your Valentines Day is as happy as a cats purr.
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Imagery – Hope your Valentines Day is filled with multi-colored balloons and sweets that taste of pure nectar.
Here is the document with my definitions and messages if you want it click on the icon to the right.
Finally we would create individual Valentines Day cards with those messages to deliver and give to all of the kids! We had to make one card for each student in the class with one of the poetic terms on each card! We also included candy and other treats to make their Valentines Day extra sweet!
Here are some examples of the cards that we made for the students in the class!
Then after we finished our teacher delivered all of the cards that we made to the school for Valentines Day!
Here is a picture of my pen pal Maya opening up her gifts!
This entire expirience of writting back and forth with our pen pals is a very great way to communicate aspects of the human condition through language. Connecting with another human being, and sharing personal expiriences and thoughts with them is a great way to exercise our own personal human condition. We are giving them bits of knowledge through our actions in the classroom, which results in joy and happiness in their lives. All done by the simple use of our language.
Ev*ery*thing * to * do * With * Syl*la*bles
First here is some background the put this into context: One of the best (and most difficult to understand) parts about poetry is the deeper meaning behind it. This "deeper meaning" can be achieved by using a combination of intentional word choice and significant meter*.
Courtesy of www.Dictionary.com...
Meter: poetic measure; arrangement of words in regularly measured, patterned, or rhythmic lines or verses.
As you can see I have put a box around the word rhythmic and that is becuase often that aspect of poetry is often misunderstood. And one of the best ways to begin with using rhythm is to master ... syllables!!
Q: Well then what is a syllable?
A: They are the beats that you can hear, which make up every word.
Example: You can see two distinct syllables in the word "today".
This mark indicates an unstressed syllable.
To * day
U
/
This mark indicates a stressed syllable.
This is the second syllable.
This is the first syllable.
This mark is used to represent syllables that break up a word.
Here are some more examples of words with mulitple syllables!
1 Syllable ~ Cat
2 Syllables ~ Bucket
3 Syllables ~ Trimester
4 Syllables ~ Operator
5 Syllables ~ Alliteration
6 Syllables ~ Irritability
7 Syllables ~ Unconventionality
8 Syllables ~ Machiavelliansim
9 Syllables ~ Coccidiodomycosis
10 Syllables ~ Abetalipoproteinemia
11 Syllables ~ Antiestablishmentarianism
12 Syllables ~ Chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile
A big thanks to yougorhymes.com for some of those ridiculous long words! You can go to the this website by clicking on the button below!
Now that you know what a syllable is, all of the parts of it and some examples of them you might ask...
Q: How do I find syllables in words?
A: Follow these techniques down below and remember to think about the beats of the word.
METHOD #1 - Count the Beats
This is the most common and easy way to get the job done. Just tap, clap or snap the individual beats that you hear when you are sounding out the word. Here is an example using the word "unfortunately".
Un * for * tun * ate * ly
1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 5 syllables!
METHOD #2 - Count the Vowels (sort of)
This is a method that is often very unnecessary to use for words with a basic letter structure. But for words that might not be as straightforward or for people who lack muscality this may be the most reliable strategy. Look at the steps to the left and follow along with the example using the word "hourly" to the right.
1. Count the number of vowels in the word (not y's).
2. Add 1 every time the letter "y" makes the sound of a vowel
3. Subtract 1 for each silent vowel
4.Subtract 1 for each diphthong or triphthong in the word.
- Diphthong: when 2 vowels make only 1 sound (aw, oy, oo)
- Triphthong: when 3 vowels make only 1 sound (iou)
5.Add 1 if the word ends with "le" or "les".
6 Add up the numbers and you have the number of vowells
Hourly
+ 2
+1
+0
-1
+0
2 Syllables!
A big thanks to howmanysyllables.com for coming up with that formula for success! You can go to the this website to see other vowel-counting techniques by clicking on the button below!
Examples of syllable patterns can be seen everywhere but as we are talking about poetry we have to mention Shakespeare and his use of syllables in his very famous sonnets!
Here is an exerpt from "Sonnet 18" by Shakespear: I have put marks in between the iams.
| Shall I | compare | thee to | a sum | mer’s day? |
| Thou art | more love| ly and | more tem | perate: |
This is an iamb. (One unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable.)
This is an exmaple of iambic pentameter. (Five uses of iambs in a row.)
Every sonnet had 14 lines using iambic pentameter..... So how many syllables are there in a Shakespearean Sonnet??
1 iamb = 2 syllables x 5 (iambs)= 10 syllables (1 use of iambic pentameter) x 14 (lines in a Shakespearean Sonnet)=140 Syllables in a Skakespearean Sonnet
When thinking about how this relates to the unit question, I thought about the effect that syllable use has in the context that it is used. Most often the syllables cause the poem to have a certain tone or mood. It is just natural for your mind imply meaning based off of the rhythm of the words being read. Therefore one can gain insight about aspects of the human condition based purposeful use of the language technique of syllables.