Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Blogger #24 - Chanikan Phusanam - Period 2 - 3/19/2021 - Day A

 Aim: How do poetic elements create a thematic effect over the course of a poem? 

Do Now: BRAINSTORM! 

What comes to mind when you think of the word "identity". Create a word web.

Here are some of my classmates responses to the Do Now:

Vincent: “fingerprint”, Vallerie: “culture”, Jerry: “traits”, Eddy: “personality”, Asdaq: “memory”, Justin: “occupations”,  and Natalie: “distinguish”

After the Do Now we discussed poetic devices and watched some videos for more understanding about each poetic device.


Poetic Devices...

Musical or sound devices: Convey and reinforce meaning (or experience) through the use of sound

Cacophonous: Note: Cacophony comes from the Greek word meaning, “bad sound.” 

Involving or producing a harsh, discordant mixture of sounds (p, b, t, d, g, k, ch-, sh- etc.)

  • Example: He is a rotten, dirty, terrible, trudging, stupid dude!

Euphonious: 

Involving sounds that are soothing or pleasant to the ear ( consonants such as l, m, n, r and softer f and v, soft consonants or semi-vowels such as w, s, y and th or wh)

  • Example: “While the stars that oversprinkle all the heavens seem to twinkle” -Edgar Allen Poe

Video: Euphony & Cacophony [1:05]

The video said that euphony are words that are nice to hear, while cacophony are words that are not so nice to hear. Then they show an example of each.

Rhythm: In poetry, the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables

Video: Examples of Rhythm in Poetry [1:14]

Based on the video, rhythm is the beat in a poem and they follow a certain pattern like de-dum de-dum de-dum. The video also gives some examples too. 

Extended metaphor: A metaphor developed over several lines or throughout an entire poem. Consider an extended metaphor that’s mentioned at the start of one paragraph and mentioned again later in that paragraph, or later in the text, perhaps several chapters later.

Video: Extended Metaphor [1:53]

Based on the video, extended metaphors can be more than one sentence or even longer. Authors use them to make readers visualize the metaphor more clearly and also make it easier to understand. Then there are some examples of extended metaphors shown in the video.


Some Important Poetic Devices to Know...

Extended metaphor: 

    Example: As You Like It (By William Shakespeare)

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.”

Shakespeare has remarkably compared “earth” to a “stage” in the excerpt mentioned above.

Extended metaphor: 

Example: Habitation (By Margaret Atwood)

“Marriage is not / a house or even a tent / it is before that, and colder: / the edge of the forest, the edge of the desert / the unpainted stairs  / at the back where we squat  / outside, eating popcorn / the edge of the receding glacier / where painfully and with wonder / at having survived even this far / we are learning to make fire”

Atwood has used extended metaphor of a habitation to explain marriage. She believes marriage is not a stable shelter, like a “house or even a tent.” She rather describes it as an unstable “edge” of the forest or desert. The poem is a description of a couple “learning to make fire,” while trying to survive “painfully.” This extended metaphor implies that, though marriage is tough, it makes a person learn new things.


Functions of the Extended Metaphor… 

  • Extended metaphor provides the writer with an opportunity to make a larger comparison between two things or notions. 

  • The device of extended metaphor is usually employed in prose (written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure) and poetry to project a specific impression regarding things or notions in the reader’s mind. 

  • Further, the tool serves to project the comparison intensely in the reader’s mind, than is the case when simple metaphors or similes are used.

They use words that are describing an apple, but they are talking about a poem. Basically they said when writing a poem you don’t have to worry about anything, just go right ahead.


What is THEME?

The meaning of a work; a central idea, point, and underlying meaning of a literary work that may be stated directly or indirectly; critical belief about life that the author is trying to convey.

Remember! It's not simply a topic or subject (i.e. love, jealousy, honor, etc.)!

Video: How To Find A Theme [6:13]

Theme can not be converted into one word and it is not a subject or a topic. People can see different themes in the same film or movie that they watch. 

Next we read and annotate a poem. 

My annotate:

Flowers = beautiful,fed, and guarded, but stay in a pot of dirt

Weed = ugly and tall, but they are strong

Flowers = have limited freedom

Weed = free

Then we go into the breakout room with our group and answer what extended metaphor is established in “flower” and “a weed”. And this is what my group came up with.

Then we went back into the main room and discussed our answer with the class.

One group shared what they wrote for the “flower” box. They said the flower is like a child because they are guarded by their parents and they are restricted to stay in the house with their parents. It's like what the poem said about how the flower got taken care of. Another group shared about “a weed”. They said the weed is shy because of its appearance, but unlike the flower it was free to do whatever it wanted.

After the discussion we went back to the breakout room and worked on the “TWIST” chart with our group. And this is what my group came up with.

After working on the “TWIST” chart, we came back again to discuss our answers.

One group said the tone was positive and negative at the same time. Then another group said the words being used are complex and good. Then one other group said,  “being harassed are parts of dirt” and “clinging on a cliff like an eagle” are very imaginable which is important for this poem. The next group said the style of this poem is inspiring because it said that appearances are not important as long as there is freedom. Then another group said that the theme is having freedom is more important than outward appearance. 

Class end.


Reflection: 

In this lesson I learned that a theme is very important in our writing. It is important because there will be no lesson for readers to learn from if there is no theme and it would probably turn out pretty badly. I also learned about extended metaphors. It helps to make readers know what you are saying clearer and easier to understand. Another thing I learned today is euphonious and cacophonous. Euphonious involves soft and smooth sounding words, which can make the tone more positive. Cacophonous involves harsh and hard sounding words, which made the tone more negative. I can use what I learned today to make some good poems for my project and any of my writing in the future.

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