Daria Golitsyna, Blogger #10, pd. 2, 10/1/21

 Three Poetic Elements and Identity

Daria Golitsyna, Blogger #10, pd. 2, 10/1/21

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. 

Today, we were asked to create a word web of the first things that come to mind when you think of “identity”. Here is what my word web looked like:

Some other good words my classmates shared were: Hobbies, handwriting, and your friends/family. 

The first poetic element we covered in today's lesson were different poetic devices, one of which were musical or sound 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 

After spirit reading with the class, we watched a short video about euphony and cacophony, which gave an overview of what was stated above. 

Here is a link to the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53zWcf9zJVU&ab_channel=tarnovtm

The next device we covered was rhythm, which is basically just the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. If anyone reading this plays a musical instrument or is familiar with music, you might know about measures, like 4/4 and 3/4 used in music to convey the amount of “beats”, (or in our case stressed syllables), used to organize the music and give it a “tone”. Though poetry does not have measures, we can totally use the comparison of beats to explain what rhythm in a poem is like. 

After reading about rhythm, we watched another video to clarify what rhythm in poems sounded like. Here is a link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqhPp-ptoJA&ab_channel=TheSunShinesForTwo

The final poetic device we discussed in class was an Extended Metaphor.

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.

Lastly, we watched a video about extended metaphors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3nDkXKDp0Y&ab_channel=Ms.TaraTolzin

And then looked at some examples of extended metaphors:

• 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.

Next, we looked at the functions of the extended metaphor, and considered another example of an 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.

The poem used to provide an example of an extended metaphor was “How to Eat a Poem”: 

I think that the extended metaphor talked about how poems are to be interpreted fully, without leaving things out. It referenced an apple as something inedible the poem doesn't have, which the apple does have.

Next, we looked at what the theme is, to help us make our poem anthologies. Theme is 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 is not simply a topic or subject (i.e. love, jealousy, honor, etc.)!

We watched a video to help clarify we exactly mean when we say or think about the word “theme”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIuKNVny9cM&feature=share&ab_channel=D4Darious

We were then asked to spirit read a poem in class, called “Identity”

Identity

by Julio Noboa Polanco

Let them be as flowers

always watered, fed, guarded, admired,

but harnessed to a pot of dirt.

I’d rather be a tall, ugly weed,

5        clinging on cliffs, like an eagle

wind-wavering above high, jagged rocks.

To have broken through the surface of stone,

to live, to feel exposed to the madness

of the vast, eternal sky.

10        To be swayed by the breezes of an ancient sea,

carrying my soul, my seed,

beyond the mountains of time or into the abyss of the bizarre.

I’d rather be unseen, and if

then shunned by everyone,

15        than to be a pleasant-smelling flower,

growing in clusters in the fertile valley,

where they’re praised, handled, and plucked

by greedy human hands.

I’d rather smell of musty, green stench

20        than of sweet, fragrant lilac.

If I could stand alone, strong and free,

I’d rather be a tall, ugly weed.

After we finished reading, we were expected to write responses to the question: “What extended metaphor is established in the poem?” by writing responses to what was meant behind the “flower” and the “weed” in the poem. We were supposed to do it with our teams, and it was a chance to earn team points. Here is what I wrote: “I feel like a flower is a person that, on the other hand, is completely obedient to society's standards, and the flowers identity is really the same as all the surrounding flowers, they all same basically the same smell and journey of being born in fertile land, being cared by humans, just to be cut down. The flower always has an end, while the weed doesn’t know how long it will survive, but at least it knows it has a chance of being a lot older than the flower, which is bound to be cut at its bloom.” for a weed, I wrote: “A weed is independent, just like people. The author wishes to rather be untamed and be independent, and never actually be “picked”. Weeds are the people that don’t go with the norms of society and create their own path and live their life how they want to.”

Next, we participated in a Think/Pair/Share activity, where we analyzed the poem and made a TWIST chart about it. Here was mine: 

T	Tone	Realistic, Serious. The author is trying to convey the tough life of a weed, so they use a lot of hard and cacophonous words in the poem.
W	Word Choice	Mature, complex, the author is talking about being life harsh to the people that go on their own journeys.
I	Imagery	We can see a lot of imagery in the poem, when the author used juxtaposition and words like “harnessed”, “abyss of the bizarre”, and “eagle” to convey the difference between a flower and a weed.
S	Style (the result of choices in T, W, & I)	(i.e. thought-provoking, contentious, evocative, elegant, etc. ) The style was definitely thought provoking, making me think about my choices in life and if I am really following my path or if i'm going in the path that was already made by millions before me, that might not actually lead to success.
T	Theme	The poem appeared to be fierce and determined to lead on your own journey, and not follow in everyone’s footsteps, cause they might not be meant for you.
Interpretative Statement		I think that this poem can be related to The Alchemist, when Melchizedek told Santiago to follow his journey and not what others expect him to do, because the weed had a life of its own that it had to get to itself, but the flower chose the easy path of being planted by a human like everyone else because that seemed easier, and then got cut down when it blossomed.

Lastly, Ms. Peterson included a non mandatory slide named “Just For Fun”, discussing verbals:

Language and Writer’s Craft: Verbals

A verbal is a verb form that is used as another part of speech—an adjective, noun, or adverb. Verbals include participles, infinitives, and gerunds.

• A participle, which functions as an adjective, is the present or past participle of a verb:

• A clinging weed

• A watered flower

• An infinitive is a verb form beginning with to. A present perfect infinitive begins with to have, and a passive infinitive with to be. Infinitives can function as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs,

• To cling to life is the nature of weeds. (Infinitive as a noun, the subject of the sentence)

• The desire to stay alive motivates all living things. (Infinitive as an adjective, modifying desire)

• The flower needs to be watered. (Passive infinitive as an adverb, modifying needs)

• A gerund is the –ing form of a verb used as a noun.

• Clinging to the soil keeps the weed alive.

Go back to the poem “Identity” and mark the verbals. Try to indicate where they are used in creating the contrasting images.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!