Asel Kul.
Finally the dreaded poetry unit has arrived. Every student’s eyes widen and the room fills with heavy sighs at the thought of diving into such dense literature. It’s quite hard to find a student who loves and is eager to analyze poetry, but everyone has to learn the basic tools to understand poetry because it will come in handy in the future… eventually.
Poetry is a condensed and enhanced literature which may depict a story, an image, or emotion. Now there are several ways you can better understand poetry. There are the basic literal devices which we have already learned like imagery, syntax, personification, etc. The poem “Ballad of Birmingham” uses diction, imagery, and paradox to share one of the tragic stories of the freedom march. The author’s word choices are very simple and yet they hold a great meaning. The little girl may not understand the way the real world works yet when her mother says “For the dogs are fierce and wild,/ And clubs and hoses, guns and jails/ Aren’t good for a little child”, meaning that she wouldn’t be safe out there because white men will punish her for her skin color. Imagery is used when describing the innocence of the daughter before she leaves for church and the wildness of the mother when she has heard the explosion. The paradox of the story is that the daughter would have been better off marching into danger than going to the sacred church in which she perished.
One of the most important literal devices used in poetry is diction. A great tip learned from reading Sound and sense, which I’m sure will help all of us, is to always have a dictionary nearby when reading poetry. Mr.Decker used a great example of the word sleazy because it has a different definition than the modern meaning. These two different definitions are called denotation and connotation. Denotation is the dictionary meaning of the word while connotation is the emotional attachment to the word or a meaning that is implied. The denotation of the word “sleazy” is lacking firmness of texture and carelessly made of inferior materials, but over time the connotation has meant to mean a promiscuous cheap woman. However, some connotations may become denotations overtime like the word “cool”.
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3 comments:
You talked a lot about the literary devices in poetry. This is fitting considering that we've spent a lot of time on these devices. One thing I always wonder is whether half the devices we take from these poems are actually intentional. Granted, I'm not a renowned poet, nor do I have the desire to be one, but I don't actively focus on putting these devices in; I just write and they are in the piece. The way we talk in class, you'd think that every little detail was purposefully crafted to make the poem work on about fifteen different levels. I see all the devices and meanings, but I just wonder how many of them are deliberate. I'd like to ask a famous poet how many meanings or devices he knowingly put into the poem and how many we find that he didn't.
Asel, I liked how you described poety: condensed and enhanced literature. Like almost every poetry-related post has said (or, at least, implied), most of us don't particularly like poetry. I personally find it harder to understand because of, like Sam mentioned, all of the hidden meanings (that may or may not be deliberate). Although I find poetry harder to understand than prose, one thing caught my attention in "Sound and Sense": I love how they describe poetry as more of an experience than anything else. With the many literary devices that we have talked about, poets do more than just explain what happens, they show what happens and thoroughly describe it so that the reader can esperience it. Poetry is definitely harder to understand sometimes, but what I've seen through this unit is, once one can understand a poem, there really is so much to it that makes the difficult process of understanding it worth it.
Well the tally is up one for those who love and are eager to analyze poetry, though I must admit I am slightly biased. Anyway, seeing you state all of the literary devices so simply and clearly made me realize how intricate poetry truly is. When analyzed, or even simply read, a poem can evoke emotion and feeling through something as simple as the words used. It's amazing the effect one word can have over another. Whether the devices used are intentional or accidental they add depth to a poem that would otherwise be there. It's because of these devices that a poem is so interesting to read, even if it is not completely understood. It may be hard to discern the author's purpose on occasion, but the end result is worth it.
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