...The Analysis of the Problems in Understanding Figurative Language in Poetry as Perceived by Third Year Students of Child Jesus of Prague School for the School Year 2010-2011 Chapter 1 The Problem and its Background Introduction Language is a vital part of our everyday life and communication that are spoken by the human today and its natural human necessity. The word “language” has two meanings, language as general concept and language as a linguistic system. It is also traditionally signs, ideas and meanings of our heart and minds. But then, language cannot be fully expressed without even using figurative language Whenever someone used figurative language, he describes something by comparing it to another. In order to be successful in literary studies at any level, and for that matter, to be considered a good writer himself, at least a basic understanding of figurative language is absolutely essential. This series will explore the basic types of figurative language that you are likely to encounter in high school and early university settings; without knowledge of these, getting good grades is not a likely outcome, and succeeding in upper level literature courses will simply not happen. Although many teachers and professors do underline the importance of various kinds of figurative language, not many take the time to define it and explain its importance as a whole. Figurative language can most efficiently and simply be seen as a way of writing and speaking...
Words: 1278 - Pages: 6
...Poetry and Form Literature is a kind of art by means of language. To express itself, art needs to rely on a specific form. From the targeted acceptors’ point of view, the form of all kinds of art can be divided into two main aspects, namely the visual form and the audio form. Some types of art such as painting, architecture, sculpture rely themselves on the visual form which can be observed or touched; others such as music rely on audio form which cannot be observed or touched but heard. Literature as a language art, therefore, also relies on these two forms. Poetry is an important literary genre with the longest history among other literary genres. It includes a variety of subgenre at different levels, which are usually classified into three major types: narrative, dramatic and lyric. Narrative poetry is concerned with a particular event or a series of related events, such as epic Milton’s Paradise Lost. Dramatic poetry is for performance, such as Shakespeare’s The Twelfth Night. Lyric poetry is to express strong emotions, such as ode, elegy, sonnet, idyll, pastoral and ballad. Based on the function or the purpose of the poetry, the form of the poetry may vary in different poems. The form of the poetry Poetry as a language art relies on both visual form and audio form. As Lu Xun once said, the beauty of Chinese articles exists in the form and the sound (中国文章之美，乃为形声二者。). As for literary works, Liu Xie believed that a good writing must rely on a beautiful form. And as...
Words: 1253 - Pages: 6
...Professor Mary Gareis ENGL 1102 14 April 2014 Poetry Research Essay Poetry possesses different arrangements depending on who writes it. Some poems may be written in free verse while others could be written in rhyme; the form of a poem is quite important since the form is important to how readers interpret a poem. In most forms of poetry, the meaning of the words is employed to decipher the overall meaning of the poem. However, due to E.E Cummings’ unique style of poetry, the poetic structure is what determines the meaning of the work unlike in that of other poets. The poem “The Sky Was” is one of many of E.E. Cummings’ unusual pieces of poetry, and to most readers, it being shaped like a wisp and having parts of separated words in each stanza makes it seem completely nonsensical. Strangely, throughout the poem, some words are separated into halves and thirds to create the shape of a wisp. “The Sky Was” had been purposefully arranged to appear to be a wisp of smoke coming from a train within the poem: “…a lo co mo tive s pout ing vi o lets” (14-21). However, that is not all that the poem is unique for. The work “E. E. Cummings's Parentheses: Punctuation as Poetic Device” states that “…physical aspects as typeface, layout, and spelling, participate in the creation of meaning, and ‘provide additional information not directly...
Words: 1049 - Pages: 5
...most general genres in literature are (in loose chronological order) epic, tragedy,[1] comedy, and creative nonfiction.[citation needed] They can all be in the form of prose or poetry. Additionally, a genre such as satire, allegory or pastoral might appear in any of the above, not only as a subgenre (see below), but as a mixture of genres. Finally, they are defined by the general cultural movement of the historical period in which they were composed. Genre should not be confused with age categories, by which literature may be classified as either adult, young-adult, or children's. They also must not be confused with format, such as graphic novel or picture book. GenresEdit For more details on this topic, see List of literary genres. Just as in painting, there are different types: the landscape, the still life, the portrait; there are different types of literary works. These types tend to share specific characteristics. Genres describe those works which share specific conventions.[2] Genres are often divided into subgenres. Literature, is divided into the classic three forms of Ancient Greece, poetry, drama, and prose. Poetry may then be subdivided into the genres of lyric, epic, and dramatic. The lyric includes all the shorter forms of poetry, e.g., song, ode, ballad, elegy, sonnet.[2] Dramatic poetry might include comedy, tragedy, melodrama, and mixtures like tragicomedy. The standard division of drama into tragedy and comedy derives from Greek drama.[2] This parsing into...
Words: 3155 - Pages: 13
...CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Background of the Study Poetry is perpetually re-creating language. It helps understand the world by sharpening our own senses, by making us more sensitive to life. Poetry is thought that is felt. Aristotle says, “There is nothing in the intellect that is not first in the senses”. The poet uses figures of speech and creates images-imitations of life, words that evoke mental pictures and appeal to our senses. The essence of poetry is, according to the different types of minds, either quite worthless or of infinite importance (Herbert, 2000). Poetry may be described as rhythmic imaginative language expressing the invention, thought, imagination, taste, passion and insight of the human soul. Its purpose is “enthrallment”. William Wordsworth describes it as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” taking its origin from “emotion recollected in tranquility”. For Edgar Allan Poe, poetry is “the rhythmical creation of beauty”. Poets, from their own store of felt, observed or imagined experiences, select, combine, and recognize. They create significant new experiences for the readers-significant because the focused and formed in which they may gain a greater awareness and understanding of the world. Poetry can be recognized only by the response made to it by a good reader, someone who has acquired some sensitivity to poetry. There is indeed an ideal reader or listener as well as an ideal poem; and it is useful to think about them all and to consider...
Words: 1746 - Pages: 7
...What is Poetry Becoming-Concrete, Visual, Digital, Performance, Experiential? The title of this article caught my eye because I feel that poetry is slowly fading away. If poetry is dead, who killed it? Poetry is becoming distinct in the school system; it is important for teachers to introduce poetry to students. I think poetry is abstract rather than concrete. The author points out key facts about what makes poetry good. Some people view poetry as always rhyming and others view poetry as relaying messages. Good poetry is one that is created by a knowledgeable and skilled author. As I mentioned before, I think poetry is more abstract but the author seems to think otherwise. In the article, it states that there are many forms of poetry such as word art, concrete poetry, visual poetry, pattern poetry, visual riddles and puzzle poetry. The author states the perception of concrete poetry has been around since the 1950s when a Brazilian concrete poetry manifesto was published. Although the term is modern, the idea of using letter arrangements to enhance the meaning of a poem is an old. Visual poetry is art in which the visual arrangement of text, images and symbols are important in conveying the intended effect of the work. I think poetry is an emotional expression. This article expands my knowledge base because it introduces me to an artistic form of communication called poetry. Poetry is all about communicating thoughts, feelings and emotions. Poetry is powerful...
Words: 339 - Pages: 2
...c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g. This predictability and use of a regular pattern is frequently found in older poetry as writers tended to stick to the restrictions of a set format. This poem follows the conventional structure and includes the usual 'turn' at the end - a pair of lines (or couplet) that either shifts the mood or meaning of the poem, or asserts some sort of revelation. Structure The Shakespearean sonnet has 14 lines divided into three stanzas of four lines each and a final couplet. The rhyme scheme can be described as a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g. This predictability and use of a regular pattern is frequently found in older poetry as writers tended to stick to the restrictions of a set format. This poem follows the conventional structure and includes the usual 'turn' at the end - a pair of lines (or couplet) that either shifts the mood or meaning of the poem, or asserts some sort of revelation. Structure The Shakespearean sonnet has 14 lines divided into three stanzas of four lines each and a final couplet. The rhyme scheme can be described as a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g. This predictability and use of a regular pattern is frequently found in older poetry as writers tended to stick to the restrictions of a set format. This poem follows the conventional structure and includes the usual 'turn' at the end - a pair of lines (or couplet) that either shifts the mood or meaning of the poem, or asserts some sort of revelation. Structure The Shakespearean sonnet has 14 lines...
Words: 817 - Pages: 4
...Victoria De Jesús ENC 1102 65431 Mr. Suderman November 9, 2009 Word Count: 914 “Introduction to Poetry” Analysis “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins is a poem which uses an ample amount of imagery, words with connotations, and personification. Born in 1941, Billy Collins has since his time, been personified as the poet of poets, and has placed himself in the higher realm of fine poetry (“Billy Collins”). Collins’ poetry reaches beyond the common knowledge of poetry by stretching the general meanings of the English language and by forcing the mind to delve deeper to discover the true meanings of his works. Billy Collins undoubtedly withstands the title of a true poet. Above all, possibly being one of Collins’ most puzzling works of poetry to interpret is his “Introduction to Poetry”. Being one of his most recognized works, his poem is a perfect example of how he skillfully imbeds his feelings and meaning into his poems by painting numerable pictures and inserting small metaphors in which carry an unbearable amount of meaning. Upon initial reading, the meaning of this poem is unexplainable. What does Collins mean by his poem? Is it a teacher addressing his students on how to analyze a poem? By incorporating his use of imagery and other techniques, Collins guides the reader through the interpretation of his poem. There are many small messages in the poem, many of which Collins tells the reader what the poem means to the...
Words: 931 - Pages: 4
...Poetry (from the Greek poiesis — ποίησις — with a broad meaning of a "making", seen also in such terms as "hemopoiesis"; more narrowly, the making of poetry) is a form of literary art which uses aesthetic and rhythmic[1][2][3] qualities of language—such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre—to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, the prosaic ostensible meaning. Poetry has a long history, dating back to the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh. Early poems evolved from folk songs such as the Chinese Shijing, or from a need to retell oral epics, as with the Sanskrit Vedas, Zoroastrian Gathas, and the Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Ancient attempts to define poetry, such as Aristotle's Poetics, focused on the uses of speech in rhetoric, drama, song and comedy. Later attempts concentrated on features such as repetition, verse form and rhyme, and emphasized the aesthetics which distinguish poetry from more objectively-informative, prosaic forms of writing. From the mid-20th century, poetry has sometimes been more generally regarded as a fundamental creative act employing language. Poetry uses forms and conventions to suggest differential interpretation to words, or to evoke emotive responses. Devices such as assonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia and rhythm are sometimes used to achieve musical or incantatory effects. The use of ambiguity, symbolism, irony and other stylistic elements of poetic diction often leaves a poem open to multiple interpretations. Similarly...
Words: 384 - Pages: 2
...Poetry (from the Greek "poiesis" — "ποίησις" — with a broad meaning of a "making", seen also in such terms as "hemopoiesis"; more narrowly, the making of poetry) is a form of literary art which uses the aesthetic qualities of language to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, the prosaic ostensible meaning. POETRY Poetry has a long history, dating back to the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh. Early poems evolved from folk songs such as the Chinese Shijing, or from a need to retell oral epics, as with the Sanskrit Vedas, Zoroastrian Gathas, and the Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Ancient attempts to define poetry, such as Aristotle's Poetics, focused on the uses of speech in rhetoric, drama, song and comedy. Later attempts concentrated on features such as repetition, verse form and rhyme, and emphasized the aesthetics which distinguish poetry from more objectively-informative, prosaic forms of writing. From the mid-20th century, poetry has sometimes been more generally regarded as a fundamental creative act employing language. Poetry uses forms and conventions to suggest differential interpretation to words, or to evoke emotive responses. Devices such as assonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia and rhythm are sometimes used to achieve musical or incantatory effects. The use of ambiguity, symbolism, irony and other stylistic elements of poetic diction often leaves a poem open to multiple interpretations. Similarly, metaphor, simile and metonymy[1] create a resonance...
Words: 374 - Pages: 2
...heyThomas Stearns Eliot was not a revolutionary, yet he revolutionized the way the Western world writes and reads poetry. Some of his works were as imagist and incomprehensible as could be most of it in free verse, yet his concentration was always on the meaning of his language, and the lessons he wished to teach with them. Eliot consorted with modernist literary iconoclast Ezra Pound but was obsessed with the traditional works of Shakespeare and Dante. He was a man of his time yet was obsessed with the past. He was born in the United States, but later became a royal subject in England. In short, Eliot is as complete and total a contradiction as any artist of his time, as is evident in his poetry, drama, and criticism. But the prevailing of his contradictions involves two major themes in his poetry: history and faith. He was, in his life, a self-described "Anglo-Catholic," but was raised a Midwestern Unitarian in St. Louis. Eliot biographer Peter Ackroyd describes the relThomas Stearns Eliot was not a revolutionary, yet he revolutionized the way the Western world writes and reads poetry. Some of his works were as imagist and incomprehensible as could be most of it in free verse, yet his concentration was always on the meaning of his language, and the lessons he wished to teach with them. Eliot consorted with modernist literary iconoclast Ezra Pound but was obsessed with the traditional works of Shakespeare and Dante. He was a man of his time yet was obsessed with the past....
Words: 511 - Pages: 3
...E. E. Cummings, does the name sound familiar? E. E. Cummings was born in cambridge massachusetts in 1894. E. E. Cummings made poetry ever since he was a child. When he was older he was studying to be an artist at Harvard University, but that dream took a turn because he made poems as I said before and he later on decided to publish them. How does E. E. Cummings use sight and sound to create meaning? E. E. Cummings creates meaning in his poems by using visual techniques and auditory techniques. To begin with, E. E. Cummings used a lot of visual techniques in his poetry. E. E. Cummings used spacing, parenthesis, and shapes of his poetry to create visual poetry. E. E. Cummings used parenthesis and spacing to create to create the feeling of...
Words: 310 - Pages: 2
...description usually restricted to a single meaning because its events, actions, characters, settings, and objects represent specific abstractions or ideas. * Alliteration – the repetition of the same consonant sounds in a sequence of words, usually at the beginning of a word or stressed syllable. * Apostrophe – an address, wither to someone who is absent and therefore cannot hear the speaker or to something nonhuman that cannot comprehend. * Assonance – the repetition of internal vowel sounds in nearby words that do not end the same. i.e. “asleep under a tree” * Consonance – a common type of near rhyme that consists of identical consonant sounds preceded by different vowel sounds. * Cliché – an idea or expression that has become tired and trite from overuse * Cacophony – Language that is discordant and difficult to pronounce * Caesura – a pause within a line of poetry that contributes to the rhythm of the line * Couplet – Two consecutive lines of poetry that usually rhyme and have the same meter. * Heroic Couplet – A couplet written in rhymed iambic pentameter * Euphony – refers to language that is smooth and musically pleasant to the ear. * Elegy – a mournful, contemplative lyric poem written to commemorate someone who is dead. * Enjambment – In poetry, when one line ends without a pause and continues into the next line for its meaning. * Foot – the metrical unit by which a line of poetry is measured * Spondee – a foot consisting...
Words: 815 - Pages: 4
...CODE: ENG 503 PROPOSAL TOPIC TEACHING POETRY APPRECIATION IN THE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL: A CASE STUDY OF THREE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS IN THE TECHIMAN MUNICIPALITY INTRODUCTION Very few people are gifted with talents to understand or write poetry. The taste of poetry has to be cultivated with a careful handling of the subject failing which the poetry can results into irritating sign of neurosis on the students. Hence, there is great need of suitable curriculum as well as careful handling of the subject. Despite the fact that, poetry is one of the highly specialized forms of language, its status is diminished. It is partly because of the curriculum and partly because of the English teachers who execute the curriculum of poetry [Robert Scholes, 2001]. Most teachers of literature in general and poetry to be specific have the tendency of rather relying too heavily on critical commentaries of literary works (Yenkson 1987). Yenkson further asserts that “these notes are written by Secondary School teachers with the sole purpose of helping students to pass their exams”. Many of these teachers think that the use of those notes will spare them and their students the agony of having to study their recommended text. Apart from this, Senior High School English and Literature in English lessons are dominated by the need to prepare students for exams, hence in especially core English lessons the literature aspect particularly poetry is relegated to background since the literature...
Words: 4050 - Pages: 17
...The Use of Metaphors in Poetry Rachel Kleinholter World of Texts 9 October 2012 The use of metaphor in poetry is one of the most important aspects of poetic style. Metaphor is defined as figure of speech in which a thing is referred to as being something that it resembles. For example, a fierce person can be referred to as a tiger or a lion. In this way, metaphors are used in poetry to explain and elucidate emotions, feelings, relationships other elements that could not be described in ordinary language. Poets also use metaphor as a way of explaining or referring to something in a brief but effective way. Metaphors have many uses within poems, making them have deeper meaning than what the surface words can convey. Imagery may sometimes be visualized through the use of metaphor. The effect this has on the reader is that it functions primarily to increase stylistic colorfulness and variety. There is not a rulebook for poetry claiming that poems must have metaphors in order to be considered “good”. Yet, we consistently see the use of metaphors in many of the poems that we read today. Poets gravitate towards using metaphors in their poems because it creates a new element of understanding that a simple statement could not do. For example, in the poem “Doesn’t he realize”, the narrator could have just stated that she should not have to be expected to bend completely to the will of her lover. However, by comparing herself to the seaweed the reader gets a much better...
Words: 1204 - Pages: 5
