J4: THE MOMENT, THE FEELING, THE PUNCH
Consider the notes you haveread in this lesson about how to read and understand poetry.
1. Choose a poem we read in this lesson(listed here)and re-read it.
· "The Act"
· "At a Certain Age"
· "For a Father"
· "Making a Fist"
2. Write a journal entry(200words long)in which you explain(do not just summarize or re-state)the following:
·
The moment:What event,observation,feeling,memory,experience oroccasionis being recounted or described in this poem?
·
The feeling:Who is the speaker and how do they feel about the subject they are exploring in this poem?What words or phrases are used to clearly portray the speaker's feeling?
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The punch:What is the purpose of this poem?What expression or statement is being made?What dynamic elements are used to make the purpose clear?Where is the poem most powerful?
Write in clear and complete sentences,proofread carefully,and be sure to include thename of the poem andpoet.Thereare no formatting requirements.Youare encouraged to use quotations from the poem to support or illustrate yourpoints,but otherwise, don't consult any outside sources or website.Rely on your reading of the poem and the information from our lesson.
At a Certain Age BY DEBORAH CUMMINS He sits beside his wife who takes the wheel. Clutching coupons, he wanders the aisles of Stop & Save. There’s no place he must be, no clock to punch. Sure, there are bass in the lake, a balsa model in the garage, the par-three back nine. But it’s not the same. Time the enemy then, the enemy now. As he points the remote at the screen or pauses at the window, staring into the neighbor’s fence but not really seeing it, he listens to his wife in the kitchen, more amazed than ever—how women seem to know what to do. How, with their cycles and timers, their rolling boils and three-minute eggs, they wait for something to start. Or stop. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/deborah-cummins For a Father BY ELISE PARTRIDGE Remember after work you grabbed our skateboard, crouched like a surfer, wingtips over the edge; wheels clacketing down the pocked macadam, you veered almost straight into the neighbor's hedge? We ran after you laughing, shouting, Wait! Or that August night you swept us to the fair? The tallest person boarding the Ferris wheel, you rocked our car right when we hit the apex above the winking midway, to make us squeal. Next we raced you to the games, shouting, Wait! At your funeral, relatives and neighbors, shaking our hands, said, "So young to have died!" But we've dreamt you're just skating streets away, striding the fairgrounds toward a wilder ride. And we're still straggling behind, shouting, Wait—! https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/elise-partridge Talk not of wasted affection; affection never was wasted. Talk not of wasted affection; affection never was wasted. HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW A Poem’s Basic Elements Speaker: The person in the poem whose thoughts, feelings and ideas are being expressed. The speaker is not always the same as the poet. Line: A single (horizontal) line in a poem; not always a sentence. Stanza: The sections of lines in the poem – the units of meaning. A speaker sounds similar to… a narrator A line is pretty easy to identify because… it’s visual A stanza is similar to… a paragraph The three things a poem does: 1. Moment 2. Feeling 3. Punch A poem puts you “in a moment” 1. Moment Ignore everything about the poem except the scene it’s setting for you. Does it make you feel as though you are there? Or at least that you know where the poem is taking place? Does the poem transport you to a busy bus station or a messy apartment? Is the speaker showing you a family scene or pondering nature? A poem gives you a feeling 2. Feeling Even if you understand almost none of the poem the first time you read it, I bet you get some sense of how it feels. Is the speaker mad? Is the speaker in love? Is the speaker trying to figure something out? Poems are better than almost any other kind of writing at communicating feelings simply and strongly. A poem has punch 3. Punch Something about the poem is powerful. It’s more elegant or commanding than basic phrasing. Consider “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach.” Even if you consider that “cheesy,” “extra,” or “over-the-top,” that line is more powerful than “I love you a lot.” “ ” “It is difficult/to get the news from poems/yet men die every day/for lack/of what is found/there.” WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS Poetry – Teachers make it “too technical” Enjambment, schema, and technical terms only matter after poetry matters to you. You don’t care about them until you care about poetry – until poetry already has the power to make you happier, and sadder, and more reflective. Poetry – What’s the point? Poetry is not one thing that serves one purpose – just like music or computer programming aren’t single things that serves single purposes. Poetry – What’s the point of it? Poetry – set of techniques that put emotions into words The more techniques you know, the more emotions you can instill Poetry – What’s it good for? Poetry is especially good at dealing with some things. We are all going to die. Poetry can help us live with that. Poetry – What’s it good for?, cont This passage from “Making a Fist,” communicates an image and feeling (and definitely a punch). A child (“small hand”) experiences loss (“who am still living”) and is angry (“clenching”) and confused (“all my questions.”) The moment is the child in the backseat of the car. The feeling is sadness, grief. The punch is the realization that this is a child, at a funeral. When you read a poem, You can imagine someone is speaking TO you, or you can imagine that someone is speaking FOR you. Poetry – Why care? Poetry can be important to people who are not English teachers, poets, and book critics, because poems can speak to us and can speak for us. “At a Certain Age” This poem is about an ordinary older couple. The husband is having a hard time adjusting to retired life. Once too busy, now he’s bored. There are a number of visual details that help us “see” this moment. Poetry – What’s do I do with it? Rather than a static item printed on a page, a poem is an event that occurs with each new reader and with each new reading. And the opposite is also true: Without a reader, a poem is nothing but an imprint, the residue of an idea one writer had once. “For a Father” The speaker is the child of a now deceased father. The poem’s “punch” comes from the repetition, and how the word “Wait!” changes meaning throughout the speaker’s life. There are a number of moments clearly described. Reading a Poem Topic: What thing, what feeling, what idea does it seem to be about? Love? Nature? Writing? Tone/Attitude: How does the speaker feel? Angry? In love? Adoring? Theme: What statement, what universal truth, is being expressed or explored in the poem. Remember that a theme can usually be determined when you consider TOPIC + TONE… Topic … Common Poem Topics Nature Love Country Memory/Adolescence Dreams Family Relationships beginning or ending Future Place Tone … Common Poetic Tones Accepting Loving Adoring Loathsome Angry Amused Boastful / Bragging Exciting / Eager Anxious / Frightened Condescending Solemn Sympathetic Theme… Common Poetic Themes Painful experiences can be valuable. Struggle makes a person stronger. Not all good things can last – it is important to appreciate them while they are here. Fear can ruin a relationship. The past has a major impact on the present. Nature can prove our vulnerability. A person’s identity is more than his place in society. A person creates her own destiny. Love requires sacrifice. The natural world provides us clarity and understanding of ourselves. “For a Lady I Know” She even thinks that up in heaven Her class lies late and snores While poor black cherubs rise at seven To do celestial chores -Countee Cullen, 1939 “For a Lady I Know” meaning The title and first line tell us the speaker is writing about a woman he knows. “Her class” tells us that the speaker and the woman do not belong to the same social class. “While poor black cherubs” tells us that the speaker identifies as poor and as black, and that he sees the woman’s beliefs as so ingrained that they will persist. This poem is definitely about racism and classism. This poem’s tone is mocking, and maybe angry. This poem shows us the absurdity of racism. This poem touches on hypocrisy: “She” is a Christian women, who still holds on to racist beliefs. This poem shows us something about stubbornness: The speaker believes the woman won’t change, even after death. Imagery A vivid appeal to any of the reader’s primary five senses. Used to create images or sensations. connect the reader to the poem. share an impression. to emphasize the tone. clarify. At sunset, the clouds were edged with pink and gold. She shook his hands; his palms scratched like tree bark. If only smell of the coffee hadn’t filled the room with a cloud of vanilla and nuts. Your turn… “Those Winter Sundays” – Robert Hayden Sundays too my father got up early and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold, then with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather made banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him. I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking. When the rooms were warm, he’d call, and slowly I would rise and dress, fearing the chronic angers of that house, Speaking indifferently to him, who had driven out the cold and polished my good shoes as well. What did I know, what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices? Talk not of wasted affection; affection never was wasted. A Poem’s Basic Elements The three things a poem does: A poem puts you “in a moment” A poem gives you a feeling A poem has punch “It is difficult/to get the news from poems/yet men die every day/for lack/of what is found/there.” Poetry – Teachers make it