English literature Assignment 5-7 pages

Poetry Response Journal

In your poetry response journal, you will write 1-1.5 page responses (standard format)  for 5 poems of your choice. This means you need to write 1-1.5 pages for EACH poem. You may choose from poems we have discussed in class, other poems from the textbook, or poems you have discovered in another place. One of these poems may be the lyrics from a song. You will also do some discussion posts on poems and may use those responses as a starting point for your journal responses. If you choose to respond to a poem that was not discussed in class, turn in a copy of it with your journal. 

Now, what should be in these responses. Above all else, I want your responses to be honest and genuine. If a poem confuses, you but for some reason still fascinates you, contemplate why. Perhaps you have always had a strong reaction to a particular poem or song; consider writing about the memories or associations this poem brings to you. I would like you to refer to the actual text in your response, but you should not treat these responses a mini-essays.

I want this to be your chance to explore your responses to literature through informal writing. One bit of advice: in order to make this response uniquely your own, try to limit or eliminate your use of clichés.  For example, instead of saying that a poem "really paints a picture for the reader," explain in specific words what images the poems brings to your mind. A final reminder: even though this sound like a fairly easy assignment, I caution you that you need to put effort into it as it takes time to generate a thoughtful response to poetry. 

Poem discussed in class:

“Death Be Not Proud” by John Donne

“On Death, Without Exaggeration” by Wislawa Szymborska

The Panther” by Rainer Marie Rilke

“That the Science of Cartography Is Limited” by Eavan Boland “The Purse Seine” by Robinson Jeffers

"Traveling Through the Dark" by William Stafford

"Ode to a Nightingale" by Keats

Poetry Vocabulary List

 Diction

 Denotation

 Connotation

 Persona

Syntax

Tone

 Allusion

Simile

Metaphor

Synecdoche

 Metonymy

 Personification

 Apostrophe

 Hyperbole

 Understatement

 Paradox

 Oxymoron

 Symbol

 Allegory

 Didactic Poetry

 Irony

 Image

 Alliteration

 Assonance

 Euphony

 Cacophony

 Rhyme

 Eye Rhyme

 End Rhyme

 Internal Rhyme

 Masculine Rhyme

 Feminine Rhyme

 Near Rhyme 

Rhythm

 Stress

 Accent

 Meter

 Scansion

 Foot

 Iamb

 Trochee

 Anapest

 Dactyl

 Spondee

 Blank Verse

 Caesura

 End-stopped line

 Run-on line/Enjambment

 Form

 Free Verse/Open form

 Stanza

Rhyme Scheme

Couplet

Tercet

 Terza Rima

 Quatrain

 Sonnet

 Italian Sonnet

 Shakespearean Sonnet

 Villanelle

 Sestina