Reading, Language, and Literature, Part 27
Question 1: Explain how one understands the meaning in poetry. Discuss how formal analysis is used.
Answer 1: Poetry creates its meaning from the interactions between the meaning of words and the effects of their being arranged in metrical patterns. To fully derive a poem’s meaning, one should understand the formal qualities of poetry. An initial reading of a poem uncovers the main theme of the poem as well as the author’s attitude toward the main subject. The narrative situation and the basic features of form usually emerge from a first reading. Rereading and study of a poem should include the details of form and how these contribute to understanding. Formal features are most useful when they yield a tangible result. Form and meaning must be considered together for a full understanding of the work. Integrating formal features of a poem does not require great technical skill. It is really a question of becoming familiar with the language of formal analysis and using this to enhance understanding and enjoyment of the poetry. These skills are easily learned and greatly enrich the reading of a work.
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Question 2: List the seven steps that are useful in identifying meter in a poem.
Answer 2: The following steps are useful in identifying meter in a poem:1. Read the poem and decide where the grammatical and semantic stresses are placed.2. Mark the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.3. Determine whether the poem follows a regular meter.4. Count the number of feet in each line.5. Identify the predominant types of foot and line.6. Read the poem again, preferably aloud, and listen for rhythm variations in the whole poem.7. Mark changes of rhythm and the new type of feet.This process will help the reader understand both the formal structure and meaning of a work.
Question 3: Define the two main divisions of rhyme. Describe some elements of rhyme and how to identify a rhyming scheme.
Answer 3: Rhyme is an important device for many poems. There are two main divisions of rhyme:1. End rhyme occurs at the close of a rhyme. End rhyme is perfect; that is, it involves identical sounds.2. Half rhyme, also called slant rhyme, involves a closeness of sounds that are not identical.Rhyme may be masculine (rhyming elements comprise single stressed syllables) or feminine (rhyming elements comprise unstressed syllables). Eye rhyme joins similarly spelled words that are pronounced differently. Internal rhyme involves repeated elements in a line rather than at its end.The usual method for describing a rhyming scheme uses letters to signify the sounds of line endings, with the first sound called A and the second sound called B and so on. For example, rhymes could have AABBCC patterns based on the line endings. As with other formal elements of poetry, rhyming schemes have the most relevance when contributing to the understanding of a work.
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