Chapter 10: Poetry

Introduction

In this chapter, you are going to study poetry, starting with To Taste a Poem. It is an extended metaphor for how much enjoyment there is to be had in studying a poem!

You will gain an understanding of form and structure in poetry, and think critically about a poem’s meaning. Enjoy every moment of the world of sensory experience that the study of poetry opens up to you. What do you think is the first step towards understanding a poem and its theme?

Poetry, also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, a prosaic ostensible meaning.

Activity 2.1 Study a poem
1. Form small groups. Talk about which fruit you most enjoy eating. Tell one another about your experience of eating juicy fruit.

• Is it something juicy and messy?
• Do you enjoy it when you bite into a ripe mango and its juice runs down your chin and makes your hands all sticky?
• When you have finished eating the mango, you might feel that you need a bath!
• Does it taste different when you put that same fruit on a plate and eat it neatly with a fork and knife?

2. Work in pairs. Read the poem aloud, three or four times. Look at the shape of the poem and how it is structured.

Activity 2.2 Continue to taste the poem

1. Work on your own to answer the questions.

a) Are there rhyming words in the poem?

b) Does the poem have rhythm?

c) How many stanzas are there in the poem? Are they equal in length? d) What does it mean to ‘gulp it in?

e) Find a word in the poem that rhymes with ‘gulp it in’. 

f) Why would a poem make fireworks within you?

g) In your own words, explain the meaning of the third stanza.

h) What does the first stanza suggest about studying a poem?

i) What is the effect of the words like ‘bite’, ‘crunch’ and ‘slurp’ in the first stanza?

j) Is there any part of this poem that is less important, that we could throw away? Explain your answer.

k) What have you learnt from this poem? Explain how it has changed your attitude toward poetry.

2. Form groups and discuss your answers. Have you interpreted the poem in a similar way?

3. Consider your answers, in comparison with those of the rest of the group. Correct your work where you think you might have made a mistake.

Remember that your work is not wrong if your answer is different from the others. Only correct your work if you think you might have misunderstood something. Argue your point if you don’t agree with the others.

4. Swap books with a partner and check each other’s work.

What do you think of Poetry

Activity 2.3 Study another poem
1. Discuss the questions with a partner.
a) Have you ever tried to write a poem? Do you think it is easy to write a poem?
b) If you were to write a poem, what would you write about?
2. Read the poem quietly to yourself.

The poem under a magnifying glass

It’s the gentle beating of your heart, The summary of glee,

The inner contents of your soul, The poet you want to be.

Ten words scratched out, to choose the perfect one, A very quiet shout!

A knot that’s been undone.

Your mother’s laugh,

A happy cry,

A life that’s just begun,

The memory of a special day,

A prize that’s to be won.

A poem is only words and heart,

A whisper of a song,

The poet you wanted to be at the start

Is the poet you were all along.

by Anonymous

3. Work with a partner and discuss the questions about the structure of the poem.
a) How many stanzas are there in the poem?
b) What can you say about each stanza? Are the stanzas of equal length?
Are there other similarities about them?
c) Are the lines of the poem of equal length?
d) What do you notice about the punctuation of the poem?

3. Discuss the questions with a partner.
a) How many senses do people have? What are your senses?
b) Read the introduction again and say how you would describe sensory experience.
c) How does one ‘taste’ a poem?
d) What would be a polite way of eating a mango? And a poem?
4. Write the answers to these questions in your exercise book. Check with your partner to compare your answers.

Activity 2.4 Understand the poem
1. Read the poem from Activity 2.3 silently before answering the questions. 

a) The first stanza of the poem contains a contraction. Write the line without a contraction.

b) Which is your favourite stanza, and why?

c) In your own words, write a list of everything that the poet thinks a poem is.

d) Summarise the list into one sentence

e) Explain how the poet wants the reader to understand a poem. Use your list again, and choose three items to explain.

For example, A whisper of a song. This could be the memory of a song, or a song that’s not been written yet, or a song that has a very difficult memory attached to it.

f) Look at the punctuation of the poem. Which line does not fit into the pattern? Why is the punctuation effective in this line?

g) Do you think this is a serious poem? Give a reason for your answer. 2. Discuss your answers in groups. Mark your own work from the answers suggested by the group.

Activity 2.4 Consider another poem about poetry

1. Read the poem quietly, to yourself.

Baking a poem
Remember, you must mix, mix, mix,
Every memory and emotion,
Find the things you couldn’t fix,
The heartbreak and devotion,
Add them slowly to the batter,
Watch them swirl into something new,
And the mixture that was flatter,
With heat, will rise, as poems do.
Remember, you must wait,
Until the poem begins to cool,
Before you ice it up
With the things you learnt in school.
At the centre of your cake,
Is a secret sweet surprise
The poems that you will make
Contain your truth, just in disguise.

Poetry……………….Poetry……………..Poetry……………Poetry…………….Poetry…………..

2. The poem, Baking a poem, can be called an extended metaphor. Work in pairs and answer the questions.

a) What is a metaphor? If you cannot remember what a metaphor is, look it up in a dictionary or on the Internet.

b) What do you think an extended metaphor is?

c) Does someone in your family ever bake cakes at home? Do you this description of baking is realistic? Give a reason for your answer.

d) What, according to the poem and your own knowledge, are the steps of baking a cake?

e) What ingredients are needed to make a poem?

f) What action needs to be done to combine the ingredients?

g) Does the poet think it is easy to make a poem? Explain your answer.