Test Prep II

Enjambment 

I find reading poetry really difficult because I'm usually not sure if I need to pause or keep reading straight through.

http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/glossaryItem.do?id=8102
This link has a nice definition, as well as some references to poems using enjambment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKgD0fq54y4
This video is of teachers reading end-stopped poems and poems using enjambment. I liked it because as they are reading, the words are on the screen making it easy to follow.

http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=5139
This link is an example of a poem using both enjambment and end-stopped lines.

Test Prep

Denotative Vs. Connotative

http://www.csun.edu/~bashforth/098_PDF/06Sep15Connotation_Denotation.pdf

This link did a really good job of helping me understand how different ways of saying the same thing can evoke different emotions in the reader. One example used in this text is the difference between “cheap” and “inexpensive.” There are learning exercises in the text as well.

An example of connotation in a poem is:

 “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost

And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.

Howl Imitation

I saw the best minds of my generation walking with minds closed and hearts full with hate

Who can’t force a modest smile at the homeless person on the corner

Who walk around spouting vile words to describe those who are different from themselves

I saw the best minds of my generation waste away their lives

Who are blessed with amazing talents, but can’t put down the pipe.

Who are capable of so much, but willing of so very little.

I saw the best minds of my generation throw garbage out their car window without hesitation

Who put their cigarettes out in flower beds and playgrounds

Who can’t recycle even when the opportunity is in front of them

I saw the best minds of my generation consume their time with meaningless technology

Who can’t put their cell phone down at the dinner table

But can’t call Grandma on her eightieth birthday

I saw the best minds of my generation use violence in place of knowledge

Who think that brutality and bloodshed is power

I saw the best minds of my generation have no concern for the future generations to come.

Imagist Poem

In a Café on Decatur St.

A sizzling, sweet bundle of beignets.

Snowcapped mountains in June.

Sestina

My life is one big ocean.

So much color.

So much unknown.

My comfort zone is the sand.

Anything further is the rest of my life.

The ocean is my world.

Out there is an extraordinary world.

A brilliant and glittering ocean.

A mysterious life.

An ocean with an array of emotions and color.

Don’t wait in the sand.

Voyage into the unknown.

Both good and bad reside in the unknown.

There’s good and bad in the world.

Don’t be the man on the sand.

Don’t miss out on the adventures in the ocean.

Enjoy the fear and the color.

Enjoy your life.

Make the most of your life.

Cherish the beauty in the unknown.

Paint your life with color.

All the colors in the world.

There’s more than blue to the ocean.

There’s no blue on the sand.

The ocean creeps up onto the sand.

Asking you to start your life.

Don’t disobey the ocean.

Don’t be afraid of the unknown.

Make your mark in the world.

Accept your color.

Every emotion has its color.

Neutral is the sand.

An artist’s palette is the world.

Paint the picture of your life.

Leave room for the unknown.

Leave room for your ocean.

Give color to your life.

Leave the sand behind and swim through the unknown.

The world is your ocean.

Unexpected Ode

Ode to Pencils

Short and slender,

Long and slender.

You may be

Blunt and dull, 

Or sharp and bright.

Chewed on by boredom,

Monotony and confusion,

You will still 

Erase our mistakes.

Designer of words,

Some beautiful, 

Some ugly.

Authors of letters

To lovers far away.

An Artist’s greatest tool,

Shading and shadowing 

The world’s splendor.

Teaching children 

To hold you,

To start their lives

With you

by their sides.

My fingers wrap

Around you,

Allowing me

To create.

Litany Imitation

You are the rum and the coke,

the tobacco and the pipe.
You are the fly on the wall
and the angel on my shoulder.
You are the years of knowledge,
and the old vintage sweater.

However, you are not the calm before the storm,

the boxer in the ring,
or the lion's roar.
And you are certainly not the guitar in need of tuning.
There is just no way that you are the guitar in need of tuning.

It is possible that you are the man in the moon,
maybe even the coffee with too much sugar,
but you are not even close
to being the sound of the waves crashing.

And a quick look in the mirror will show
that you are neither the mortar
nor the pestle.

It might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
that I am the whistle of the kettle.

I also happen to be the neon sign in the window,
the taxi down the street
and the phone call away.

I am also the gin

and the tonic.
But don't worry, I'm not the rum and the coke.
You are still the rum and the coke.
You will always be the rum and the coke,
not to mention the tobacco and--somehow--the pipe.