Studying Black Poets and the Essential Elements of Poetry: Literature Kids Series

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LENGTH: 25:26 min

AUDIENCE LEVEL: 6-8, 9-12

COPYRIGHT: 2022

ONTARIO CURRICULUM: English 9-12, Language 1-8

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Learn all about the five essential elements of poetry, while studying Black poets like Amanda Gorman, Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes. Imagery, rhythm, sound, density and line are defined and exemplified in a way that encourages young students to explore their own poetic voices. Rap music also gets analyzed for its poetic elements! Detailed graphics, diagrams and exciting video reinforce important concepts.

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The poetry of expression, words and hieroglyph.
Come decipher life's lessons.
Hit it at the highest polar caps.
They say when you add a beat only then it becomes rap.
If we're talking slam, you might hear a few snaps.
But just to get masterful with the words, whether it's acapella or 33 in a third.
This is an introduction to poetry, poetry, poetry.
The poet's tree.
Webster's Dictionary defines poetry as a literature that evokes a concentrated, imaginative awareness of experience or a specific emotional response through language chosen and arranged for its meaning, sound and rhythm.
Best way to much.
To put it simply, poetry is a way of making art with words and language.
Poetry is an emotional experience.
Rapper poet KRS One said poetry is the language of imagination.
In this program, we will explore, discover and learn about the essential elements of poetry through the poems of black poets, from Langston Hughes to Maya Angelou to Amanda Gorman and other greats who have had a strong influence and powerful impact on the world of poetry and even modern day rap music.
But before we talk about poets, I think it's important to talk about poetry itself.
Poetry from the Greek root word poem, which means to make or create, can sometimes be difficult to read, write or understand.
Poetry is an art form, and like other art forms, poetry has its rules, tools and techniques one must follow.
There are five essential elements in poetry.
It is important to recognize these elements, whether as a writer or reader of poetry.
The five essential elements are imagery.
Rhythm.
Density.
Sound in line.
Recognizing and understanding the essential five elements can help in reading and writing poetry.
So let's take a look at these elements and see examples of them in some poetry.
This is an introduction to poetry, poetry, poetry.
The Poets Tree.
The first element we will learn is imagery.
Imagery is the elements in a poem that spark the reader or listeners.
Five senses sight.
Hearing.
Taste, smell and touch.
Let's look at Langston Hughes, this poem. Harlem.
Langston Hughes was the preeminent black poet of the Harlem Renaissance era.
His poetry is known for its imagery and jazz like rhythms.
He was inspired to write Harlem because he wanted equality to be real so that his works of literature might be recognized among all writers of his time, not just people in Harlem.
In Harlem.
Hughes asks the rhetorical question What happens to a dream deferred?
Remember?
Rhetorical question for later.
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun or fester like a sore and then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat or crust and sugar over like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
In this example, Hugh shows imagery when he arouses our sense of touch with use of the words dry and fester.
The question about raisins in the Sun gives us readers vivid imagery of what he feels like and what is happening to him, as he has not yet seen his dream of equality among men realized.
Hughes further paints a picture with words when he uses the lines asking more rhetorical questions.
Does it stink like rotten meat and or crust and sugar over like sirup?
Sweet.
These mirror Hughes's thoughts and feelings on the so-called American Dream and its future.
Will inequalities for black people get worse like the smell of rotten meat?
Or will it just crust in hard with everybody just accepting inequality as the norm?
This poem profoundly reveals his feelings with the use of imagery.
Our second example of imagery is those winter Sundays by Robert Hayden, who was known for his mastery of poetic techniques and structures.
His poem reads in part.
Sundays, too.
My father got up early and put his clothes on in the blue, black cold, then with cracked hands that eight from labor in the weekday weather made banked, fires blazed.
No one ever thanked him.
I'd wake and hear the cold, splintering, breaking.
This poem is an homage to memories of Hayden's father and shows us more examples of imagery.
Blue, black Cold gives a perfect description of how cold and dark it was.
Early in the morning, cracked hands that ached from labor appeals again to our sense of touch.
I feel like Hayden's father's hands were rough and rugged and his use of fires blaze.
And I'd wake and hear the cold, splintering, breaking again.
Paint a clear picture of those winter Sundays.
This is exquisite imagery.
This is an introduction to poetry.
Poetry, poetry.
The poet's tree.
The next element of poetry we will explore is rhythm.
Rhythm in poetry refers to the beat and pace of a poem.
Most song lyrics, rap lyrics in particular.
A prime examples of this.
As far as poetry goes.
We real cool offers a great example of rhythm in poetry.
We Real Cool is often cited as one of the most celebrated examples of jazz poetry.
Poems which demonstrate jazz like rhythms.
We Real Cool was written by Pulitzer Prize winner Gwendolyn Brooks and describes the lives of seven young black pool players who lurk at night drink. Don't go to school, sing and plan on dying soon.
The pool players seven at the Golden Shovel.
We real cool.
We left school.
We lurk late.
We strike straight.
We sing sin.
We thin gin.
We jazz June.
We die soon.
It is easy to fall into the rhythmic cadence of the verses as the repetition in a rhyme makes. The lines of We Real Cool reads somewhat like a song.
The way is emphasized and stressed here in is used to inform the reader listener that the players are as of one mind.
The rest of the line is unstressed.
One beat for the we.
Two beats for the other.
Two words on the line we stride.
June bop bop boom.
This is the introduction to poetry.
Poetry, poetry.
The Poets Tree.
The third poetic element we will look at is sound or sound devices to discover these poetic sound devices.
We will read excerpts and lines from just one powerful and poignant poem, The Hill We Climb by the amazing Amanda Gorman.
There are five sound devices often found in poems.
They are alliteration, consonants, assonance, repetition and rhyme.
Let's start with alliteration.
Alliteration is the repetition of consonants at the beginning of a word.
The hill we climb read at President Joe Biden's inauguration talks about the promise of America's future and has many examples of alliteration.
Very early in her poem, Amanda Gorman recites, We braved the belly of the beast.
The repetitive be sound and braved belly and beast is alliteration.
Another line later on in the poem shows more examples to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of make.
The hard seas in this line is perfect alliteration.
As is this verse.
We will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.
Emphasizes the W sound.
As you can see, alliteration is a powerful device that adds to the rhythm, mood and energy of a poem.
Let's move on.
The next sound device is assonance.
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds within words.
It's not as common to see as a little oration, but it is effective in many of the same ways.
Again, Amanda Gorman's words show us assonance when she recites this line, We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know are in action, and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation.
Where do we see assonance?
If you said the five words interrupted, intimidation in action, inertia and inheritance, you would be right because of the in sound at the beginning of those words.
Yeah, you better.
Our blunders become their burdens.
But one thing is certain.
This line displays two sound devices.
Assonance.
Notice the internal earth sound in burdened and certain and alliteration.
The B and blunders burdens and.
But the next sound device is sort of like a cousin to assonance.
And it's called consonants.
Consonants is the repetitive consonant sounds within or at the end of a word.
It can be hard sometimes to tell the difference between consonants and alliteration, but we find it a few times in the hill we climb.
Yeah, you better.
This verse reads, but because we will never again.
So the division scripture tells us to envision Gorman's use of vision, hear and shun are examples of consonants.
This is the era of just redemption.
We feared at its inception and more here in this truth, in this faith, we trust the t h in truth and faith.
These are all examples of consonants.
So far we've learned about alliteration, assonance and consonants.
When consonants happens at the end of the word, along with assonance.
It's a rhyme, which is our next sound device.
Rhyme is usually what most people associate poetry with and is simply defined as the matching vowel sound at the end of words or lines.
There are so many examples of rhymes and poems of all kinds, but we'll stick with the hill we climb and explore these few favorite lines in rhymes of mine.
See what I did there?
Where can we find light in this never ending shade?
The last we carry a C, we must wait.
We brave the belly of the beast.
We've learned that quiet isn't always peace, shade and wait rhyme as do beast in peace.
The hill we climb.
If only we dare.
Because being American is more than a pride we inherit.
It's the past we step into and how we repair it.
We've seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it.
Gorman has four rhyming word combinations in this quatrain.
Dare it, inherit, repair it and share it.
Our last sound device is repetition, which is the repeating of any words, phrases, sentences, or lines within a poem.
Let's take a look at repetition in this three line stanza called terse.
It that even as we grieved, we grew that even as we hurt.
We hoped that even as we tired, we tried multiple sound devices.
Here we see repetition with use of that, even as we we also see assonance in the vowel.
I sound in tired tried in the e d ending in the words grieved, hoped, tired and tried, and we see alliteration the g's in grieved and grew the H's in hurt and hoped, and the T's in tired and tried.
Another example of repetition from this stanza.
Later in the poem, we will rise from the golden heels of the West.
We will rise from the windswept Northeast, where our forefathers first realized revolution.
We will rise from the lake rimmed cities of the Midwestern states.
We will rise from the sunbaked south.
Gorman's repetitive use of the words we will rise is classic repetition and also an allusion to the great Maya Angelou and her legendary poem and Still I Rise.
More on Ms..
Angelou and that coming up.
So now that, you know, some sound devices with poetry, let's move on to our last two essential element.
But first.
This is an introduction to poetry.
Poetry, poetry.
The poet's tree.
The next essential element we will discuss is density.
Density is how much is said in how little space.
Let's go back and look at a poem we talked about earlier.
We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks.
We real cool.
We left school.
We Lurk Late.
We Strike Straight, We sing, sing we thin gin, we jazz June.
We Die Soon.
This is a short, condensed poem consisting of only 24 words.
But those words say so much.
In these first two lines, they tell us what they think of themselves.
We real cool and give us a glimpse of their past.
We left school.
The reader is forced to read this with irony because what kind of fool thinks they're cool because they left school?
The next five lines paint a picture of their reckless present.
They hang out late lurk, late drink, watered down gene things and are just plain living file strike straight sing sing jazz.
June The final line is an ominous prediction for their future.
We die soon.
Ms.. Brooks Words are economical, but she covers some of the past, the present and future life of the seven pool players.
In a few concise words, another example of density comes from the greatest himself Muhammad Ali Me Weep is the shortest poem in the English language one verse, four letters.
But the interpretations offer much more.
Ali is saying that me by myself, I am indeed great, but we together are even greater.
We are nothing as an individual unless we are connected to other people living for something bigger than our individual sales power for months.
Your message in those four letters?
One of the ways to give a poem a metaphor is kind of like talking about one thing, but you're really talking about something else.
Like the poems we have been analyzing.
Rap is an extension of poetry with the beat.
I used to love her by rapper poet Common, who displays metaphorical writing at a high level.
In his lyrics, Common talks about hip hop music as if it were a woman.
I met this girl when I was ten years old and what I love most, she has so much soul.
She was old school and I was just a shorty.
Never knew throughout my life she would be there for me.
Come and talks about when he first met her and describes how his relationship with her has evolved, then come and compares her life with the corruption of hip hop music from her humble, innocent beginnings to her allowing herself to be exploited.
Only at the end does he reveal who this metaphorical H.E.R.
Her is.
So her is not a her at all.
Her is a metaphor for hip hop music.
Brilliant.
This is the introduction to poetry.
Poetry, poetry.
The Poets Tree.
Okay.
So we've seen two different examples of density, which brings us to our last essential element in poetry.
Line line is a unit of language that a poem is made up of and is sometimes called a verse.
A group of lines of verses is called a stanza.
Do we remember that from earlier?
To learn about verses, stanzas and all things used to create a poem, we will use one of the most powerful and popular poems by one of the world's most powerful and popular poets, the late great Maya Angelou's.
Still I Rise.
Still I Rise is a declaration to any oppressor that the voice of the speaker, Ms..
Angelou, will not be hushed.
It is a nine stanza poem that begins You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lies.
You may trod me in the very dirt, but still like dust.
I'll rise.
The speaker here is letting the world against her know that it doesn't matter what anyone's opinion is of her.
She will always rise.
The second stanza is a rhetorical question.
Another important line element to understand.
A rhetorical question is when you ask a question, but you really don't want or expect an answer.
Lots of poets use rhetorical questions because it helps to create the mood or attitude of the speaker, as does Dr. Angelou here.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
Cause I walk like I've got oil wells pumping in my living room.
Both of these stanzas follow the same rhyme scheme.
The next line element rhyme schemes are hard to define.
So to help you understand better, I will just illustrate for you in the opening stanza we've just read.
The first verse ends with the word history.
We will assign this verse with the letter. A The second verse is with the word lies.
This does not rhyme with history.
So we will label the second verse be.
If the second verse had been a word that rhymes with history, we would have labeled that a as well.
The third verse ends with the word dirt, which does not rhyme with either history or lies.
So we will label this with a C had the third line, end it in a word that rhyme with history.
We would have labeled it with an A or with the B headed rhymed with lies.
The last line in the stanza ends with the word rise, which rhymes with lies in the second verse.
So therefore, we will label this fourth line with the B.
So the first stanza has a rhyme scheme of A, B, C, B, because the words at the end of lines two and four rhyme.
The first seven verses of Stila rise. Follow this a b.
C b rhyme scheme.
A final device that is important to the creation of poetry is the use of similes.
Similes, not to be confused with metaphors that we learned in the last segment are comparisons using the words like or as, Because I walk like I've got oil wheels pumping in my living room.
The word like is used to compare how she walks to the way someone with tremendous wealth would walk.
This simile gives us the imagery of someone walking with shoulders back, chest out, and lots of confidence.
There are many more elements and devices that go into making and understanding poetry that we didn't get to cover here.
But if you study and learn the basics of what we talked about here, you should be able to understand poetry and its language a little bit more.
Thinking question.
If you had to write a poem about the last vacation that you took, could you employ imagery, rhythm, sound, line, and density to do so?
Give it a try.
Yeah.
Got to go to get your text.
Get him in it.
That's a show that I live out, and I'm never going to do it.
So I thought it was a nice try.
But I guess I get to keep my end this time.
Especially.
I just.

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Grade/Subject	Course/Section	Strand	Expectations
Grade 7 / Language 1-8	C. Comprehension: Understanding and Responding to Texts	C1. Knowledge about Texts: C1.2 Text Forms and Genres	C1.2 analyze a variety of text forms and genres, including cultural text forms, and explain how their characteristics help communicate meaning
Grade 8 / Language 1-8	C. Comprehension: Understanding and Responding to Texts	C1. Knowledge about Texts: C1.2 Text Forms and Genres	C1.2 analyze and compare the characteristics of various text forms and genres, including cultural text forms, and provide evidence to explain how they help communicate meaning
Grade 9 / English 9-12	ENL1W English ENL1W	C. Comprehension: Understanding and Responding to Texts C1. Knowledge about Texts	n/a
Grade 10 / English 9-12	ENG2D English ENG2D	Reading and Literature Studies 2. Understanding Form and Style	recognize a variety of text forms, text features, and stylistic elements and demonstrate understanding of how they help communicate meaning;
Grade 10 / English 9-12	ENG2P English ENG2P	Reading and Literature Studies 2. Understanding Form and Style	2.3 Elements of Style
Grade 10 / English 9-12	ELS2O Literacy Skills: Reading and Writing, Grade 10 ELS2O	Reading Skills 1. Reading for Meaning	1.1 Variety of Texts - read a variety of self-selected and teacher assigned literary, graphic, and informational texts representing a variety of cultures and perspectives (e.g., literary: short stories, multicultural poetry, song lyrics, narratives, Aboriginal stories;

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Studying Black Poets and the Essential Elements of Poetry: Literature Kids Series

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