Monday, January 2, 2012

Back to Work Ye Scurvy Dogs


Just so everyone knows, the title of this weblog and the accompanying photo have absolutely nothing to do with the substance of the post, which is to follow. The truth is that for the better part of the day, my son has been running around the house while wearing his pirate costume from last Halloween. He's been chasing his sisters, who are dressed like princesses and are apparently very much in need of rescue.

Anyway ... vacation is over ... back to work ye' scurvy dogs ...

This week is a little heavy in terms of content, but there is nothing here that we haven't touched on before. I want to discuss two poetic forms, BLANK VERSE and FREE VERSE.  They're often confused, but in truth they're practically nothing alike.

Blank verse is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. As you should know, IAMBIC PENTAMETER is a line of poetry containing five (pentameter) stressed syllables in which each stressed syllable follows an unstressed syllable. Many of Shakespeare's most famous plays are written almost entirely in blank verse. Oftentimes, Shakespeare would only include rhyme for the sake of emphasis or to indicate that the speaker was not a commoner (i.e. royalty, a god, a knight, etc.).

Free verse is poetry that lacks any particular metric pattern or rhyme scheme (a pattern of rhyme). In free verse, the first line may rhyme with the second, but it could just as easily rhyme with the eighth, or not rhyme with any line at all. In free verse we might see a series of five or six unstressed syllables followed by two or three stressed syllables. The point is that there is no pattern.

Now the question is ... what's the point?

First, free verse is a distinctly American poetic form (or lack of form if you prefer). It began with Walt Whitman, and continues to this day to be popular amongst poets.

Second, free verse has the potential to add meaning to a poem simply by virtue of its lack of form.

Consider the following selection from Walt Whitman's, Song of Myself and then respond to the questions that follow. 

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

I loafe and invite my soul,

I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.

My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air,

Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their
parents the same,
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death.

Creeds and schools in abeyance,

Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,
I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,
Nature without check with original energy.

So here are the questions ... 

1. What is the theme of the selection? Be specific and refer to specific lines in the poem.

2. How does the lack of rhyme or any rhythmic pattern reinforce the message or theme of the selection? Be specific and refer to specific lines in the poem.

Consider your response in relation to the responses of your classmates and be sure to comment wherever and whenever appropriate.


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