Today, I’d like you to develop your understanding of the poet’s art. We’ll learn more about poetic metre, poetic forms, rhyme schemes and scansion. This will be useful knowledge for studying both Keats and Shakespeare.
There’s enough work here for two lessons. There will be a quiz and a choice of writing challenges at the end.
Here goes:
1) First, take a look at these poetic feet (rhythmic patterns that repeat):
2) And now have a look at these meters:
By combining these rhythmic patterns and line lengths, you get your metre. For instance:
Iambic pentameter: . / . / . / . / . /
Anapaestic hexameter: . . / . . / . . / . . / . . / . . /
The key feature is the number of stresses. Penta means five. All lines in iambic pentameter must have 5 stresses, but they don’t all have 10 syllables. 11 syllable lines are common. Consider the most famous line in iambic pentameter:
To be, or not to be, that is the question. (11 syllables!)
The resources below should explain this.
3) Watch this video about scansion.
4) And this video about ‘why Shakespeare loved iambic pentameter’.
5) This clip explains some variations within iambic pentameter.
6) Now, take a look at this powerpoint about iambic pentameter and how it works in a sonnet:
7) And take a look at this powerpoint about different types of rhyme and line endings:
Now, our poet, Keats, wrote a handful of truly great sonnets. Check out two of my favourites below. The first is a Shakespearean sonnet and the second is a Petrarchan sonnet:
I think Chapman’s Homer is my favourite sonnet, even though it has a historical inaccuracy in it.
8) Test your understanding with this quiz.
9) Finally, I’m going to challenge you to write some verse in the first of what I’m going to call METRICAL CHALLENGES.
This is something I tried with Y7 (!) last year during lockdown and they were amazing at it. Look! Surely, Y12 Lit students can do better?
Below, you’ll find a series of challenges which increase in difficulty. You need to choose one, complete it, and then send me your work in an email. Capisce?
Challenge Level 1 – Rhyming couplets:
Challenge Level 2 – Quatrains:
Challenge Level 3 - Ballad opening:
Read the first three stanzas of these ballads:
Miss Gee – W.H Auden
Death in Leamington – John Betjeman
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Challenge Level 4 – Shakespearean Sonnet:
Challenge Level 5 – Petrarchan Sonnet:
I look forward to seeing what you come up with!
That’s all for today. On Friday, we’ll resume our study of Othello, picking up at the start of Act 4.
Enjoy your week and stay safe,
Mr M
No comments:
Post a Comment