Essential question: How much truth does a grave stone tell?
Coming up: vocabulary quiz on figurative language terms Wednesday, February 14. class handout / copy below
In class: vocabulary quiz: "The Outcasts 2; new vocabulary on literary terms (class handout / copy below)
Introducing: Spoon River Anthology. class handout; this is a substantial collection of poems. You may access the work on line at : Spoon River Anthology
Spoon River Anthology is a series of poems in free verse (poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular meter). In most of the poems, a deceased native of the fictional town of Spoon River delivers a monologue about his or her life or a specific incident in his or her life. These monologues are, in effect, epitaphs.
Background
.......Dead men tell no tales. So says an ancient proverb. But
in Spoon River Anthology dead men—and women—do tell
tales. Speaking from the grave, more than two hundred forty
deceased residents of a fictional Midwestern town, Spoon
River, each present short monologues about their lives. They
reveal their heartaches, disappointments, failures, and
unfulfilled dreams. Sometimes they tell of the moral
trespasses of themselves or of others. Occasionally, they tell
of an incident that reveals the good or bad qualities of
another person.
The Introductory Poem
The Hill
Where are Elmer, Herman, Bert, Tom and Charley,
The weak of will, the strong of arm, the clown, the boozer, the fighter?
All, all are sleeping on the hill.
One passed in a fever,
One was burned in a mine,
One was killed in a brawl,
One died in a jail,
One fell from a bridge toiling for children and wife-
All, all are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping on the hill.
Where are Ella, Kate, Mag, Lizzie and Edith,
The tender heart, the simple soul, the loud, the proud, the happy one?--
All, all are sleeping on the hill.
One died in shameful child-birth,
One of a thwarted love,
One at the hands of a brute in a brothel,
One of a broken pride, in the search for heart's desire;
One after life in far-away London and Paris
Was brought to her little space by Ella and Kate and Mag--
All, all are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping on the hill.
Where are Uncle Isaac and Aunt Emily,
And old Towny Kincaid and Sevigne Houghton,
And Major Walker who had talked With venerable men of the revolution?--
All, all are sleeping on the hill.
They brought them dead sons from the war,
And daughters whom life had crushed,
And their children fatherless, crying--
All, all are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping on the hill.
Where is Old Fiddler Jones
Who played with life all his ninety years,
Braving the sleet with bared breast,
Drinking, rioting, thinking neither of wife nor kin,
Nor gold, nor love, nor heaven?
Lo! he babbles of the fish-frys of long ago,
Of the horse-races of long ago at Clary's Grove,
Of what Abe Lincoln said
One time at Springfield.
Format: Free Verse.......Besides introducing characters in Spoon River Anthology, "The Hill" introduces the format, free verse. Free verse is poetry that ignores standard rules of meter in favor of the rhythms of ordinary conversation. In effect, free verse liberates poetry from conformity to rigid metrical rules that dictate stress patterns and the number of syllables per line.
Conversational Language
.......Except for a poem entitled "The Spooniad," the language in Spoon River Anthology is simple, conversational, and realistic, with plenty of local color and regional references—like the reference in "The Hill" to "the horse races long ago at Clary's Hill" (line 32). Many of the poems contain a figure of speech called anaphora. Anaphora is the repetition of a word or group of words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses or sentences.
Vocabulary Figurative Language Terms.Quiz on Wednesday, February 14 Class handout / copy below
.Note: the first part of the quiz will be matching, as usual, whilst the the second part will require that you identify the type of figurative language device being used.
1 1. A simile is a figure of speech where two inherently different things are compared to one another using expressions like 'like' or 'as'
2. A palindrome can be defined as a word or a phrase, which begins and finishes with the same letter.
3. 3. metaphors are linguistic symbols that convey a particular image. It is a figure of speech wherein an idea is given to provide clarity by comparing or associating it to another totally different idea.
4. 4. oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two contradictory or inappropriate terms are either put together or appear side by side.
5. 5. litotes is defined as 'an ironical understatement in which affirmative is expressed by the negation of the opposite'. In this figure of speech, the usages are intentional, ironical and provide emphasis to the words. This is mainly done through double negatives. To put it in simple terms, in litotes, instead of saying that something is attractive, you say that it is not unattractive.
6. 6. A synecdoche is a figure of speech where part of a sentence describes the entirety.
7. 7. imagery is vivid descriptions and comparisons with the help of sound words, helps recreate images and emotions. This device which needs to be aided with other figures of speech like similes, metaphors and personification etc. to effectively crop a picture within the minds eyes. Always remember, the key to good imagery is evoking all the senses. There are seven different kinds of imagery; visual (seeing), auditory (hearing) kinesthetic (muscle movement / body position), tactile (touching), organic (personal experiences of a character's body, including emotion and the senses of hunger, thirst, fatigue, and pain), olfactory (smelling) and gustatory (tasting).
8. 8. An allusion is a brief reference, explicit or indirect to a person, place or event or to another literary work or passage.
9. 9. apostrophes are words spoken to a person or object which is inherently imaginary object or is an abstract idea.
1 10. personification is when we associate a human quality or trait with a non-living object.
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