UNIT IV. POETRY

To what extent can words impact people?

Theme: Art & Power

FINAL TASK IV

The United Kingdom organises a special event to celebrate the power of words.

To make this event even more interesting, they decide to host a contest and ask young writers to delve into the mists of Didactic Poetry

You decide to participate in that event and submit your poem.

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This exercise will be done alone and must be about 300 words.

It will be done in class over several hours.

Linking words, figures of speech, organisation and great ideas will be necessary to succeed

Good luck!

LESSON 1 - BEOWULF, THE START OF ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE

Beowulf is an epic poem of more than 3,100 lines originally written in Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) about a Scandinavian prince of the same name. It was composed and recorded in Britain between the 7th and 10th centuries by an unknown author. Though the specific characters and plot are mostly fictional, the poem paints a historical picture of 6th-century Danish, Swedish, and Germanic peoples.

Like most epics, Beowulf focuses on the titular hero’s victories and adventures, particularly three character-building battles: first against a humanoid demon named Grendel, then against Grendel’s vengeful mother, and lastly against a fearsome dragon. Respected and relied on by fellow warriors, royalty, and his own people after he becomes king, Beowulf ultimately perishes from the dragon’s venomous bite. His death is met with sorrow and foreboding by the loyal subjects he leaves behind.

The poem explores many themes and historical topics. One of the poem’s main themes is the acceptance of one’s fate, which Beowulf does at the end of the story when he fights the dragon despite knowing it will kill him. Religion has a role in the story as well as Beowulf credits God and the gods for his victories in battle. Throughout the poem, the characters express regard for the code of honor by which warriors such as Beowulf live, contrasting his composure and desire to protect and serve with the destructive behavior exhibited by the story’s three main antagonists.

Taken from : https://www.enotes.com/

THE GENITIVE CASE

The Genitive Case ('s) is mostly use to express possession or relationships in English.

Here are some rules you need to follow when you express it.

Use 's when your word ends in a letter different from s.

Grendel's mother/dragon's venomous bite...

If your word ends with an s. You must use the apostrophe only.

My parents' house/My friends' phone.

If you use a singular noun or a proper noun ending with the letter S, you may use both options.

Charles Dickens's Great Expectations

Also, if the end of your phrase is obvious, you may remove the noun after the genitive case. This is called the omission

Did she go out with John's friends? No, she went out with Jim's. / Let's go to Sarah's later!

LESSON 2. Why do we need poetry?

Reading Poetry

Poetry is one of the most powerful forms of writing because it takes the English language, a language we believe we know, and transforms it. Suddenly the words do not sound the same or mean the same. The pattern of the sentences sound new and melodious. It is truly another language exclusively for the writer and the reader. No poem can be read in the same way, because the words mean something different to each of us. For this reason, many find poetry an elusive art form. However, the issue in understanding poetry lies in how you read poetry. Reading it logically results in an overall comprehension, rigid and unchanging. However, reading it emotionally allows the nuances and paradoxes to enter our understanding. Anyone who writes poetry can attest, you have to write it with an open heart. So as a reader, we must do the same. All poems are insights into the most intimate inner workings of the writer's mind and soul. To read it coldly and rationally would be shutting the door on the relationship that the writer is attempting to forge with you. Opening your heart to poetry is the only way to get fulfillment from it.

If you imagine poetry as a journey, you must be willing to trust the writer to guide you. Unwilling readers will never experience every part of the adventure in the same way open minded readers do. The journey may be filled with dead ends and suffering or endless joy and happiness. And still, you go. You pick up the poem, you read, you listen, and you feel.

The Importance of Poetry (theodysseyonline.com)

LESSON 3. TYPES OF POETRY

An introduction on Didactic Poetry

'O Captain! My Captain!' by Walt Whitman

'If' by Rudyard Kipling

'State of Mind' by Walter D. Wintle

'The Seven Ages of Man' by Shakespeare

'How did you die?' by Edmund Vance Cooke

'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' by Robert Frost

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