Monday, Jan. 22 ~ "If" you can finish without losing your mind...

EQ: Can you confidently identify the poetic devices within a poem?

• Discuss J4 ~ Could you identify all the devices? 

Carousel Walk: Your goal is to make sure that you can identify the device within each example. You are welcome to take notes, but it is not required.

Today's Featured Device- Enjambment- from a French word enjambment, means to step over or put legs across. In poetry it can be defined as a thought or sentence that does not come to an end at the line break but continues on to the next line. Why do poets use this feature? Where do you see it in the first stanza of "If"?

MEMORIZATION: "If" by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you

 Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

 But make allowance for their doubting too.

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

 Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

 And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

 If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster,

 And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

 Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

 And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make a heap of all your winnings

 And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

 And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

 To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

 Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

 Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

 If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

 With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

 And—which is more—you'll be a Man, my son!

[or a Woman my daughter!]

HW: Journal 6: "Honest"

• Identify all the numbered devices in the poem.

"Honest" by Rudy Francisco

Dear hands, I get it.
You like writing poems,

But you can't bring a metaphor to a gun fight.*

Dear eyes,

There are things that I would tell you  (1)

But we both know how terrible you are at keeping secrets. (2)

Dear heart

I trust you

Don’t **** this up

Dear hands, I said I know

That you like writing poetry,

But you can't bring a metaphor to a gun fight.*

Dear legs

Walking is the easy part

Now find a reason.

Dear Brain

You’re a good listener

But you give terrible relationship advice.

Dear hands, I know    (all the bold 3)

That you like writing poetry,

But you can't bring a metaphor to a gun fight.

I was born on July 27th, I hear that makes me a Leo
I don't really know what that means

I'm 5 foot 6... and a half. I weigh a hundred and forty-five pounds.

I don't know how to swim, and I'm a sucker for a girl with a nice smile

And clean sneakers. (4)

I'm still learning how to whisper

I'm often loud in places where I should be quiet

I'm often quiet in places where I should be loud (5)

I was born feet first and I've been backwards ever since (6)

I like ginger ale...

a lot.

I've been told that I give really bad hugs

People say that it feels like I'm trying to escape
Sometimes it's because I am, and secretly I get really nervous (7)
Every time someone gets close enough to hear me breathe.

I have this odd fascination with things like sand castles and ice sculptures
I assume it's because I usually find myself dedicating time to things
That will only last a few moments

That's also why I tend to fall in love with women

Who would never love me back

I know it sounds crazy, but it's actually much easier than it seems

And to be honest, I think it's safer that way

See relationships, they often remind me that I'm not afraid of heights or falling

But I'm scared of what's gonna happen

The moment that my body hits the ground

I'm clumsy. Yesterday, I tripped over my self-esteem (8)

I landed on my pride and it shattered like an iPhone with a broken face (9)

Now I can't even tell who's trying to give me a compliment

I've never been in the military, but I have this Purple Heart (10)

I got it from beating myself up over things I can't fix

I know it sounds weird but sometimes,

I wonder what my bed sheets say about me when I'm not around (11)

I wonder what the curtains would do if they found out

About all the things that I've done behind their backs

I've got a hamper that's overflowing with really, really loud mistakes

And a graveyard in my closet, I'm afraid that if I let you see my skeletons

You'll grind my bones into powder (12) and get high on my fault lines (13)

Hi, my name is Rudy

I enjoy frozen yogurt, people watching

And laughing for absolutely no reason at all

But I don't allow myself to cry as often as I need to

I have solar-powered confidence, I have a battery-operated smile (14)

My hobbies include editing my life story, hiding behind metaphors

And trying to convince my shadow that I'm someone worth following (15)

I don't know much, but I do know this

I know that heaven is full of music

I know God listens to my heart beat on his iPod

It reminds him that we still got work to do.