Setting the mood in poetry by the use of appropriate imagery |
Mood in Poetry by Vivian Gilbert Zabel Goal: This exercise helps writers to understand how descriptive words effect and/or set the mood in poetry. (This can also help writers understand mood in any type of writing.) NOTES: A scene can be one actually seen or one created in the imagination. Enough detail, including sensory descriptions, should be given to create imagery. The reader should be able to “see” the scene described. For a solemn mood, the writer would not use cheerful words. For a cheerful poem, the writer would not use glum or dark words. Materials needed: sample list of sensory words poetry devices list example poems Directions: 1. Read both versions of poetry on example handout. 2. Consider similarities in the poems. 3. Consider differences in the poems. 4. Find devices used in the poems. 5. Write group scene poem on board. 6. Consider ways to make the poem show opposite mood. Assignment: Write scene poems with opposite moods. 1. Write a scene poem of six lines or more. Use at least four devices other than enjambement and caesura. 2. Revise the poem to be opposite in mood from the first poem. 3. Write a final copy of both poems. Examples of Opposite Mood Scene Poetry Example of gloomy mood: Winter Garden Stark naked flower stalks Stand shivering in the wind. The cheerless sun hides its black light Behind bleak, angry clouds, While trees vainly try To catch their escaping leaves. Carpets of grass turn brown, Blending morosely with the dreary day. Winter seems the death of life forever. (poetry devices used: alliteration, personification, enjambement, caesura, oxymoron, metaphor, hyperbole) Example of cheerful mood: Spring Garden Stunningly dressed flower stalks Stand shimmering in the breeze. The cheerful sun hides playfully Behind white, fluffy, cotton-ball clouds, While trees whisper secrets To their rustling leaves. Carpets of grass greenly glow Blending joyfully with the day. Spring brings life to death. (Poetry devices used: alliteration, personification, caesura, enjambement, metaphor, simile) |