Chapter Notes: Poems to See and Hear

Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Poetic image
3. Appreciate poetic technique
4. Prepare and perform a poem
5. Moon poem
6. Appreciate the poem
7. Write a sun poem
8. Important Terms
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Introduction

This chapter helps you enjoy and understand poems. You will learn how poets use special language to create pictures in the mind. You will read poems about mist, chickens and the moon, and then use these ideas to write your own sun poem. You will also practise reading poems aloud, listening for rhythm and sound, and noticing poetic techniques like similes, alliteration and rhyme.

Poetic image

What is a poetic image?

• A poetic image is a picture created in your mind by words.
• Poets often use figurative language to make these images stronger.
• One common device is the simile. A simile compares one thing to another using like or as.
• Example: The rain is like a warm shower.

Poem: The Mist

Slowly it comes creeping over the mountains and tree tops,
like a small boy to a sleeping grasshopper.
Not a leaf shakes nor twig cracks,
as it weaves its way through the surrounding forests.
Like a lazy cat on a sleeping lap,
it settles on the sleeping hill,
to leave in the later hours, quietly as it came
unveiling the new day.
-- Mpho Mamashela

Things to notice in "The Mist"

• The mist is compared to a small boy and a lazy cat. (similes)
• The mist is shown as gentle and quiet.
• The poem makes you imagine a calm, early-morning scene.

Appreciate poetic technique

What are poetic techniques?

Poetic techniques are tools poets use to make their poems more interesting. They help shape sounds, images and meanings.

Important poetic techniques

1. Sound effects
   • Repetition: using some words or sounds again and again.
   • Rhythm: the beat or pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.
   • Rhyme: words that end with the same sound.
2. Word arrangement
   • Lines: one row of words in a poem.
   • Stanzas: groups of lines (like paragraphs in poetry).
   • Shapes: the way lines look on the page.
3. Word images
   • Figurative language: words used in a non-literal way.
   • Similes: compare using like or as.
   • Metaphors: compare directly, without like or as.
   • Personification: giving human qualities to non-human things.

Reading the poem aloud

When you read a poem aloud, focus on:

• How often the rhymes appear.
• How the rhythm feels: fast, slow, bouncy, calm.
• Where alliteration is used.
• How the words are arranged in lines and stanzas.
• How figurative language creates images.

Prepare and perform a poem

Why perform a poem?

• Performing a poem helps you hear its mood and musical quality.
• Mood means the feeling in the poem, such as cheerful, anxious, calm or excited.
• Mood is created by words, sounds, rhythm and images.

Poem: Rooster and Hens

The hens all rush around the yard,
They hurry hurry hurry.
They peck peck peck and cluck cluck cluck,
They scurry scurry scurry.
They fuss and fret and fret and fuss
With feathers in a flurry,
Until they rest upon their nest
And cease their senseless worry.
The hens each lay a single egg,
Then sit on it, contented.
The rooster treats this news as though
It were unprecedented.
With puffed up chest, he crows and crows
Till he appears demented.
He seems to think a chicken egg
Was something he invented.
-- Jack Prelutsky

What to notice in "Rooster and Hens"

• Repetition of words: hurry hurry hurry, peck peck peck.
• Strong rhythm that feels lively and funny.
• The mood is playful and humorous.
• The rooster is shown as proud and a bit silly.

Moon poem

Why listen closely to a poem?

• Listening carefully helps you notice mood, rhythm and imagery.
• Before reading, think about how night falls and how moonlight feels different from sunlight.
• Adjectives for light can show degree of intensity, such as pitch-black, dark, dusky, shadowy, dim, clear, bright.

Poem: Silver

Slowly, silently, now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon;
This way, and that, she peers, and sees
Silver fruit upon silver trees;
One by one the casements catch
Her beams beneath the silvery thatch;
Couched in his kennel, like a log,
With paws of silver sleeps the dog;
From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep
Of doves in silver feathered sleep;
A harvest mouse goes scampering by,
With silver claws, and silver eye;
And moveless fish in the water gleam,
By silver reeds in a silver stream.
-- Walter de la Mare

How to listen to "Silver"

• Close your eyes as the poem is read aloud.
• Picture the moonlight shining on trees, houses, animals and water.
• Notice old-fashioned or interesting words and write them in your word book.

Discussing mood and sound

• The rhythm is regular and calm, like slow walking.
• The word silver is repeated many times to give a magical, shining mood.
• Soft s sounds in words like silently, silver and stream create a gentle, gliding feeling.
• You can try replacing silver with other adjectives to see how the mood changes.

Appreciate the poem

Understanding and appreciating "Silver"

Main idea

• Write three or four sentences explaining what happens in the poem.
• The moon walks through the night and shines on trees, houses, animals and a stream.
• Use a few lines from the poem as support.

Personification of the moon

• Find examples where the moon is shown like a person, for example: walks, peers, sees.
• Notice that the moon is called her, which shows it is described as female.

Similes and new similes

• Find the simile used for the sleeping dog: like a log.
• Make your own simile for the dog, such as sleeps like a fluffy pillow.
• Create similes for the harvest mouse and the fish, such as quick as a tiny arrow or still as a glass stone.

Exploring the suffix -less

• The suffix -less means without.
• Add -less to nouns, for example: motionless (without motion), hope­less (without hope).
• Find the word in the poem that uses -less: moveless.

Poem and song

• Notice how the poem is like a song: it has rhythm, repetition and strong images.
• The poem uses seven rhyme pairs (couplets).
• You can find the rhyme scheme and see how the rhymes make the poem sound musical.

Note about the poem's form

• The poem Silver has 14 lines.
• A 14-line poem can be a sonnet, but a sonnet usually has a special rhyme scheme and metre.
• Silver shares the 14-line length and steady rhythm but is not a strict sonnet.

Write a sun poem

Using "Silver" as a model

• Write a poem about the sun that is similar in style to Silver.
• Use rhyming couplets (pairs of lines that rhyme).
• Create vivid images, similes and sound effects.
• Keep a steady rhythm to make the poem feel smooth.

Planning and writing

• Include at least one simile.
• Use sound effects: repetition, alliteration and rhythm.
• Choose your words carefully and use your word lists from this unit.
• Plan a stanza or short poem:
  • Think of one clear image for each couplet.
  • Pick your rhyming words.
  • Make a small mind map of words and ideas.

Drafting and improving

• Write a first draft of your poem.
• Exchange poems with a partner and read them aloud.
• Give at least two suggestions for improvement (for example, stronger adjectives or clearer rhythm).
• Proofread for spelling and punctuation.
• Present your final poem neatly, by hand or using a digital tool.

Important Terms

• Poetic image: A picture created in the reader's mind by words.
• Figurative language: Language that is not literal but used to create special effects or images.
• Simile: A comparison using like or as.
• Metaphor: A direct comparison between two things without using like or as.
• Personification: Giving human qualities to animals or objects.
• Poetic techniques: Tools poets use to shape sound, images and meaning.
• Sound effects: Features like repetition, rhythm and rhyme that affect how a poem sounds.
• Rhythm: The pattern of beats in a line of poetry.
• Rhyme: Words with the same ending sound.
• Line: One row of words in a poem.
• Stanza: A group of lines in a poem, like a paragraph.
• Alliteration: Repeating the same starting sound in nearby words.
• Weaves: Moves in and out or this way and that.
• Unveiling: Revealing; taking away the covering.
• Rooster: A male chicken.
• Crows (verb): Makes a loud, high sound (often early in the morning).
• Shoon: An old-fashioned word for shoes.
• Casements: Windows that open on hinges.
• Thatch: Straw or reeds used for roofing.
• Couched: Lying down; curled up.
• Cote: A small shelter for doves or birds.
• Moveless: Without movement; not moving.
• Degree of intensity (of light): How strong or weak the light is, for example dark, dim, bright.