Приложение 1.

Тестовые задания

(См. брошюру «Independent Stylistic Analysis»)

Приложение 2.

Дополнительные учебно-методические материалы

Семинар 2

POETRY: READING FOR APPRECIATION.

Hearing a Poem

A poem's real life begins when we give it a voice. Of course, we need tо understand what the words, phrases, and sentences of the poem mean. But the poem becomes much more enjoyable when we can hear it as well - when we can imagine that its words, phrases, and sentences are being spoken by a living voice that pauses at certain points, speeds up at others, grows loud, grows soft, rises, falls.

Of course, two different people reading the same poem may hear two different voices. For example, how would you read the following lines from Dickinson's "I Like to See It Lap the Miles"? Complaining all the while/In horrid - hooting stanza - /Then chase itself down Hill -" Do the dashes make you imagine a breathless, halting speaker? Does the regular meter make you hear the onrushing movement of the thing the speaker is describing? Do you hear a hoot on "hooting"? And what sort of person do you hear speaking to you? One who describes her subject with a dry, quiet wit? Or one who enjoys pulling out the stops and imitating her subject? Whomever we hear, listening closely to the voice of a poem helps us to enjoy the whole work more.

Rhythm and rhyme give poetry an exciting pulsing voice that distinguishes it from everyday speech. However, a poem's rhythm and rhyme should enhance and not drown out its meaning. Wordsworth’s lovely "My Heart Leaps Up," for example, is written in fairly strict iambic rhythm with definite end rhymes. Emphasizing the poem's rhythm and rhyme overpowers the delicacy and wonder that the speaker feels; ignoring the rhythm and rhyme turns the poem into prose. Instead, we should imagine that the speaker speaks quietly but with an underlying excitement that makes him unconsciously echo the rhythm of his own heartbeat.

The Total Effect

When you first look at a painting, your eyes sweep the entire work. Then as you look more closely, you begin to notice the fine detail - specific colors, lines, and shapes. Finally you can step back once again and take in the work as a whole, but this time with a fuller appreciation for it as an integrated work of art.

Similarly, when you read a poem, you should first experience the poem as a whole. You should read it twice: first out loud and then silently, letting its sounds and images sweep over you. Then you can focus on the details, study the techniques, and grasp the poet’s ideas. Finally, after you understand the poem's individual parts, you can read it once again as a whole and appreciate its total effect.

In analyzing a poem, it helps to take into account its individual features: its speaker, sounds, images, figures of speech, type, and use of pattern. The same poem may produce different responses in different readers. However, an active reader will always consider the following points in the process of understanding a poem.

Reminders for Active Reading of Poetry

1. The title will point out the poet's main idea or concern.

2. Every poem is presented through a speaker of some kind. The speaker may or may not be a human being and may or may not be the poet. The poem's choice of words should be appropriate to the speaker.

3. The sound of a poem - its use of rhythm, rhyme, assonance, consonance, repetition, parallelism, and onomatopoeia -should suit the poem's subject and contribute to its effect.

4. Imagery should make the poem appeal to the senses of the reader. Figures of speech - such as personification, simile, metaphor, and symbol - should add new levels of meaning to the poem.

5. A narrative poem tells a story. A lyric poem expresses an emo­tion. A dramatic poem presents a character in a specific situation.

6. Poems can follow traditional patterns or can be experimental in format.

Guide for Studying Poetry

The following guide will help you to recognize the types of poetry and the techniques a poet uses to join form and meaning.

Speaker and Tone

1. Who or what is the poem's speaker? In what ways are the poet's word choices appropriate to that speaker?

2. What tone does the speaker use throughout the poem?

Sound of Poetry

1. What pattern can you find in the poem's rhythm? Does it have a regular meter?

2. What rhymes can you find in the poem? If the poem contains end rhymes, what is its rhyme scheme? If the poem does not rhyme, is it written in blank verse or free verse?

3. Does the poem contain repetition or parallelism?

4. What examples can you find of alliteration and onomatopoeia?