How can the sound of a poem bring out emotion?

1. How can the sound of a poem bring out emotion?

2. In this lesson you will analyze how a poem’s sound creates feelingby listening for harsh and soft sounds.

3. WORD CHOICE Cacophonous sounds Euphonic sounds • Breaking the board • Seeing moonshine

4. Reading too quickly Not reading aloud

5. Daffodils I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine- And twinkle on the Milky Way, They stretch'd in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed—and gazed—but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye idiom for soul Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils. William Wordsworth

6. STANZA TWO: Continuous as the stars that shine- And twinkle on the Milky Way, They stretch'd in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. “Continuous as the stars that shine-” Euphonic sounds

7. STANZA THREE: The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed—and gazed—but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: “I gazed- and gazed- but little thought” Cacophonous sounds

8. The poem has many soft sounds when the speaker is talking about the daffodils, and harsh sounds when talking about the speaker’s actions. This makes the poem overall feel confident/strong but also nostalgic about the memory of the flowers. The poem has many sounds, which make it overall feel .

9. 1 • Re-read and listen for the sounds you hear. 2 • Find harsh and soft sounds. 3 Explain how the sounds create feeling.

10. In this lesson you have learned how a poem’s sound creates feelingby listening for harsh and soft sounds.

11. Find 2 more examples of harsh sounds and 2 examples of soft sounds in stanza four. For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils. How do these examples add to the feeling of the poem?

12. In the stanzas below from different poems, identify which one uses primarily soft sounds and which one uses harsh sounds. Then, compare and contrast the feelings created in each. “The Road Not Taken” (stanza four) I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–– I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. “D.C.” (stanza four) I’m from a city where the people hold the power white house to pentagon to president

13. Write your own poem which uses either harsh or soft sounds to create feeling. • Analyze your poem by filling in the blanks: “This poem has many sounds, which make it overall feel .”

14. Read the two stanzas from “The Snowstorm” by Ralph Waldo Emerson and look for examples of harsh and soft sounds. Then, determine how the sound of the poem creates feeling.