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Poetry: Exaggeration and Meter [7/14-7/17] July 15, 2008

Posted by eng161 in Uncategorized.
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Our poetry for this week often demonstrates a combination of regular meters and exaggerated language/imagery.  Pick one of our poems and help me understand how the two work together within the poem’s structure to help illuminate the poem’s theme. 

  1. Establish how the meter is working: iambic pentameter or otherwise.
  2. Establish the rhyme scheme (if there is one).
  3. What words and/or images are exaggerated, whether overstated or understated? 
  4. Does the poem’s rhythm do anything to highlight the exaggerated parts of the poem?
  5. Look for ways in which the regularity of the meter/rhythm are disrupted.  Why would the poem change at this point?

Use these questions as a starting point to gather ideas about what is happening within the poem.  Then, provide a brief analysis of its theme.