Metre, tone, sounds

Virtual Class

Sounds

Types of
Rhymes

Free Verse

The Soul Selects her own Society

by Emily Dickinson

The Soul selects her own Society

Then shuts the Door
To her divine Majority
Present no more
Unmoved she notes the Chariots pausing
At her low Gate
Unmoved an Emperor be kneeling
Upon her Mat
Ive known her from an ample nation
Choose one
Then close the valves of her attention
Like Stone -

Activity

1) Identify the types of rhymes present in

the poem.

Metre

There are five main types of beats, or meter:

Stressed syllables are labeled with an accent mark: /

Unstressed syllables are labeled with a dash: Metrical feet
may be two or three syllables in length, and are divided by
slashes: |
There are five basic rhythms:

Pattern Name
/ Iamb/Iambic

/ Trochee/Trochaic / Anapest/Anapestic / Dactyl/Dactylic

// Spondee/Spondaic

My Papa's Waltz by Theodore Roethke

The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.
We romped until the pansSlid from the kitchen shelf;My mother's
countenanceCould not unfrown itself.
The hand that held my wristWas battered on one knuckle;At every
step you missedMy right ear scraped a buckle.
You beat time on my headWith a palm caked hard by dirt,Then
waltzed me off to bedStill clinging to your shirt.

Discussion

1) What kind of Metre and Rhyme are used in the

poem? Give concrete examples to support your
answer.

Tone

May
By Bruce Weigl
I wanted to stay with my dog
when they did her in
I told the young veterinarian
who wasnt surprised.
Shivering on the chrome table,
she did not raise her eyes to me when I came in.
Something was resolved in her.
Some darkness exchanged for the pain.
There were a few more words
about the size of her tumor and her age,
and how we wanted to stop her suffering,
or our own, or stop all suffering
from happening before us
and then the nurse shaved Mays skinny leg
with those black clipper;
she passed the needle to the doctor
and for once I knew what to do
and held her head against mine.
I cleaved to that smell
and lied into her ear
that it would be all right.
The veterinarian, whom Id fought
about when to do this thing
said through tears
that it would only take a few minutes
as if that were not a long time
but there was no cry or growl,
only the weight of her in my arms,
and then on the world.

Discussion

1) What is the tone of the poem?

2) What elements reflect the tone?

3) Select specific lines to support

your answer.