Poetry ~ Prose Semi-Synectics

Objective:

To gain greater understanding of the prose we are reading by comparing selected poems to the prose under consideration.

To reinforce the skill of reading poetry analytically.

To review the literary terms specific to poetry.

1. Read the poem assigned to you in the manner that an AP student ought to read.

Identify the speaker and point of view.

Recognize the setting.

Detemine the occasion.

Spot the imagery.

Discern the literary devices ~ simile, metaphor, personfication, synecdoche

metonymy, alliteration, assonance.

Understand the allusions and comparisons.

Analyze the manipulated meanings ~ pun, resonance, connotation, ambiguity paradox, irony.

Name the tone and see where it changes, shifts, or intensifies.

Determine the theme or message.

2. Decide what in the poem reminds you of something in the prose we are reading.

On a literal level ~ images, items, speaker characteristics, settings, occasion.

On a metaphysical level ~ themes, tones, meanings, the suggestion in allusion.

3. Read your poem to the class and demonstrate the connections between the literal and metaphysical aspects of the poem and the literal and metaphysical aspects of

the prose.

To be considered successful, you should find at least five literal connections ~ these are easy and should serve to stimulate the higher and more difficult connections. Then you should find at least three significant connections on the metaphysical level.