Giant list of terms

For definitions, please scroll through older posts and/or check your notes!

1. stanza
2. quatrain
3. couplet
4. end-rhyme
5. meter
6. iamb
7. iambic pentameter
8. rhyme scheme
9. imagery
10. symbolism
11. oxymoron
12. enjambment
13. end-stopped line
14. half rhymes: alliteration, consonance, assonance
15. simile
16. metaphor
17. personification
18. onomatopoeia
19. allusion
20. idiom

Epic Rap Battles of History and Literature: Requirements

Today we officially began writing our rap battles. 

MEANNESS/INAPPROPRIATENESS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!!  You can criticize your opponent’s character, but not the real person.  At all times, you must remain school-appropriate and not use vulgarity.

You will be working and writing with your partner, although you will make it look like you are pitted against each other in verbal battle.  Decide who goes first. 

Each partner has two “rounds.”

Round 1 (25-30 seconds for each character) is an opening gambit where the character boasts about their accomplishments (you may need to research) and their skills in both their “life” and in their rapping prowess.  This should show your knowledge of the character.  Also, you may feel free to begin to say why you are superior to your opponent, or why they are inferior and will lose the battle.  If you are the second partner to go, obviously, you have a chance to respond to anything that was said about you by your opponent.

Round 2 (15-20 seconds for each character) is a rebuttal against what the other partner has claimed and a chance to insult the other character’s accomplishments or skills for a second time.  It’s your final say.

Your Rap Battle Must Include:

• ·            The typed poem/rap must be in “poetry format,” or broken into lines and stanzas.
• ·            You must include at least one allusion to Greek Mythology, the Bible, or some well-known story (aside from what the character is in).
• ·            The lines must be numbered.
• ·            It must include and identify at least one idiom
• ·            You have obviously used 10 of the poetic devices that we have learned in class.
• ·            A separate page identifies all the terms you used and where.
• ·            Your poem/rap must be split into two parts: an opening gambit, and a rebuttal.
• ·            It must demonstrate a clear understanding of the character - their personality and their real life accomplishments.
• ·            It must demonstrate an understanding of the opponent’s character
• ·            It must be edited and free of grammatical or punctuation errors.

Epic Rap Battle Materials

https://drive.google.com/a/sau16.org/folderview?id=0B3PCuWOS-Ae7QS1rS0ZPaHg4U2M&usp=sharing

I Hear America Singing

I Hear America Singing

BY WALT WHITMAN

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,

Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,

The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,

The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,

The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,

The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,

The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,

The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,

Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,

The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,

Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

Caged Bird

Caged Bird

BY MAYA ANGELOU

A free bird leaps

on the back of the wind   

and floats downstream   

till the current ends

and dips his wing

in the orange sun rays

and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks

down his narrow cage

can seldom see through

his bars of rage

his wings are clipped and   

his feet are tied

so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings   

with a fearful trill   

of things unknown   

but longed for still   

and his tune is heard   

on the distant hill   

for the caged bird   

sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze

and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees

and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn

and he names the sky his own

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams   

his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream   

his wings are clipped and his feet are tied   

so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings   

with a fearful trill   

of things unknown   

but longed for still   

and his tune is heard   

on the distant hill   

for the caged bird   

sings of freedom.

O Captain! My Captain!

BY WALT WHITMAN

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,

The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;

                         But O heart! heart! heart!

                            O the bleeding drops of red,

                               Where on the deck my Captain lies,

                                  Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;

Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,

For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,

For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;

                         Here Captain! dear father!

                            The arm beneath your head!

                               It is some dream that on the deck,

                                 You’ve fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,

The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,

From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;

                         Exult O shores, and ring O bells!

                            But I with mournful tread,

                               Walk the deck my Captain lies,

                                  Fallen cold and dead.