Rhymes

The human brain is a pattern finding machine...it even tries to create patterns when there aren't any.  Rhyming are repeating sounds...and poets use these repeating sounds to form a pattern...which are therefor pleasing to the ear.

Have lyrics from a song ever gotten stuck in your head?  There's a reason for that, it has either a half-rhyme or a full rhyme or both in it!

Full Rhyme:  when the endings of two or more words sound the same.

                    rhyme, time, crime, dime, slime....all end with an "ai" sound and and "em" sound.

Half-Rhymes: when one part of two or more words sound the same.  There are three kinds of half-rhymes:

• Alliteration: When two or more words begin with the same sound.

                    Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Pepper

• Consonance: When two or more words share a consonant sound in the middle or ends of the words.

                    In basketball, I gave Mike the smackdown!

• Assonance: When two or more words share a vowel sound in the middle or ends of the words.

                    We have a meeting every spring season.

Now, in poetry, full-rhymes and half-rhymes show up in two paces:  at the ends of lines or within a line.

End-Rhyme:  When a rhyme happens at the ends of two or more lines of poetry.

Internal Rhyme:  When a rhyme happens within a line of poetry.

What's a Sonnet?

Today we learned what a sonnet was, essentially, and learned some new terms that you'll be responsible for: 

• Sonnet
• quatrain
• couplet
• iambic pentameter

You should also know the following terms already:

• line
• stanza
• end-rhyme

Homework:  You need to write your own sonnet (using the handout) due Thursday!  It can be loving, appreciating, or admiring anyone or anything!  I'm writing one about pizza!

Epic Rap Battles of English

Today we worked on our rap battles.  See the requirements below:

Epic Rap Battles

of English!!

Boast, Roast, and/or Toast

You must assume the personality of any fictional, historical, or political character.  You will be “rapping” or performing your poem as this character.

MEANNESS/INAPPROPRIATENESS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!!  You can criticize your opponent’s character, but not the real person.

Everyone must participate in at least one battle.

You will be working with/against your partner.  Decide who goes first.  Each partner has two “rounds.”  Round 1 is an opening gambit.  Round two is a rebuttal against what the other partner has stated.  It’s like a debate.

YOUR BATTLE, Round #1 is on Friday, June 1^st!

Requirements (yes, it is graded):

·      You must bring a typed copy of your poem/rap to class, MLA-formatted the day of your battle.

·      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.

·      It must include some verbal irony

·      It must include a pun

·      You have obviously used 5 of the poetic devices that we have learned in class.

·      Your poem/rap must be split into two parts: an opening gambit, and a rebuttal.

Puns and Verbal Irony

Puns are a play on words (or phrases) that have more than one meanings, one of which is humorous.

• Camping is too intense (in tents) for me!
• I really wanted to be a doctor, until I realized I didn't have the patience for it!
• A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat.

Verbal Irony is a contradiction between what is said and what is meant (usually opposite).

• Saying "Oh, great!" when something really bad happens.
• When a mother walks into a room and sees that her children, instead of doing their homework, are playing video games, she gives them a stern look and says "Once you're done with your very important work there, let's take some time out for recreation in the form of some chemistry problems."