Senior School English Mr Bakes 

Jealously by Carissa Marley

Jealousy is a monster
Creeping up from behind.
It slides its way into us
And tries to make us blind.

A writhing, wriggling snake,
It wraps around our heart.
We want to try and stop it,
But don’t know where to start.

Jealousy is a feeling
We all get deep inside
When someone else achieves that dream
We wanted all the time.

It drowns out all the good things –
Our life crashes to the floor.
We start to do and say things
We never would before.

But slowly we defeat it,
Despite the lengthy haul.
Although it’s slow and painful,
We finally let it fall.

Jealousy is a monster,
But when finally put to rest
It teaches us the truth that
We won’t always be the best.

1. In this poem the poet has used the concept of jealousy as the ‘green eyed monster’ and extends it in a series of metaphors. Identify the metaphor in stanza one of the poem.
Show how the poet develops the metaphor in the stanza. Does the word “blind” indicate (a) a physical state (b) a mental state?

2. What is the metaphor in stanza two of the poem? What does jealousy do to the human heart?

3. Why do we envy other people?

4. What effect does jealousy have on our thoughts and actions?

5. Identify the lines which reveal that man can overcome jealousy.

6. Why, do you think, the poet uses the pronouns ‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘our’ instead of ‘he’ or ‘she’?

7. What is the mood of the poem? How does the rhythm of the poem help to lift the mood?

8. What is the message the poet wishes to convey?

9. Identify all the examples of alliteration in the poem.

10. Underline every line that expresses something that couldn’t literally be true.

http://www.royards.com/Uploads/UnderstandingPoetry.pdf

When a poet writes a structured piece of poetry – sonnet, ballad, quatrain etc – they are seeking to achieve a specific rhyme and/or rhythm pattern. This is done by paying special attention to the metre which is the basic rhythmic (beat) structure of a line or lines of verse. The regularity is achieved by combining weak (unstressed) and strong (stressed) syllables into a repetitive pattern.

Rhythm comes from the Greek (rheo) meaning to flow
Metre comes from the Greek (metron) meaning to measure

Each line of poetry consists of a series of words which can be broken into syllables. A syllable can have a stressed or an unstressed emphasis. A syllable is each part of a word that has one single vowel sound

Try this source: how to scan poetry

When poetry is scanned each stressed syllable is shown with a ‘/’ while an unstressed syllable is shown with an ‘x’. In the examples below stressed syllables are shown in bold

recognized metres are

iamb (weak/strong) – a double rising rhythm

So long / as men / can breathe, / or eyes / can see,
So long / lives this, / and this / gives life / to thee.

Shakespeare – Sonnet 18

trochee (strong/weak) a double falling rhythm

Double, / double, / toil and / trouble;
Fire / burn and / cauldron / bubble.

Witches in Macbeth by Shakespeare

anapest (weak/weak/strong) a triple rising rhythm

The Assyr / ian came down / like a wolf / on the fold
And his co / horts were gleam/ ing in pur / ple and gold
And the sheen / of their spears / was like stars / on the sea
When the blue/ wave rolls night / ly on deep/ Galilee.

Byron’s The Destruction of Sennacherib:

dactyl (strong/weak/weak) a triple falling rhythm

Just for a / handful of / silver he / left us
Just for a/ riband to / stick in his / coat

Robert Browning The Lost Leader

amphibrach (weak strong weak) a rocking rhythm

All ready / to put up / the tents for / my circus.
I think I / will call it / the Circus / McGurkus.
And NOW comes / an act of / Enormous / Enormance!
No former / performer’s / performed this / performance!

Dr Seuss: If I ran the circus

spondee (strong/strong) – often only seen as part of a line

Be near / me when/ my light / is low,
When the blood creeps / and the nerves prick (note the two spondees in this line)
And tingle; / and the heart / is sick,

In Memorium by Alfred Tennyson

When you repeat these patterns in a line you set up a particular rhythm.

Lines of poetry are named according to how many of these patterns (called feet) are in a line

Iambic pentameter, for example, has 5 iambs in the one line making a total of 10 syllables.

monometer is 1 foot
dimeter is 2 feet
trimeter is 3 feet
tetrameter is 4 feet
pentameter is 5 feet
hexameter is 6 feet
heptameter is 7 feet
octameter is 8 feet

Now complete the poetry worksheet handed out in class.