DESIDERATA

M A X E H R M A N N WA S A N AT T O R N E Y T U R N E D
PHILOSOPHER-POET WHO LIVE IN TERRE HAUTE,
IND. HE SPENT HIS LIFE WRESTLING WITH THE
REALITIES OF MAKING A LIVING AND FOLLOWING
H I S P E R S O N A L C A L L I N G T O A L I F E O F P O E T R Y,
L I T E R A T U R E , A N D T H O U G H T. H E W R O T E A P R A Y E R ,
WHICH BECAME A MESSAGE OF HOPE FOR
T HOUS AND S, B UT HE I S BE ST KNOW N FOR
D E S I D E R A T A , W H I C H H E W R O T E F O R H I M S E L F,
" B E C A U S E I T C O U N S E L S T H O S E V I R T U E S I F E LT
M Y S E L F M O S T I N N E E D O F. " M A X I N C L U D E D T H I S
W O R K A S PA R T O F A P E R S O N A L C H R I S T M A S
G R E E T I N G I N 1 9 3 3 , A N D D E S I D E R ATA ' S P O W E R A N D
A P P E A L H AV E C O N T I N U E D T O R E A C H O U T T O A N D
S I G N I F I C A N T LY A F F E C T R E A D E R S E V E R S I N C E . H E
DIED IN 1945.
D E S I D E R ATA I S C O P Y R I G H T E D A N D I S D I S P L AY E D
HERE WITH PERMISSION FROM BELL & SON
PUB LI SHI NG, LLC ,
1 3 0 1 AV E N U E O F T H E A M E R I C A S N E W Y O R K , N Y
10019-6076.
CONTEMPORARY
LITERARY FORMS

Poetry
 POETRY

POEMS
Are literary attempts to
share personal experiences
and feelings.
Are all about significant
human experience
 POETRY
Poetrys subject matter is also about the
poets personal life or the lives of those around
him.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD POEM
Good poems often probe deeply and can
contain disturbing insights.
The language is fresh and demanding
because of its subtleties or artfulness
Good poems show images which leave the
reader a sense of delight, awe ( a strong
feeling of fear or respect), and wonder.
 ELEMENTS OF
POETRY
THE POETIC LINE
THE SOUND OF WORDS
METER
IMAGERY
TONE
It is the basic unit of composition

It is an idea or feeling which is

expressed in one line and its
frequently continued into the next
line.
It is the sound effects to intensify
meaning.
For the poet to convey ideas, he
chooses and organizes his words into a
pattern of sound that is a part of the
total meaning
The sound effects are the products of
organized repetitions.
 RHYME:

Repeats similar sounds in some apparent scheme.

e.g.
Air Castles
by Juan Salazar

My life's tomorrow beckons me

From distant mountains, high and low;
My future seems a boundless sea,
Where moving passions come and go.
 RHYTHM
Is the result of systematically stressing or
accenting words and syllables.
A regular, repeated pattern of sounds or
movements
An excerpt from Francisco Baltazars Florante at Laura

Oh, birheng kaibig-ibig

Ina naming nasa langit,
Liwanag yaring isip
Nang sa layoy di malihis.
 ALLITERATION

Means the repetition for effect of

initial vowels or consonants.
He clasps the crags with
e.g.

crooked hands
(Tennyson)
 ASSONANCE

Refers to the correspondence of

vowel sounds

Maiden crowned with glossy

e.g.
blackness
Long armed maid, when she dances
(George Eliot)
 ONOMATOPOEIA
Is a long word that means simply the imitation in
words of natural sounds.
e.g. Hiss, buzz, mew.

Dry clashd his harness in the icy caves.

And barren chasms, and all to left and right

The bare black cliffs clangd round him.

 METER
Is the regularized and pattern rhythm.

There are four conventional types of meter inn

poetry written in English each being distinguished
from the others by he number and accent of
syllables.
 METRICAL UNIT

Monometer

Two diameter and others in progression up

to seven-foot line;
Tri meter, tetrat meter, pentameter,
hexameter, and the dactylic line a trimeter.
 IAMBIC METER

The most popular and the most natural to

English expression. Its basic unit or foot is
one unaccented and one accented syllable.
e.g. Whse wods / these are / I think / I
know
 TROCHAIC METER.

The reverse of Iambic meter.

Each foot contains an accented and an

unaccented syllable. (-u)
e.g. Swft f / fot ws / Hi / watha
 ANAPESTIC METER

Contains in each foot two unaccented

syllables and one accented. (u u-)
e.g. Fr th mon / nvr beams /
without bring / ing me dreams.
 DACTYLIC METER

Opposite of anapestic. It is
slower and often used to create a
strange mood.
e.g. This is the / forest pri /
meval.
 IMAGERY
More than visual detail, imagery includes sounds,
textures, feel, odors , and sometimes even tastes.
Selection of concrete details is the poets way of
giving his reader a sensory image.
By means of images, the poet makes the reader
think about the meaning of the poem.
e.g.
Rekindling
Glenn Vincent Atanacio
After the storm we march, to seek the aimless
Rubble of our house. Beneath filth and boulder,
Parts keep, days revealing each to the wonder
Of our probing hands. What wistful names possess
These items-wood, lock, familiar foyer
 TONE

Reveals the attitude toward the

subject and in some cases the
attitude of the persona or implied
speaker of the poem as well.
 EXAMPLES OF TONE
Cheerful,
sad,
reflective,
serious,
angry,
anxious, etc.