poetry class 2: what is rap?

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 2

Please join this LessonUp via the CLASS!

G2A:  wkgqi

lesson objectives:

* You checked your own work on rhythm, rhyme and topic

* You know what Sonnet 18 is about: topic, rhythm and rhyme

* You have seen an example of modern day (musical) rap

What is the super short summary of Sonnet 18?

1. if I compare you to summer, summer wins
2. if I compare you to summer, you win
3. if I compare you to summar, it is a tie
4. something about summer and you?

Sonnet: 14 lines

Your 14 line sonnet must be written in three sets of four lines and one set of two lines.

1. The first quatrain will have lines that end in a rhyme scheme like this: ABAB, for example, ‘day’, ‘temperate’, ‘may’, ‘date’.

2. The second quatrain will use different words to rhyme scheme like this: CDCD, for example, ‘shines’, ‘dimmed’, ‘declines’, ‘untrimmed’.

3. The third quatrain needs different words again, to rhyme scheme like this: EFEF, for example, ‘fade’, ‘lowest’, ‘shade’, ‘growest’.

4. You now have your three Shakespearean quatrains – that’s 12 lines. Remember that a Shakespearean sonnet always has 14 lines, so you need two final lines – called a couplet. The rhyme scheme for this is GG, using words you haven’t used in the rhyming so far, for example, ‘see’ and thee’.

The rhyme pattern of your 14 line sonnet should now look like this: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

Iambic pentameter

Ambus is another word for a two-syllable foot.
The first syllable will normally be unstressed and the second stressed.
For example, de/light, the sun, for/lorn, one day, re/lease. 

Every line of your sonnet must have five feet (so 10 syllables).
Pentameter means five and iambic pentameter simply means five feet. Shakespeare uses iambic pentameter.

let's try iambic pentameter in normal sentences:

‘I wonder what my friends will think of this?’
‘If I were you I’d watch out what I say.’
‘He never ever told me what to do.’
‘It’s easy when you think of it like that.’

Iambic pentameter has to do with...

1. five feet and rhythm of stressed and unstressed syllables
2. something with five and lots of stress
3. meters and syllables
4. Shakespeare was a nutcase

But Shakespeare lived in 1564...

What about Alexander Hamilton?

He lived in 1755.

But they wrote a rap musical about him recently...

Alexander Hamilton,
written by Lin Manuel Miranda.
Does it...

1. rhyme?
2. have rhythm?
3. float your boat?
4. have a topic?

Do we see similarities in this type of rap?

Written by the same lyricist...

Would you rather write and perform...

spoken word such as in Lesson 1?

rap such as we've seen today?

What could be
a topic for you?

homework:

Decide on spoken word or rap for your performance.
-> For rap you may use existing music (lyrical version), find it!
Decide on a topic for your rap/spoken word performance,
-> find the information and bring it to class.