Poetry
I asked the Zebra,
Are you black with white stripes?
Or white with black stripes?
And the zebra asked me,
Are you good with bad habits?
Or are you bad with good habits?
Are you noisy with quiet times?
Or are you quiet with noisy times?
Are you happy with some sad days?
Or are you sad with some happy day?
Are you neat with some sloppy ways?
Or are you sloppy with some neat ways?
And on and on and on and on
And on and on he went.
I'll never ask a zebra
About stripes
Again.
What do you think this
poem is about? Take a
minute and think about it
on your own. Then on
my cue, speak to the
person next to you and
exchange your ideas.
Afterwards, we will share
our ideas together as a
class.
Zebra Question- SHARE
What is Poetry? - SHARE
A form of expression
written seeking approval from
no one
but read and interpreted
by anyone and everyone
It reveals your most inner
thoughts
that may never be spoken
forming a deep
communication to others
and for you, a cherished token
that you will always
remember.
People write poems when they want to
express how they feel or how they look
at certain things in the world. It is a
special form of writing.
It is easy to recognize poems. They
usually don’t take up much space of a
page.
Poetry speaks to the heart as well as to
the mind. You can like a poem for what
it says (that’s the mind part), and you
can like it for how it makes you feel
(that’s the heart part).
Poets create word picture using ‘sensory’ details
that describe sights, sounds, smells, tastes,
and other physical feelings. For example:
I was standing on the street when…
The rusty old black Cadillac (sight)
Grunted rack-a-bump-she-bang, (sound)
And heated up my cool spot of air (physical feeling)
And spewed oily smoke (smell)
All over my mustard-covered pretzel (sight)
Poets carefully arrange words so that certain sounds stand out.
You already know that words sometimes rhyme in poems.
But there are a lot of other ways to make poems sound
pleasing. Poets may repeat certain consonant and vowel
sounds to help make their poems pleasing to the ear.
Purple Poems
Quiet purple clouds rolled in.
Purple rain drops drip from the clouds.
Smooth purple shells wash in with the waves.
Purple lightening strikes a tree.
Purple poems litter the field.
Assonance : The repetition of vowel sounds
in words like rain, makes, pavement, and
wavy.
Alliteration: The repeating of the beginning
consonant sounds in words like dance, dare,
and drop
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Read the poem to yourself several times.
Read the poem aloud; listen to what it says.
Read it with feeling to friends or classmates.
Talk or write about the poem.
Copy it in a special notebook.
Acrostic Poem: A poem in which the first
letters of each line form a word or message
relating to the subject.
After a long winter
Pretty Tulips
Rise from the once
Icy ground bringing fresh signs of
Life
Alphabet Poetry: A poem that uses all or part
of the alphabet to create a funny list poem.
Charles
Delivered
Everybody’s
Fruitcakes
Cinquain: It is a form of poetry written using a recipe. The words
you choose and the form they take on paper are an important part of
the writing.
Line 1 – One word to name the subject
Line 2- Two words to describe it.
Line 3 – Three actions words about it
Line 4 – a four or five word phrase describing the subject (a thought, not a
complete sentence)
Line 5 – One word that means the same thing as the first word, or a word that
sums it all up.
Tree
Tall, green
Growing, reaching, standing
A witness to the past
future
Free Verse: A form of poetry which does not
follow any rules.
My Birthday Party in My Backyard
My party was fun and exciting
My friends were over
Me and my friends played basketball all day
We went to the park
We were on swings and slides
We were flipping and doing back flips
We had a barbeque.
My relatives had a ball
Music was playing
It was almost over and
I started a new day
Haiku – is a Japanese poem that uses the eye as
a camera to capture one moment in time. It
describes something in or about nature. The
form has 17 syllables arranged in 3 lines of 57-5.
Snowflakes falling down
In a whirl of dancing glee
Cold ballerinas
Rhyming Story – Poetry using a rhyme pattern
of a-a-b-b-c-c.
First Flight
High on a hill overlooking a stream, (A)
An elephant had an exciting dream. (A)
He dreamt he could fly over the valleys and plains, (B)
Higher than eagles, swifter than trains. (B)
He flapped his ears and throttled his trunk, (C)
Over the hill he dashed and landed ker-plunk. (C)
Five Senses: Choose any subject and write
about it, using as many of the five senses –
taste, touch, smell, sight and sound. Start off
with choosing one word (adjectives) to
describe each sense.
Subject - Honey
Sight –Yellow
Sound – Buzzing
Taste – Soft
Touch – Heavy
Smell - Clover
Next, you take your short list and write a phrase
or short clause about each sense, rather than
a single word.
Honey
Yellow, flowing gold
Buzzing Bees
Soft, warm ooze on my tongue
Heavy, sticky, liquid stream
Clover-rich smell, everywhere
Definition Poetry: This is poetry that defines a
word or an idea creatively.
Friendship
Friendship is like stars in the sky. Like going
To fly with Peace,
And the moon shines
On us while we fly. We walk
Through the sky and clouds. And we
Share the future in a treasure
Chest, topped with diamonds.
N-V-A Poetry – A 3 word poem that uses
alliteration and consists of a noun, verb, and
adverb.
Noun: Snakes
Verb: Slither
Adverb: Silently
Here are a few ideas that may help you get ready to write.
Don't think about writing a poem. Just think about some special thing that is on your
mind, and figure out what you have to say about it. For instance, let's say you
want to introduce your cat.
Examining the breeze
a package neatly wrapped with tail
flicks a whisker
pleased.
Napping everywhere
stretched in the sun
as if the sun were hers.
Awash in warmth
and furs.
The flow of a cat walking
over the lawn
to place herself like a soft stone
in the middle of the paper
I am working on.
Each of these simple descriptions is a quick picture in words — sort of
a snapshot. The lines are short and you can hear rhythm in them,
like the rhythm in a song. You don’t always have to write whole
sentences. When you write this way, your writing looks like a
poem, and it is.
Examining the breeze
a package neatly wrapped with tail
flicks a whisker
pleased.
Napping everywhere
stretched in the sun
as if the sun were hers.
Awash in warmth
and furs.
The flow of a cat walking
over the lawn
to place herself like a soft stone
in the middle of the paper
I am working on.
Don't worry about grammar!!! A poem doesn't
have to have complete sentences or
paragraphs. Just get your main idea or
feeling, or both, down on paper. Later, as you
reread, you can fix what you think needs
fixing.
Read poetry by different poets. Read it aloud
and to yourself. As you read, see if you can
feel the rhythm a poet has used. Can you tap
your foot to the rhythm or drum your fingers
to it? Song lyrics are simple poetry set to
music.
For example…
Eighteen luscious, scrumptious flavors–
Chocolate, lime and cherry,
Coffee, pumpkin, fudge-banana
Caramel cream and boysenberry,
Rocky road and toasted almond
Butterscotch, vanilla dip,
Butter-brickle, apple ripple,
Coconut and mocha chip,
Brandy peach and lemon custard,
Each scoop lovely, smooth, and round,
Tallest ice-cream cone in town,
Lying there (sniff) on the ground.
Now you try it. Here are some challenges that should help you begin writing.
Write a description of something that interests you, something you know
very well — your cat, dog, or bird. If you don't have a pet, how about a
stuffed animal? Or your running shoes, or the picture in your room that
has been there so long you don't look at it anymore.
Now take a long look at the subject you have chosen. Think about it. What
makes it special? Be descriptive. Does your dog have long ears that look
like old socks? Write that. Do your running shoes light up when you run
at night? Write that. What color are the lights? Where are they on your
shoes? Pay attention to little things, the details that make your shoes or
the dog or that picture on the wall different from something else. Don't
write that your dog is "nice" or that a picture is "pretty." Instead, write
about those things that make something nice or pretty. When you write
this way, you are making a picture out of words. The following poem is a
word picture of a cat's nose:
There is no nose I know
no nose I think
no point as pale and pink.
A rose among fur snows.
If I could choose
to be a snoot as suitable
as it that sits on Toots
I would have chose
to be that very nose.
There is a lot of rhyming in those lines. And there are lots of words
that almost rhyme and sound funny together, like nose and know, and
snoot and suitable. Rhyming is fun to read, but a poem does not have
to rhyme. Many wonderful poems do not rhyme at all.
Here is a picture of an
orange. With a partner
on your left or right,
come up with a couple
of descriptive
sentences that will
make a word picture of
the orange. Use your
senses as a guide.
Now, you have written a description
of something you know well. Try
describing something new to you.
Take a walk outside and find
something you have never looked
at closely, the street light, the sky at
4:30 in the afternoon. As you write
this description, listen carefully to
the sounds of the words you use,
and to their rhymes — but try not to
rhyme. Just concentrate on making
a picture of what you see.
When you've finished your description, put your work down
for a little while. Go back and read your words again.
Do you still like them? Is there something you think
could be better? Try changing it. Here are a few things
to look for:
One way to see how your words sound is to read them
aloud to yourself or someone else. How do you like the
way your words sound together?
Do the words you have written express a feeling? If a friend
reads your words, will he or she feel what you have
felt?
Don't be afraid to change your words. Reread what you've
written several times. The better you know it, the better
you will know if it needs to be changed, or if it says what
you want to say as it is.
If you like to draw, try
illustrating one of
the descriptions you
have written. Writing
and drawing make a
good combination,
and each one helps
you to see things
more sharply.
When your poem is
complete publish it and
share with others to
enjoy.
The following guidelines will help you write a
free verse poem. Free verse poetry does not
follow any specific rules and it does not have
to rhyme.
Select a Subject: Write your poem about a
person, place, event, object, or idea that you
find interesting. You might write about a
special room, a friend, a favourite animal,
music, and so on.
Collect your thoughts: I decided to write a
poem about my favourite animal, the dog. To
get started, I wrote freely for a few minutes
about one certain dog.
When I was younger I knew an alley dog. My
mom said I was to touch him ever, but
sometimes I crawled down the fire escape and
he would sit near me, but we would not touch
each other. Once I took him an old sandwich
and he was happy. We would watch the sun on
the buildings.
Create a Poem: Here’s how a free writing can
be the start of a poem. Begin by making line
breaks. At first, make these breaks where you
naturally hear pauses in the sentences. Then
you may try moving words (or parts) around.
You may also try adding or changing words.
Never touch him! My mom said.
But once I fed him an old sandwich,
And he was happy.
And sometimes I would
Crawl down the fire escape
And he would creep up near me
And we would watch
The sun on the buildings.
Add Word Pictures: Does this first
draft contain any specific word
pictures or pleasing sounds?
Yes, “crawl” and “creep” sound
good and are specific. But I
wanted to add more word
pictures and pleasing sounds,
so I thought some more and
wrote this new draft.
Never touch him! My
mom said.
But once I fed him an
old sandwich,
And he was happy.
And sometimes I
would
Crawl down the fire
escape
And he would creep
up near me
And we would watch
The sun on the
buildings.
Never touch him! My mom
Shouted loud as a train. But once
I tossed him half my butter sandwich
And he danced like loose litter in wind.
And once I climbed
Slow as an
Old fly
Down our fire escape,
And he crept up,
Stop
And go,
Like a car in bad traffic,
And we sat near each other,
And watched how the sun bullied
The cracked brick wall
Into the dark
Now the poem has more word pictures (for
example, “loud as a train”) and pleasing
sounds (“like loose litter”), and it has a shape
that is more interesting.
Some poems do not follow accepted rules of
capitalization, punctuation, or spelling. If you
decide to make these sorts of changes, be
sure you have a clear reason for doing so. And
you still need to proofread!
The following checklist will help you edit your poem.
1.
Make sure that your poem is complete. Have you left anything
out?
2.
Check the line breaks. Do they add special meaning to your
poem? Are they interesting or fun?
3.
Make sure your poem has plenty of specific details. Do the
details paint interesting word pictures? Do they “sound” good?
Have you used fresh, new comparisons?
4.
Make sure your poem reads well. Do you stumble over any
words or lines when you read your poem? If so, change them.
5.
Write a final copy of your poem, making all of the corrections.
Proofread this copy before sharing it.
To create effective word pictures, poets often make special
comparisons. These special comparisons are often called
figures of speech.
 A SIMILE compares one thing to something unlike it using
like or as. Coat hooks hold winter hats like bare branches
hold old nests.
 A METAPHOR makes a comparison without using like or as.
The street is my heart.
 PERSONIFICATION makes a comparison which something
that is not human id described with human qualities. My
eggs stared back like sick eyes.
 HYPERBOLE makes exaggerated comparisons for effect.
Sometimes these are funny. It was so hot we fried.
End Rhyme – The rhyming of words at the ends of two or
more lines of poetry, as in the first two lines in Robert
Frost’s famous poem called “Stopping by Woods on a
Snowy Evening”:
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
Onomatopoeia – The use of words whose sounds make
you think of their meanings, as in buzz, thump, snap,
pop, crack, and bang.
Repetition – The repeating of a word of phrase to add
rhythm, or to emphasize a certain idea: The wind hissed,
hissed, hissed down the alley.
Listed below are some of the devices poets use to make
their poems sound pleasing to the ear. (Use some in
your poems).
ALLITERATION – The repeating of the beginning
consonant sounds in words like dance, dare, and drop.
ASSONANCE – The repetition of vowel sounds in words
like rain, makes, pavement, and wavy.
CONSONANCE – The repetition of consonant sounds
anywhere in the words: The catcher wore a black jacket.
Like inhaling and exhaling, like listening and speaking-sharing and making poems are two parts of a larger
process. When we read or hear poetry, we absorb
words, images, ideas, fresh perspectives, new ideas.
When we discuss or write poetry, we call upon an
ancient tradition that constantly changes and
reshapes itself.
The more poetry you read, write, and discuss, the more
you'll appreciate the range of possibilities open to
you. And your understanding of life, of what it is to be
human, will keep growing, too.