Poetry
What makes something
poetry?
• What does poetry mean to you?
• What do you think of when you hear the
word “poetry?”
• How do you write poetry?
• Is there a right way to write poetry?
• Is there such a thing as good or bad
poetry?
Poetry
• Poetry has been around for a very long time,
this has caused many different types of poetry
to be created. There are many differences in
the types of poetry and the differences don’t
make one better than the other.
• Poetry doesn’t just mean a short story that
rhymes. Many poems do not rhyme, many are
long and many do not even tell any kind of
story. Some don’t even make any sense, at
least not to me.
Different types of poetry
• There are many different styles and forms of
poetry. Each of these styles has its own set
of rules. If you want to write a certain type of
poetry, then you must learn and follow the
different rules that a type of poetry has.
• You don’t always have to write poetry that
follows the rules. You can write your own
freestyle type of poetry where you follow your
own rules, you might not even have any rules
to follow.
Different types of poetry
(cont’d)
• There are many different ways you can
write a poem, some of the different
forms of poetry are: haiku, limerick,
monorhyme, acrostic poems, color and
poems about lies.
• There are lots of other types of poetry,
but we are going to just talk about these
for our project.
Haiku
• Haiku - This type of poetry sounds really easy to do
at first because it’s only made up of three short lines
and you don’t even have to rhyme those lines. This
type of poetry comes from Japan where it has been
around for many centuries.
• The main rule of haiku is that your first line must have
5 syllables, the second line must have 7 syllables and
the last line must have 5 syllables again and
remember, no rhyming. There are even many
different types of haiku, if you want to write haiku, try
using the Internet to learn about some of the different
types of haiku.
Haiku
Pink cherry blossoms
Cast shimmering reflections
On seas of Japan
Copyright © Andrea
Limericks
• This type of poetry came from Limerick,
Ireland. Limericks are poems that are funny,
sometimes don’t make much sense and
rhyming poems.
• There are five lines in a limerick that rhyme
on a a-a-b-b-a scheme. The “a” lines must all
rhyme with each other and have nine
syllables. The “b” lines must rhyme with each
other and have only six syllables.
Limericks
The rhythm of the poem should go as follows:
• Lines 1, 2, 5: weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak,
STRONG, weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak
• Lines 3, 4: weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak,
STRONG, weak, weak
• This is the most commonly heard first line of a
limerick: "There once was a man from Nantucket."
Limericks
I am a pretty little flower
I am endowed with lots of power
when you pick me in green
I'll bite you 'cause I'm mean
And live to see another hour.
Copyright © 2000 Christine Ann Kelley
Monorhyme
• This is probably the type of poetry you think about
when you hear the word “poetry.” A monorhyme
is a poem in which all the lines have the same end
rhyme. This just means that the end of each line
of the poem must rhyme with each other.
Monorhyme (cont’d)
Late for Class
I realized it was half past four
When I, quite late, ran out the door.
My history class I so abhor,
But I missed two sessions the week before.
I failed a test on ancient lore
And forgot the date of the Second World War.
(Man, my brain was really sore.)
Up the marble stairs I tore,
And slid across a just-mopped floor:
I banged my knee and loudly swore,
To wake -again- at half past four!
These nightmares I can stand no more...
Color poems
• This is a poem that you write about your
favorite color, or least favorite if you want to
tell everyone why you don’t like a certain
color. You can use analogies, similes or list
nouns that are or describe that color.
• Another form you can use for color poems is
to write about a color using the five main
senses. Write about what your color looks
like, smells like, tastes like, sounds like and
what it feels like.
Color poems (cont’d)
Green
Green is apples, markers, and cool.
Green is the taste of vegetables.
Green makes me feel envious.
Green is the sound of a lawnmower and a sigh.
Green is a garden, forest, and a swamp.
Green is renewal.
Green is beginning again.
Green is spring.
Acrostic poems
• Acrostic poems are pretty easy to start writing. All
you do is choose a word that you want to write about,
then write that word vertically down your page. The
letter on each line will be the start of each sentence.
Here is a acrostic poem about eggs:
Elegantly and efficiently shaped
Good to eat
Great fun to find at Easter
Smooth shelled
Lies
• This type of poetry is nothing but a bunch of
lies. Not just normal lies, but lies that are as
big and bad as you can make them.
• Each line must begin differently and each line
must tell its own lie.
• Remember, your poems cannot be anything
that would hurt anyone’s feelings.
Lies (cont’d)
2 verses of the poem Oops!
Oops!
Three coffee cups my mother loved
Lie shattered on the floor.
Three ripe tomatoes splattered
When they hit the kitchen door.
Three jumbo eggs are scrambled
But they’re not on a plate.
Three loaves of bread are crumbled
I’ll use the crumbs for bait.
Rhyming and poetry
• There are lots of types of poetry that
rhyme and it is very common to see
poems that are full of rhymes. This
doesn’t mean that all poetry has to
rhyme. If you don’t want to rhyme in
your own poems, then you don’t have
to, unless you want to write a certain
type of poetry that requires rhyming.
Summary of poetry
• As we have seen, there are many types
of poetry and certain types of poetry. A
lot of poems rhyme and a lot of poems
don’t rhyme. The type of poem you
choose to do can have a lot of influence
on the poem you end up writing.