COMPOSITION—POETRY ASSIGNMENTS
TASK 1-10 POINTS
TASK 2- 10 POINTS
Limerick: Comical five-line poem with a strict
pattern of rhyme and meter. Limericks are named
after the place in Ireland from which their creator,
Edward Lear, originated.
Found Poem: A Found Poem consists ONLY of
sentences, phrases, and words FOUND in another
text. These excerpts are arranged in way that helps
convey a specific message.
A Found Poem can have a specific meter or rhyme
scheme, but it does not have to.
Create an original Limerick that adheres to Limerick
form:
8-10 syllables (A)
8-10 syllables (A)
6 syllables (B)
6 syllables
(B)
9-10 syllables (A)
Bonus point if you include word from our vocabulary
list!
EXAMPLES:
There was a young lady of Tottenham
Who'd no manners or else she'd forgotten 'em
At tea at the vicar's
She tore off her knickers
Because, she explained, she felt 'ot in 'em
There was a young man of Bengal
Who was asked to a fancy dress ball
He murmured: I'll risk it
I'll go as a biscuit
But the dog ate him up in the hall
There is a young man of York Plains
Who will never come in when it rains.
He seems to forget
That rain makes him wet –
But he never was noted for brains.
A modern young girl of Mount Abel
Used an ill-chosen word at the table
And her mother said, "Jane,
If you say that again
You can blinkin’ well eat in the stable!"
There was a young poet from Maine
who wrote while consuming champagne.
When he sent in his verse
the reply was quite terse
so he vowed not to drink it again.
Create a Found Poem based on one of your
descriptive narratives (place, person, character flaw).
The Laundry Room
The windows at either end of the laundry room were open, but no breeze washed
through to carry off the stale odors of fabric softener, detergent, and bleach. In the
small ponds of soapy water that stained the concrete floor were stray balls of
multicolored lint and fuzz. Along the left wall of the room stood ten rasping dryers,
their round windows offering glimpses of jumping socks, underwear, and fatigues.
Down the center of the room were a dozen washing machines, set back to back in two
rows. Some were chugging like steamboats; others were whining and whistling and
dribbling suds. Two stood forlorn and empty, their lids flung open, with crudely
drawn signs that said "Broke!" A long shelf partially covered in blue paper ran the
length of the wall, interrupted only by a locked door. Alone, at the far end of the
shelf, sat one empty laundry basket and an open box of Tide. Above the shelf at the
other end was a small bulletin board decorated with yellowed business cards and torn
slips of paper: scrawled requests for rides, reward offers for lost dogs, and phone
numbers without names or explanations. On and on the machines hummed and
wheezed, gurgled and gushed, washed, rinsed, and spun.
EXAMPLE OF FOUND POEM MADE FROM
THE PASSAGE ABOVE:
The Laundry Room
Ten rasping dryers
Chugging like steamboats
Offering glimpses of jumping socks, underwear and
fatigues
Whining and whistling and dribbling suds-Small ponds of soapy water stained the concrete
floor.
The machines hummed and wheezed
On and on
No breeze washed through
Alone, sat one empty laundry basket
Lost
Without names or explanation