Poetry Do Now’s
Day 1: Limerick
Definition: a kind of humorous verse of five lines, in which the
first, second, and fifth lines rhyme with each other, and the third
and fourth lines, which are shorter, form a rhymed couplet.
Created between 1850-1900 allegedly from social gatherings
where the group sang “Will you come up to Limerick?” after
each set of verses, improvised in turn by the members of the
party
Read the following limerick:
There once was a fellow named Tim
whose dad never taught him to swim
He fell off a dock
and sunk like a rock.
And that was the end of him.
Complete ONE of the following questions
1. What part(s) of the poem did you like and why?
2. Why do you think that people created limericks at social
gatherings?
Day 2: Quatrain
A Quatrain is a poem consisting of four lines of verse with a specific rhyming
scheme.
A few examples of a quatrain rhyming scheme are as follows:
#1) abab
#2) abba -- envelope rhyme
#3) aabb
#4) aaba, bbcb, ccdc, dddd -- chain rhyme
Read
Lord of Deceit
By Theresa King
Do Now
Choose ONE of the
following and answer:
Trapped within a haze of fear,
The Lord of Lies does appear.
Clouded by so much that’s wrong,
Truth gets twisted by his song.
1. In one sentence, write
what this poem is
about.
Turning love and joy to pain,
Hidden by the falling rain.
Tragedy becomes the norm
When hate and fear begin to form.
2. What part(s) of the
poem do you like and
why?
Hurtful lies tear lives apart
And cause more harm to a heart.
Once the pain and hate begin,
Nothing is the same again.
Once the lie has been revealed,
Secrets are no more concealed.
Then the healing can undo
What he has done unto you.
Once the healing has begun,
Love and happiness have won.
With the truth, you can defeat
The spiteful Lord of Deceit.
3. What part(s) of the
poem confuse you?
Were you able to
discover the meaning
at those places?
Explain
4. What does the poem
make you think about?
Day 3: Blank Verse
Definition http://literarydevices.net/blank-verse/
Poem http://allpoetry.com/Mending-Wall
Video/Reading
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL7CklKfxa4
Do Now
In one sentence, write what this poem is about.
Day 4: Free Verse & Ode
Free Verse is an irregular form of poetry in which the content free of traditional
rules of versification, (freedom from fixed meter or rhyme).
In moving from line to line, the poet's main consideration is where to insert line
breaks. Some ways of doing this include breaking the line where there is a natural
pause or at a point of suspense for the reader.
Ode a is lyric poem in the form of an address to a particular subject, often elevated
in style or manner and written in varied or irregular meter.
Ode to Job
By Lachlan Ivy
Job came down
in a
woosh, outstretched
and gliding into the horizon.
Blue shadowed
flight
arrested by
the beckoning marsh.
His greatness bears
much
yet not
the anguish of ancient
prophecy.
Situated grievances weigh
feathery
on this long,
strong back. Unconscious
emotion
numbs while
time drifts out
another
sun salted
day.
Choose ONE of the
following and answer:
1. In one sentence, write
what this poem is
about.
2. What part(s) of the
poem do you like and
why?
3. Why do you think that
the author chose the
title “Ode to Job?”
Day 5: Haiku
1.
2.
3.
4.
2/17/15
Japanese poem
3-line poem with 17 syllables
Written on a 5/7/5 syllable count
Topic is nature
An old silent pond...
A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! Silence again.
By Basho Matsuo
Day 6
2/18/15
Kids Who Are Different
Digby Wolfe
Here's to the kids who are different,
The kids who don't always get A's,
The kids who have ears twice the size of
their peers,
And noses that go on for days...
Here's to the kids who are different,
The kids they call crazy or dumb,
The kids who don't fit, with the guts and the grit,
Who dance to a different drum...
Here's to the kids who are different,
The kids with the mischievous streak,
For when they have grown, as history's shown,
It's their difference that makes them unique.
Day 7
2/19/15
We Real Cool
Gwendolyn Brooks
THE POOL PLAYERS.
SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL.
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
Day 8
2/20/15
The Rose that Grew From Concrete
Tupac Shakur
Did u hear about the rose that grew from a crack
in the concrete
Proving nature's law is wrong it learned 2 walk
without having feet
Funny it seems but by keeping its dreams
it learned to breathe fresh air
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared!
Day 9 2/25/15
Advice to a Girl
-- Sara Teasdale
No one worth possessing
Can be quite possessed;
Lay that on your heart,
My young angry dear;
This truth, this hard and precious stone,
Lay it on your hot cheek,
Let it hide your tear.
Hold it like a crystal
When you are alone
And gaze in the depths of the icy stone.
Long, look long and you will be blessed:
No one worth possessing
Can be quite possessed.
Day 10 2/26/15
Woodland Hills High School
ALMA MATER
Thomas Crone
Joined in bond from day to day
Friendships made along the way
Ties that bind us like a ring
Alma Mater praises sing.
Sons and daughters stand up tall
Let thy banner never fall
May she wave in our hearts as we live.
We will rise and sing
Our voice they will hear
Colors raised, victory's ours
Alma Mater, dear
Many days will pass us by
But the memories never die
Alma Mater, Dear Woodland Hills High
Day 11 2/27/15
Resumé
-- Dorothy Parker
Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live
Monday Day 12 - 3/2/15
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (Sonnet 18)
William Shakespeare, 1564 - 1616
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKKGMozN0-I
Tuesday Day 13 - 3/3/15
Rhythm i
By K. Patrick Schaffer
Old ideas, more like character defects—
no way to pay bills or get paychecks.
Mind-aching explosion,
put up the road blocks,
ticking like a time bomb or a grandfather clock.
Time's up, make a decision,
something you can live with—
space just to breathe and enough room to pivot.
Exquisite provisions—
invaded by religion.
Predicaments that can change one's whole way of livin'.
Conditions,
they can make you
or absolutely break you.
Be wise with the lifestyle and morals that you take to.
Make haste not to
delay the truth inside the prelude
and maybe one day you
will finally have a breakthrough.
Read more at: http://www.poetrysoup.com/poems/best/rap
Wednesday Day 14 3/4/15
Jabberwocky
Lewis Carroll, 1832 - 1898
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”
He took his vorpal sword in hand;
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpKcqraRdfs
Thursday Day 14 3/5/15
The Sweetest Roll by Charles R. Smith Jr.
Audio http://www.charlesrsmithjr.com/activities-poems.htm
Text
http://www.amazon.com/Rimshots-Basketball-Rhythms-PicturePuffins/dp/0140566783/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=14
25515824&sr=1-1&keywords=rimshots#reader_0140566783
http://www.amazon.com/Rimshots-Basketball-Rhythms-PicturePuffins/dp/0140566783/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=14
25515824&sr=1-1&keywords=rimshots