Writing Workshop
Spring 2013
Found Poetry DUE: FRI, April 12, 2013 end of class
Pierce/Riley
Create a Google Doc (Last Poetry), share it with Dr. Pierce and Mrs. Riley, and
use it for the assignments below except where noted. Complete 3 options
below. Choose 3 odd numbered options or 3 even numbered options, or
submit a proposal for 3 self-selected options from the list below. One
additional option may be selected for extra credit.
OPTION I: Poetry Line Breaks
PURPOSE: To explore the structure of poetry, with particular attention to the
impact of line breaks on the rhythm and meanings of the text.
Choose ONE of the following:
1. Using the paragraphs provided, create 3 versions of a poem where each
version has different line breaks. For versions 2 and 3, explain what effect
you were trying to create with the changes in the line breaks.
2. Using one of the poems provided, create 2 additional versions where each
version has different line breaks. For each version, explain what effect you
were trying to create with the changes in the line breaks.
OPTIONAL: Using an existing poem that you have written, create at least one
new version with different line breaks. Explain what effect you were trying
to create with the changes in the line breaks.
OPTION II: Poetry Pages
PURPOSE: To explore poetry as a process of discovery by “finding” poetic language
and expressions in prose text.
1. Using the page provided, highlight words and phrases that appeal to you –
that evoke images and emotions, and/or use sensory details.
2. Type the words and phrases in your Google Doc.
3. Change the sequence of the words and phrases, using repetition as needed, to
create an original poem. (Minor revisions such as additions/omissions are
permitted.) Feel free to attempt several versions before settling on one.
4. Using the new page provided, “find” a poem in the text and outline it in black
– moving top to bottom and left to right, using a connecting line that shows
the order of the words/phrases in your original composition.
OPTION III: WORDLE Poem
PURPOSE: To explore poetry as a process of discovery by “finding” poetic language
and expressions in prose text, and by discovering themes or recurring ideas in prose
text and using these as the basis for poetry.
1. Using one or more of the documents listed below, paste the entire text into
the text box at wordle.net/create. Click “go”. (You may need to give it some
time to process.)
2. Adjust the image to “horizontal” and “75 words maximum”. Make personal
preference adjustments to font and color.
3. Capture the resulting word cloud using a screen shot (command + shift + 4).
Paste the image into your Google Doc. Resize as needed.
4. List words or phrases found in the wordle. List at least ten 2-3 word phrases.
5. Revise the words or phrases to create lines of poetry. (Lines do not need to
be connected to one another.)
6. Re-sequence the lines and make revisions as necessary to create a first-draft
poem.
OPTION IV: Pocket Poems
PURPOSE: To encourage sharing poetry and seeing everyday insights through
poetry.
1. Find or create 3-5 short poems that reflect topics of interest to middle school
students --- particularly your friends.
2. Create pocket-sized versions of each poem on the cardstock provided and
illustrate the back of each card with an image that captures the essence of the
poem.
3. Be sure to include a complete citation for the poem and/or image.
OPTION V: Poetry Performance
PURPOSE: To encourage memorization of poetry and to highlight the power of
poetry read aloud.
1. Find or create 2-3 poems that reflect topics of interest to middle school
students or to you individually.
2. Listen to poets reading their poems aloud at Poets.org.
3. Memorize your selected poems and practice reading them aloud with
different pacing, emphasis and intonation.
4. Create a digital recording of your poems. Be sure to include the title and
poet’s name at the beginning of each poem, and include the citation at the
end of each poem.
OPTION VI: Poetry Treasure Hunt
PURPOSE: To highlight the value of poetry in everyday life and to encourage
collecting/reciting lines of poetry for specific situations.
1. Find at least 3 lines of poetry for one of the following situations, or one line of
poetry for 3 of the following situations where a poem would be useful to recite:
● When faced with bad news or difficult times
● At a wedding, funeral or other life-cycle event
● As a toast at a formal gathering or before meals
● As a marriage proposal or other romantic discussion
● During a speech or other effort to move an audience of voters, colleagues,
teammates or others you wish to influence
2. Include the complete citation for each line.
Paragraphs for OPTION I:
(Just copy and paste into your Google Doc then begin crafting the poem.)
1. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell, Chapter 4, page 1 (public domain text)
http://www.bibliomania.com/0/0/frameset.html
Squire Gordon’s park skirted the village of Birtwick. It was entered by a large iron gate, at
which stood the first lodge, and then you trotted along on a smooth road between clumps of
large old trees; then another lodge and another gate, which brought you to the house and the
gardens. Beyond this lay the home paddock, the old orchard, and the stables. There was
accommodation for many horses and carriages; but I need only describe the stable into
which I was taken; this was very roomy, with four good stalls; a large swinging window
opened into the yard, which made it pleasant and airy.
OR
The first stall was a large square one, shut in behind with a wooden gate; the others were
common stalls, good stalls, but not nearly so large; it had a low rack for hay and a low
manger for corn; it was called a loose box, because the horse that was put into it was not
tied up, but left loose, to do as he liked. It is a great thing to have a loose box.
Into this fine box the groom put me; it was clean, sweet, and airy. I never was in a better box
than that, and the sides were not so high but that I could see all that went on through the iron
rails that were at the top.
2. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert L. Stevenson, Chapter 1, Page 1 (public domain)
http://www.bibliomania.com/0/0/frameset.html
Mr Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance, that was never lighted by a
smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty,
dreary, and yet somehow lovable. At friendly meetings, and when the wine was to his taste,
something eminently human beaconed from his eye; something indeed which never found its
way into his talk, but which spoke not only in these silent symbols of the after-dinner face,
but more often and loudly in the acts of his life.
OR: Select a paragraph from a text provided in class.
Poems for OPTION I:
1. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, Song of Myself, Page 1 (public domain)
http://www.bibliomania.com/0/0/frameset.html
I CELEBRATE myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.
My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil,
this air,
Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and
their parents the same,
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death.
Creeds and schools in abeyance,
Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never
forgotten,
I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,
Nature without check with original energy.
2. How the Land was Won by Henry Lawson, stanzas 1 and 2 (public domain)
http://www.public-domain-poetry.com/henry-lawson/how-the-land-waswon-5171
The future was dark and the past was dead
As they gazed on the sea once more,
But a nation was born when the immigrants said
"Good-bye!" as they stepped ashore!
In their loneliness they were parted thus
Because of the work to do,
A wild wide land to be won for us
By hearts and hands so few.
The darkest land 'neath a blue sky's dome,
And the widest waste on earth;
The strangest scenes and the least like home
In the lands of our fathers' birth;
The loneliest land in the wide world then,
And away on the furthest seas,
A land most barren of life for men,
And they won it by twos and threes!
OR, select a poem from Poets.org