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Poetry Texts
symbols and vivid imagery and metaphor mark
this poetry.
Structure and features
of poetry texts
Ballads
PURPOSE
Poetry captures the essence of an object,
feeling or thought. Poetry for children should
reflect the emotions of childhood, making
students feel sensory experiences to an
intensified degree and satisfying their natural
response to rhythm. Poetry can amuse, describe
in a different way, comment on humanity or
draw parallels to their lives.
FORMS
Ballads are narrative poems that were sung
during the fifteenth century in Europe and
form an important part of the oral storytelling
tradition. Ballads were simple and dramatic
entertaining stories that told succeeding
generations of important events.
There are three types of ballads: traditional song
ballads; popular or modern ballads; and poems
or literary ballads that are not meant to be sung.
Sonnet
OF POETRY
Lyric poetry
Lyric poetry has had a strong connection with
singing and music since classical times.This is any
shorter poem that expresses the poet’s feelings
and thoughts. Most lyric poetry is personal or
descriptive, not concerned with action or
narrating, but reflects a single experience. It has
no prescribed length or structure.
This short fourteen line lyric poem can be
written about any noble thoughts or emotions.
Students should experiment to see how the
shaping of each phrase works to create the
whole pattern. Ideas can be developed across
the three quatrains or three images, one in
each quatrain, can be created to focus on a
central theme.The couplet sums up the key
points or adds a twist to the poem.
Satire
Concrete poetry
The shape and position of the letters and
words reflect the meaning.This allows the poet
to combine visual and verbal skills and to
experiment with language to heighten
awareness of the meaning of individual words.
Meaning must be the focus and then the
shaping of the words will grow from the idea
of the poem.
This is the use of sarcasm or ridicule in a text to
express disapproval with existing social
institutions, individuals or mannerisms of a time.
Didactic
This refers to a poet who teaches a lesson
through the poetry or prose.
STRUCTURE
Humorous verse
This stirs the students’ imagination and appeals
to their sense of fun.The use of imaginative
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OF POETRY TEXTS
A poem may tell a story, or describe people,
places and things in a distinctive way.The plan
of a poem has design and form.
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Words are not casually connected but are
linked in the mind of the creator.Well-written
poetry should leave the reader pondering,
questioning, considering and investigating.
A poet responds and is inspired by the stimuli
around him. Poets help us to see familiar
objects, people and experiences in different
ways by engaging our senses of sight, sound,
taste, touch and smell. Poets communicate
thoughts and feelings, leading us to a better
understanding of human nature and the world.
Students respond to stress patterns or speech
rhythms that reinforce the sense of the word
and the rhyme. They should understand that
a change of rhythm is indicative of a new
element in a poem. The most common
rhythmic pattern is called end rhyme.
This means that the end words of two
consecutive lines, alternate lines or even
lines further apart rhyme. Some poets use
an internal rhyme where two words rhyme
within the same line.
Discussions of verse form with students can
provide opportunities for language play. A
student who is mathematically inclined may
enjoy comparing a sonnet or a ballad with a
sensory or descriptive poem to see how they
differ structurally. Students who experience
considerable difficulties in writing prose can
often express themselves quite fluently in
verse. Poetry writing enables students to gain
an appreciation of patterning, poetic
techniques as well as an insight into the
function of language.
The structure of a ballad
A ballad has a structure similar to a
narrative, with the addition of a refrain.
This refrain acts as a commentary on events
and holds the poem together. It generally
appears after each verse.
The structure of a sonnet
A sonnet is a reflective form and normally has
a structured rhythmic and rhyme pattern. All
sonnets have fourteen lines but there are
variations as to how the lines are divided up.
In the Shakespearian sonnet, there are three
quatrains followed by a couplet.This couplet
can take the form of a twist or can change the
focus of the poem.The rhyming is abab cdcd
efef gg.
LANGUAGE
FEATURES OF
POETRY TEXTS
• Textual cohesion is created by word chains built
from synonyms, repetition and antonyms.
• Action verbs, noun groups, adverbs and
adverbial phrases are found.
• Sensory images of sight, sound, touch, smell
or taste for feelings and emotions are found.
• Rhythm appropriate to subject matter should
be used, reinforcing and creating meaning,
for example sad and happy, calm and
reflective
• Change of rhythm is generally indicative of a
new element in the poem, a contrast in
mood, a warning or a different speaker.
• Poetry can have end rhyme or internal
rhyme.
• When poets compare one thing with another
using the connecting words like or as, they
are using a simile. In a metaphor the poet
speaks of an object or an idea as if it were
another object.
• Alliteration, assonance, personification and
onomatopoeia are often found.
• Most poems begin each line with capital
letters and have one or more stanzas.
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Sample Annotated Text
C
L
ung ancer
TEXT
ORGANISATION
LANGUAGE
FEATURES
Word chains built from
and repetition e.g.
Series of steps Trees and leaves in boldest green synonyms
trees, green, forests, leaves
or moves Are life that must be seen,
There’s no animal that can live
In the absence of this green.
Steps shown in And by the play of sun
verse or stanza Its golden rays on the leaves
structures They leave us free to live.
Our very breath of life
Comes from tree’s very might
To make our air just right.
Change of image
in each stanza
Comment
{
In hot and steamy malls
Where trees and vibes grow tall,
In halls of rainy forests,
In Nature’s factory rests
The essence of this life,
This life as shared by all.
{
Our planet’s blood is green
And its lungs are made of trees,
But now we have a problem,
A problem of disease.
The problem of disease,
It stems from greed not need.
It’s cancer of the lungs,
A result of money squeeze,
And now we’ve placed our
planet’s life
Upon the bottom rung,
Of the dreadful ladder
Of universal strife.
And to try and solve this matter
We must turn and look at life,
Our very way of life.
For we are the disease,
The cancer in our planet’s lungs.
{
by Jonathan Wilson-Fuller
from Will You Please Listen,
I Have Something to Say (ABC Books)
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Assonance e.g. trees,
leaves, green
Present tense e.g. are
Alliteration e.g. leaves,
leave, live
Plural used to link
reader and poet e.g.
our, we
Rhyming words e.g. malltall; might-right
Effective images e.g.
nature’s factory rests,
our planet’s lungs
Links ideas using and
Repetition of words
e.g. problem
Personification e.g. lungs
made of trees
Evaluative language
e.g. essence of life,
greed not heed
Descriptive language through
build up of noun groups e.g.
boldest green, bottom rung,
dreadful ladder
Emotive language
e.g. cancer, strife
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Name _________________________________________ Class _______________
Outcomes Checklist
BLM 44
Poetry Texts
At the end of the units on poetry texts students will have worked towards achieving the
following National Level 4 (NSW Stage 3) outcomes.
SPEAKING AND LISTENING
BLM
NA 4.1 NSW 3.1 Communicates and interacts
confidently for a range of purposes and a variety of
audiences to express well developed, well organised ideas
dealing with more challenging topics.
NA 4.2 NSW 3.3 Considers aspects of context, purpose
and audience when speaking and listening and discusses
ways in which spoken language differs from written.
NA 4.3 NSW 3.4 Controls and evaluates structures and
features of spoken language. Interprets meaning and develops
and presents ideas and information in familiar surroundings.
50, 52, 61,
63, 66, 72, 78,
82, 83, 84
DATE & COMMENTS
62, 68, 69,
77
51, 79, 84
READING AND VIEWING
NA 4.5 NSW 3.5 Reads an extensive range of texts
with fairly complex structures and features, justifying
own interpretation of ideas, information and events in
the response to themes and issues.
NA 4.6 NSW 3.7 Analyses and explains techniques to
position the reader and to interpret experiences differently
in texts.
NA 4.7 NSW 3.8 Identifies the structures of different
texts and with assistance discusses the grammatical
structures and features that shape readers’ and listeners’
understanding of texts.
NA 4.8a NSW 3.6 Selects a range of strategies
appropriate for the texts being read.
NA 4.8b Working with peers is able to find information
and resources for specific purposes.
50, 51, 62,
63, 68, 75,
77, 79, 82, 83
50, 52, 57, 63,
67, 68, 74, 82,
83, 85
52, 58, 61, 72,
78, 83, 85
57, 67, 73,
74, 77, 83
50, 67, 73
WRITING
NA 4.9 NSW 3.9 Writes well structured literary and
factual texts using challenging topics, ideas and issues for
a variety of purposes and audiences.
NA 4.10 NSW 3.13 Evaluates writing in terms of
effectiveness of presentation of subject matter and adjusts
to focus on context, purpose and audience.
NA 4.11 NSW 3.14 Discusses and evaluates how texts
have been constructed to achieve their purpose and
shape readers’ and viewers’ understandings using
grammatical features and structures.
NA 4.12a NSW 3.10 Uses a range of strategies to plan,
edit and proofread own writing.
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51, 52, 53, 54,
64, 66, 73, 79,
80, 84, 85, 86
53, 57, 58,
59, 69, 74,
75, 86
53, 61, 72,
78, 85
53, 54, 58, 59,
64, 69, 80, 86
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Background
Lessons
If too much time is devoted to analysing a single
poem, students frequently become bored and
restless.The way to overcome this is to ask students
to prepare for a performance. Performance leads to
the discussion of the meaning of each line and
how it will be said. Encouraging students to add
movement and sound effects will provide
opportunities for creative innovations.
Session 1
Breaking the pattern
Session 2
Cloze technique
Students can work independently or in pairs on this
task.To assist students and build their confidence when
using a rhyming technique take a poem divided into
verses that follows a regular rhyming pattern. Leave
the first verse untouched and then follow a cloze
technique, deleting words with the focus on rhyme,
rhythm and imagery. Students do not have to use
exactly the words that were in the original poem, but
should select words that fit the rhythm and tone.
Session 3
Sensory poetry
Psychologists describe people’s earliest memories as
Cut up a poem into single lines and challenge pairs
sensory as we are able to recall the way things smell
of students to try to work out the original poem.
and taste. Here is a sensory poem for students to try.
This will lead students to discuss the poem’s
structure and its intended sequence. Students will
Before you begin, cut up slices of apple, pieces of
focus on the rhythm, rhyme and layout and aspects
celery and sticks of carrot sufficient in number for
of the language of the poem.They will become
each student to have one piece. Each student
aware of the feeling driving the poem forward. A
chooses a piece that will be the subject described
lyric poem is useful for this as its verses may appear
in a sensory poem.
to stand independently, but
there are normally clues in the
Ask students to follow this sequence:
text as to which verse should
Say the word for your slice or stick.
Apple,
appear where in the overall
Write words you associate with it as you say it.
Rosy red,
format of the poem.
Write a describing word or adjective for it.
Delicious tasting,
Describe how it looks
Describe how it feels
Roundly reflecting light,
So smooth and firm.
Ask students to bite into the stick or piece and then:
Write a sound word.
Crunchy and fleshy
Describe how it feels in your mouth.
But firm. What a taste!
Describe the taste.
As sweet as honey,
Describe how it feels as you swallow.
Small pieces dissolving,
Describe the after taste.
I’m longing for another bite.
What does the apple/celery stick
Is this the witch’s apple
or carrot remind you of?
From my fairy tale?
Ask students to attempt other words following this outline and format.
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Session 4
Sensory images
Ask students to write a poem expressing their
feelings and responses to a particular colour.This
poem should contain objects that are that colour
but should also describe the sensory images that
the poet feels, smells and tastes. Ask students to
choose a colour. An example follows:
MY BLACK MOOD
Black is the panther so beautifully sleek,
Black is the lone quaver moving my feet,
Black is the soot from a great roaring fire,
A broken down car with a hole in the tyre.
Black is a heavy feeling so deep inside,
When you feel moody and want to hide.
Black fall the scrapings from the burnt toast
Yet black is the colour that I love the most.
Session 5
Descriptive poetry
Students should work independently or with a
writing buddy.They should decide on a character
to be the focus of their writing.This character
should be completing a task at a specific time of
the day. He could be waking and struggling out of
bed; rushing to catch the bus to school; lying
around on a hot afternoon; baking a cake; eating an
ice-cream or learning to ride a bicycle.
Ask students to close their eyes so that they can
picture the experience more fully then ask them
independently to write down the words relating to
the action.The emphasis is on spontaneous
thoughts, opinions and a free flow of ideas. At this
stage students can talk to their writing buddies or
work independently drawing a picture of their
thoughts. It is important that when students
illustrate the poem, they try to visualise a
humorous possibility that is part of the verbal
description.
The poem could be written in the first or third
person, but students need to concentrate on
creating a picture in the reader’s mind of the action
and feelings. Meaning must be the focus and then
the shape of the poem should be created in the
image of the action. Later students can work in
inventive ways playing with words, phrases, sound
patterns and images to clarify the meaning. Ask
students to share these verbal and visual poems
with other students.
Session 6
Become an object
Ask students to imagine that they have become
inanimate objects.They should then write a poem
from the point of view of that object, for example,
write as a can of beans or a fork used to eat
dinner.What would they think about, feel and say?
What dialogue would they write as a desk chair
speaking to a computer or breakfast cereal speaking
to a bar of soap? Ask students to write their poem
using personification for other inanimate objects.
Session 7
Visualising and
describing
By using our sense of sight we are able to see the
shape, colour, size, movement as well as the texture
of an object. Our sight can also suggest
relationships, attitudes, moods and tone. Ask
students to choose an animal with which they are
familiar, for example a dog.They should picture
that dog in their mind’s eye. Suggest they close
their eyes. Ask them to write down phrases that
describe the dog’s colour, shape, movement and
different moods whether playful, hungry or sleepy.
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Suggest to students that they compare their ideas
with others in the class. Supply poetry books so
that students can find poetry on a similar topic and
contrast the way the poet has seen the dog
compared to their own vision.
Ask students to write about their animal and
visualise its reaction in a stressful situation, for
example when the animal is injured or there is a
fire in the room. Alternatively they can imagine
that they are a person with animal characteristics.
Ask them to create a character profile describing
the type of person, what they do for a living and
how they walk, talk and behave. Here is an
example written about a bat.
The bat’s eyes are aglow in his small little head,
His pulse beats so slowly we think him dead.
He flies in crazy loops, shrieking for half the night,
Resting in trees that face the pale, corner light.
Tonight the bat’s victim is the spotted brown mouse,
Living in the attic of that scary, old house.
But when the bat flutters against the torn screen
You feel afraid of what your eyes have seen.
For something is amiss or out of place,
When mammals with wings wear a mouse featured face.
Session 8
Ballad
Encourage students to attempt a
group ballad.The topics vary but
often tell of love, death, a battle or the
supernatural. It is important at the
prewriting stage that as a group the
tale is worked out from beginning to
end. Details about the characters and
setting are told through the dialogue,
generally in the first person to the
audience.The story is generally told in
four-line stanzas of regular length.
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One of the benefits of the ballad form is that
students can write one or two verses of the overall
tale. Remind students of the ballad’s structure that
is similar to the narrative with the addition of a
refrain acting as a commentary on events and
holding the poem together.The refrain generally
appears after each verse.The ballad’s structure is:
orientation—repeated refrain—complication—
repeated refrain—series of events—repeated
refrain—resolution—repeated refrain.
Students can create their own simple rhyming
form, for example abab or aabb.
Session 9
Sonnet
Students working in groups can attempt to write a
sonnet. It is important in the prewriting stage that
as a group the idea for the poem is worked out
from beginning to end.The fourteen line structure
should remain constant but students can write in
the form of the Shakespearian sonnet of three
quatrains and a couplet using the typical rhyming
pattern of abab cdcd efef gg or in a modern
variation of eight lines then six with a flexible
rhyming pattern.
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BLM 45
Poetry Writing Interview
Name:
Class:
Date:
Self-assessment e.g.What type of poetry do you enjoy writing or reading? Is there anything
you don’t like writing about or find difficult about writing poetry? How do you rate yourself as a
poet? Does the shape of the poem contribute to the meaning? What is the purpose of the poem?
Range and preferences e.g.What do you like writing poetry about and for what type of
audiences? What strategies do you use to make your poetry clear and interesting? What is the
tone of the poem?
Skills e.g. Are your ideas more important than accurate spelling and correct sentence structure?
How does the rhythm reinforce and create the meaning of the poem? If the poem rhymes does it
sound natural or contrived? Do word chains built through synonyms, antonyms and repetition
appear? Does the poem create sensory images? Does the imagination in the poem help you see
things in a new way? Do noun groups, adverbs and adverbial phrases appear in the poem?
Current projects e.g.What poetry are you writing now? What would you like to write?
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BLM 46
Poetry Writing Assessment
Name:
Class:
Date:
Task e.g. Rhyming, sensory or descriptive poetry; a ballad; a sonnet
Context e.g. Individual, pairs, group, teacher directed
ANALYSIS
Content e.g. Purpose, organisation of verses or format, awareness of audience
Skills e.g. Planning, drafting, editing, redrafting, spelling, punctuation, handwriting
Language study e.g. Appropriate sensory and descriptive language, word chains, noun
groups, adverbs and adverbial phrases, action verbs, metaphors for images
Teaching needs e.g. Attitude to task, teaching needed for further development
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BLM 47
Poetry Skills Checklist
Name:
Class:
Date/Level Date/Level Date/Level Date/Level
PURPOSE
Understands the purpose of poetry.
STRUCTURE
Writes a well-developed series of events
when appropriate.
Able to tie up ends in a clear resolution.
Varies the stages of a poem when writing
using different structures.
Recognises different forms of poetry.
TEXT ORGANISATION
Develops a well-sequenced plan for
poetry writing.
Uses stanzas appropriately.
Changes rhythm to indicate a new element
or different mood in the poem.
Able to sequence thoughts clearly.
Varies the point of view using different
perspectives within a poem.
LANGUAGE FEATURES
Uses noun groups to create clear images.
Uses adjectives to identify characters and to
write vivid images.
Uses verbs.
Uses adverbs and adverbial phrases to
indicate, where, when, how.
Uses word chains built from synonyms,
antonyms and repetition.
Uses first or third person and addresses
audience directly as you at times.
Uses sensory images for feelings and emotions.
Uses rhythm appropriate to subject matter.
Able to rhyme when appropriate
Makes use of figurative language.
Generally begins each line with a capital letter.
LEVEL CODES
1 Consistently evident
2 Sometimes evident
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3 Not evident
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