Rediscovery/Diction Poem: The last poetry assignment will focus on the use of sound
devices and connotation. As you write (or edit) your poem, consider your word choice
carefully. At the bottom of your page, explain 3 choices you made:
 Point out one spot where you used alliteration or assonance and explain why.
 Point out one spot where you used a particular word for its euphony or
cacophony and explain why.
 Point out one spot where you used a particular word for its connotation, and give
an example of a synonym that wouldn’t have been as good.
Read the model poem, “Voices,” by Naomi Shihab Nye. Following the format of
“Voices,” write a poem about someone you have known for awhile but whom you have
recently rediscovered. This person might have changed, you may have learned
something about this person, or your perceptions may have changed as you got older.
Start with a specific sensory detail that reminds you of this person. Try not to use
imagery as the first detail. Instead, think of the smell of the cigars your grandpa smokes
or the taste of the candies your aunt used to sneak you before dinner. Remember what
the grass felt like under your feet when you would run around in the yard with your
childhood neighbor or what the car door sounded like when your best friend from middle
school moved away.
1st stanza: describe a memory of someone, beginning with a sensory detail
2nd stanza: include another memory of the way the person was, or the way you
perceived them to be
rd
3 stanza: how could you have known… (explain what you realized)
4th stanza: explain your reaction to this realization
-ORRead the model poem, “Locking Yourself Out and Trying to Get Back In,” by Raymond
Carver. Write a poem that offers an extended metaphor for a way that you might
examine your life. Maybe it’s an object or scene that represents your life, or maybe it’s a
situation, or a combination of these, as in Carver’s case. You can hint that this is a
metaphor for a life in the poem, as he does, or you could use your title to put the reader
on the right path.