Poetry Assignment
Attention Poets! Your Task is…To select one of the following topics:
Teenagers, Love or War and create a booklet of various poems
(different styles and forms) that will create a story structure for your
reader to interpret. Your poems can be funny, sad, reflective or
angry but must reflect an identifiable story, mood or tone and clear
message.
These poems must be compiled into a booklet with the
appropriate presentation to do your work justice! That would
include…front cover, contents page, headings or titles for all
poems and visual images or symbols that reflect the ideas in the
poems.
Poetic Devices
Try to demonstrate as many as possible in your
various poems:
















Imagery
Rhyme
Rhythm (various stanza patterns)
Symbolism
Metaphors or similes
Assonance or consonance
Onomatopoeia
Repetition
Alliteration
Hyperbole
Rhetoric
Allusion
Analogy
Anthropomorphism/Personification
Cacophony
Euphemism
Some suggested forms and samples to assist you:
Prose poetry
Refinishing
Wood has no future. It saves all scratches. At twenty-three I helped a woman sand her table down to
grain. I touched every inch of that table, used a belt-sander but took the corners by hand, not wanting to
burn through. I had it clean in days, then set to clearcoating. I could count my years in its surface as the
tiny histories of the people who had eaten there vanished.
When we lie together at night and I'm asleep, do I ever run my fingers down your back? I have the
sensation sometimes of running underneath the skin, like a splinter.
Chad Davidson
Haiku
Why is there no rain
the land cries out for water
but cannot shed tears?
Sonnet
Quatern
Tread Lightly…by HOLLY ARMER
Please tread lightly upon my heart
for the pieces break with such ease
Bringing painful tears to my eyes
As I fall down upon my knees
Holding the softest part of me
Please tread lightly upon my heart
For words can cut so easily
Ripping my perfect world apart
Divulging my innermost soul
All I shall ever ask of thee
Please tread lightly upon my heart
For you could be my destiny
So take my hand and all of me
We'll begin a triumphant start
Wandering through eternity
Please tread lightly upon my heart
Ode
Ode to Tomatoes
by, Pablo Neruda
The street
filled with tomatoes,
midday,
summer,
light is
halved
like
a
tomato,
its juice
runs
through the streets.
In December,
unabated,
the tomato
invades
the kitchen,
it enters at lunchtime,
takes
its ease
on countertops,
among glasses,
butter dishes,
blue saltcellars.
It sheds
its own light,
benign majesty.
Unfortunately, we must
murder it:
the knife
sinks
into living flesh,
red
viscera
a cool
sun,
profound,
inexhaustible,
populates the salads
of Chile,
happily, it is wed
to the clear onion,
and to celebrate the union
we
pour
oil,
essential
child of the olive,
onto its halved hemispheres,
pepper
adds
its fragrance,
salt, its magnetism;
it is the wedding
of the day,
parsley
hoists
its flag,
potatoes
bubble vigorously,
the aroma
of the roast
knocks
at the door,
it's time!
come on!
and, on
the table, at the midpoint
of summer,
the tomato,
star of earth, recurrent
and fertile
star,
displays
its convolutions,
its canals,
its remarkable amplitude
and abundance,
no pit,
no husk,
no leaves or thorns,
the tomato offers
its gift
of fiery colour
and cool completeness.
Cinquain
Sunshine by Lori Martin
sunshine
warm on my face
tilted to catch spring breeze
refreshing, uplifting after
winter
winter
ice drapes on roofs
frigid air, frozen breath
car won't start, cloaked people scurry
cranky
cranky
suffocating
winter's chill seizes heart
seasonal depression's cure is
sunshine
Enclosed Triplet
Feelings by Divena Collins
How would we know if our feelings are low
So low that teardrops stain porcelain faces
When faces are painted a warm loving glow
Which glows through when a lover embraces
If his embraces are few how may we know
Shall love flow when a tender heart races.
How can it be when true love hurts so much
So much it can break in two loving hearts
When hearts may respond to a sensual touch.
For touch prevents them from falling apart
Playing a part of true lovers games as such
To stop love from hurting is a work of art.
It could be that love came much too late
That it was never to be for you and me
For the love we had then was our fate.
VH
H
M
L
VL
15 creative poems of
varying styles and
forms that compile into
a story with a structure
Extensive vocabulary
chosen to contribute to
the specificity,
abstraction and style of
poems.
Between 10 – 15
poems of varying
forms that compile
into a story structure
Good vocabulary
chosen to contribute
to the specificity,
abstraction and style
of poems.
8 – 10 poems of
varying forms that
suggest a story
5 – 7 poems of
varying forms and
styles
5 or less poems of
only two basic styles
Some choice of
vocabulary that
creates a specific
idea or style within
the poems.
Limited choice of
vocabulary chosen,
so there is little
originality or style
within the poems.
Sophisticated examples
of poetic devices or
figurative language
examples used to
create certain meaning
or effects.
Many examples of
poetic devices or
figurative language
examples used to
create certain
meaning or effects.
A few good examples
of poetic devices or
figurative language
examples used to
create certain
meaning or effects
Poems are excellent
text samples based on
the ideas, features and
structures of the poems
studied, that meet the
demands of a specific
purpose (for a specific
effect).
Easily interprets the
stated and implied
meanings in poems
and can use detailed
evidence to support or
challenge different
perspectives.
Can use voice and
language conventions
to suit the situation
(create a mood or read
as intended). Can
modulate voice or use
sound or images for
specific effects.
Poems are good text
samples based on the
ideas, features and
structures of the
poems studied, that
meet the demands of
a specific purpose
(for a specific effect).
Interprets the stated
and implied meanings
in poems and can use
evidence to support
or challenge different
perspectives.
Some good
examples of poetic
devices or figurative
language examples
used to create
certain meaning or
effects
Some good poem
samples based on
the ideas, features
and structures of
the poems studied,
that meet the
demands of
purpose (for effect).
Interprets most
implied meanings in
poems and can use
limited evidence to
support a
perspective or
challenge an idea.
Uses some spoken
language
techniques for
reading or
presenting spoken
information.
Attempts to engage
or create a mood.
Very basic
vocabulary or
description in the
poems created. The
ideas have no
defined style.
A few basic
examples of poetic
devices or figurative
language examples
used to create
certain meaning or
effects
A few poems that
show some structure
or limited ideas that
sometimes meet the
demands of purpose
(for a specific
effect).
Uses good voice and
language conventions
to suit the situation
(create a tone or read
with expression). Can
modulate voice or use
some techniques to
engage.
A few poems that
show ideas, features
or some structure of
the poems needed to
meet the demands of
purpose (for a
specific effect).
Interprets some
meaning from poems
but only uses limited
evidence to support a
perspective.
Cannot interpret
meaning from
poems and needs
support to develop
or see an alternative
perspective.
Uses limited spoken
language techniques
for reading or
presenting
information. Has
restricted skills in
engaging an
audience.
Very weak spoken
language skills used
for presentations,
only reads and
cannot effectively
engage an
audience.
Name:
Poetry Assessment Result:
Comments:
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Student Feedback:
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________