Writing Lab
Forms of Poetry
• A limerick is a fun poem that has five lines.
Lines one, two and five have three strong
downbeats, and the ends rhyme. Lines three
and four have two strong downbeats and the
ends rhyme
There once was a boy named O’Toole
Who didn’t act smart when at school.
He tried to read books
But got dirty looks
And he grew up to be quite a fool.
Anna Maria from France
Hated to sing and to dance
But she boogied one day
What an awful display
When her neighbor set fire to her pants!
11.
My friend plays guitar,
He played a gig in a bar.
He did quite bad,
He got so sad
And now he lives in his car.
I root for a team named Philly,
Who made the Dodgers look silly.
They have bigger guns
Which score more runs
And the Dodgers wilted like lilies.
Assignment: Please type
• Write a Limerick. A Limerick is a
fun poem that has five lines. Lines
one, two and five have three
strong downbeats, and the ends
rhyme. Lines three and four have
two strong downbeats and the
ends rhyme.
• Metaphor – direct comparison
without using the words ‘like’ or
‘as’
Metaphor
“The greater part of untested men appeared
quiet and absorbed. They were going to look
at the war, the red animal- the bloodswollen god.”
The Red Badge of CourageStephen Crane
Metaphor for a Family
My family is a medicine chest:
Dad is the super-sized band aid, strong and powerful
but not always effective in a crisis.
Mom is the middle-sized tweezers,
which picks and pokes and pinches.
David is the single small aspirin on the third shelf,
sometimes ignored.
Muffin, the sheep dog, is a round cotton ball, stained
and dirty, that pops off the shelf and bounces in my
way as I open the door.
And I am the gauze which hold us all together with
my love.
By: Belinda
Fifth of July
• My family is an expired firecracker set off by the blowtorch of
divorce. We lay scattered in many directions.
My father is the wick, badly burnt but still glowing softly.
My mother is the blackened paper fluttering down,
blowing this way and that, unsure where to land.
My sister is the fallen, colorful parachute,
lying in a tangled knot, unable to see the beauty she
holds.
My brother is the fresh, untouched powder that
was protected from the flame. And I,
I am the singed, outside papers, curled away
from everything, silently cursing the blowtorch.
Your turn—
Write a poem about your writing lab family
describing them using metaphors. Your
poem should be an extended metaphor.
My writing lab family is a (your metaphor)
_____________is (metaphor)
______________is (metaphor)
I am (metaphor)
Note: You may also use your family if you
choose.
Please type poems
• Both will be due on Tuesday.