Poetry
“Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that
burn”. ~Thomas Gray
Types of Poetry
The only problem
with Haiku is that you just
get started and then
~Roger McGough
Types of Poetry
ABC
Ballad
Blank Verse
Canzone
Epigram
Cinquain
Couplet
Elegy
Epic
Epitaph
Free Verse
Haiku
Limerick
Name
Narrative
Ode
Pastoral
Quatrain
Senryu
Tanka
Shakespearean
Sonnet
Petrarchan
Sonnet
Idyll
Lay
Verse
Haiku
A Japenese poem composed of three unrhymed lines
of five, seven, and five syllables
Ex:
The only problem
with Haiku is that you just
get started and then
I am first with five
Then seven in the middle Five again
to end.
Name Poem
E - exciting
N- never boring
G- great fun
L- language
I- interesting
S- silly
H- hilarious
C- cheerful
L- lazy
A- alike
S- smiling
S- sweet
Couplet
A couplet is a pair of lines of poetry that are
usually rhymed.
Ex: A Winter Scene
Drifting snow, so sweet, so silent- but echos in the dark blue sky
The trees, so dark, are now bright with the snow's lullaby
They sway to the whisper of the sweet wintry wind
While the animals hide and huddle, feeling cold and chagrined
The snow stops falling, and there is hardly a sound
Save the wind making the trees push the snow on the ground
The sparkle of the snow reflects the light from the moon
and the trees eat it up with a light silver spoon
No footprints exist in the pure land of sparkly white
but the prints of a doe who passes too quickly for sight
The clouds come back in- slowly, they creep in
Whispering to the trees that another snowfall will begin
Cinquain
A poem with five lines and follows this pattern:
Line1: A noun
Line2: Two adjectives
Line 3: Three -ing words
Line 4: A phrase
Line 5: Another word for the noun
Ex:
Spaghetti
Messy, spicy
Slurping, sliding, falling
Between my plate and mouth
Delicious
Now its your turn!
• In your binder practice writing a haiku, name, couplet,
and cinquain poem.
• When finished pair with a partner and share.
• Try giving your partner a theme for a poem and have
them write one of the types you have practiced using the
theme.
Limerick
A short, funny poem consisting of 5 lines. Lines 1, 2 and 5 rhyme with each
other and lines 3 and four rhyme with each other.
Ex:
'Tis a favourite project of mine,
A new value of pi to assign.
I would fix it at 3,
For it's simpler, you see,
Than 3 point 1 4 1 5 9
Ode
An ode is a poem that is written for an occasion
or on a particular subject. An ode is a poem in praise of
a person, place or object that is usually identified in the
title. It describes a scene, focuses on a problem or a
situation and arrives at a conclusion that returns to the
original scene or statement. Originally, the ode was a
serious poetic form, but modern odes often are written
in praise of the ordinary.
Ode
Mara Mori brought me
a pair of socks
which she knitted herself
with her sheepherder's hands,
two socks as soft as rabbits.
I slipped my feet into them
as if they were two cases
knitted with threads of twilight and goatskin,
Violent socks,
my feet were two fish made of wool,
two long sharks
sea blue, shot through
by one golden thread,
two immense blackbirds,
two cannons,
my feet were honoured in this way
by these heavenly socks.
They were so handsome for the first time
my feet seemed to me unacceptable
like two decrepit firemen,
firemen unworthy of that woven fire,
of those glowing socks.
Nevertheless, I resisted the sharp temptation
to save them somewhere as schoolboys
keep fireflies,
as learned men collect
sacred texts,
I resisted the mad impulse to put them
in a golden cage and each day give them
birdseed and pieces of pink melon.
Like explorers in the jungle
who hand over the very rare green deer
to the spit and eat it with remorse,
I stretched out my feet and pulled on
the magnificent socks and then my shoes.
The moral of my ode is this:
beauty is twice beauty
and what is good is doubly good
when it is a matter of two socks
made of wool in winter.
- Pablo Neruda “Ode to My Socks”
ABC Poem
An ABC poem has a series of lines that create a mood,
picture, or feeling. Lines are made up of words and phrases.
The first word of line 1 begins with an A, the first word of line 2
begins with a B etc.
Ex:
A lthough things are not perfect
B ecause of trial or pain
C ontinue in thanksgiving
D o not begin to blame
E ven when the times are hard
F ierce winds are bound to blow
Elegy
An Elegy is a sad and thoughtful poem
lamenting the death of a person. Ex:
I do not understand as to why the people are weeping, crying,
mourning and to exhibit their sympathy to match or exceed with the
compassion of other in the same pursuit, shedding the tears for a
poet who died writing poems on everything which even the sun
could not see or imagine, but could not spell a few words for whom
he lived, he tried everything possible, everything impossible
by making it possible, and died and before the last collapse
entered the endeavour of writing poetry,
Free Verse
Free verse does not have a set pattern of rhyme or rhythm. There are no rules
about line length in free verse. Anything and everything can be the topic of a free
verse lyrical poem. The poem can tell a story, describe a person, animal, feeling or
object. They can serious, sad, funny or educational. What ever subject that
appeals to the poet can end up in free verse.
Ex:
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens
Epitaph
An epitaph is a commemorative inscription on
a tomb or mortuary monument written in
praise, or reflecting the life, of a deceased
person.
Ex:
To save your world you asked this man to die:
Would this man, could he see you now, ask why?
RIP
Now it’s your turn…
Complete a rough copy for all of the poems you have read about
during the last few classes. You should have one for each form of
poetry listed below.
ABC
Haiku
Name
Limerick
Epitaph
Free Verse
Cinquain
Couplet
Ode
Elegy
*submit a good copy (For Wed) for three of the poems you have tried.
Poetic Devices
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A poet is limited in the materials he can use in creating his works:
all he has are words to express his ideas and feelings.
The words must sound right to the listener,
they must have meaning to the reader,
they must be arranged in a relationship and placed on the page in
ways that are easy to follow and assist the reader in their
understanding,
they must probe the depths of human thought, emotion, and
empathy, while appearing simple, self-contained, and unpretentious.