Writing Poetry In Response to Art

Directions Select one of the following images. Try and focus on the things in the painting as if they were words in a foreign language you have to make sense of.

OR You can choose to write in the first person Write in the third person, standing back, telling the story.

Be as fresh and original as you can and be alert for any cliched or too easy interpretations.

Observe the images closely. Select the image you want to focus on. Answer the questions found after the paintings. You can use these to help you write your poem.

Painter: Rosseau

Painter: Caspar David Friedrich

Painter: Turner

Indian minature

Painter: El Greco

Painter: Millais

Adriaen van de Venne Dutch, 1615 Oil on panel

Painter: Picasso

Painter: Caspar David Friedrich

Painter: Homer Painting: Homer

Painter: Salvador Dali

Painter: Renoir Painter: Renoir

Japanese Wood block from 1903

Water Lilies Monet

Painter: Virginia Olson

John Singer Sargent

Statements to help you create lines while observing the painting Describe the scene using at least three of your five senses. (Develop a word bank on a separate piece of paper and use it as you write.) Use a simile to describe something in the painting. Select something in the painting. Use personification to describe it or what it is doing.

4. What other things do you associate with this image/scene-- things, experiences or places, etc., it reminds you of? Finish this sentence: This isn’t...... Create a line of dialogue that someone in the painting is thinking or might say or that an object in the painting might be saying if it could speak.

The most important thing about this image is…(finish the statement The most important thing about this image is…(finish the statement.) If this were a sound, what would it be? Name it. 8. What is the focus of the painting, the heart of what it is showing you about its subject? Use a metaphor to describe it.

Making the Poem. Focus on one idea or feeling. Take the lines you made and rearrange them in a way that makes sense. Add any necessary connecting words or ideas. Structure Possibilities: Start with I/She/He Start with an action or a verb... Begin or end with a line of dialogue Use sections/stanzas Use two voices or use contrasts Optional: Share your lines with a partner, rearrange your lines or combine them and make a poem together.

Other 0ptions for Writing a Poem About Art Observe the following sculptures. Select one. Choose one of the poetry form options to make a poem in response to the sculpture piece. Create your own poetry form in response to the art piece using poetry elements we learned about in class.

a train that pushes every half second Example: In my heart there is a a train that pushes every half second and it pushes because it wants to carry away all evil and bring in the new from where there is lost love. It is red in color. That which is evil in me I don't look at. My heart will not stop until the love is finished living and because of that I'm not going to fear. And I ask myself, what does the evil want from me. Elizabeth Rosales Watsonville, California, USA