v poetry

MEMORY

To make language memorable, poets or singers… REPEAT SOUNDS CREATE VIVID IMAGES (*vivid = something exciting or surprising)

Written poetry…. To remember….. Your history, your family’s history, or the history of your community… BUT ALSO……..

Written poetry…. EXCITES…. SURPRISES….. MAKES THE WORLD NEW….

Poetry…. Ancient world Memory (story-telling) Modern world Memory (story-telling) Language that surprises and excites us

B O R I N G

Poetry takes us by surprise… Sad  s trange  VIVID Strange !

Some useful terms for poets… A line of poetry is called a verse. Several verses together make a stanza

How many verses in this stanza? I fell asleep in class today, as I was awfully bored. I laid my head on my desk and closed my eyes and snored I woke to find a piece of paper sticking to my face. I'd slobbered on my textbooks and my hair was a disgrace. (from poetryforkids.com)

Stanza = Unit (like a paragraph) A stanza is held together as a unit with similar or related SOUNDS and/or IMAGES

SOUND Some poems have end-rhymes—rhyming words at the end of verses: I woke to find a piece of paper sticking to my face. I'd slobbered on my textbooks and my hair was a disgrace. But sometimes poems do NOT have end-rhymes. This kind of poetry is called: free verse

IMAGE While some poems make repetitive sounds, ALL poems offer us surprising, exciting images An image = word picture; it can be made using –simple description –or metaphor

IMAGE SIMPLE DESCRIPTION: the bird sings beautifully METAPHOR: the bird sings a blue ribbon of air

METAPHOR = Comparison A metaphor compares two things: = La la..

Today’s Writing Project A one-stanza poem of free verse

To make your stanza hold together… We’re going to begin and end the poem with the same verse (the same line of poetry)

Langston Hughes

“Poem” I loved my friend He went away from me That’s all there is to say The poem ends Soft as it began I loved my friend

10 EASY STEPS 10 EASY STEPS This is a “recipe” approach to poetry writing. It is helpful for getting the hang of poetry- writing, but most poets don’t follow a recipe….

ONE Close your eyes and quiet your body and just let some images of SUMMER float up inside your head….. Maybe you think of a FAVORITE moment you remember from a vacation long ago…or maybe you think of a person or activity that you always do during the summer break …

TWO Open your eyes and write a simple sentence that describes what floated into your head. You can help yourself get going by finishing one of these sentences: I like….. I remember…..

What I wrote… I like driving down the highway because you can see all the lights…

THREE Now, you’re going to turn your sentence into a verse. First, draw a line under your sentence Then, DROP OUT anything in your sentence that isn’t essential.

For example…. I like driving down the highway because you can see the lights What could I drop out?

Just focus on one image… I like driving down the highway because you can see the lights. ______________________________________ Driving down the highway ( or ) See the lights

You have a verse! Actually, you’ve got 2 verses: your first and last. Mine is: Driving down the highway ******************** ***************** **************** Driving down the highway  Now, we’ve got to fill in the middle verses.

FOUR Come up with 3 NOUNS related to your special memory DON’T REPEAT ANY NOUN you already have in your first verse…. Remember: noun = name, place, thing, activity….

What I wrote down… Street House Lights

Ask a Friend If you draw a blank—and you can’t come up with any nouns—ask your pen pal or someone else at your table to help you brainstorm a little bit….

FIVE Add a TOUCH or SOUND word to the front of your noun (or nouns): Slick Street Quiet House Liquid Lights It doesn’t have to make sense!

SIX ADD a SIGHT or FEELING word to what you’ve written already: Black Slick Street Kind Quiet Houses Rolling Liquid Lights

SEVEN Put those middle verses inside our opening/closing verses: Driving down the highway Black Slick Street Kind Quiet Houses Rolling Liquid Lights Driving down the highway

EIGHT OPTIONAL: ADD some ACTION WORDS (VERBS) to your middle verses. They are written on PINK slips of paper. Driving down the highway Black Slick Streets JUMP Kind Quiet Houses SLIDE Rolling Liquid Lights FLICKER Driving down the highway

NINE: Let’s Add a Little Zing We’re going to ADD A METAPHOR (actually a “similie” which is a metaphor introduced by the word LIKE or AS…..) First TAKE AWAY the ACTION WORD in one of your middle verses… Add the word LIKE to the end of the verse For example: Kind Quiet Houses Like …

The metaphor I made… Kind quiet houses like snow falling on snow Remember: a metaphor is a comparison. My metaphor suggests that the kind, quiet houses are LIKE snow falling on snow

TEN: YOU’RE DONE! PUT IT ALL TOGETHER (add / delete as you desire): Driving down the highway black slick streets jump by kind, quiet houses like snow falling on snow-- Rolling liquid lights flicker Driving down the highway

Holiday Greeting Card Write your poem on the INSIDE flap of the card. Decorate the front of the card. Address the outside of the envelope to someone you want to make happy!!

Olvier’s poem Climbing in the presents Jolly, huge Christmas tree Pretty soft stockings Little oval gameboy Climbing in the presents

Bibliography Some of the ideas presented in this seminar were adapted from: Any Child Can Write Harvey S Weiner Oxford University Press 4 th ed Poem-making: ways to begin writing poetry Myra Cohn Livingston Harper Collins 1991 A Celebration of Bees: Helping Children Write Poetry Barbara Juster Esbensen Henry Holt 1995

Assignment…. Keep a word book…. Fill it with interesting…… –ACTION words –TOUCH words –FEELING words –SOUND words –SIGHT words