Poetry is multi-dimensional

It is

Intellectual

Sensual [appeals to the senses]

Emotional

Imaginative

Poetry’s distinctive elements

Rhythm – flows like a melody and has movement

Melody – sweet or agreeable succession or arrangement of sounds

Imagery – mental picture of something not actually present

Form – shape; a poem of a tree written in the shape of a tree

Poetry in the Classroom…

Nursery Rhymes – stories, riddles, lullabies

Folksongs – poems set to music

Ballads – stories set to music

Couplet – a pair of rhyming lines

Haiku – Japanese form of writing poetry

Free Verse – lacks rhyme and pattern

Cinquains – gradually increasing syllables in each line. Last line has two syllables

Limericks – Lines 1, 2 and 4 rhyme. 3 and 5 rhyme

More types of poetry

Poems set to music – folk songs, such as Skip to My Lou

Free verse – lacks rhyme and has less predictable rhythm

List poems – a list of your favorite excuses/complaints, animals, etc.

Concrete poetry – words and phrases arranged on paper to capture and extend the meaning; written in the shape of the subject

Diamante – poem in the shape of a diamond; seven lines

Clerihew – funny poems about specific people [teachers, parents]; four lines long

Acrostic – a word written vertically; write a descriptive phrase using the first letter of each line.

Nursery Rhymes . . .

We have all grown up with a well-known set of rhymes. Can you give me some examples?

A little history . . .

Rhymes were a means used by the locals to gossip about politics in general and the royals in particular.

Did You Know? Humpty Dumpty is King Richard III.

The farmer’s wife in the Three Blind Mice is Queen Mary I.

Baa Baa Black sheep refers to the tax laws in Britain.

Jack Sprat is none other than King Charles I.

The old woman who lived in a shoe was the mighty British Empire. Her many children were the umpteen colonies.

Do You Find Any Similarities?

Did You Know?Mary, Mary, quite contrary,

How does your garden grow?

With silver bells and cockle shells

And pretty maids all in a row.

This is a protestant condemnation of Mary Queen of Scots. Protestants could not speak openly against the Queen without retribution so they spoke in more or less a code to wit.

Mary, Mary . . .Mary, Mary, quite contrary,Mary is a disagreeable Catholic tyrant.

How does your garden grow? The garden referred to is filled with the graves of protestant

martyrs/opponents of the Queen and the growing number of such victims under her oppressive rule.

With silver bells and cockle shellsInstruments of torture such as thumbscrews and iron masks

And pretty maids all in a row. Instruments like the guillotine known as “maids”

to behead enemies

Who was Mother Goose? An 8th century

noblewoman by the name of Bertrada II of Laon

Wife of Pepin the Short Mother of

Charlemagne Patroness of children Nicknamed Queen

Goosefoot

History of Ma Mere L’oye Mother Goose began as folk stories

told to children.

French peasants had created the mythical Mother Goose, who told charming stories to children.

Giambattista Basile printed a collection of stories – The Pentamerone (1637).

The first collection to bear the name “Mother Goose,” was brought out by Charles Perrault (1697).

History of Ma Mere L’oye The English translation of Perrault’s book did not do well.

The First American version was published in 1787, titled Mother Goose’s Melody or Sonnets for the Cradle.

The American version included modern favorites like Jack and Jill and Tommy Tucker.

Folk songs and ballads

Narrative poetry [tells a story] set to music Tom Dooley

Hang down your head Tom Dooley,

Hang down your head and cry

Hang down your head Tom Dooley,

Poor boy you're bound to die.

Couplets A pair of lines that are usually rhymed

"If the phone rings,

hope then still clings.“

A child drifted off to sleep

After she counted sheep.

Haiku

A poetic form and a type of poetry from the Japanese culture. Many themes include nature, feelings, or experiences. The most common form for Haiku is three short lines. A Haiku must "paint" a mental image in the reader's mind.  

A RainbowDonna Brock

 Curving up, then down.

 Meeting blue sky and green earth

 Melding sun and rain.

Free verse

Lacks rhyme and has less predictable rhythm

with her tail and I was helping trying hard to swat flies with my hand. That was when I discovered how

reins

are not like steering wheels, for no matter which way I turned or pulled she would only go to the

barn. Nesbitt

I never rode a horse before, until that

sweltering

August day riding through the New England

woods

the horse was swatting

flies

FIRST HORSEBACK RIDE

Cinquain Five lines gradually increasing number of syllables in

each line until the last line returns to two syllables.

trianglespointy edges

revolving, rotating, anglingTriangles are all different.

180°

Limerick Some people say that the limerick was invented by

soldiers returning from France to the Irish town of Limerick in the 1700's. A limerick must be funny!

A limerick must tell a story.

A limerick must have 5 lines.

A limerick must have a rhyme scheme of aa bb a. 

A limerick has a specific rhythm.

Limericks are meant to be funny. They often contain hyperbole, onomatopoeia, idioms, puns, and other figurative devices.

The last line of a good limerick contains the PUNCH LINE or "heart of the joke."

Limerick

Imagine a skunk who proposes,To his true love, surrounded by roses.

It may turn out just fine,When she falls for his line,

But I wonder if flowers have noses?

List poems

A good list poem creates a rhythm in both structure and content and then breaks that rhythmic pattern with an item that is surprising.

My car is my home, with a sleeping bag and pillowin the trunk, a few changes of clothes, dirty socks and two pairs of shoesstuffed behind the seat,a toothbrush, toothpaste, and an extra razor in the glove box. Andthere is a little fox puppet in the back window in case I get lonely.

MY CAR

My car is my office,with laptop and printer and files and cell phone and paper clips scattered on the floor.

Concrete poetry

A concrete poem is one that takes the shape of the object it describes.

Diamante A diamante is arranged in a diamond pattern

with 7 lines that describes a specific subject, and then the opposite of that same subject.

Dreams

wonderful, happy

enjoying, amazing, fascinating

rainbows, flowers, dragons, monsters

terrifying, horrifying, shocking

scary, horrible

nightmares

Clerihew Clerihews are funny poems you write about specific

people. They are four lines long. The first and second lines rhyme with each other, and

the third and fourth lines rhyme with each other.

Our art teacher, Mr. Shaw, Really knows how to draw.But his awful paintings Have caused many faintings.

Acrostics

A poem in which special letters spell another word.

Panthers growl,Orioles sing, Eagles soar, Monkeys swing. See? 

Devoted,  On 

Guard. 

back-end hello-- 

wagging.

Links for Teachers

http://www.poetry4kids.com/categorieshttp://www.poetry4kids.com/index.phphttp://www.poetry4kids.com/modules.php?name=Web_Links&l_op=viewlink&cid=1http://www.poetry4kids.com/modules.php?name=Web_Links&l_op=viewlink&cid=2http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/poeform.htmhttp://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/poetry/http://www.onlinepoetryclassroom.org/http://www.webenglishteacher.com/poetry.htmlhttp://www.kinderplanet.com/music.htmhttp://www.barkingspiderspoetry.com/http://www.columbia.edu/itc/eacp/asiasite/topics/index.html?

topic=Haiku+subtopic=Intro+mediatype=Videohttp://www.poetryzone.ndirect.co.uk/teacher.htmhttp://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Lake/4713/tomdooley.html