© Boardworks Ltd 2006 1 of 17 Forms of Poetry Year 8 Poetry © Boardworks Ltd 20061 of 17...

© Boardworks Ltd 20061 of 17

Forms of PoetryYear 8 Poetry


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Learning objectives

In this unit you will…

Become acquainted with different forms of poetry, namely haikus, limericks and sonnets

Learn the defining features of each kind, and the moods which they commonly evoke

Understand the different rhyme schemes

Put this knowledge into practice by writing your own haikus, limericks and sonnets



How many different forms of poetry can you think of?

Poetry


Poetic forms


Haiku poems come from Japan.

Haikus usually have simple themes and images.

Haikus are short poems, usually seventeen syllables long:

the first and third lines contain five syllables the second line contains seven syllables.

Haiku

Here’s a haiku to help you remember the rules of haikus:

Japanese haikus

Have seventeen syllables:

Five, seven and five.


Flourishing despite

Your rough inconstant climate,

I shake but am still.

Count the syllables. Do these poems conform to the

rules of haikus?

Haikus often capture a feeling, a perception or a snapshot of something. Although brief, they can often provoke deep thought.

Haiku

The graveyard stands still

A moment is a lifetime

People pass beyond

Your name is on the

Internet under those dead –

Resting at St Mark’s.


Now read this poem:

How does Wendy Cope break the usual conventions of the haiku?

Strugnell’s Haiku

November evening;The moon is up, rooks settle,The pubs are open.

Wendy Cope

The opening to the poem creates an image of

an autumn evening.

The part about the pub surprises us because this is not what we expect

the poet to be thinking about.

Haiku


Try writing your own haiku.

Choose a simple idea:

Remember, your haiku might capture:

Haiku

a scenea thoughtan atmospherea moment.

a leafa puddlea clouda time of day/year.


Limerick


A limerick is a fun, comic type of poem. Read and listen to these examples and see if you can make a list of the features of a limerick.

There was a fat lady from KentWho tried to give up cakes for LentBut though she did try itShe just could not dietSo back to the cream buns she went!

There once was a girl from Pinner,Who ate spiders with chips for her dinner.They were tricky to catch,She was really no match,And by Christmas was very much thinner.

Limerick


Limericks are usually five lines in length.

Limericks normally have a rhyme scheme of a,a,b,b,a and follow a regular rhythm.

Limericks often begin with similar lines such as:

There once was a man from…There was a young lady from…

There is a sing-song quality to limericks that make them suitable for light-hearted, funny ideas.

Limerick

A young limerick-writer called SueDidn’t know what she should doShe’d written a lineBut couldn’t think of one rhyme,So she turned it into a haiku.


Now have a go at writing your own limerick.Remember to use the correct rhyme scheme and rhythm.

Here are some starters you might try:

There was a young man from Dundee …

A young student who truanted school …

A teacher who didn’t like teaching …

Or you could write a limerick about a celebrity!

Limerick


Sonnet

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate:Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer's lease hath all too short a date:Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimm'd:And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd.But thy eternal summer shall not fadeNor lose possession of that fair thou owest:Nor shall death brag thou wanderest in his shade,When in eternal lines to time thou growest:So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Press the play button to hear the sonnet read.


Shakespeare wrote lots of sonnets, which were particularly popular in the Jacobean and Elizabethan eras.

Sonnet

A sonnet is a lyric poem of fourteen lines in iambic pentameter, linked by a pre-set rhyme scheme.

Iambic: a light syllable followed by a stressed syllable, e.g.:

‘She walks in beauty, like the night’ (Byron)

Pentameter: indicates the number of ‘feet’ in the line, which is five iambs (ten syllables), e.g.:

‘I wish I could remember that first day’ (Christina Rossetti)

Often sonnets have love as their theme.

What do you think an iambic rhythm is called when it has four iambs instead of five?

1 2 3 4 5


Sonnet


Sonnet

Now try writing your own sonnet!

This will probably be a lot more difficult than writing a haiku or a limerick because its rhyme scheme and its metre are much more complicated.

Metre, or meter, is another word for rhythm. In sonnets, the metre consists of iambic pentameter.

Remember:

Rhyme scheme:

Metre:

Lines:

Iambic pentameter

a b a b c d c d e f e f g g

14


Some forms of poetry lend themselves to some subjects more easily than others.

Could you write a haiku about your school?Or a limerick about a water droplet on a blade of grass?Could a sonnet be funny?

Choose one of the forms of poetry we have looked at and write a poem using this picture for inspiration.

Did other students choose the same

poetic form? Compare your

poem with others in your class.

Activity

© Boardworks Ltd 2006 1 of 17 Forms of Poetry Year 8 Poetry © Boardworks Ltd 20061 of 17...

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