Patterns in Poetry

Lesson Aims To revise adjectives To read some pattern poems and learn how to work out the pattern of a poem To write a poem that follows a pattern

Starter: Revision of Adjectives What is an adjective? –A word used to describe a noun (person place or thing) As a class, think of some adjectives to describe your classroom, or the person sitting next to you!

Poets use patterns to give their poems an interesting shape! Hair I like hair that is healthy, wavy, shiny, tidy I brush mine with care, Hair. Ants I like that ants that are tiny, shiny, lazy, crazy, climbing up your pants, ants! What sort of words are these? Read these poems with your teacher

Work out the Pattern! I like hair that is healthy, wavy, shiny, tidy I brush mine with care, Hair.. I like + the subject of the poem A sentence about the subject Repeat the subject FourAdjectives TIP! For an extra challenge, try to make the last two lines rhyme!

Make a class poem! Sweets I like

Now write your own poem using this pattern! Here is a list of possible subjects for your poem. Choose one, or invent one of your own. CheeseFishSpiders SchoolTreesDogs BabiesTeachersLessons BrothersCloudsClothes You could even change the “I like” part to “I hate”!!

Lesson Aims To review pattern poems To write another poem following a special pattern To write a poem in the shape of a local monument

Can you work out the pattern of this poem? School I love break time I hate the bell I love teachers I hate ones who yell I love green slips I hate white ones though I love my weekends I hate school so!

Write a class poem that follows the pattern. (about any topic) I like I hate I like I hate I like I hate

Now write a poem of your own about what you like and hate about school! Make sure you follow the pattern that you have learned. When you have finished, read your poem out to a partner. You will also share your poem with your friends in Liverpool or Kuwait. Do you think you will have the same opinions? What do you think going to school would be like in Liverpool? in Kuwait?

Lesson Aims To read a pyramid poem To write a pyramid poem of your own To write a poem in the shape of a building or monument from your culture

Finding Patterns in Poetry Discuss in small groups the poem you found on the internet for homework. What sort of pattern does it use? Share the poem and read it through with your class. Discuss any ‘figures of speech’ it may use (eg. Rhyme, alliteration, simile, metaphor) with the class.

Pyramid Poem Can you work out the pattern of this poem? Pyramids standing tall great ancient monoliths under bright burning sun. What wonders have you seen? Pyramid poems are not just about pyramids! They are pyramid-shaped!

Write your own poem in the shape of a pyramid! Pick a subject. Follow this pattern: End your poem with a question.

Now write a poem in the shape of a memorable building or monument in your city. Think carefully about the words you use in your poem. You may want to include: –A description of the building –Your feelings when you look at it –The importance it has for your city or culture

Lesson Aims To read poems that are written in a particular shape To see how the shape of a poem can add to its meaning

Making picture poems. Poets can write the words of a poem in a special shape. The shape they choose can help to express their idea. Look at this shape. What subject might suit this shape?

Here is Alan Riddell’s poem in which he put the words in a special shape. Do you think the shape suits the subject of the poem?

Here is a poem about snails. What shape could the poet use to add interest to his poem? Slippery, slimy slugs and snails slide along on silvery trails

This is how the poet added shape to her poem!

What do you notice about the words in the poem? Did you see that many of the words in the poem start with the same letter? The poet has done this on purpose to make her poem more interesting. This technique is very popular with poets. It is called an ALLITERATION.

Here is a shape poem by a famous poet, Alfred Lord Tennyson He clasps the crag with crooked hands; close to the sun in lonely lands, Ringed with the azure world he stands. The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls He watches from his mountain walls, And like a thunderbolt, he falls. What do you think the poem is about? Use the words and the shape to help you figure it out. Hint: the picture is in profile. Hint: The poem is about an animal. Hint: Imagine the poem as a picture!

The Eagle

Lesson Aim To research a foreign culture using books and the internet

Research Research the culture of your partner school: –Think about the religion, traditional dress, food –Think of an object that represents the culture that you have researched

Lesson Aim To write a poem in a shape that represents the culture you have researched

Now write a picture poem of your own! Use the object that you thought of. Write a few interesting sentences about the culture you researched. Try to use an alliteration, or other figures of speech that you have learned (like similes, metaphors etc). Now, put your sentence into the shape of the object you chose.

Let’s Review You have read poems that follow a specified pattern. Which one was your favourite? You have written pattern poems of your own. Which poem did you find easiest to write? Why? What was the most interesting thing that you learned about another culture through your research? Did you learn anything that surprised you? What is an alliteration? Can you give an example? Do you know any other figures of speech?