English Poetry Year 07, Term 3

Poem: a piece of writing often having a rhyme or rhythm which tells a story or describes a feeling Free Verse: poetry that does not have a regular pattern of rhythm or rhyme Literal Language: a way in which you express yourself by saying exactly what you mean Characters: the people or animals that act like people in poems that tell a story

Free Verse Written without rhyme or rhythm Is very conversational – sounds like someone talking with you Some do not use punctuation or capitalization, or other ways of breaking the rules of grammar. A more modern type of poetry Use your “senses” when writing

I Dream’d in a Dream I DREAM’D in a dream I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the whole of the rest of the earth, I dream’d that was the new city of Friends, Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust love, it led to rest, It was seen every hour n the actions of the men of that city, And in all their looks and words. by Walt Whitman I Dream’d in a Dream

A Snowy Day Cold A snowy day is white A snowy day is snowmen and snow angels A snowy day is sledding A snowy day is cold Cold Wear your coat, hat, gloves and scarf. See your breath. My teeth shiver. Listen to the wind blow. The cold smells like frozen snow.

Pancake Our class made a pancake with finely-ground flour and cheese and tomatoes wrapped in it. It had a crinkly edge with lots of little holes for the steam to escape. Then Billy knocked the whole lot over but our teacher rescued it Then we cooked it under a flame And put it in the fridge for later. It was a real work of art. It was our milled, filled, frilled, drilled, spilled, grilled, chilled, skilled, pancake.

List Poetry A “list poem” gets its name from the fact that most of the poem is made up of a long list of things. Two famous list poems are “Bleezer’s Ice Cream” by Jack Prelutsky and “Sick” by Shel Silverstein. Another of my favorite list poems is “An Everything Pizza” by Linda Knaus. You will even find some of my list poems on poetry4kids.com, such as “My Lunch” and “That Explains It!” These are not the only list poems, though. Many children’s poets have written fun list poems, and you can even write your own. This lesson will show you how.

That Explains It! I went to the doctor. He x-rayed my head. He stared for a moment and here’s what he said. “It looks like you’ve got a banana in there, an apple, an orange, a peach, and a pear. I also see something that looks like a shoe, a plate of spaghetti, some fake doggy doo, an airplane, an arrow, a barrel, a chair, a salmon, a camera, some old underwear, a penny, a pickle, a pencil, a pen, a hairy canary, a hammer, a hen, a whistle, a thistle, a missile, a duck, an icicle, bicycle, tricycle, truck. with all of the junk that you have in your head it’s kind of amazing you got out of bed. The good news, at least, is you shouldn’t feel pain. From what I can see here you don’t have a brain.”

Writing a list poem Notice that this poem begins with the four lines that set up the story, and ends with four lines that make it even funnier. You can use the same beginning and end, if you like, while putting your own list in the middle. For example, what would the doctor find in your head? Since this list has rhymes at the end of each line, you can start with a few rhymes, like this: house mouse cat hat

Once you’ve got a few rhymes, you can add as many items as you want, like this: “I also see something that looks like a house, a monkey, a meerkat, a mink, and a mouse, a laptop computer, a boat, and a cat, an old pair of glasses, a coat, and a hat.”

Start writing your own list poem If you prefer to write your own list poem from scratch, one easy way is to figure out what you’re going to make a list of. For example, you could make a grocery list, a list of things in your backpack, a list of your favorite sweets, a list of things you want for Christmas, and so on. Let’s try it with a list of sweets. First let’s try to think of candies and sweets that rhyme.

Writing your list poem Now that you’ve got some rhymes, put them into a list, adding a few more items to make the lines each about the same length: A half a dozen Nestle’s Crunch. A gallon of Hawaiian Punch. Some Cracker Jacks. A box of Dots. Some Pop Rocks and a jar of Zotz. Reese’s Pieces. Tootsie Pops. Hershey Kisses. Lemon drops. Candy Corn, Milk Duds, and Whoppers. Skittles, Snickers, and Gobstoppers.

Once your rhyming list is done, give it a beginning, an end, and a title and you’re all done. My Shopping List My mother said, “Go buy some bread,” but this is what I got instead. A half a dozen Nestle’s Crunch. A gallon of Hawaiian Punch. Some Cracker Jacks. A box of Dots. Some Pop Rocks and a jar of Zotz. Reese’s Pieces. Tootsie Pops. Hershey Kisses. Lemon drops. Candy Corn, Milk Duds, and Whoppers. Skittles, Snickers, and Gobstoppers. When mother needs things from the store She never sends me anymore.