1. Poetry

2. What is poetry?
Poetry is using words in a way that helps us see, feel, and hear them
Poetry bounces off your tongue, tickles your ears, and makes you think
Poetry usually has a rhythm or flow
There are many types of poetry and many types of poetic devices, or tools, that poets use
There are not as many rules in poetry as there are in regular writings.

3. The Rainbow ~Christina Rossetti
Read the following, and look for elements that make it different from regular writing you are use to seeing. Look for the tone of the poem (how the author uses words to express feeling), and for any unique tools or devices used.
The Rainbow
~Christina Rossetti
Boats sail on the rivers, And ships sail on the seas; But clouds that sail across the sky Are prettier than these.
There are bridges on the rivers, As pretty as you please; But the bow that bridges heaven, And overtops the trees, And builds a road from earth to sky, Is prettier far than these.

4. Poems can be long and short, happy or sad…
“Without saying the word of good-by"
Why I have today, although I shed tears for good-by Although I wave my hand again and again

5. Some poetry rhymes..but not always
Poetry has a rhythm usually
Poets use words to convey the tone of their writing (happy, sad, silly, excited).
Poetry sometimes uses punctuation and correct grammar, but a lot of times it does not

6. Snow a crystal touch on a baby’s face four feet of white across a frozen land purple moon shadows under pines diamonds on tree limbs in the morning sun weapons for school boys walls in the school yard my tracks across a field and those of a hare a hundred telephone poles along my way to school After deep winter’s darkness spring lake and summer field acres of riches the black earth dust dust and yellow harvest combines tiny harvest mice The table full: potatoes, pumpkin, corn, beans , cabbage, strawberries, saskatoons, blue berries, raspberries, choke cherries, pincherries, cranberries, carrots, turnips six inches across, bitter horseradish, beets. Time for the fall supper November snow

7. Poetry also uses many poetic devices, or figurative language.
These include similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia, hyperbole, alliteration, repetition, and personification, and lots of imagery!

8. Many types of poetry, some with special rules: Here are just a few:
Haiku-a Japanese poem composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables.
Ex: Ah, summer grasses! All that remains Of the warriors dreams.
Lyric Poetry consists of a poem that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet. Lyric poetry does not tell a story which portrays characters and actions.
Ballad Poems are poems that tells a story similar to a folk tale or legend .A ballad is often about love and often sung. A ballad is a story in poetic form.
Free verse is a form of poetry which uses fewer rules and limitations using either rhymed or unrhymed lines that have no set fixed pattern.

9. Famous poets:
Walt Whitman
Emily Dickinson
Edgar Allen Poe
Shel Silverstein
Robert Frost
Shakespeare
And many, many, more!