2. Technique Tuesday: What is a Poem and How do I write one?
Technique Tuesday: What is a Poem and How do I write one?

3. How to Write Poetry
Read more poetry. The more you read the more you know, the more you can figure out what you like and dislike.
Build a foundational knowledge of elements of poetry. You have to understand the basic elements of poetry before you can write poetry.
It doesn’t have to rhyme. Free verse can be very powerful, but I would recommend learning some forms to get a strong foundation in the “rules” before you start breaking them.
It does have to have some kind of rhythm. Yes, even free verse. It doesn’t have to be iambic or trochaic or whatever, but it does need a kind of musicality. Otherwise, it’s just a prose passage broken up into weird lines. Read it out loud if you’re having trouble “hearing” it.
Rhyme should not prevail over meaning. Nothing makes a poem sound more awkward and amateur than a word that was obviously used solely for how it rhymes.
Try different forms. Don’t get stuck in a rut of always writing the same form. Challenge yourself to stretch and grow.
Keep writing. The more you write, the better your poems will be. As in everything, practice makes you better. And don’t get discouraged if your earlier attempts are not as good as you hope; keep writing — you will get better.

4. POETRY
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
A type of literature that expresses ideas, feelings, or tells a story in a specific form (usually using lines and stanzas)
Introduction to Poetry
BY BILLY COLLINS

5. POINT OF VIEW IN POETRY The poet is the author of the poem.
SPEAKER
The poet is the author of the poem.
The speaker of the poem is the “narrator” of the poem.

6. “Smart” by Shel Silverstein
My dad gave me one dollar bill 'Cause I'm his smartest son, And I swapped it for two shiny quarters 'Cause two is more than one!
And then I took the quarters And traded them to Lou For three dimes -- I guess he don't know That three is more than two!
Just then, along came old blind Bates And just 'cause he can't see He gave me four nickels for my three dimes, And four is more than three!
And I took the nickels to Hiram Coombs Down at the seed-feed store, And the fool gave me five pennies for them, And five is more than four!
And then I went and showed my dad, And he got red in the cheeks And closed his eyes and shook his head-- Too proud of me to speak!
Poet = Shel Silverstein
Speaker = child who trades up for more coin currency

7. POETRY FORM FORM - the appearance of the words on the page
LINE - a group of words together on one line of the poem
STANZA - a group of lines arranged together
A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day.
By Emily Dickenson

8. KINDS OF STANZAS
Couplet = a two line stanza Triplet (Tercet) = a three line stanza Quatrain = a four line stanza Quintet = a five line stanza Sestet (Sextet) = a six line stanza Septet = a seven line stanza Octave = an eight line stanza

9. SOUND EFFECTS

10. RHYTHM The beat created by the sounds of the words in a poem
Rhythm can be created by meter, rhyme, alliteration and refrain.

11. FREE VERSE POETRY “Fog” by Carl Sandburg The fog comes
Unlike metered poetry, free verse poetry does NOT have any repeating patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables.
Does NOT have rhyme.
Free verse poetry is very conversational - sounds like someone talking with you.
A more modern type of poetry.
“Fog” by Carl Sandburg
The fog comes 
on little cat feet. 
It sits looking 
over harbor and city 
on silent haunches 
and then moves on.

12. RHYME “Parting is such sweet sorrow /
Words sound alike because they share the same ending vowel and consonant sounds.
(A word always rhymes with itself.)
LAMP
STAMP
Share the short “a” vowel sound
Share the combined “mp” consonant sound
“Parting is such sweet sorrow /
That I shall say goodnight till it be morrow.”
- Romeo to Juliet
Activity: Rhyme group game

13. END RHYME
A word at the end of one line rhymes with a word at the end of another line
Hector the Collector
Collected bits of string.
Collected dolls with broken heads
And rusty bells that would not ring.

14. Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary.
INTERNAL RHYME
A word inside a line rhymes with another word on the same line or another word at the end of a line.
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary.
From “The Raven”
by Edgar Allan Poe

15. RHYME SCHEME
A rhyme scheme is a pattern of rhyme (usually end rhyme, but not always).
Use the letters of the alphabet to represent sounds to be able to visually “see” the pattern. (See next slide for an example.)
Activity: Rhyme Scheme group game

16. SAMPLE RHYME SCHEME The Germ by Ogden Nash
A mighty creature is the germ,
Though smaller than the pachyderm.
His customary dwelling place
Is deep within the human race.
His childish pride he often pleases
By giving people strange diseases.
Do you, my poppet, feel infirm?
You probably contain a germ. a b c

17. ONOMATOPOEIA Words that imitate the sound they are naming
OR sounds that imitate another sound
“Running Water” by Emmett Lee
water plops into pond splish-splash downhill warbling magpies in tree trilling, melodic thrill whoosh, passing breeze flags flutter and flap frog croaks, bird whistles babbling bubbles from tap
buzz
ticktock
sizzle
splish- splash
click
whisper
quacked
flitter- twitters
tap
zip
hushes
beep
cuckoo
boink
ring-ring
slurp
achoo
boom
bang
vroom
fizz
whinny
hiss

18. “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” Samuel Taylor Coolridge
ALLITERATION
Consonant sounds repeated at the beginnings of words
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” Samuel Taylor Coolridge
The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,  Merrily did we drop  Below the kirk, below the hill,  Below the lighthouse top.
The Sun came up upon the left,  Out of the sea came he!  And he shone bright, and on the right  Went down into the sea.
Higher and higher every day,  Till over the mast at noon-'  The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast,  For he heard the loud bassoon.
The bride hath paced into the hall,  Red as a rose is she;  Nodding their heads before her goes  The merry minstrelsy.
Activity: Alliteration group game

19. REFRAIN A sound, word, phrase or line repeated regularly in a poem.
A Negro Love Song BY PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR
An' my hea't was beatin' so, 
When I reached my lady's do', 
Seen my lady home las' night, 
Dat I could n't ba' to go — 
Jump back, honey, jump back.  
Hel' huh han' an' sque'z it tight, 
Jump back, honey, jump back. 
Put my ahm aroun' huh wais', 
Hyeahd huh sigh a little sigh, 
Seen a light gleam f'om huh eye, 
Raised huh lips an' took a tase, 
An' a smile go flittin' by — 
Love me, honey, love me true? 
Love me well ez I love you? 
Hyeahd de win' blow thoo de pine, 
An' she answe'd, "'Cose I do"— 
Jump back, honey, jump back.
Mockin'-bird was singin' fine, 

20. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

21. Simile & Metaphor
Simile
Metaphor
A comparison of two things using “like, as than,” or “resembles.”
“She is as beautiful as a sunrise.”
An indirect comparison of two unlike things
“All the world’s a stage, and we are merely players.”
- William Shakespeare

22. Hyperbole Exaggeration often used for emphasis.
It is going to take a bazillion years to get through Medical School.
I ate the whole cow.
He's 900 years old.
I am so hungry I could eat a horse.

23. PERSONIFICATION
from “Ninki”
by Shirley Jackson
“Ninki was by this time irritated beyond belief by the general air of incompetence exhibited in the kitchen, and she went into the living room and got Shax, who is extraordinarily lazy and never catches his own chipmunks, but who is, at least, a cat, and preferable,
An animal given human- like qualities or an object given life-like qualities.

24. SYMBOLISM
When a person, place, thing, or event that has meaning in itself also represents, or stands for, something else.
= Innocence
= America
= Peace

25. TONE
Tone is the AUTHOR’S attitude towards the audience, the subject, or the character
You can recognize the tone/attitude by the language/word choices the author uses. His language will reveal his perspective/opinion (that is, whether it is positive/negative) about the subject.
Adjectives are used to describe tone
Have a healthy “tone vocabulary”
Consider some words that describe tone.
Sarcastic, sincere, embarrassed, proud or frightened
The key to choosing the correct tone is to carefully consider the author’s word choice.

26. Mood Mood is the overall atmosphere of a piece of literature
The mood is created by the setting, the characters, and their actions
Identifying the mood of a piece of writing will depend on the number of descriptive words you know to answer the question: How did this paragraph, this passage, this story make the character or make you feel?