Junior Poetry Lessons

Posts : 2457 Join date : 2010-04-15

Are you a poet
who know it ?

Hello

welcome one and all to Poetry 101 course.
Here we will learn how to write poetry together, and we will supply you with all the resources you will need in order to become a li'l poet

Before we start our lessons, let us get to know what some of the things we will be talking about mean next

I hope you benefit from this course!

Enjoy

Miss Orange

Posts : 2457 Join date : 2010-04-15

Definitions

Rhyming Dictionary
If you have never seen a rhyming dictionary, it is a book that lists the words that rhyme with end sounds of other words. For example, if you want to find a rhyme for "cat", you would look up "at" in a rhyming dictionary, because "at" is the ending sound of the word "cat". The rhyming dictionary would give you a list of words, including "at", "bat", "cat", "fat" and so on.

Thesaurus
A thesaurus is a "dictionary of synonyms and antonyms", allowing you to easily find words that "mean the same thing" or the opposite of a given word. ".

That is all folks, but if all above scared you a bit .. don't sweat it just keep on looking for the lessons in our library AND keep writing on

Miss Orange

Posts : 2457 Join date : 2010-04-15

In order to write poetry you need to know these things

You need to read a lot of poetry before you tackle writing

It is important that you read the words as they are pronounced in the language the poem is written. This helps with rhyming the words and balance the sentences properly otherwise your poetry is not going to be as a song that has a specific rhyme

The only tools you really need to write poems are a pencil and paper, and your brain. But writing poetry can be even easier if you have a rhyming dictionary, a dictionary and a thesaurus. If you have a computer and Internet access, you don't need to buy reference books such as a rhyming dictionary. All the references you need are available online

You become a good poet by writing lots of poems. Each time you write a new poem, try to make it as good as you can and your skill will improve with each poem you write

A notebook you can carry with you all the time is your most important tool for writing poetry. Take it with you everywhere you go, and always try to remember to write your ideas down when they come to you.

Editing while you write can slow you down. If you can't find the right word or the perfect sentence, move on to the next verse and come back to the problem later

Don't worry about spelling or punctuation until you are done writing a poem. Check the spelling and punctuation as part of a final "polishing".

Don't criticize yourself or your poetry. Instead, congratulate yourself each time you complete a new poem

Miss Orange

Posts : 2457 Join date : 2010-04-15

This lesson I bring to you is exerpted from a lesson written by Charles Ghigna

What is POETRY: The Basics

In order to grow as a writer, you've got to be willing to risk it all each time you sit down to write. You've got to be open and brave and curious. Whenever I'm asked, "When did you become a poet?" I'm always tempted to ask, "When did you stop?" When did you stop taking risks? We're all born poets. We all enjoy the sounds of language

Poetry is a natural part of our lives. It's not just something we have to memorize and recite in front of the class. Losing ourselves in a poem is one of the best ways of finding out who we are. The act of writing brings us to that point of discovery, of discovering on the page something we didn't know we knew until we wrote it. Don't let reality cloud your imagination. Look up at the sky and find once again those long-tailed dragons and sailing ships. Wake up to the world as though you are seeing it each day for the first time. Find the wonder. Question the way things are. Imagine new choices

Style isn't how you write. It's how you do not write like anyone else You don't need a degree to be a writer. It doesn't take teachers or books to show you how to write. One learns how to write by writing. There is no other way

A Poem Is A Little Path

A poem is a little path

That leads you through the trees

It takes you to the cliffs and shores

To anywhere you please

Follow it and trust your way

With mind and heart as one

And when the journey's over

You'll find you've just begun

What do you think about when you hear the word POETRY? There are many kinds of poems:

Some poems make us LAUGH
Some poems make us THINK
Some poems are SHORT & FUNNY
Some poems are LONG & SERIOUS
Some poems RHYME
Some poems DO NOT RHYME

Miss Orange

Posts : 2457 Join date : 2010-04-15

Here we will introduce some kinds of poetry

Couplets

Couplets have two lines that rhyme. Here are five couplets from poems in “Tickle Day: Poems from Father Goose” by Charles Ghigna:

from TURTLE TROUBLE

Tell me if you think you know
How to make a turtle go.

from NATURE'S SHOWS

Nature puts on little shows
Every time it rains or snows.

Here is a poem that has four couplets:

PUMPKINS ON GUARD
by Charles Ghinga, from "Halloween Night"

Look at all the pumpkin faces
Lighting up so many places
On the porch and in the yard
Pumpkin faces standing guard
Looking friendly, looking mean
With a smile or with a scream
Orange faces burning bright
In the cool October night

Tercets

Tercets have three lines. Here is a poem with two tercets

WITCH WAY
by Charles Ghinga, from "Halloween Night
"

With warts on her nose
And sharp pointy toes
She flies through the night on her broom
With covers pulled tight
In the shadows of night
I hide in the dark of my room

Ballad Stanzas

A group of four lines is called a STANZA
The ballad stanza has a rhyme at the end of line number two and line number four

Here is a poems that has 3 ballad stanzas

THE BEE POEM
by Charles Ghinga, from "Tickle Day: Poems by Father Goose"

A poem is a busy bee
Buzzing in your head
His hive is full of hidden thoughts
Waiting to be said
His honey comes from your ideas
That he makes into rhyme
He flies around looking for
What goes on in your mind
When it's time to let him out
To make some poetry
He gathers up your secret thoughts
And then he sets them free

I hope you enjoyed this lesson. Don't let the names scare you for you don't need to learn those names but you sure can tell what kind of poem you are reading now

Don't forget to have fun writing poetry

Miss Orange

Posts : 2457 Join date : 2010-04-15

This lesson is an easy and very useful one

Break Into Song to Write Rhyming Poetry
by Timothy Tocher

The easiest way to learn something new is to base it on something you already know. Many students think writing rhythmic, rhyming poetry is hard, but they like to sing songs that rhyme and have rhythm. Here’s how you can use familiar tunes to help you write poetry

Sing, "Row, row, row your boat." Notice how all the words have one beat or syllable? Next, write down as many one-syllable action verbs as you can: ride, walk, run, jump, etc. Now take one of those verbs and create a line of poetry in the same style as "Row, row, row your boat." Here are some examples

Ride, ride, ride your bike
Walk, walk, walk the dog
Drink, drink, drink your milk

Continue this process until you have an entire poem based on "Row Your Boat." As you write, keep singing
humming, or thinking about the song. This will help you figure out what words need to rhyme in your poem, and it will also help you figure out the rhythm of your poem

What are some other good tunes to use? I’ve had success with "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." My students have asked to be taken out to the "bookstore," "arcade," "state park," "playground," and "food court."

It’s been a long time since many Americans could truthfully sing "I’ve Been Working on the Railroad," but you probably still know the song. If you base a poem on that song, before you know it, you’ll be "building with your Legos," "playing with your best friend," or even "writing silly verses" all the live-long day. Here’s an example

I’ve been writing silly verses
all the live-long day
I’ve been writing silly verses
having fun in ELA

So loosen up your vocal cords, and learn how easy it can be to write rhythmic, rhyming poetry

Miss Orange

Posts : 2457 Join date : 2010-04-15

This coming lesson was presented by Marvy else where in this world!
Excuse me Marvy I had to bring it along

How to Write an ( I Can't Write a Poem ) Poem

by Bruce Lansky

This is one poem everyone can write
Why? Because it’s so easy and so much fun

All you have to do is to make a list of your favorite excuses/complaints you make every time your teacher asks you to write a poem

Add just the right title and ending and voila! You’ve written a terrific list poem

Here’s how it might turn out

I Can’t Write a Poem

Forget it

You must be kidding

I’m still half asleep

My eyes keep closing

My brain isn’t working

I don’t have a pencil

I don’t have any paper

My desk is wobbly

I don’t know what to write about

And besides, I don’t even know how to write a poem

I’ve got a headache. I need to see the nurse

Time’s up? Uh oh

All I have is this dumb list of excuses

You like it? Really? No kidding

Thanks a lot

Would you like to see another one
???

See what I mean
???

I bet you will love writing this one
To get started, start with "I Can’t Write a Poem" as the title
Then come up with some excuses—the more ridiculous, the better
Then add the lines from "Times up?" to "Thanks a lot" from the poem above
Finally, come up with the last line on your own

Miss Orange

Posts : 2457 Join date : 2010-04-15

Wonderful lesson mmmmmmmmmm
Let's see if I can get it straight

I Can't Write a Poem
by Moon's Tears

You're asking me for a poem
I'm not a poet you know
"I hardly can spell "home
I can't tell a deer from a foe
The dog had broken the modem
and dropped me on my elbow
So I ended up with a syndrome
and forgot the colors of the rainbow

Well it was worth a try even though I didn't end it the same way
Thank you Marvy for the lesson
It was indexed
Your participation is dear to me

Miss Orange

Posts : 2457 Join date : 2010-04-15

Here is another lesson by Marvy

How to Write Funny Poems

Can Anyone Write Funny Poetry
?

Some people are better at writing funny poetry that others, in the same way that some people are better at singing, or swimming, than other people. The only way to find out is to try it. If you enjoy it, and other people like your poems, carry on; if not, take up singing instead

What Equipment Do I Need
?

The most important thing you need is a brain. It doesn't have to be particularly large, or fully functional, but you do need something grey and squishy in your head to generate ideas. Secondly, you need a pencil - any size, brand or colour will do. Finally you need something to write on. Paper will do, but if you're going to take your poetry seriously, a notebook will give you an authentic literary look. Assuming you already have the brain, the complete poetry creation kit will cost about £1 or $2.00 for our transatlantic cousins

Writing The Poems

Think short. I'm a firm believer that a short funny poem is going to be funnier than a long funny poem. I get scared when I see a poem over 10 lines long and know it's going to have to start, and continue, to be really funny if I'm going to read it to the end. Begin by writing poems that rhyme and, as your confidence grows, you can have a go at free (non-rhyming) verse. You don't need to buy a rhyming dictionary, as there are some very good free ones online. Decide on the element which is going to make the poem funny and then build the rest of the poem around it. Have a look at the following poem

SHOE SHOPPING
If you find that shoe shopping
Leaves you hopping
Literally, hopping mad
Pity the poor octopus
His problem's worse
Precisely four times as bad

The idea was that an animal with lots of legs would find buying shoes very frustrating. Ideally the poem would have been about a millipede or centipede, but it was difficult to find a rhyme. So I tried spider, crab and finally octopus, and the elements all fell into place. I can't give you the ideas. Indeed, trying to teach people how to have funny ideas usually results in rather dull, unfunny poems. So wait for the ideas to come spontaneously, write them down in your notebook then turn them into poems at your leisure - and if it's a chore rather than a pleasure, stop

How To Get Your Poems Noticed

It's one thing to write the poems, but the interesting bit is seeing the reactions when people read or hear your poems. I would suggest that you try them out first on your friends, family, classmates and even, perhaps, your teacher. If they like them - make sure you ask them to be honest rather than just polite - then try to get them published in the school magazine, on the school website or in the local paper. Who knows, they might get spotted by a publisher and end up in a book, which is the point when you start thinking fame and fortune - and never having to go to school again

Miss Orange

Posts : 2457 Join date : 2010-04-15

Yet another lesson Marvy presented that I liked

How to Write an Exaggeration Poem

Exaggeration means claiming something is greater than it really is. For example, if you said my cat is as big as a house" or "I can run faster than the speed of light, you would be exaggerating

Exaggerating is a fun way to write imaginative poetry. When I exaggerate in a poem, I like to pick one characteristic of the thing I am writing about, and exaggerate it as wildly as I can
The crazier your exaggerations, the more exciting the poem is

Let me give you an example, let's say you want to write a poem about food
The first thing you need to do is pick a type of food to write about
You might decide to write about something delicious or something disgusting
You might decide to write about a cold food, a sticky food, a spicy food, etc
Let's pick one and see what we can come up with

Let's say we want to write a poem about a spicy food
But let's exaggerate and make it the world's spiciest food
What kind of food might that be? How about the world's hottest hot pepper?
What kinds of things would happen if you ate the world's hottest hot pepper? Would you breathe flames?
Would your hair ignite? Would you drink a lot of water? Perhaps an entire lake?
What else would happen? Let's start writing and find out

I Ate a Spicy Pepper
I ate a spicy pepper
From my brother on a dare
The pepper caught my head on fire
And burned off all my hair
My mouth erupted lava
And my tongue began to melt
My ears were shooting jets of steam
At least that's how they felt
I ricocheted around the room
I ran across the ceiling
I dove right in the freezer
To relieve the burning feeling
I drank a thousand soda pops
And chewed a ton of ice
To try to stop the scorching
Of that spicy pepper's spice
At last, the flames extinguished
I admitted to my brother
That pepper was the best one yet
May I please have another

Miss Orange

Posts : 2457 Join date : 2010-04-15

How to rhyme

A rhyme is when two words end with the same sound. For example, moon rhymes with spoon because they both end with an oon sound. Wizard rhymes with lizard because they both end with an izard sound. In this lesson, I will show you how to find words that rhyme and what to do when you can't find a good rhyme.

Finding Rhymes

An easy way to find rhymes is in your head. First figure out what sound a word ends with. If the word is cat, the sound it ends with is "at". Once you know what sound a word ends with, try adding new beginnings to the word. For example, how many words can you think of at end with the sound "at"?

Try thinking of every letter in the alphabet, and adding "at" to it. You will come up with a list that includes bat, dat, fat, gat, hat, jat, and so on. Some of these aren't real words (such as "dat", "gat" and "jat"), but many of them are, including "cat", "fat", and "hat".

Another way to find words that rhyme is with a rhyming dictionary, as I mentioned in Chapter 1. In your rhyming dictionary, which I added on the first page of this topic. You would look up "at", and it would give you a complete list of all words that end with the "at" sound.

Does it Sound the Same?

When you select a rhyme, be careful to make sure that the words sound the same. For example, if you wanted to rhyme the word rocket, you might rhyme it with pocket or socket, because these sound the same. On the other hand, you might think that it rhymes with chocolate. But notice that they don't end with the same sound. Rocket sounds like "rock it", but chocolate sounds like "chock lit". As you can see, these don't end with exactly the same sound, so they don't rhyme

Words that almost sound the same are sometimes known as "slant rhymes".
always try to make sure your rhyming words end in exactly the same sound. If you are not sure if two words rhyme, think about the last sound of each word and ask yourself if they sound exactly the same. If they do, then the words rhyme. If the last sound is close, but even just a little different, the words do not rhyme.

This lesson is not complete yet .. Next we will learn which words to rhyme and we will give some examples

Until then .. I wish you all happy and fun times rhyming and writing poetry
See you soon

Miss Orange

Posts : 2457 Join date : 2010-04-15

Hello again
Now that we know what rhyming means and how it is done, let us see which words to rhyme

In rhyming poems, you usually only need to rhyme the last word of each line. In other words, you don't need to make as many rhymes as possible. Don't write the fat cat with the hat sat with the bat on the mat and that was that. Instead try rhyming just the last word of each line, like this:

My family has a cat. He's really, really fat. He sat on daddy's hat. Now daddy's hat is flat.
In fact, you don't even have to rhyme the last word of every line. The easiest way to write a rhyming poem is to rhyme the last word of every other line, like this:

Hercules avoided baths and showers all week long. Though it left him awfully dirty, no one ever smelled so strong!
In the poem above, only the words long and strong are rhymed. So if you can think up just a few words that rhyme, you can write your own rhyming poetry

Now it's time to make up some rhymes. I will give you several verses then I'll show you how to finish the poem by writing the last line and making sure it rhymes with the second line

Let's start with an example. Look at this poem:

Whenever I play baseball I hit a foul ball. I think that maybe I should...
To finish this poem, first think of as many words as you can that rhyme with ball, because ball is the last word of the second line. I can think of all, call, mall, and several others

So here are some different ways to end this poem:

I think that maybe I should never play this game at all
I think that maybe I should give the Yankees' coach a call
I think that maybe I should go play hooky at the mall

I hope the lesson was god and easy
Now have fun rhyming and writing poetry

Miss Orange

Posts : 8631 Join date : 2010-04-15 Age : 38

I Am

I am : two special characteristics
I wonder : something you are actually curious about
I hear : an imaginary sound
I see : an imaginary sight
I want : an actual desire
I am : the first line of the poem restated

I pretend : something you actually pretend to do
I feel : a feeling about something imaginary
I touch : an imaginary touch
I worry : something that really bothers you
I cry : something that makes you very sad
I am : the first line of the poem repeated

I understand : something you know is true
I say : something you believe in
I dream : something you actually dream about
I try : something you really make an effort about
I hope : something you actually hope for
I am : the first line of the poem repeated

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Best Wishes
Marvy

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