Poetry Project



Poetry Project

Your poetry project has three parts. You will be required to complete the following assignments on or before February 12, 2014:

1) Read a poem out loud to the class.

2) Recite a poem from memory.

3) Write an original poem.

The poems you choose to read and recite from memory should be poems that you really enjoy and are worthy of sharing. Check with Ms. Jeffrey or Mr. Given first to make sure they satisfy the length criterion (75 words) and are appropriate to share with a sixth grade class.

You are to render the poems with expression and feeling. The mood and meaning of the poem should be evident in your volume, pacing, emphasis, stress, pitch, and juncture.

Your original poem may be rhyming or non-rhyming and may be one of any of the various forms we learn in class. Your original poem needs to include at least two literary devices (simile, metaphor, personification, and/or hyperbole) and at least two of the sounds of poetry we learn in class (alliteration, assonance, consonance, end rhyme, internal rhyme, onomatopoeia, repetition, and/or rhythm).

Literary Devices

A simile compares one thing to something unlike it using the words “like” or “as”. Example: Coat hooks hold winter hats like bare branches hold old nests.

A metaphor makes a comparison without using “like” or “as”. Example: Life without dreams is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.

Personification makes a comparison in which something that is not human is described with human qualities. Example: The angry sun punished the scorched earth.

Hyperbole makes exaggerated comparisons for effect. These comparisons are sometimes funny. Example: It was so hot we fried.

The Sounds of Poetry

Alliteration - the repeating of the beginning consonant sounds in words. Example: A flea and a fly got caught in a flue.

Assonance - The repetition of vowel sounds in words. Example: The rain makes the pavement look wavy.

Consonance - The repetition of consonant sounds anywhere in the words. The catcher wore a black jacket because he cared.

End Rhyme - The rhyming of words at the ends of two or more lines of poetry as in the first two lines of Robert Frost’s poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”. Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though;

Internal Rhyme - The rhyming of words in the middle of lines. Example: After he had made an out, a pout rattled around his mouth.

Onomatopoeia - The use of words whose sounds make you think of their meanings as in buzz, thump, snap, clash, sizzle, and tinkle.

Repetition - The repeating of a word or phrase to add rhythm or to emphasize a certain idea as in this excerpt from Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, “The Bells”:

Keeping time, time, time In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells From the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells--- From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

Rhythm - The way the poem flows from one idea to the next. In free verse poetry the rhythm is usually like the natural flow of spoken language. In traditional forms of poetry, word are often arranged into a definite pattern of accented and unaccented syllables. Limericks, for example, have a definite rhythm pattern. There once was a chef name Maurice Who always used way too much grease. His chicken was fine; His fries were divine, But his dinners just made me obese.

Editing Your Poem

o The following checklist will help you edit your poem.

o Make sure that your poem is complete. Have you left anything out?

o Check the line breaks. Do they add special meaning to your poem? Are they interesting or fun?

o Make sure your poem has plenty of specific details. Do the details paint interesting word pictures? Do they “sound” good?

o Make sure your poem reads well. Do you stumble over any words or lines when you read your poem? If so, change them. Does your poem have a nice, rhythmic flow? If a line doesn’t “sound” right, change it.

o Have you used and identified at least two figures of speech?

o Have you used and identified at least two of the sounds of poetry?

o Write a final copy of your poem, making all of the corrections. Proofread this final copy before sharing it.

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