Poetry UnitMrs. Levonius : Language ArtsPagosa Springs Middle School

Poetry Book

• Instructions• Due date

• February, 2015

• Goal• You are creating a book, by definition that

means it has a front and back cover. I have folders for you to use as your front and back cover. You still need to design and print your front cover which will be behind the clear plastic front cover of the folder.

Finished Book

• Place blank sheet of paper immediately behind the cover.

• Title page: The title of your book, your name, and a note at the bottom which reads, “Published in Mrs. Levonius’s 8th Grade Language Arts Class, ___________ (2015)”

• Dedication page: This reads, “Dedicated to _______ for ____________.”

• Table of Contents page: List the types of poems followed by the title of the poem.• Example: Haiku – “Blue Whale” …………….. 7

Order of Poems

• Bio Poem

• 4 Haikus

• Veteran’s Day Poem

• Moab Poem

• 2 Cinquin

• 2 Diamante

• Simile Poem

• Metaphor Poem

• 2 This is Mine

• List Poem

• Senses Poem

• Inside this

• The Important Thing

• The Important Thing About Me

• Memory

• Revolutionary War

Order of Poems continued…

• These poems will be followed by a biography of one of your favorite poets and at least two (2) of his or her poems including your analysis of these poems.

• Any poems you are adding for extra credit should follow the above mentioned poems and should be included in your table of content under a separate heading, “Extra Credit”

• As with any book, include a blank piece of paper after your last entry, before the back cover.

Haiku

• Japanese poetry

• Usually about nature

• 3 lines each

• Seventeen syllables• 5 syllables in the 1st line• 7 syllables in the 2nd line• 5 syllables in the 3rd line

Sample Haiku

Blue whales, cold waters,

The largest creatures on Earth,

Majestic mammals.

Spring on the river-

The island-nest of swans

Floating like flowers.

7

Cinquain

• Write one subject

• Use two adjectives to describe it

• Write three very descriptive action words

• Make a short statement

• End with a synonym that has imagination in it

Sample Cinquain

• Trumpet

• Golden, gleaming

• Puckering, puffing, blowing

• Mean machine

• Bronze flower

Diamante

Noun

Adjective, adjective

Participle, participle, participle

Synonym, synonym, antonym, antonym

Participle, participle, participle

Adjective, adjective

Noun

Sample Diamante

Bird

Feathery, colorful

Pecking, flying, singing

Nest, prey-feline, predator

Hissing, cating, stretching,

Bossy, lazy

Cat

This is Mine

• Names something that is all yours

• Possession is then described

• Three stanzas are written

• The last stanza concludes the poem with a bit of humor, a sage statement, a surprising through or something serious or sad

• Rules:• 3 stanzas of 4 lines each• Lines 2 and 4 end rhyme in each stanza• The first line of each stanza is the same or similar

Sample This is MineSneakers

SNEAKERS

These are my sneakers

They’re both the same

They are old

And very lame

They are my sneakers

All tattered and torn

When I look at them

I’m forlorn

These are my sneakers

I hate them, I do

But in them I could

Outrun you!

This is My SisterThis is my sister

Her favorite color is greenShe drinks Chai Tea

But she stays lean and mean.

This is my sisterShe reads and writesWe’ll have debates

But she is always right.

This is my sisterI love her, I do

Occasionally we fightBut she knows I punch hard too.

This is my iPodThis is my ipod

Silver with a pink caseIt plays my favorite songs

That puts a smile on my face.

This is my ipodIt getting kind of old

But it still worksAnd I treat it like gold.

This is my ipodI listen to it in the car

It helps me go to sleepWhen we’re traveling far.

This is My ShirtThis is my shirt,White, blue, and red,I’ve had it so longIt’s so old, my mom said.

This is my shirtLoved at first sightWorn every earIt fills me with delight

This is my shirt It will not stretch anymoreIt shows my skinIs there more at that store?

Simile Poem

_____________ is ________________

like ___________________

And also __________________

It reminds me of ______________

It makes me feel _________________

Sample Simile Poem

Anger is sharp

Like lightening streaking and smashing down

Anger is red

Like blood from a wound

Like fire jumping from the window of my old house

It reminds me of the sting of my mother’s slap across my cheek when I embarrassed her at grandmas’

It makes me feel empty like there’s a hole in my middle.

Inside This

• Inside this ______________________

• Write several stanzas

• Can have rhyme, can be free verse, should have rhythm

Sample Inside This

Inside every book When I finish my book

there is a story to tell, I’ve made new friends,

a mysterious place to go, gone new places,

an adventure to begin. learned new things.

Inside every book Yes, inside this book

are people to meet, I’ve discovered more knowledge

characters to become, shed a tear or laughed at antics.

words to celebrate. Inside this book I discover a new

me.

Alliteration

• The repetition of letter sounds so that the sound of a poem reinforces its meaning

• Sample:

• Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe

• Sing thy songs of happy cheer!

• So I sang the same again,

• While he wept with joy to hear.

Senses Poem

• A poet may evoke all five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch, to help the reader fully appreciate an object.• Title• Sight• Sound.• Smell• Taste• Touch

On This Cold December Day

Snow flakes drift down to lie on my white skin,

Slowly dissolving away leaving a trace of moisture behind,

On this cold December day.

Peppermint hot cocoa sooths my throat,

As it rushes down and cannon balls into my tummy

On this cold December day.

Sample Sense Poem

Blue and jade green and golden yellow sun, waves at the seashore

Slap and tap and slip into the sand,

Salty spray on my tongue

Tingling and stinging my face,

As fishy seashore smells, recalls my summers forever

Another Senses PoemWater Park

Wet slippery rides glisten in the sun. Shimmering water flows every where at the water park. Splish! Splash! Goes the water accompanied by the screech of children’s excited screams. Sweet tart yet bitter water hits my tongue as it runs against me soft, smooth, and cool. And the smell of chlorine and food fills the air around me.

Christmasanother senses

poemChristmas is enchantingColorful lights flickering, dragging my eyes to

their brillance.Soft, fluffy snow gracefully falling dressing my

hat in sparkling flakes.Bells clanging joyfully calling attention to the

New Born KingSweet, creamy eggnog caresses my tongue

whileSucculent turkey sizzles in the pan, the wafting

smell tempting and enticing me inside.

The Important Thing

The Important Thing about a ______________ is

that it__________________________________

It can also…

It…

It…

But the important thing about a ______________ is that it (same line as line one)

The Important Thing About a School

The important thing about a school is that it teaches kids how to learn.

It also lets kids have time with peers. It gives kids safety and fun. It teaches sports and sportsmanship and how to be

a responsible person. It is filled with people who care and some people

who should but don’t. It’s a place you want to get finished with until you

are. It pushes a mind to grow and then want to grow

more. But the important thing about a school is that it

teaches kids how to learn.

The Important Thing About Me

The important thing about me is________

____________________________________.

I am________________________________.

I have_____________________________

and_______________________________.

I do________________________________

___________________________________.

But the important thing about me

is_________________________________ .

Personification

• Writer gives human qualities to something that is not alive.

• Example:• The ocean roared as thought to keep us

back from its shore.• The snow dusted our noses with soft

particles of powder.

Personficationexample

The ocean roared as though to keep us back from its shore.

The snow dusted our noses with soft particles of powder.

Flood

I wait silently high above the canyon Resting and growing as it rainsBreaking the dam that holds me back with one

single fierce jumpKicking down trees, sucking in boulders and

rocksRushing down Cotton Wood Canyon with a

burning hatredGrabbing a tent with five young children and

throwing it in to Navajo LakeRagging and screaming, kicking and rushingI’m a flood, a freight train.

Autumn

The Autumn days have just begun.

The sun sleeps more often,

While the moon watches over us when the sky is black velvet.

The trees put on a costume of red, yellow, and brown.

The leaves dance in the wind, as the ground rushes up to meet them.

Metaphor Poem

• Used to paint pictures in the readers mind

• Presents new view of topic

• Compares 2 objects but does not use like, as or than

Sample Metaphor Poem

Sun

The sun

Is leaping fire

Too hot

To go near.

But it will still

Lie down

In warm yellow squares

On the floor.

Like a flat

Quilt, where

The cat can curl

And purr.

-Valarie Worch

Metaphor Poem

Metaphor for a Family

My family lives inside a medicine chest: Dad is the super-size band aid, strong and powerful but not always effective in a crisis.

Mom is the middle-size tweezer, which picks and pokes and pinches.

David is the single small aspirin on the third shelf, sometimes ignored.

Muffin, the sheep dog, is a round cotton ball, stained and dirty, that pops off the shelf and bounces in my way as I open the door.

And I am the wood and glue which hold us all together with my love.

- Belinda

Sample

Sadness

Sadness is a black hole,Like locked up thoughts.Sadness is a knife,Like piercing skin.Like a gun taking away a loved one’s life.It reminds me of when I cried all the way to

the airport after we left my sister at Bucknell.

It makes me feel like my heart is being ripped in two and I can’t stop the murder.

Memory Poem• Choose a memory

think of a time that was important to you

• Think of an object in your memory to focus on

• Choose a style (see examples next)shape poem (Christmas Tree)repeating line poem (Poor Fish)rhyming poem (Ice Cream Truck)

• Write without thinking!throw out images, smells, objects,

events like paint on a canvasdon’t just tell a story

• Rewrite! Rewrite! Rewrite!

Sample Memory poem

(shape poem)STAR

ON TOPORNAMENTS

WE MADE IN SCHOOLCOOKIES, SINGING, FUDGE

SO MANY HUGS IT BEGINS TO HURTGIFTS

UNDERNEATH

Sample Memory Poem

(repeating)I once had a fish who laid dead on a dish.

Poor fish.

Along came a cat who ate up that fish.

Poor fish.

That cat came back, and threw up that

fish.

Poor fish.

I got a vacuum and sucked up that fish

Poor fish.

Sample Memory Poem

(rhyming)The ice cream truck don’t stop here anymore.Me and my brother just don’t crave it like beforeAs children we lived by a simple code:“Give me liberty or give me rocky road.”

We’d spring into the street and dance aroundAnd laugh and lick ‘till our lips were chocolate brownThen we’d giggle and google and grin a goofy grinAnd dream of when that truck would come again.

Today the ice cream truck came whizzing pastLike all those years that came and went too fastIce cream drips and melts and soon is goneMore will come to gobble with my son.

Stretchin’ the Truth• The object of the poem is to wildly exaggerate

the truth about yourself and the world – in other words – use hyperbole!

Begin the first line with

I wish I were not so_________ (patient, calm, quiet, funny, beautiful)

• State three (at least) specific examples that show this trait in a wildly exaggerated way.

• End the poem with an “IF” section that poses a new situation that shows in the most onvincing and powerful way just how strong this trait is for you!

The Brotherhood of the Traveling JacketShe used us like a towel to wipe up her tearsSo for this jacket she gave me it will go

through the yearsFrom person to person with many tearsWith memories abroad turning gearsIts passed without fearsIts just become a trail of tears

By Anonymous

Sample Stretchin’ the Truth poem

I wish I were not so gorgeous.My amazing good looks make it difficult for me to

go to the mall without salesmen fainting in delight as I approach.

Covergirls from Glamour write me hate mail.Leonardo DiCaprio begs me for datesAnd I have to hide all the members of Boyz 2

Men.If I were to walk down the main street of Pagosa

Springs on a Saturday morning, guys would desert their girlfriends’ arms to throw roses and kisses at me from across the street.