ENGLISH 

TWELFTH GRADE

Module - Lesson 3

Skill: Writing (Poetry)

Instructions:

1.    This lesson will introduce you to writing poetry.

2.    We ill review the types of poetry you will be working with.

3.    Review each instruction and complete the exercises given. If you need assistance be sure to contact your instructor.

Reviewing Poetic Terms:

Definition of Figure of speech Literary Term

A Figure of speech is a verbal expression in which words or sounds are arranged in a particular way using techniques such as Alliteration, Antithesis, Assonance, Hyperbole, Metaphor, Onomatopoeia and Simile.

Definition of Alliteration Literary Term

Alliteration is the repetition of the same or similar sounds at the beginning of words such as tongue twisters like 'She sells seashells by the seashore'. The poem "Acquainted with the Night" by Robert Frost provides a good example of alliteration.

Definition of Assonance Literary Term

The Assonance Literary Term is the repetition or a pattern of similar vowel sounds, but with different end consonants in a line or passage of verse or prose. but with different An assonance can be described as a vowel rhyme as in the words date and fade.

 Definition of Hyperbole Literary Term

The word derives from the Latin 'hyperbole' meaning 'excess'. Hyperbole (overstatement) is a type of figurative language that depends on intentional overstatement. Litotes is a form of irony using understatement, its opposite is hyperbole.

Definition of Metaphor Literary Term

A metaphor is a pattern equating two seemingly unlike objects. An example of a metaphor is or “All the world's a stage” or 'drowning in debt'. A metaphor is an implied comparison (Snow white fleece) as opposed to a direct comparison in a Simile (Fleece as white as snow).

Definition of Onomatopoeia Literary Term

Onomatopoeia is a figure of speech in which words are used to emit sounds. Examples of onomatopoeic words can be found in numerous Nursery Rhymes e.g. Baa, Baa Black Sheep, clippety-clop and cock-a-doodle-do.

Definition of Simile Literary Term

A Simile is a figure of speech in which two things are compared using the word "like" or "as" to draw attention to similarities about two things that are seemingly dissimilar. A metaphor is an implied comparison (Snow white fleece) as opposed to a direct comparison in a Simile (Fleece as white as snow).
Types of Poetry

Acrostic

An acrostic poem is very easy to write. It can be about any subject. This kind of poem can be written in different ways, but the simplest form is to put the letters that spell your subject down the side of your page. When you have done this then you go back to each letter and think of a word, phrase or sentence that starts with that letter and describes your subject. The following poems are examples of acrostic poems written in this format. The students used AppleWorks to compose their poems.

Exercise I

Write an acrostic poem using your name.

Exercise II

Write an acrostic poem using the word SUCCESS.

S

U

C

C

E

S

S

Sonnet

English (or Shakespearean) sonnets are lyric poems that are 14 lines long falling into three coordinate quatrains and a concluding couplet. Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnets are divided into two quatrains and a six-line sestet.

Example:

O thou my lovely boy
by
William Shakespeare

O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power
Dost hold Time's fickle glass his fickle hour;
Who hast by waning grown, and therein show'st
Thy lovers withering, as thy sweet self grow'st.

Exercise II

Write a short sonnet verse. 

Free Verse

Free Verse is a form of Poetry composed of either rhymed or unrhymed lines that have no set fixed metrical pattern. The early 20th-century poets were the first to write what they called "free verse" which allowed them to break from the formula and rigidity of traditional poetry. The poetry of Walt Whitman provides many illustrations of Free Verse including his poem "Song of Myself".

Exercise III

Write a free verse poem.

Song

A lyrical poem adapted to vocal music; a ballad.  More generally, any poetical strain; or a poem. Poetical composition; poetry; and verse.

Exercise IV

Write a song.