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Printed from https://writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/3822-Poetry-for-Beginners-Part-IIb.html
Poetry: June 23, 2010 Issue [#3822]

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Poetry


 This week: Poetry for Beginners: Part IIb
  Edited by: Red Writing Hood <3 Author IconMail Icon
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter



"Every poem can be considered in two ways--as what the poet has to say, and as a thing which he makes..."
C. S. Lewis



"Teach your children poetry; it opens the mind, lends grace to wisdom and makes the heroic virtues hereditary."

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)




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Letter from the editor


Poetry for Beginners: Part IIb - Using Poetry Templates


The biggest benefit of using a poetry template is that it frees you from some of the potential stress in creating a poem. The skeleton is already there for you. All you need to do is add the muscle and heart; which are imaginative images and dynamic word choices.

I am an education major, and as part of one of my summer courses I am putting together a poetry unit. While I came up with some lesson plan ideas, I was reminded that I wrote a newsletter a couple of years ago that promised more poetry templates. The first part [link at the end of this article] was almost a mad lib, in that it gave you many of the words and specific instructions for the blanks. The templates below are more like poetry forms, in that they give you a topic, or other starting off point and the rest is up to you.


BRIEF HISTORY

The following forms were created by Kenneth Koch, a teacher and poet. He taught poetry to people of all ages.


"I wish" Form

This form can be done in one of two ways. The first will be detailed below and the second will be detailed in the notes section.


MUST HAVES

--Each line must start with "I wish."


COULD HAVES or What's The Poet's Choice In All This?

--The line length, stanza length, etc. all up to the poet.
--Rhyme or not, it's up to the poet.
--Any meter may be used-including no meter.


OF NOTE

The first way is like a list poem that is basically a list of wishes that can be linked to one another or totally random. The second way to write this is to come up with a list of wishes as above, but rather than these being the poem, they are the brainstorming session to create the poem. After creating the list, the poet then selects one in which to fully explore. That exploration is the poem. The "could haves" are the same for both.


Five-Senses Form

This form can have only five lines or each stanza has five lines each.

This template can be used:

________ smells like _________________.
________ tastes like __________________.
________ looks like __________________.
________ feels like __________________.
________ sounds like __________________.

However, the lines can be in any order-meaning smells like doesn't always have to come first, and sounds like doesn't always need to come last. They can be switched around any way the poet likes.


MUST HAVES

--Must explore one subject using all five senses.


COULD HAVES or What's The Poet's Choice In All This?

--Rhyme or not, it's up to the poet.
--Any meter may be used-including no meter.
--Any amount of stanzas can be used.


OF NOTE

More advanced poets can use this form, and rather than use the simile "like" for their comparison, they could use a metaphor for comparison. Another idea is to create a stanza for each sense: First by creating the beginning line using a simile or metaphor comparison, and then expanding on it for the rest of the stanza. This poem would then have five stanzas.


"If I were" Form

This form allows the poet to imagine being in another's shoes. However, it doesn't have to be another person. It could be an inanimate object as well-including shoes.


MUST HAVES

--Must explore one subject by imagining being that subject.


COULD HAVES or What's The Poet's Choice In All This?

--Rhyme or not, it's up to the poet.
--Any meter may be used-including no meter.
--Any amount of stanzas can be used.
--Line length is also up to the poet.


OF NOTE

I like to use this type of form when I forget to bring something I'd like to work on during "down" times. It is an easy form to remember and use in any setting from doctor's waiting room to grocery store line. It's also a good time to practice using vivid word choices and dynamic images.


"I used to.../but now..." Form

This poem can explore the "I used to.../but now" in a series of couplets or it can be split into an "I used to..." stanza and a "but now..." stanza or series of stanza sets. It depends on how far the poet wants to explore the subject.


MUST HAVES

--At least one line that starts with "I used to..." and at least one line that starts with "but now..."


COULD HAVES or What's The Poet's Choice In All This?

--Rhyme or not, it's up to the poet.
--Any meter may be used-including no meter.
--Any amount of stanzas can be used.
--Line length is also up to the poet.


Source Notes:


Koch, Kenneth, and Ron Padgett. Wishes, lies, and dreams. New York: Harper Paperbacks, 1999.
Tompkins, Gail. Teaching writing. 5th. Prentice Hall, 2008.


Poetry for Beginners: Part IIa - Using Poetry Templates can be found here: http://www.writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/1956


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Editor's Picks

Theme: Wishes, smells, and other imaginings.

 Wishing Well Open in new Window. [13+]
If wishing wells are true, what will you wish?
by hapigolucky Author Icon

 Invalid Item Open in new Window. []

by A Guest Visitor

 Invalid Item Open in new Window. []

by A Guest Visitor

 Perfect Lilacs Open in new Window. [E]
scent can trigger memory, smell stimuli go directly to the limbic, bypassing the cerebrum
by christo Author Icon

 Her Mare's Nose Open in new Window. [E]
I'll bet you didn't know a horse's nose smells like pretzels
by Pony Tale Author Icon

 Invalid Item Open in new Window. []

by A Guest Visitor

 Mecca tastes like coffee Open in new Window. [E]
Sacred can take so many shapes
by Rebecca L.B. Chasteen Author Icon

 The Sound of Death Open in new Window. [18+]
What death sounds like in reality is nothing like what you've seen on TV or in the movies
by Pony Tale Author Icon

 It is Dark Open in new Window. [E]
what depression feels like
by Lani Author Icon

 Invalid Item Open in new Window. []

by A Guest Visitor

 
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Ask & Answer


Have a question, answer, problem, solution, tip, trick, cheer, jeer, or extra million lying around?

If so, send it through the feedback section at the bottom of this newsletter OR click the little envelope next to my name Red Writing Hood <3 Author IconMail Icon and send it through email.


Comments on last month's newsletter:


Comment By: julielubrani
Submitted Item: "Invalid ItemOpen in new Window.
Comment: Thanks for the background on The Epulaeryu, It was really fun to write one!


Comment By: Wordgoddess back from the dead Author Icon
Comment: Thanks for the tasty newsletter! This really made me hungry, and it isn't quite time for breakfast yet. *Smile* Do you know if you can do this form with several stanzas, much like when you do a multi tiered cinquain, I think I will try that.


Yes, I believe that you can, at least I saw a few examples that had more than one stanza. Even if the inventor didn't intend for more than one stanza, I'd say it would be a part of one's poetic license to try it. *Delight*


Thank you for the feedback! Please keep it coming *Smile*


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