WISDOM POETRY CLASS - LESSON 12 ACROSTIC POETRY, SHAPE
POETRY, HAIKU, CINQUAIN, AND LIMERICK
Acrostic Poetry: Acrostic poetry is a short form of verse where the initial letter of each line
spell a word.
Example: Hockey is my favorite sport
On the ice or street
Cool and fun
Keep on playing
Exercise and stronger
You should try
Mothers are really sweet and kind
Only the sweetest thing on earth
They love you like anything
Have to work all day cleaning
Easy to make them happy
Really easy to give them... xoxo.
(Mother)
Shape Poetry: is a type of poetry which uses shape or word formation to express the idea or
ideas of the poet. The arrangement of the words display a picture.
Haiku: Japanese style of poetry which consists of three lines and 17 syllables. The first line
has 5 syllables; the second line has 7 syllables, and the last line has 5 syllables
Example: Frog And Pond
The old pond, yes, and
A frog is jumping into
The water, and splash.
Cinquain: Cinquain is a short unrymed poem with 22 syllables and five lines. "Cinquain"
came from a French wording meaning five.
Line 1 - 2 syllables
Line 2 - 4 syllables
Line 3 - 6 syllables
Line 4 - 8 syllables
Line 5 - 2 syllables
Example: Snowman
Chubby, cheerful
Waiting, grinning, winking
Icy weather keeps him smiling
Frosty
Limerick: Limericks are a short form of poetry that are often humorous in nature. They are
often used in Nursery Rhymes. A Limerick consists of five anapestic lines. Lines 1, 2 and 5
have 7-10 syllables and rhyme. Lines 3 and 4 have 5-7 syllables and rhyme. The rhyme
scheme is always aabba.
Example: There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, 'It is just as I feared!
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!'
There was an Old Man in a tree,
Who was horribly bored by a Bee;
When they said, 'Does it buzz?'
He replied, 'Yes, it does!'
'It's a regular brute of a Bee!'
Click here to see other examples of Edward Lear
Readings:
Elizabeth - Edgar Alan Poe
Elizabeth it is in vain you say
"Love not" — thou sayest it in so sweet a way:
In vain those words from thee or L. E. L.
Zantippe's talents had enforced so well:
Ah! if that language from thy heart arise,
Breathe it less gently forth — and veil thine eyes.
Endymion, recollect, when Luna tried
To cure his love — was cured of all beside—
His folly — pride — and passion — for he died.
Another example is from Lewis Carrol's "Through the Looking-Glass". The final chapter "A
Boat, Beneath A Sunny Sky" is an acrostic of the real Alice's name: Alice Pleasance
Liddell. (information taken from Wikipedia)
A boat, beneath a sunny sky
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear Long has paled that sunny sky:
Echoes fade and memories die:
Autumn frosts have slain July.
Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.
Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.
In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die:
Ever drifting down the stream Lingering in the golden gleam Life, what is it but a dream?
Here is another example where the initial letters spell out the months of the year, entitled A
Calendar Acrostic:
JANet was quite ill one day.
FEBrile trouble came her way.
MARtyr-like, she lay in bed;
APRoned nurses softly sped.
MAYbe, said the leech judicial
JUNket would be beneficial.
JULeps, too, though freely tried,
AUGust ill, for Janet died.
SEPulchre was sadly made.
OCTaves pealed and prayers were said.
NOVices with ma'y a tear
DECorated Janet's bier.
The Altar - George Herbert
A broken ALTAR, Lord thy servant rears,
Made of a heart, and cemented with teares:
Whose parts are as thy hand did frame;
No workmans tool hath touch'd the same
A HEART alone
Is such a stone,
As nothing but
Thy pow'r doth cut.
Wherefore each part
Of my hard heart
Meets in this frame,
To praise thy Name:
That if I chance to hold my peace,
These stones to praise thee may not cease.
O let thy blessed SACRIFICE be mine,
And sanctifie this ALTAR to be thine.
Easter Wings - George Herbert
LORD, who createdst man in wealth and store,
Though foolishly he lost the same,
Decaying more and more,
Till he became
Most poor :
With thee
O let me rise
As larks, harmoniously,
And sing this day thy victories :
Then shall the fall further the flight in me.
My tender age in sorrow did beginne :
And still with sicknesses and shame
Thou didst so punish sinne,
That I became
Most thinne.
With thee
Let me combine,
And feel this day thy victorie,
For, if I imp my wing on thine,
Affliction shall advance the flight in me.
Examples of Poetry by Matsuo Basho
All along this road
not a single soul – only
autumn evening comes
A lovely spring night
suddenly vanished while we
viewed cherry blossoms
Crossing half the sky,
on my way to the capital,
big clouds promise snow
Through frozen rice fields,
moving slowly on horseback,
my shadow creeps by
A lovely spring night
suddenly vanished while we
viewed cherry blossoms
With dewdrops dripping,
I wish somehow I could wash
this perishing world
There once was a man from Nantucket
There once was a man from Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket.
Then his daughter named Nan
Ran away with a man.
As for the bucket...Nantucket.
So he followed them to Pawtucket...
The man and the girl and the bucket.
He said to the man,
"You are welcome to Nan,
But as for the bucket, Pawtucket."
Night Winds - Adelaide Crapsey
THE old
Old winds that blew
When chaos was, what do
They tell the clattered trees that I
Should weep?
November Night - Adelaide Crapsey
LISTEN . . .
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break from the trees
And fall.
Triad - Adelaide Crapsey
THESE be
three silent things:
The falling snow . . . the hour
Before the dawn . . . the mouth of one
Just dead.
Shade Tree - Jeanne Cassler
The oak
in my backyard
holds twisted rope and wood
and knows the name of every child
that swings.
A Threat - Anonymous
Stormclouds,
casting shadows
over weary soldiers,
threaten to cry heavy buckets
of tears.