Poetry
How to compose a poem
Try writing some poems to help understand the challenges and joys of writing poetry.
Warm ups
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Write lists of words together. For example:
– Write words for smells, sounds, textures (pleasant and unpleasant).
– Brainstorm words for different noises: of animals, machinery, traffic, storms, crowds.
– Find phrases in the newspaper and rewrite them using more colourful and descriptive
language.
– Use the thesaurus to build lists of alternative words for common words like said, walk,
good, nice.
– Find a word to describe a feeling or emotion for every letter of the alphabet.
– Build a list of words that sound like what they are referring to eg screech, zap, click, crash.
Note that such words are called onomatopoeia and are used by some poets for particular
effects.
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String words together:
– Build sentences using alliteration (words with the same consonant sound), eg five furry foxes
foraged for field food.
– Build phrases using assonance (words with the same or similar vowel sound) eg posies of roses
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Use well known nursery rhymes to show where rhyme and rhythm occur.
Use a [/] for each stressed syllable and use a [˘] for each unstressed syllable, and a new letter of
the alphabet for each new rhyme word. For example:
/
˘ /
˘ / ˘ /
˘
Mary had a little lamb (a)
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Try changing the subject of the nursery rhyme and the end sounds.
For example:
Johnny had a little dog (a)
Its hair was soft and dark (b)
And any time that Johnny left (c)
The dog was sure to bark.(b)
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© Owned by State of NSW through the Department of Education and Communities 2011. This work may be freely reproduced and distributed
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Descriptive poems
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Encourage your child to write descriptive poems by using words that appeal to the senses.
The verses may or may not rhyme.
For example:
Dark clouds roll,
Thunder roars,
Shaking windows,
Banging doors.
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Provide an object and brainstorm words to describe it. Think of words for its colour, shape,
use, effect on people, etc.
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Provide pictures of a scene or have child close their eyes and ‘see’ a mental image.
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Brainstorm words to describe the scene: colours, shapes, textures, smells, sounds.
Write a draft poem
Edit the writing:
– omit some words;
– swap some words with more vivid or striking examples;
– find words with the same beginning sounds (alliteration);
– check the rhythm (number of beats).
Work on the poem until it feels and sounds right, then write a final copy.
Write different short forms of poetry
Another approach to writing a poem that appeals to and works for many students is to start with
an acrostic poem.
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Decide on a topic to write about eg drought
Write the word down the page, and decide on a descriptive word or phrase beginning with
each letter of the word drought.
For example:
Dust and drought
Reddening the sky
Outback dustbowl
Unrelenting thirst
Goading our resolve
Heat and dust
Testing our faith
The ideas, words and images of the acrostic can now be used as a basis for a longer and more
elaborate poem on the subject of drought.
For more homework help, tips and info sheets go to www.schoolatoz.com.au
© Owned by State of NSW through the Department of Education and Communities 2011. This work may be freely reproduced and distributed
for non-commercial educational purposes only. Permission must be received from the department for all other uses.
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Writing a haiku poem is also a useful way to start writing poetry. A haiku has only three lines
with a set number of syllables for each line. The lines do not rhyme.
ƒ Lines 1 and 3 contain five syllables each, and line 2 has seven syllables.
ƒ The subject is usually an element of nature.
ƒ The last line may surprise the reader.
For example:
Whitecaps on the bay:
A broken signboard banging
In the April wind.
By Richard Wright (collected in Haiku: This Other World, Arcade Publishing, 1998)
(Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence)
Writing a cinquain, a shape poem made up of 5 lines, a predictable structure and no rhyme.
1. Choose a subject of two syllables to become the single word in the first line, eg magpies.
2. Brainstorm lines consisting of four syllables to describe the subject of your poem
eg in my garden.
3. Write lines consisting of six syllables expressing action relating to the subject,
eg pilfering the insects.
4. Write lines consisting of eight syllables expressing feelings related to the subject,
eg lift their throats to sing and warble
5. Now repeat the initial word or use a two-syllable word with related meaning, eg magic
Magpies
in my garden
pilfering the insects
Lift their throats to sing and warble
Magic.
For more homework help, tips and info sheets go to www.schoolatoz.com.au
© Owned by State of NSW through the Department of Education and Communities 2011. This work may be freely reproduced and distributed
for non-commercial educational purposes only. Permission must be received from the department for all other uses.
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