All Things Poetry
An Exploration of Poetry For 4
th
Grade
Including Figurative Language
cat
hat
rat
mat
two words or lines that end in
the same sound
lodge
podge
The tiny cat
Sat snugly on the mat
the basic rhythmic structure in
verse, composed of stressed
and unstressed syllables. The
movement of words in a poem.
Every poem has its own
rhythm. It's like the beat of
a song.
Find the beat, and
you've found the
meter
the intentional end of
a line of poetry
line break
He screams, "Geronimo!"
line break
and then goes crashing down the stairs.
line break
He's good at knocking tables down
line break
and slamming into chairs.
*From My Hamster Has a Skateboard by Kenn Nesbitt
As you can see, sometimes line breaks occur in the middle of a complete thought.
Poets use line breaks to help keep the meter of a poem.
division of a poem composed of
two or more lines characterized
by meter, rhyme, and number of
lines.
My Teacher Calls Me Sweetie Cakes
My teacher calls me sweetie cakes.
My classmates think it's funny
to hear her call me angel face
or pookie bear or honey.
She calls me precious baby doll.
She calls me pumpkin pie
or doodle bug or honey bunch
or darling butterfly.
My class is so embarassing
I need to find another;
just any class at all
in which the teacher's not my mother.
--Kenn Nesbitt
Stanza
Stanza
Stanza
Stanzas in poetry look
similar to paragraphs in
fiction and non-fiction
Stanzas are defined by the
number of lines in them
My Teacher Calls Me Sweetie Cakes
My teacher calls me sweetie cakes.
My classmates think it's funny
to hear her call me angel face
or pookie bear or honey.
Stanza
Triplet- a 3-line stanza,
She calls me precious baby doll.
She calls me pumpkin pie
or doodle bug or honey bunch
or darling butterfly.
Stanza
My class is so embarassing
I need to find another;
just any class at all
in which the teacher's not my mother.
Stanza
--Kenn Nesbitt
Couplet- a 2-line stanza
Quatrain- a 4-line stanza
Quintet- a 5-line stanza
What kinds of Stanzas is this
poem written in?
I am hungry as a horse.
You run like a rabbit.
She is happy as a clam.
He is sneaky as a snake.
The girl was a fish in the water.
The clown was a feather floating away.
The flowers danced in the
wind.
The friendly gates
welcomed us.
The Earth coughed and choked in all
of the pollution.
Stan the strong surfer saved several
swimmers on Saturday.
Tiny Tommy Thomson takes
toy trucks to Timmy’s on
Tuesday.
Yeeeeee Ahhhhhhhh
Swish swish swish
Chug chug chug!!
Glippp Gluppp Gluppp