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Limerick
A limerick is a rhyming, humorous, and often nonsensical five-line poem. The
first, second, and fifth lines rhyme (forming a triplet), and have the same
number of syllables. The third and fourth lines rhyme (forming a couplet),
and have the same number of syllables. Limericks often begin with the
words: There once was. . . or There was a. . .
There once was a gray schnauzer named Spark
Quite talkative, he so liked to bark.
Sometimes running he found
His feet all off the ground
Especially on larks in the park.
9 syllables
9 syllables
6 syllables
6 syllables
9 syllables
There once was a girl who loved rhyme;
She felt her writing was sublime.
Indeed quite a poet,
Though some didn't know it,
She'd be rich if each paid a dime.
8 syllables
8 syllables
6 syllables
6 syllables
8 syllables
There was a mean clown in the circus.
For fun he would push us and jerk us.
He would hit us with pies
That left cream in our eyes.
His act never once failed to irk us.
9 syllables
9 syllables
6 syllables
6 syllables
9 syllables
Writing a Limerick
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The first step in writing a limerick is to chose a good topic. Limericks are usually
written about individuals or specific characters. They often begin with the words:
There once was. . . or There was a. . .
Limericks are good-natured and generally humorous. Brainstorm a list of wellknown people or characters.
Choose a topic.
Name words or phrases that humorously describe the chosen topic. The words
and phrases must fit the rhyming and syllable pattern of limerick poetry.
Continue working to refine the class limerick until it follows the correct rhyming
and syllable pattern.
Word Work: Synonyms
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A synonym is a word that has the same or almost the same meaning as another
word.
Use a thesaurus to find synonyms.
Look up common words, such as feet, girl, love, and sound. Using a synonym for a
given word, might help with the limerick-writing process (by providing rhyming and
syllable options, humorous ideas, precise descriptions, and so on).
http://www.readinga-z.com/poetry/lesson_plans/limerick/limerick_print.html
Limericks by Edward Lear from A Book of Nonsense
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 with a flute,
A sarpint ran into his boot;
But he played day and night,
Till the sarpint took flight,
And avoided that man with a flute.
There was a Young Lady whose eyes,
Were unique as to colour and size;
When she opened them wide,
People all turned aside,
And started away in surprise.
http://www.poetry-online.org/limericks.htm
QUATRAIN
(KWOT-rain)
HEY!! Does anybody have a quarter? What's a quarter have to do
with this type of poetry? Well, a quarter is 1/4 of a dollar. The
word quatrain comes from Latin and French words meaning
"four." See the connection? The quatrain is a poem or stanza of
four lines. It is a very popular form of poetry. Famous poets like
William Blake and T. S. Eliot used quatrains.
Read these examples:
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
-From William Blake's "The Tyger"
The Mountain
By Donna Brock
The mountain frames the sky (a)
As a shadow of an eagle flies by. (a)
With clouds hanging at its edge (b)
A climber proves his courage on its rocky ledge. (b)
Did you notice that a quatrain is formed by two rhyming couplets?
Easy! This pattern is called a a b b. The first line rhymes with the
second (sky and by) and the third line rhymes with the fourth line
(edge and ledge). Other quatrain patterns are a b a b,
a b b a, and a b c b.
Writing a Quatrain
1. Choose a theme that you recently heard in a song.
2. Brainstorm ideas for purpose and mood.
3. Add descriptive words and phrases (This would be a GREAT time to use
figurative language!).
4. Write two joining couplets that "paint" a complete word picture. Proofread.
Revise.
5. Design an album cover that would best illustrate the theme of your quatrain.
http://volweb.utk.edu/school/bedford/harrisms/quatrain.htm
Acrostic
An acrostic is a poem or other writing in an alphabetic script, in which
the first letter, syllable or word of each line, paragraph or other
recurring feature in the text spells out another message.
Does any one realize all the
Ridiculous things
Actors and actresses
Must endure before hearing the
Applause?
- - - - - Allison C.
Going for the gold
You know you
Might
Not win. Those endless hours
At the gym
Starting your body to work hardest.
The excitement and nerves at the meet;
the joy when you land on your feet.
It's hurry and do your home work; it's eating your supper in the
Car. It's the love of the
Sport and the Olympic dream.
- - - - - Kara C.
Writing Activity:
Use an interest or passion of yours to create an acrostic poem
with an illustration.
Haiku is a poetic form and a type of
poetry from the Japanese culture. Haiku
combines form, content, and language in a
meaningful, yet compact form. Haiku poets,
which you will soon be, write about everyday
things. Many themes
include nature, feelings,
Haiku is a 17-syllable
verse
form consisting
or experiences. Usually
of three metrical units
they use simple words
of 5, 7, and 5 syllables.
and grammar.
The most common form for Haiku is three
short lines. The first line usually contains five
(5) syllables, the second line seven (7)
syllables, and the third line contains five (5)
syllables. Haiku doesn't rhyme.
A Haiku must "paint" a mental image in the
reader's mind. This is the challenge of Haiku to put the poem's meaning and imagery in the
reader's mind in ONLY 17 syllables over just
three (3) lines of poetry!
Toads, trees, raindrops,
clouds, wind, sand, thorn,
lightning, ladybug, praying
mantis, spider, snake,
sunbeam, tornado,
dolphins, horse, fear,
heartbreak, joy, success…
Haiku translated
into English from
Basho:
Fallen sick on a journey,
In dreams I run wildly
Over a withered moor.
An old pond!
A frog jumps inThe sound of water.
Poverty's child he starts to grind the rice,
and gazes at the moon.
Writing Activity:
Choose a theme or everyday object as the subject
for a Haiku poem. You may choose from the
following list or create your own!
Lyric Poetry: Poetry's Many Forms by Linda Sue Grimes
Lyric poetry is the most common form of poetry; it does not tell a story as the epic and
narrative forms do; the lyric poem has grown into many forms since ancient times.
Origin of Lyric Poetry
On the ancient Greek stage, a dramatic production often
featured a chorus, which was a group of speakers, who
commented on the action of the play. When a single individual
sang or spoke more personally and accompanied himself on a
lyre, the verse was called lyric. Thus, our present designation
of lyric poetry includes personal, individual emotion. The lyric
does not tell a story as an epic or narrative poem does. Most
poetry as we think of it is lyric poetry.
Dreams by Langston Hughes
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged
bird
That canot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
Song
There are many subdivisions of lyric poetry. The most
common is the song, including popular songs that are heard frequently on the radio. The
words to songs are often inaccurately referred to as “lyrics.” The entire song is the lyric.
Sonnet
The next best-known lyric is the sonnet, which may be in the Petrarchan or Italian form,
Elizabethan or Shakespearean or English form, or the American or innovative form. The
Petrarchan takes its name from the 13th century Italian poet Petrarch. The Petrarchan
sonnet consists of two stanzas: an octave of eight lines with the rime scheme
ABBAABBA and a sestet of six lines with a varied rime scheme CDE.
The Elizabethan sonnet also has fourteen lines but is divided into three quatrains and a
couplet; the standard rime scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Shakespeare is the poet
most associated with this form, so much so that is also called the Shakespearean sonnet.
A third sonnet form is the innovative sonnet or American sonnet, which is usually a free
verse poem written in fourteen lines. Rime is usually infrequent and often quite
accidental, but the American sonnet is often driven by rhythm and individual speech
patterns. Wanda Coleman’s “American Sonnet” exemplifies the innovative sonnet.
Villanelle
The villanelle is a widely used form. It consists of nineteen lines, five tercets and a final
quatrain. It has only two rimes which appear in the first and third lines of the tercets and
then make up the couplet in the final two lines of the quatrain. The most widely read
and studied villanelle is without a doubt Dylan Thomas’ “Do Not Go Gentle into That
Good Night.”
Hymn
The lyric poem known as a hymn is ironically
intended to by sung by a chorus, departing greatly
from the Greek tradition that distinguished choric
from lyric. The hymn’s main distinction is it
subject, which is spiritual. The hymn is offered to
the Divine; it is an outpouring of emotion, love, and
devotion to Divinity.
The form of a hymn is often written in quatrains
with a rime scheme ABAB or ABCB. A modern
hymn is “How Great Thou Art,” words and music
by Carl G. Boberg and R.J. Hughes.
Ode
The ode usually exalts it subject. It is dedicated to
one theme to honor its subject usually an important
person or idea such a freedom. There are three
subdivisions of odes: the Pindaric, the Horation, and
the irregular. Allen Tate’s “Ode to the Confederate
Dead” exemplifies a modern ode.
"I Hear America Singing"
by Walt Whitman
I HEAR America singing, the varied carols I
hear;
Those of mechanics--each one singing his, as it
should be, blithe and
strong;
The carpenter singing his, as he measures his
plank or beam,
The mason singing his, as he makes ready for
work, or leaves off
work;
The boatman singing what belongs to him in
his boat--the deckhand
singing on the steamboat deck;
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench-the hatter singing as
he stands;
The wood-cutter's song--the ploughboy's, on
his way in the morning,
or at the noon intermission, or at sundown;
The delicious singing of the mother--or of the
young wife at work--or
of the girl sewing or washing--Each singing
what belongs to
her, and to none else;
The day what belongs to the day--At night, the
party of young
fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing, with open mouths, their strong
melodious
songs.
Elegy
The elegy is a highly formal verse focusing on death
or any other solemn subject. Most noted elegies are
Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”
and Whitman’s “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.” Milton’s “Lycidas” is an
example of a pastoral elegy.
Most poetry that we experience is some form or combination of lyric poetry, resulting in
many varieties of poetry. Emily Dickinson’s poems often employ the form of the hymn.
Often fond of the elegy, Walt Whitman wrote sprawling catalogues of people and
things, but his basic form is still lyrical.
Each poet expresses his/her voice through the varying forms of poetry, and most of it
can truly be defined as lyric as opposed to epic or narrative. Poets do tell stories but
seldom in what we have come to think of as the story form.
Write a lyric poem!
Narrative Poetry tells a story and does not have to
rhyme. It uses language artfully to convey not only the tale,
but the emotions involved.
On Turning Ten
Handstand
The whole idea of it makes me feel
like I'm coming down with something,
something worse than any stomach ache
or the headaches I get from reading in bad light-a kind of measles of the spirit,
a mumps of the psyche,
a disfiguring chicken pox of the soul.
You tell me it is too early to be looking back,
but that is because you have forgotten
the perfect simplicity of being one
and the beautiful complexity introduced by two.
But I can lie on my bed and remember every digit.
At four I was an Arabian wizard.
I could make myself invisible
by drinking a glass of milk a certain way.
At seven I was a soldier, at nine a prince.
But now I am mostly at the window
watching the late afternoon light.
Back then it never fell so solemnly
against the side of my tree house,
and my bicycle never leaned against the garage
as it does today,
all the dark blue speed drained out of it.
This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself,
as I walk through the universe in my sneakers.
It is time to say good-bye to my imaginary friends,
time to turn the first big number.
It seems only yesterday I used to believe
there was nothing under my skin but light.
If you cut me I could shine.
But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life,
I skin my knees. I bleed.
~Billy Collins
There isn't anything that's not important.
Your toes
must be pointed, knees locked, buttocks
clenched
to the edge of pain. Ribs arch, torso
elongates
to an elegance impossible elsewhere.
Shoulders
extended, you glare at your hands. So
much
for the easy part, and truly, it is easy; you
need only
get there and freeze the parts into place,
then a corner
of your brain will keep them cold while you
turn
inward, to the challenge. No one but
another
gymnast would guess that it lies in the
pressure
from ten whorled pads, in the hinge
between hand
and forearm. Adjusting by microns,
fingertip, wrist,
you play as a child, gravity the most
beautiful of toys.
You could stay up forever, the world
inverted
but in such perfect balance that coming
down
is like a small deaththe line breaks, your
feet
touch the mat, your spine reclaims its
ordinary
curves; you are dull and mortal as before.
~Linda Sue Park
Write a narrative poem about a
meaningful experience in your life.
Diamante Poems
A seven line poem, shaped like a diamond when centered on a
page.
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Line 1: One word
Line 2: Two words (adjectives that describe line one)
Line 3: Three words (action verbs that connect to line one)
Line 4: Four words (nouns: first two words relate to line one
and second two words relate to line seven)
 Line 5: Three words (action words that connect to line seven.
 Line 6: Two words (adjectives that describe line seven)
 Line 7: One word (word that contrasts with line one)
Day
Bright, alive
Waking, working, playing
Homework, video games, pillow, bed
Snoring, snuggling, dreaming
Dark, quiet
Night
Writing Activity:
 Begin with contrasting words and place one at the beginning
and one at the end.
 Then, begin to build a diamante with Lines 2 and 7.
 Be sure to use a thesaurus to find precise and descriptive
words!
Concrete Poetry
Concrete poetry is an artistic expression of written language. Concrete poets make
designs out of letters and words. Even though the visual pattern (shape) can really catch
our eye, it is the language itself that makes a poem poetic. There are different kinds of
concrete poetry. We will try a type of concrete poetry that combines two couplets with a
visual image. A couplet has two lines in which each line ends with words that rhyme.
Read the two couplets below:
A click, a sputter, a whoosh- to roar!
line 1
A flick, a shudder, a push- to soar!
line 2
The wings held steady; the nose held high; line 3
The plane is ready to touch the sky!
line 4
In the first two lines, the words roar
and soar rhyme. In the second two
lines, the words high and sky rhyme. Lines one and two form the first couplet. Lines
three and four form the second couplet. These are then grouped on the page in such a
way that it appears the plane is starting its engines, moving down the runway and then
lifting up into the sky. See the concrete poem below.
Takeoff
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/wright/teachers/wfomanual/langarts/poem.html
Bird #3
by Don J. Carlson
Swan and Shadow
by John Hollander
Poe's
raven told
him nothing nevermore
and Vincent's circling
crows were a threat to destroy
sunlight. Now I saw a bird, black with a yellow
beak, orange rubber legs
pecking to kill the
lawn, storm bird
hates with claw,
evil beak,
s
u
n
and eye
Dusk
Above the
water hang the
loud
flies
Here
O so
gray
then
What
A pale signal will appear
When
Soon before its shadow fades
Where
Here in this pool of opened eye
In us No Upon us As at the very edges
of where we take shape in the dark air
this object bares its image awakening
ripples of recognition that will
brush darkness up into light
even after this bird this hour both drift by atop the perfect sad instant now
already passing out of sight
toward yet-untroubled reflection
this image bears its object darkening
into memorial shades Scattered bits of
light No of water Or something across
water
Breaking up No Being regathered
soon
Yet by then a swan will have
gone
Yes out of mind into what
vast
pale
hush
of a
place
past
sudden dark as
your own concrete
if a swan
poem by beginning with a freesang
Write
verse poem and then drawing a
picture that goes with it. Then,
try to fit your poetic words into
the shape of the illustration.