Poetry
Basics
(Page
3)
Rhyme
Rhythm
5-Step
Method for Writing Poetry
Writing
poetry:
This five-step method
engages even reluctant students. This
method can be modified for any student age.
1.
Find an idea: Fun poetry is based on funny, absurd, or clever stories. Have
your students write down a few story ideas and then choose the one
they like most. If a student cannot think of anything,
ask him or her if there was something that made the student laugh during the past
few days, either at home or school. You many need to have a list of
ideas from which students can choose. Once they have an idea that
appeals to them, poetry writing becomes fun.
Story idea: A snail for a pet.
2.
Write a basic story: Using their idea, have them write a short story of four sentences. Don’t let them worry about rhyming words at this point.
The sillier the story, the better.
A snail will be a good pet.
It is small and easy to keep.
It doesn't bark or jump up.
I don't have to walk it outside.
3.
Refine the story: Have them rewrite their story so that the sentences have
nearly the same number of syllables. A
sentence with six to ten syllables is a good length for one line of
poetry. Have them write the number of syllables after each sentence.
At this stage, the story may transform into something different than
the original story idea.
A snail is a good pet to own. (8)
It can fit on my pocket. (7)
Whenever it is rainy outside, (9)
I don't have to walk it in the rain. (9)
4.
Use rhyme: Now, have them work at rhyming ending syllables using an ABCB, AABB,
or ABAB pattern.
Changing the order of words in a sentence may help place rhyming
words at the end of a sentence. If they can't find a rhyming word, try synonyms of the
word they're trying to rhyme. For example, feet and clean do
not rhyme. But, a synonym for clean is neat, which
rhymes with feet.
With this rewrite, they should try to have some consistency in the
number of syllables per sentence. For beginning poets this isn't as
important. The example below just happens to have the same number of
syllables for every line. Generally, the first and third lines
should have
the same number of syllables, and the the second and fourth lines (see
the poetry example here).
ABCB pattern:
A snail will make a fine house
pet. (8)
I can keep it in my pocket. (8)
And best of all, on rainy days, (8)
I need not go out to walk it. (8)
5.
Create rhythm: Rhythm and rhyme go hand in hand, one
influencing the other. Just as the students may reword sentences to
find rhyming words, reordering words or using synonyms may be needed
to create a consistent rhythm pattern.
Some
of your students will identify whether or not their poem is
following a
basic rhythm pattern (unstressed/stressed or stressed/unstressed)
and build upon that arrangement. However, as beginning poets, don't worry if they can't follow a consistent rhythm pattern.
As they write more poetry, this becomes easier.
stressed = /
/
/ /
/
A snail will make a fine house
pet.
/ /
/ /
I can keep it in my po-cket.
/
/ /
/
And best of all, on rain-y days,
/ /
/ /
I need not go out to walk it.
For older or advanced students, you may wish to use grids like those
shown below, which help students see if they are using a consistent rhythm pattern and that
their rhyming words are placed correctly. Remember
to divide multi-syllable words and place each syllable in a separate
cell.
Unstressed
(x)/stressed pattern (/):
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Stressed
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Create your own poetry patterns in the grids below.
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