Expressing your ideas and feelings in verse ' ' '

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Expressing your ideas and feelings in verse . .
. From Reading to Writing Many people think
poetry is writing that appears in neatly arranged
sets of lines that rhyme. But a poem is not just
a jingle or a simple rhyme. It can take any form
and may be written on any subject.
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Expressing your ideas and feelings in verse . . .
Some poems, like D. H. Lawrences Piano,
capture an experience and tell a brief story.
Others make surprise observations. Poems often
present small scenes that take place in memory or
imagination or in the world.
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Expressing your ideas and feelings in verse . . .
In writing a poem, poets condense a feeling,
idea, or event into a few well-chosen words that
embody the meaning of the experience and make it
come alive for readers.
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B a s i c s i n a B o x
Poetry at a Glance
Standards for Writing
RUBRIC
A successful poem should

• focus on a single experience, idea, or feeling
• use precise, sensory words in a fresh,
  interesting way
• incorporate figurative language such as similes
  and metaphors
• include sound devices as appropriate, such as
  alliteration, assonance, and rhyme to support the
  affect and meaning of the poem

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Writing Your Poem
Anything is good material for poetry.
Anything. William Carlos Williams, American poet
Poems often grow out of a word or phrase that
captures the writers imagination because of its
sound, rhythm, or meaning.
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Writing Your Poem
Anything is good material for poetry.
Anything. William Carlos Williams, American poet
Try just sitting quietly and letting feelings,
memories, and words run through your mind. Jot
down words and ideas that interest you,
specifically those that describe sounds, sights,
tastes, smells, and feelings.
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Planning Your Poem
1. Freewrite about your topic. Read over the
notes you made in searching for a topic. Circle
interesting words, images, and details, or begin
a new freewrite. Which details do you want to
include in your poem. 2. Identify the mood you
want to express. Examine your feelings about the
topic. Do you feel happy, sad, thoughtful,
amused, angry? Focus on creating images and
details that reinforce that mood. 3. Choose a
starting point. Which word, line, or image draws
you most strongly? Which seems to lead to other
interesting images and ideas? Look for one
powerful line that can be the focus of your poem.
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Writing Your Poem
Use the following steps in drafting your poem

• Play with ideas and words that come to mind as
  you think about your topic. Let your language
  flow freely.
• Read your writing aloud and listen to the sounds
  and rhythms of your words.

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Writing Your Poem
Use the following steps in drafting your poem

• Experiment with sound devices such as
  alliteration (life-long), assonance (greedy
  schemer), and rhyme (stay away).
• Try using figurative languagesimile, metaphor,
  and personification comparisons that help
  readers see your subject in a new way.

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Writing Your Poem
Use the following steps in drafting your poem

• Consider the overall mood of your poem. Choose
  words whose positive or negative connotations
  emphasize that mood. For example, you might use
  the word cabin to create one kind of mood and the
  word shack to create another.
• Experiment with different structures.

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Writing Your Poem
Use the following steps in drafting your poem

• Play with rhythm and rhyme.
• Organize into stanzas to give your poem a more
  formal feel.

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Writing Your Poem
Use the following steps in drafting your poem

• Read your draft aloud to yourself and listen to
  the words you have written. Think about how you
  might begin to shape the poem by changing words,
  line breaks, and punctuation.

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Writing Your Poem
Target Skill ADDING DETAIL The success of a
poem depends largely on the clarity and
concreteness of the picture it paints. Add
precise, concrete details to make your poem an
experience for all the senses.
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Writing Your Poem
Target Skill USING PUNCTUATION In a poem, a
sentence may end in the middle of a line or may
extend for several lines. Use the standard rules
for punctuating sentences to make sure your lines
are not misread.