Digital Literacy Activity - Poetry

Digital Literacy Activity a fortnights worth of PoetryKevin Cummins 2010

1Acrostic Style PoetryAcrostic Poetry where the first letter of each line spells a word, usually using the same words as in the title.

example: The Carousel

C ontagious,A biding charm,R iding around,O blivious of all,U nder the carouselS miling broad,E xcitementL asting forever.

6The BalladA short narrative poem with stanzas of two or four lines and usually a refrain. The story of a ballad can originate from a wide range of subject matter but most frequently deals with folk-lore or popular legends.

They are written in straight-forward verse, seldom with detail, but always with graphic simplicity and force. Most ballads are suitable for singing and, while sometimes varied in practice, are generally written in ballad meter, last words of the second and fourth lines rhyming.

example: Jesse

7ClerihewA Clerihew is a comic verse consisting of two couplets and a specific rhyming scheme, usually aabb. The poem is about/deals with a person/character within the first rhyme.

example:Zach

Zachary is my grandsonwith whom I have much fun.He loves to laugh and smilehis face stretches for a mile. 8Diamante Style

A Diamante is a seven-lined contrast poem set up in a diamond shape.

Line 1: Noun or subject Line 2: Two Adjectives Line 3: Three -ing words Line 4: Four words about the subject Line 5: Three -ing words Line 6: Two adjectives Line 7: Synonym/antonym for the subject

example: Weather Rain moist, damp dripping, splashing, reinvigorating cool, wet, clear, warm shining, warming, heating bright, hot Sun 9An EpitaphAn epitaph is a brief poem inscribed on a tombstone praising a deceased person, usually with rhyming lines.

example:Buck Withers

Here lies the man named Buckhe just ran plum out of luck.He's buried here in the groundNow ya know where he be found

10Free VerseFree Verse is an irregular form of poetry in which the content free of traditional rules of versification, (freedom from fixed meter or rhyme).

In moving from line to line, the poet's main consideration is where to insert line breaks. Some ways of doing this include breaking the line where there is a natural pause or at a point of suspense for the reader.

example:The River's a Kaleidoscope Late on a cool fall nightwhile sitting on the river bankI noticed how the ripples cast a different texture to the setting sunThe colours of the skyjust right for this seasonRed, orange, yellow, purple even a tinge of blueThe river seems to mix themlike a kaleidoscope Seems there is no end to beautyas this endless array goes on and onThen the distant sound of the frogs and cricketskeeping time to this dancing spectacularThen my heart goes quiet my pulse slows downI lay back to thank my maker 11Haiku PoemHaiku (also called nature or seasonal haiku) is an unrhymed Japanese verse consisting of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables (5, 7, 5) or 17 syllables in all. Haiku is usually written in the present tense and focuses on nature (seasons).

The 5/7/5 rule is rumoured to have been made up for school children to understand and learn this type of poetry.

example:The Monsoon

wrath of the monsoonlightning displays with heavy windshere fast, gone faster 12An Irish LimerickA Limerick is a rhymed humorous, and or nonsense poem of five lines. With a rhyming scheme of: a-a-b-b-a

example:A Good Day

I love ta see the morning sunthat's how I tell the days begun.Birds all singing a happy songit tis the place where I belong.Far from school without the nun. 13A MonodyA monody is a poem in which one person laments another's death.example:Isabella Rose Deep within your broken heart,she will always be that part.Isabella Rose has gone away,to join our Lord on this here day.

The angels in heaven welcomed her,as life on earth goes by in a blur.Now when you say a little prayer,Isabella Rose will be listening there.

So amidst the stars up in the sky,the brightest one will catch your eye.And you will know that she is there,even if no one around is aware.14A MonorhymeA Monorhyme is a poem in which all the lines have the same end rhyme

2 examples:My Dream~ A break from life I was sitting in my chairwanting to become a millionaireIt won't happen I'm well awarebut I still think its very unfairI have even said a little prayerbut I don't have that special flairAnd my bodies in great despairI think I look more like a pearBut at least I still have my hairand a table to play solitaire 15An OdeAn Ode is a poem praising and glorifying a person, place or thing.

example:To become a Leprechaun

16A PalindromeA palindrome, by definition, is a word, phrase, verse, sentence, or even poem that reads the same forward or backward. It stems from the Greek word palindromos: palin, meaning again, and dromos, meaning a running. Combining the two together, the Greek meaning gives us, running back again...

The carefully placed words form the same sentence, whether it is read forward or backward. For example, 'Mirrored images reflect images mirrored' which includes a word in the center as a reversal point for the sentence or even the poem. example: Sunrise Mornings fresh and clear makes sunrise spectacular with birds chirping - GLORIOUS - chirping birds with spectacular sunrise makes clear and fresh mornings.17A PantoumThe pantoum consists of a series of quatrains rhyming ABAB in which the second and fourth lines of a quatrain recur as the first and third lines in the succeeding quatrain; each quatrain introduces a new second rhyme as BCBC, CDCD. The first line of the series recurs as the last line of the closing quatrain, and third line of the poem recurs as the second line of the closing quatrain, rhyming ZAZA.

The design is simple:

Line 1Line 2Line 3Line 4

Line 5 (repeat of line 2)Line 6Line 7 (repeat of line 4)Line 8

Continue with as many stanzas as you wish, but the ending stanza then repeats the second and fourth lines of the previous stanza (as its first and third lines), and also repeats the third line of the first stanza, as its second line, and the first line of the first stanza as its fourth. So the first line of the poem is also the last.

Last stanza:

Line 2 of previous stanzaLine 3 of first stanzaLine 4 of previous stanzaLine 1 of first stanza example: Sunset on the Ocean 18Quatrain PoetryA Quatrain is a poem consisting of four lines of verse with a specific rhyming scheme. A few examples of a quatrain rhyming scheme's are as follows:

#1) abab#2) abba -- envelope rhyme#3) aabb#4) aaba, bbcb, ccdc, dddd -- chain rhyme

example: The Fall . #1 I love the mountains in the fall,as the leaves begin to turn.Like decorations for the ball,it makes my heart just yearn.

#2 Fall colors seem to transcendwith yellow, orange, and browns.It'll soon cover all the townswith a warm and hearty blend.

#3 The cool crisp autumn air there's nothing that can compare.To this color filled wonder landwhat could ever be this grand.

19Shape PoetryShape Poetry is also called Concrete Poetry

Shape is one of the main things that separates prose and poetry. Poetry can take on many formats, but one of them most inventive forms is for the poem to take on the shape of its subject. So if the subject of your poem is a tree, then the poem's lines would be written so that the poem appears to take on the shape of a tree.

Designing your own shape poem can be simple and fun, but try not to pick anything that would be too difficult at first.

example:Halloween

20A SonnetA lyric poem of fourteen lines, following one or another of several set rhyme-schemes. Critics of the sonnet have recognized varying classifications. The first, the Italian sonnet, is distinguished by its bipartite division into the octave and the sestet: the octave consisting of a first division of eight lines rhyming

abbaabba

and the sestet, or second division, consisting of six lines rhyming

cdecde, cdccdc, or cdedce.

On this twofold division the octave bears the burden; a doubt, a problem, a reflection, a query, an historical statement, a Vision of the idea. The sestet eases the load, resolves the problem or doubt, answers the query, solaces the yearning, realizes the vision. Again it might be said that the octave presents the narrative, states the proposition or raises a question; the sestet drives home the narrative by making an abstract comment, applies the proposition, or solves the problem.

The English (Shakespearean) sonnet, on the other hand, is so different from the Italian (though it grew from that form) as to permit of a separate classification. Instead of the octave and sestet divisions, this sonnet characteristically embodies four divisions: three quatrains (each with a rhyme-scheme of its own) and a rhymed couplet. Thus the typical rhyme-scheme for the English sonnet is

abab cdcd efef gg.

The couplet at the end is usually a commentary on the foregoing. The Spenserian sonnet combines the Italian and the Shakespearean forms, using three quatrains and a couplet but employing linking rhymes between the quatrains, thus

abab bcbc cdcd ee.

example:An English Style Sonnet 21A Tongue TwisterTongue Twisters are made up of lines that are hard to say fast.In other words, the poem ties your tongue into knots.

example:Hard Money

Steaming sands simmer, standing in some sunlike silver sea shell stands selling by the sea shorewhile sleek slithering snakes successfully scramblemaking melted matted monkey muscle money

22Villenelle PoetryA Villanelle is a nineteen-line poem consisting of a very specific rhyming scheme: aba aba aba aba aba abaa.

The first and the third lines in the first stanza are repeated in alternating order throughout the poem, and appear together in the last two lines.

example:The Mogollon Rim

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