Poetry Before You Know It (and How Your Computer Can Help) - Part 1 (9-12)
by Hilda and Henrietta
Maybe you're one of those young people who moans when your teacher asks you to write a poem? Or maybe you really enjoy writing poems? But no matter whether you love to write poems or not, you're sure to get a "write a poem" homework assignment every school year. So what can you do?
Think COMPUTER when you get one of those assignments. Consider this:
If you type a poem into a word processing document, you can change it around in all sorts of ways, revising it as you please. You can have your computer read your poem back to you, to see how it sounds. —And, did you know, that on the Internet there are free rhyming dictionaries that you can use for finding that just right rhyme for your poems? Of course, not all poems are supposed to rhyme, but it's a good thing to know about anyway.
Okay, let's start by writing a rhyming poem together. We'll tackle the non-rhyming poems in our next lesson:
Suppose your teacher asks you to write a rhyming poem. Maybe she (or he) will let you write any type of rhyme or maybe you'll need to write a certain type of rhyming poem. Some poems rhyme every other line, such as the "Roses are red" type poems, and other poems must be written to rhyme in certain ways. Types of poems that rhyme include couplets (2 rhyming lines), triplets (3 rhyming lines), quatrains (4 lines with a certain rhyming pattern – and the patterns can differ), ballads (lines 2 and 4 rhyme), sonnets (14 line poem with a certain rhyming pattern – patterns can differ), and limericks (see below).
Besides taking care with rhyming patterns, you'll need to consider the rhythm (meter, beat or stressed syllables) of the poem you will compose. If you need help with exactly what rhyme and rhythm schemes you'll need for the type of poetry your teacher assigned head to Shadow Poetry (http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/types.html) for specifics on different types of poems.
We'll use a limerick as an example of a rhyming poem that must be written in a specific way. A limerick is a funny poem with five lines. Some people say that the limerick was invented by soldiers returning from France to the Irish town of Limerick in the 1700's. Here's one you probably have heard before:
A flea and a fly in a flue
Were caught, so what could they do?
Said the fly, "Let us flee."
"Let us fly," said the flea.
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.
As you probably know, in a limerick the first two lines and the last line must rhyme, as well as having the two middle lines having their own rhyme. There are usually 9 beats or three stressed syllables in lines 1, 2, and 5, and 6 beats or 2 stressed syllable in lines 3 and 4.
Limericks often start by telling about someone from some place in the first line. Like this:
There was a young lady from Lare,
Why did we pick Lare? The place doesn't have to be real, so the key is to pick a place that rhymes with lots of other words you can use in your poem. You wouldn't want to have theperson come from Gzyrgevichop, for example.
The second line usually begins with the word "who". HINT: When you begin a limerick, type in the first line without the name of the town. That's because you can change the name of the town to fit your rhyme. We had the idea of writing about someone with a bug in her hair, so we called the town Lare. If the bug had been on her toe, maybe we'd have called the town Stowe. We typed in the first line without a town, and then this line:
Who discovered a bug in her hair.
To get lots of words that rhymed we went to WriteExpress (http://www.writeexpress.com/online.html) and to Word Central (http://www.wordcentral.com/). We typed in "hair" and up came words like bear, millionaire, unfair, declare, and loads more.
So after you are satisfied with the rhyme and rhythm of your first two lines, you need to write two more short lines with a different rhyme and rhythm. If you can't think of any good rhymes to go with your idea, try WriteExpress, Word Central, or Rhyme Zone (see below) for some inspiration. This is what we wrote:
So she slammed on her hat,
And did squash the bug flat,
Next, you need a last line that rhymes with the first two. If you can think of a good ending line that rhymes with Lare and hair, and has the same beat as lines 1 and 2, you're done. How about this?
Which the bug thought was very unfair.
Put all together, and we have our own limerick:
There was a young lady from Lare,
Who discovered a bug in her hair.
So she slammed on her hat,
And did squash the bug flat,
Which the bug claimed was very unfair.
Do you remember that we said that limericks are OFTEN about someone from somewhere? They don't have to be, though. They can be about anything as long as they have a rhyme and rhythm pattern that is similar to the one we created or the one we gave you in the example above.
To make sure your poem sounds right, read it out loud. This will especially help you check on the poem's rhythm or beat. You can also have your computer read your poem back to you. Some computers or software programs can do that. It's a good idea to see if yours will.
That's all you have to do to write a limerick. When you're writing on the computer, it's easy to change your writing around to get your poems just perfect. If one rhyming scheme won't work, try another. Your computer can make it easier for you to create those poems you need for class.
Here're some sites to give you some help with writing rhyming and non-rhyming poems:
Poetry 180: Poem a Day for High School Students
http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/p180-howtoread.html
So you have to read a poem, yours or a famous poet's, aloud. Here's how. Reading poetry correctly will also help you with your poem's meter or rhythm.
Poetry Magic
http://www.poetrymagic.co.uk/asartform.html
Poetry Magic provides information on rhythm and stanza, imagery and metaphor, and a long list of topics related to writing poetry.
Rhymezone
http://www.rhymezone.com
This is another nice rhyming dictionary.
Shadow Poetry: Types of Poetry
http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/types.html
Shadow Poetry great place to find information about different types of poems. If your teacher assigns a specific type of poem, you can head to Shadow Poetry to find out exactly what you need to write. Shadow poetry gives you information on rhyming patterns and beat, along with other ideas about writing poems.
Poetry Express
http://www.poetryexpress.org/
Poetry Express features tips and techniques for writing poetry.
Next time we'll will tackle non-rhyming poems. Are you ready to Haiku?
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