Here is the assignment:
Poetry Portfolio
You will be writing 10 poems for your poetry portfolio. You will choose from the following forms:
Choose 2-3 of the following:
-
Ballad: A poem that tells a story similar to a folk tale or legend and often has a repeated refrain. - Epic: A long, serious poem that tells the story of a heroic figure.
- Sonnet: A lyric poem that is 14 lines long. English (or Shakespearean) sonnets are composed of three quatrains (see below) and a final couplet (see below), with a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. English sonnets are written in iambic pentameter (see definition). This is a STRICT format which MUST be followed to get full credit.
- Quatrain: A stanza or poem of four lines.
- Stanza: Two or more lines of poetry that together form one of the divisions of a poem. The stanzas of a poem are usually of the same length and follow the same pattern of meter and rhyme.
- Couplet: In a poem, a pair of lines that are the same length and usually rhyme and form a complete thought.
- Iambic pentameter: A type of meter in poetry, in which there are five iambs (pair of two syllables) to a line. (The prefix penta- means "five," as in pentagon, a geometrical figure with five sides. Meter refers to rhythmic units. In a line of iambic pentameter, there are five rhythmic units that are iambs.) Shakespeare's plays were written mostly in iambic pentameter, which is the most common type of meter. From Romeo and Juliet: "But soft!/ What light/ through yon/der win/dow breaks?"
Choose 3-4 of the following:
- Haiku: A Japanese poem composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Haiku often reflect on some aspect of nature.
- Limerick: A light, humorous poem of five usually anapestic (two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable) lines with the rhyme scheme of aabba.
- Lyric: A poem that expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet. A lyric poem may resemble a song in form or style.
- Narrative: A poem that tells a story, usually from the poet’s perspective. It should be an original story, not a retelling of a familiar story (ballad or epic).
Choose 3-5 of the following (see handout for structure):
1. If I Were in Charge of the World Poem
2. I Am Poem
3. Telephone Poem
4. Acrostic Poem
5. Transformation Poem
6. Why? Poem
7. Free Verse Poem
8. Concrete Poem
9. Diamante Poem
10. Special Place poem
In addition to the poems you write, you will collect 10 poems written by your choice of the poets I’ve listed here. You must use a different poet for each poem you choose. Each of these poems should feature the use of one of the terms listed here. You will indicate which poetic device each poem features. For example, you may choose a poem that has the line, “cascade, contend, collide”. You should write a sentence or two about how this poem features alliteration as a poetic device. Do not use any poetic device more than once.
Poetic devices:
Alliteration: the repetition of the same starting sound in several words of a sentence
Free verse: Poetry composed of either rhymed or unrhymed lines that have no set meter.
Hyperbole: A figure of speech in which deliberate exaggeration is used for emphasis. Many everyday expressions are examples of hyperbole: tons of money, waiting for ages, a flood of tears, etc.
Metaphor: A figure of speech in which two things are compared, usually by saying one thing is another, or by substituting a more descriptive word for the more common or usual word that would be expected. Some examples of metaphors: the world's a stage, he was a lion in battle, drowning in debt, and a sea of troubles.
Meter: The arrangement of a line of poetry by the number of syllables and the rhythm of accented (or stressed) syllables.
Onomatopoeia: A figure of speech in which words are used to imitate sounds. Examples of onomatopoeic words are buzz, hiss, zing, clippety-clop, cock-a-doodle-do, pop, splat, thump, and tick-tock.
Personification: A figure of speech in which nonhuman things or abstract ideas are given human attributes: the sky is crying, dead leaves danced in the wind, blind justice.
Refrain: A phrase, line, or group of lines that is repeated throughout a poem, usually after every stanza.
Simile: A figure of speech in which two things are compared using the word "like" or "as."
Imagery: Painting a picture with words.
Symbolism: Giving an object a meaning that is greater than the object itself. The object represents something bigger.
Irony: A conflict between reality and expectation
Allegory: A story that has a deeper or more general meaning in addition to its surface meaning.
Paradox: a statement that contradicts itself; "'I always lie' is a paradox because if it is true it must be false"
Poets to choose from:
Edgar Allan Poe
Robert Frost
Emily Dickinson
William Shakespeare
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Billy Collins
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Walt Whitman
John Donne
Sylvia Plath
Naomi Shihab Nye
Pablo Neruda
e. e. cummings
William Carlos Williams
Henry W. Longfellow
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
William Blake
Wendell Berry
John Keats
William Butler Yeats
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Robert Browning
Robert Service
Shel Silverstein
Louis Carroll
Truman Capote
Langston Hughes
T. S. Eliot
Carl Sandburg
William Wordsworth
Sting
Bob Dylan
John Lennon
Paul Simon
We read a sonnet and a ballad together in class. For good sonnet examples, check out the sonnets of Shakespeare (click on a number). Robert Service has written some fun ballads. Check those out for examples if you're stuck. Remember, a ballad uses meter, rhythm, and rhyme scheme to sound like a song. In Robert Service's poem, "The Cremation of Sam McGee," he uses unstressed and stressed syllables in such a way that the words have a quick and easy flow. Check it out and you'll see what I mean.
You should start writing drafts of poems right away. Don't put it off until the last minute.
