SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL- Creative Writing

Name: ________________________________ Date Submitted: ______________

Grade and Section: _____________________

A. Most Essential Learning Competency

● Identify the various elements and literary devices in various
modes of poetry

B. Objectives
At the end of this learning activity learners will be able to:
● distinguish conventional poetry from free verse poetry;
● identify the elements and literary devices used in each type;
● write a sample poetry using the discussed characteristics of
contemporary poetry and free verse poetry

Poetry has been around for centuries, beginning with bards and
messengers who used poetry to pass along news, songs and stories as they
traveled from town to town. Today, we often find poetry in songs, greeting cards,
posters, gift books and a variety of other places. Looking into the form of poetry
embedded into these things, we can observe that there are commonalities
amongst them.
Basically, a conventional or traditional poem has rhyme, rhythm and
meter. Unlike free verse poetry or modern poetry, the traditional or conventional
form of poetry follows strict and fixed rules.
Before we proceed to the types of conventional poetry, let us first
review the three important elements of conventional poetry – the rhyme,
rhythm, and meter.
• RHYME is the repetition of the same stressed vowel sound and any
succeeding sounds in two or more words.

A rhyme scheme is the pattern of sounds that repeats at the end of a

line or stanza. Rhyme schemes can change line by line, stanza by stanza, or
can continue throughout a poem. Poems with rhyme schemes are generally
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 written in formal verse, which has a strict meter: a repeating pattern of stressed
and unstressed syllables.

Rhyme scheme patterns are formatted in different ways. The patterns

are encoded by letters of the alphabet. Lines designated with the same letter
rhyme with each other. For example, the rhyme scheme ABAB means the first
and third lines of a stanza, or the “A”s, rhyme with each other, and the second
line rhymes with the fourth line, or the “B”s rhyme together.

For example, AA-BB-CC-DD-EE-FF-GG is the rhyme scheme found

in Edgar Allan Poe’s Poem 10.
• RHYTHM is the pattern of stressed and unstressed beats. The rhythm of a
poem can be analyzed through the number of lines in a verse, the number of
syllables in the lines and the arrangement of syllables based on whether they
are long or short, accented or unaccented.
Close your eyes and put your hand on your chest. Can you hear that
sound? That is what we call – beat.
Rhythm is also closely associated with meter, which identifies units of
stressed and unstressed syllables. When an author combines metrical units into
a pattern, he or she creates rhythm.
• METER is determined by accented (stressed) and unaccented (unstressed)
syllables. Silence (or pauses) also contributes to a poem’s meter. Scansion is
the practice of marking up a poem. Below is an example of scansion:

The character that looks like the bottom half of a circle is called breve. The
breve indicates the unstressed syllables while the slash indicates the stressed
syllables.
You may use the guide below to help you in identifying the meter of a poem.
1. Iambic meter (unstressed/stressed)
2. Trochaic meter (stressed/unstressed)
3. Spondaic meter, (stressed/stressed)
4. Anapestic meter (unstressed/unstressed/ stressed)
5. Dactylic meter (stressed/unstressed/unstressed)

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 Free verse on the other hand is a literary device that is free from limitations of
regular meter or rhythm, and does not rhyme with fixed forms.

The orientation in writing free verse poetry is different from

conventional poetry. Free verse is a literary device that is free from limitations
of regular meter or rhythm, and does not rhyme with fixed forms. Such poems
without rhythm and rhyme schemes still provide artistic expression. In this way,
the poet can give his own shape to a poem whatever he or she desires. 3
However, despite its being “free” from rules and restrictions, it still allows poets
to use alliteration, rhyme, cadences and rhythms to get the effects that they
consider suitable for the piece.
FEATURES OF FREE VERSE POETRY
● Free verse poems have no regular meter or rhythm.
● Free verse poems do not follow proper rhyme schemes.
● Free verse poems are based on normal pauses and natural rhythmical
phrases.
Example:
Come slowly, Eden Lips unused to thee.
Bashful, sip thy jasmines,
As the fainting bee,
Reaching late his flower,
Round her chamber hums,
Counts his nectars – alights,
And is lost in balms! by Emily Dickenson
Such poems without rhythm and rhyme schemes still provide artistic
expression. In this way, the poet can give his own shape to a poem whatever
he or she desires. However, despite of its being “free” from rules and

restrictions, it still allows poets to use alliteration, rhyme, cadences and rhythms to get
the effects that they consider suitable for the piece.
The table below shows the different types of CONVENTIONAL POETRY, its
meanings and examples.

Type of Example/s
Definition
Conventional
Poetry
A type of poetry which originated The autumn wind blows
from Japan. Traditionally, it is an Calling the leaves on the ground
unrhymed poem consisting of three To join him in dance
HAIKU lines and seventeen (17) syllables.
These poems are normally about
nature.

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 The first line has five syllables
The second line has seven syllables
The third line has five syllables

A humorous poem with five lines that What is a limerick Mother?

always have rhyme and meter
LIMERICK patterns: Lines 1, 2 and 5 share the
same rhyme and lines 3 and 4 rhyme
with each other.
A form of poetry that is very popular
because of its simplicity. It consists of
five lines with twenty-two (22)
syllables, which comes in two, four,
six, eight, and two syllables.
It is a form of verse, said Brother.
In which lines one and two
Rhyme with five when it's through,
And three and four rhyme with
each other.
PENGUIN
Flightless, Gentle
Swimming, Flipping, Freezing
Wandering in the cold Arctic
Soft Bird

Line 1: 2 syllables (NOUN)

CINQUIAN Line 2: 4 syllables (TWO
ADJECTIVES)
Line 3: 6 syllables (THREE –ING
WORDS)
Line 4: 8 syllables (A PHRASE)
Line 5: 2 syllables (ANOTHER
WORD FOR THE NOUN)

Type of
Conventional Definition Example/s
Poetry
A poem consisting of fourteen lines Shall I compare thee to a summer’s
written in iambic pentameter whose day?
subject lies mostly about love and Thou art more lovely and more
nature. It introduces a problem or atemperate:
question in the beginning, and a Rough winds do shake the darling
resolution is offered after the “volta”
buds of May,
which is the turning point of the And summer’s lease hath all too
sonnet. short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of
The three known forms of sonnet heaven shines,
include: And often is his gold complexion
• Italian/Petrarchan Sonnets dimmed;
SONNET • Spenserian Sonnets And every fair from fair sometime
• English/Shakespearean Sonnets declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing
ITALIAN SONNET is broken into course, untrimmed:
two parts: the octave (8 lines) and But thy eternal summer shall not
sestet (6 lines). The octave has a fade,
rhyming pattern ABBAABBA, while Nor lose possession of that fair
the sestet has CDECDE. thou ow’st;
Nor shall Death brag thou
ENGLISH SONNET contains three wander’st in his shade
quatrains (4-line poem) and a When in eternal lines to time thou
couplet (2-line poem). It has a grow’st:
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 rhyme scheme pattern of So long as men can breathe or
ABABCDCDEFEFGG. eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life
to thee.
-William Shakespeare
A Philippine version of Haiku. It is Examples written by
short but it has measure and rhyme. Idelfonso Santos
It is a traditional mono-rhyming MAHAL
quatrain that consists of seven Mahal na ang delata
syllables with the same rhyme at the Mahal pa’ng abri-lata
end of each line. Tanaga poems can Minamahal kong sinta
DIONA both be written in Filipino and English Nagmahal ka na rin ba?
language depending on the preferred
medium of the writer. PALAY
Palay siyang matino
Nang humangi’y yumuko
Ngunit muling tumayo
Nagkabunga ng ginto

Ang payong ko’y si Inay

A pre-Hispanic rhyming
poem, which consists of
three lines with seven
syllables in each line
DIONA expressing a complete
thought.
Kapote ko si Itay
Sa maulan kong buhay
-Raymond Pambit
Lolo, huwag malulungkot
Ngayong uugod-ugod Ako
po’y inyong tungkod
-Gregorio Rodillo

A. PRACTICE TASK

Practice Task 1
Directions: Tell whether the following statements describe a conventional
poetry or a free verse poetry. Write CP if it is conventional poetry and FV if it is
a free verse poetry.
1. It is also known as traditional poetry.
2. It consists of rhyme, rhythm, and meter.
3. A literary device that is free from limitations of regular meter or rhythm, and
does not rhyme with fixed forms.
4. It has a definite structure.
5. Sonnet is a poem consisting of fourteen lines written in iambic pentameter
whose subject lies mostly about love and nature.
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 6. Tanaga is a Philippine version of Haiku. It is short but it has measure and
rhyme.
7. A form of poetry that uses end-stopped lines and enjambments in its
structure.
8. Haiku is a type of poetry which originated from Japan. These poems are
normally about nature.
9. It has a limited number of lines.
10. The English Sonnet contains three quatrains and a couplet. It has a rhyme
scheme pattern of ABABCDCDEFEFGG.

Practice Task 2.
Directions: Recall the elements of the conventional types of poetry. Then,
supply the missing information to complete the table.
TYPES OF NUMBER
NUMBER RHYME
CONVENTIONAL DESCRIPTION OF
OF LINES SCHEME
POETRY SYLLABLES
(1) Unrhymed (2) N/A (3)
poem from
Japan
(4)
LIMERICK Five (5) N/A
(7)
CINQUAIN Simple (6) N/A
(8) Its subject is (9) (10) N/A
mostly about
nature and
love.
Mono-rhyming
TANAGA (11) (12) (13)
quatrain
(14)
DIONA three AAA (15)

Practice Task 3
Directions: Arrange the words inside the box to form a comprehensive definition
of free verse poetry, line and line break and enjambment.
1. FREE VERSE

Free verse forms fixed with rhyme and does of rhythm a is

that literary from is not meter or device free limitations
regular

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 2. LINE

or is a line free conventional verse it poem if is a

component of A basic structural the

3. LINE BREAKS

end line is that a is used at the of a line and line

beginning poetic marks the of the device next in a poem
breaks

4. ENJAMBMENTS

The next This thought running of line or into line without

a is the strong break over or pause a

B. ASSESSMENT

Directions: Write a conventional poetry or a free-verse poetry about your

experience in Modular Learning. Take note of the rules and characteristics of your
chosen type of poetry in writing your output.

RUBRICS IN WRITING POETRY

Excellent Average Poor
(5) (3) (1)
The poem goes The words in the
The poem
perfectly together. poem does not go
somewhat goes
There is unity together. The
together but there
Cohesiveness between lines and poem lines and
are words which
stanzas which stanzas are not
are not appropriate
connects to the related to the
to the topic.
topic. topic.
The poem uses 3
or more poetic
The poem uses 1
element to
or 2 poetic The poem did not
Use of Poetic enhance the poem
elements but they use any poetic
Elements and the reader’s
sometimes distract elements.
emotion
the readers.

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 Observance to the All rules were There were 2 to 3
Rules in writing the
Rules of the properly observed rules that were not
poem were not
Selected Types of in writing the met in writing the
observed.
Poetry poem. poem.

The poem uses 3 The poem uses 1 The poem did not
Creativity or more literary or 2 literary use any literary
devices in devices in devices in
describing the describing the describing the
subject of the subject of the subject of the
poem. poem. poem.

● LITERARY DEVICES. Free Verse. Retrieved June 22, 2020 from

>https://literarydevices.net/free-verse/<
● CONVENTIONS IN POETRY. Retrieved June 22, 2020 from >What
Are Conventions in Poetry? (reference.com)<

Written and Condensed by:

MA. CRISTINA L. CONSUELO

Teacher III, Paulba National High School

Quality Assured by:

JOE-BREN L. CONSUELO, EdD

Education Program Supervisor

Layout Artist:

JESSIE ALLAN C. CIDRO

Teacher III, Catburawan Elementary School
SDO-Ligao City

Quality Assured by:

VENUS V. LAMADRID, MT I EMMA V. DASCO

Vinzons Pilot High School EPS I - English
Camarines Norte Division Camarines Norte Division

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Answer Key:

Practice Task 1 Practice Task 2.

1. CP 1. Haiku
2. CP 2. 3 lines
3. FV 3. 17 syllables
4. CP 4. A humorous poem
5. CP 5. AA-BB-A
6. CP 6. Five lines
7. FV 7. 22 syllables
8. CP 8. Sonnet
9. FV 9. 14 lines
10. CP 10. ABABCDCDEFEFGG
11. 4 lines
12. AAAA
13. 7 syllables
14. A pre-Hispanic rhyming
poem
15. 7 syllables

Practice Task 3
1. FREE VERSE
Free verse is a literary device that is free from limitations of regular meter
or rhythm, and does not rhyme with fixed forms

2. LINE
A line is the basic structural component of a poem regardless if it is
conventional or free verse.

3. LINE BREAKS
Line breaks is a poetic device that is used at the end of a line and marks
the beginning of the next line in a poem.

4. ENJAMBMENTS
This is the running over of a line or thought into the next line without a
strong break or pause.

ASSESSMENT:
(Answers may vary)

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