o et r y

P
What Is It?
It’s Personal
© Karen Morgenstern
ETEC 551
Dr. Lesley Farmer
Course Module
6th Grade Personal Poetry Unit
Poetry
How
would
you
describe
it?
 Poetry
can be
serious
The crown of literature is poetry. It is its end and aim. It
is the sublimest activity of the human mind. It is the
achievement of beauty and delicacy. The writer of prose
can only step aside when the poet passes.
-W. Somerset Maugham
 Poetry
can be
serious
Poetry is the key to the hieroglyphics of Nature.
-Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare,
Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827
Poetry
can be
funny
Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.
There is no happiness like mine.
I have been eating poetry.
-Mark Strand, “Eating Poetry,”
Reasons for Moving, 1968
 Poetry
should be real
A poet must never make a statement simply
because it is sounds poetically exciting;
he must also believe it to be true.
-W.H. Auden

authentic
Like all
forms of
writing,
poetry
begins with and idea.
 rhyme
Poetic
Elements alliteration
are used to
simile
advance the
idea. These metaphor
include…
onomatopoeia
 rhyme
Sphinx blinks
sand hand
mystery history
I started early, took my dog,
And visited the sea;
The mermaids in the basement
Came out to look at me,
-Emily Dickenson
from By the Sea

words that end in same sound

 alliteration
Clever Cleopatra clasped
the coin from Canopus
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper; 
A peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked;
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper, 
Where's the peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked?
-Unknown
Nursery Rhyme

words that begin with same sound

 simile Queen Cleopatra,
knowing ruler
as bright as Isis
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
-William Wordsworth
from I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

comparing two things using “like” or “as”

 I am
metaphor
a tigress
ruling my lair
I am a house, says Senlin, locked and darkened,
Sealed from the sun with wall and door and blind.
Summon me loudly, and you’ll hear slow footsteps
Ring far and faint in the galleries of my mind.
-Conrad Potter Aiken
from Senlin, A Biography

comparing two things sometimes using

“is” or (I) “am” (not “like” or “as”)
Crack! Crack! All along the Nile
Lightning struck
Seth’s fury echoed onomatopoeia
Boom! The roar of thunder followed.
Hear the sledges with the bells Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
-Edgar Alan Poe
from The Bells

words that sound like their meaning

Personal
Poetry
What
is it?
 everyone has a history ct
e ffe
fo r
ent s
le m
oe it c e
se p
u
Poetry isn’t a profession,
it’s a way of life.
It’s an empty basket;
you put your life into it
and make
something out of that.
-Mary Oliver

describe one’s feelings, thoughts…life

 The End

All poetry excerpts are in the public domain and were

retrieved from http://www.allpoets.net
All examples of poetic elements are the work product of
the teacher.
Images are clip art photos retrieved from
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images;
ocean image is original photograph taken by the teacher
Cleopatra wordle created on http://www.wordle.net