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Poetry Texts

symbols and vivid imagery and metaphor mark this poetry.

Structure and features of poetry texts

Ballads

PURPOSE Poetry captures the essence of an object, feeling or thought. Poetry for children should reflect the emotions of childhood, making students feel sensory experiences to an intensified degree and satisfying their natural response to rhythm. Poetry can amuse, describe in a different way, comment on humanity or draw parallels to their lives.

FORMS

Ballads are narrative poems that were sung during the fifteenth century in Europe and form an important part of the oral storytelling tradition. Ballads were simple and dramatic entertaining stories that told succeeding generations of important events. There are three types of ballads: traditional song ballads; popular or modern ballads; and poems or literary ballads that are not meant to be sung.

Sonnet

OF POETRY

Lyric poetry Lyric poetry has had a strong connection with singing and music since classical times.This is any shorter poem that expresses the poet’s feelings and thoughts. Most lyric poetry is personal or descriptive, not concerned with action or narrating, but reflects a single experience. It has no prescribed length or structure.

This short fourteen line lyric poem can be written about any noble thoughts or emotions. Students should experiment to see how the shaping of each phrase works to create the whole pattern. Ideas can be developed across the three quatrains or three images, one in each quatrain, can be created to focus on a central theme.The couplet sums up the key points or adds a twist to the poem.

Satire Concrete poetry The shape and position of the letters and words reflect the meaning.This allows the poet to combine visual and verbal skills and to experiment with language to heighten awareness of the meaning of individual words. Meaning must be the focus and then the shaping of the words will grow from the idea of the poem.

This is the use of sarcasm or ridicule in a text to express disapproval with existing social institutions, individuals or mannerisms of a time.

Didactic This refers to a poet who teaches a lesson through the poetry or prose.

STRUCTURE Humorous verse This stirs the students’ imagination and appeals to their sense of fun.The use of imaginative

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OF POETRY TEXTS

A poem may tell a story, or describe people, places and things in a distinctive way.The plan of a poem has design and form.

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Words are not casually connected but are linked in the mind of the creator.Well-written poetry should leave the reader pondering, questioning, considering and investigating. A poet responds and is inspired by the stimuli around him. Poets help us to see familiar objects, people and experiences in different ways by engaging our senses of sight, sound, taste, touch and smell. Poets communicate thoughts and feelings, leading us to a better understanding of human nature and the world. Students respond to stress patterns or speech rhythms that reinforce the sense of the word and the rhyme. They should understand that a change of rhythm is indicative of a new element in a poem. The most common rhythmic pattern is called end rhyme. This means that the end words of two consecutive lines, alternate lines or even lines further apart rhyme. Some poets use an internal rhyme where two words rhyme within the same line. Discussions of verse form with students can provide opportunities for language play. A student who is mathematically inclined may enjoy comparing a sonnet or a ballad with a sensory or descriptive poem to see how they differ structurally. Students who experience considerable difficulties in writing prose can often express themselves quite fluently in verse. Poetry writing enables students to gain an appreciation of patterning, poetic techniques as well as an insight into the function of language.

The structure of a ballad A ballad has a structure similar to a narrative, with the addition of a refrain.

This refrain acts as a commentary on events and holds the poem together. It generally appears after each verse.

The structure of a sonnet A sonnet is a reflective form and normally has a structured rhythmic and rhyme pattern. All sonnets have fourteen lines but there are variations as to how the lines are divided up. In the Shakespearian sonnet, there are three quatrains followed by a couplet.This couplet can take the form of a twist or can change the focus of the poem.The rhyming is abab cdcd efef gg.

LANGUAGE

FEATURES OF POETRY TEXTS

• Textual cohesion is created by word chains built from synonyms, repetition and antonyms. • Action verbs, noun groups, adverbs and adverbial phrases are found. • Sensory images of sight, sound, touch, smell or taste for feelings and emotions are found. • Rhythm appropriate to subject matter should be used, reinforcing and creating meaning, for example sad and happy, calm and reflective • Change of rhythm is generally indicative of a new element in the poem, a contrast in mood, a warning or a different speaker. • Poetry can have end rhyme or internal rhyme. • When poets compare one thing with another using the connecting words like or as, they are using a simile. In a metaphor the poet speaks of an object or an idea as if it were another object. • Alliteration, assonance, personification and onomatopoeia are often found. • Most poems begin each line with capital letters and have one or more stanzas.

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Sample Annotated Text

C

L

ung ancer

TEXT ORGANISATION

LANGUAGE FEATURES Word chains built from

and repetition e.g. Series of steps Trees and leaves in boldest green synonyms trees, green, forests, leaves or moves Are life that must be seen,

There’s no animal that can live In the absence of this green.

Steps shown in And by the play of sun verse or stanza Its golden rays on the leaves structures They leave us free to live.

Our very breath of life Comes from tree’s very might To make our air just right.

Change of image in each stanza

Comment

{

In hot and steamy malls Where trees and vibes grow tall, In halls of rainy forests, In Nature’s factory rests The essence of this life, This life as shared by all.

{

Our planet’s blood is green And its lungs are made of trees, But now we have a problem, A problem of disease. The problem of disease, It stems from greed not need. It’s cancer of the lungs, A result of money squeeze, And now we’ve placed our planet’s life Upon the bottom rung, Of the dreadful ladder Of universal strife. And to try and solve this matter We must turn and look at life, Our very way of life. For we are the disease, The cancer in our planet’s lungs.

{

by Jonathan Wilson-Fuller from Will You Please Listen, I Have Something to Say (ABC Books)

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Assonance e.g. trees, leaves, green

Present tense e.g. are Alliteration e.g. leaves, leave, live Plural used to link reader and poet e.g. our, we Rhyming words e.g. malltall; might-right Effective images e.g. nature’s factory rests, our planet’s lungs Links ideas using and

Repetition of words e.g. problem Personification e.g. lungs made of trees Evaluative language e.g. essence of life, greed not heed Descriptive language through build up of noun groups e.g. boldest green, bottom rung, dreadful ladder Emotive language e.g. cancer, strife

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Name _________________________________________ Class _______________

Outcomes Checklist

BLM 44

Poetry Texts

At the end of the units on poetry texts students will have worked towards achieving the following National Level 4 (NSW Stage 3) outcomes.

SPEAKING AND LISTENING

BLM

NA 4.1 NSW 3.1 Communicates and interacts confidently for a range of purposes and a variety of audiences to express well developed, well organised ideas dealing with more challenging topics. NA 4.2 NSW 3.3 Considers aspects of context, purpose and audience when speaking and listening and discusses ways in which spoken language differs from written. NA 4.3 NSW 3.4 Controls and evaluates structures and features of spoken language. Interprets meaning and develops and presents ideas and information in familiar surroundings.

50, 52, 61, 63, 66, 72, 78, 82, 83, 84

DATE & COMMENTS

62, 68, 69, 77 51, 79, 84

READING AND VIEWING NA 4.5 NSW 3.5 Reads an extensive range of texts with fairly complex structures and features, justifying own interpretation of ideas, information and events in the response to themes and issues. NA 4.6 NSW 3.7 Analyses and explains techniques to position the reader and to interpret experiences differently in texts. NA 4.7 NSW 3.8 Identifies the structures of different texts and with assistance discusses the grammatical structures and features that shape readers’ and listeners’ understanding of texts. NA 4.8a NSW 3.6 Selects a range of strategies appropriate for the texts being read. NA 4.8b Working with peers is able to find information and resources for specific purposes.

50, 51, 62, 63, 68, 75, 77, 79, 82, 83 50, 52, 57, 63, 67, 68, 74, 82, 83, 85 52, 58, 61, 72, 78, 83, 85

57, 67, 73, 74, 77, 83 50, 67, 73

WRITING NA 4.9 NSW 3.9 Writes well structured literary and factual texts using challenging topics, ideas and issues for a variety of purposes and audiences. NA 4.10 NSW 3.13 Evaluates writing in terms of effectiveness of presentation of subject matter and adjusts to focus on context, purpose and audience. NA 4.11 NSW 3.14 Discusses and evaluates how texts have been constructed to achieve their purpose and shape readers’ and viewers’ understandings using grammatical features and structures. NA 4.12a NSW 3.10 Uses a range of strategies to plan, edit and proofread own writing.

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51, 52, 53, 54, 64, 66, 73, 79, 80, 84, 85, 86 53, 57, 58, 59, 69, 74, 75, 86 53, 61, 72, 78, 85

53, 54, 58, 59, 64, 69, 80, 86

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Background Lessons If too much time is devoted to analysing a single poem, students frequently become bored and restless.The way to overcome this is to ask students to prepare for a performance. Performance leads to the discussion of the meaning of each line and how it will be said. Encouraging students to add movement and sound effects will provide opportunities for creative innovations.

Session 1 Breaking the pattern

Session 2 Cloze technique Students can work independently or in pairs on this task.To assist students and build their confidence when using a rhyming technique take a poem divided into verses that follows a regular rhyming pattern. Leave the first verse untouched and then follow a cloze technique, deleting words with the focus on rhyme, rhythm and imagery. Students do not have to use exactly the words that were in the original poem, but should select words that fit the rhythm and tone.

Session 3 Sensory poetry

Psychologists describe people’s earliest memories as Cut up a poem into single lines and challenge pairs sensory as we are able to recall the way things smell of students to try to work out the original poem. and taste. Here is a sensory poem for students to try. This will lead students to discuss the poem’s structure and its intended sequence. Students will Before you begin, cut up slices of apple, pieces of focus on the rhythm, rhyme and layout and aspects celery and sticks of carrot sufficient in number for of the language of the poem.They will become each student to have one piece. Each student aware of the feeling driving the poem forward. A chooses a piece that will be the subject described lyric poem is useful for this as its verses may appear in a sensory poem. to stand independently, but there are normally clues in the Ask students to follow this sequence: text as to which verse should Say the word for your slice or stick. Apple, appear where in the overall Write words you associate with it as you say it. Rosy red, format of the poem. Write a describing word or adjective for it. Delicious tasting, Describe how it looks Describe how it feels

Roundly reflecting light, So smooth and firm.

Ask students to bite into the stick or piece and then: Write a sound word. Crunchy and fleshy Describe how it feels in your mouth. But firm. What a taste! Describe the taste. As sweet as honey, Describe how it feels as you swallow. Small pieces dissolving, Describe the after taste. I’m longing for another bite. What does the apple/celery stick Is this the witch’s apple or carrot remind you of? From my fairy tale? Ask students to attempt other words following this outline and format.

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Session 4 Sensory images Ask students to write a poem expressing their feelings and responses to a particular colour.This poem should contain objects that are that colour but should also describe the sensory images that the poet feels, smells and tastes. Ask students to choose a colour. An example follows:

MY BLACK MOOD Black is the panther so beautifully sleek, Black is the lone quaver moving my feet, Black is the soot from a great roaring fire, A broken down car with a hole in the tyre. Black is a heavy feeling so deep inside, When you feel moody and want to hide. Black fall the scrapings from the burnt toast Yet black is the colour that I love the most.

Session 5 Descriptive poetry Students should work independently or with a writing buddy.They should decide on a character to be the focus of their writing.This character should be completing a task at a specific time of the day. He could be waking and struggling out of bed; rushing to catch the bus to school; lying around on a hot afternoon; baking a cake; eating an ice-cream or learning to ride a bicycle. Ask students to close their eyes so that they can picture the experience more fully then ask them independently to write down the words relating to the action.The emphasis is on spontaneous thoughts, opinions and a free flow of ideas. At this stage students can talk to their writing buddies or work independently drawing a picture of their thoughts. It is important that when students illustrate the poem, they try to visualise a

humorous possibility that is part of the verbal description. The poem could be written in the first or third person, but students need to concentrate on creating a picture in the reader’s mind of the action and feelings. Meaning must be the focus and then the shape of the poem should be created in the image of the action. Later students can work in inventive ways playing with words, phrases, sound patterns and images to clarify the meaning. Ask students to share these verbal and visual poems with other students.

Session 6 Become an object Ask students to imagine that they have become inanimate objects.They should then write a poem from the point of view of that object, for example, write as a can of beans or a fork used to eat dinner.What would they think about, feel and say? What dialogue would they write as a desk chair speaking to a computer or breakfast cereal speaking to a bar of soap? Ask students to write their poem using personification for other inanimate objects.

Session 7 Visualising and describing By using our sense of sight we are able to see the shape, colour, size, movement as well as the texture of an object. Our sight can also suggest relationships, attitudes, moods and tone. Ask students to choose an animal with which they are familiar, for example a dog.They should picture that dog in their mind’s eye. Suggest they close their eyes. Ask them to write down phrases that describe the dog’s colour, shape, movement and different moods whether playful, hungry or sleepy.

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Suggest to students that they compare their ideas with others in the class. Supply poetry books so that students can find poetry on a similar topic and contrast the way the poet has seen the dog compared to their own vision. Ask students to write about their animal and visualise its reaction in a stressful situation, for example when the animal is injured or there is a fire in the room. Alternatively they can imagine that they are a person with animal characteristics. Ask them to create a character profile describing the type of person, what they do for a living and how they walk, talk and behave. Here is an example written about a bat. The bat’s eyes are aglow in his small little head, His pulse beats so slowly we think him dead. He flies in crazy loops, shrieking for half the night, Resting in trees that face the pale, corner light. Tonight the bat’s victim is the spotted brown mouse, Living in the attic of that scary, old house. But when the bat flutters against the torn screen You feel afraid of what your eyes have seen. For something is amiss or out of place, When mammals with wings wear a mouse featured face.

Session 8 Ballad Encourage students to attempt a group ballad.The topics vary but often tell of love, death, a battle or the supernatural. It is important at the prewriting stage that as a group the tale is worked out from beginning to end. Details about the characters and setting are told through the dialogue, generally in the first person to the audience.The story is generally told in four-line stanzas of regular length.

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One of the benefits of the ballad form is that students can write one or two verses of the overall tale. Remind students of the ballad’s structure that is similar to the narrative with the addition of a refrain acting as a commentary on events and holding the poem together.The refrain generally appears after each verse.The ballad’s structure is: orientation—repeated refrain—complication— repeated refrain—series of events—repeated refrain—resolution—repeated refrain. Students can create their own simple rhyming form, for example abab or aabb.

Session 9 Sonnet Students working in groups can attempt to write a sonnet. It is important in the prewriting stage that as a group the idea for the poem is worked out from beginning to end.The fourteen line structure should remain constant but students can write in the form of the Shakespearian sonnet of three quatrains and a couplet using the typical rhyming pattern of abab cdcd efef gg or in a modern variation of eight lines then six with a flexible rhyming pattern.

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BLM 45

Poetry Writing Interview Name: Class: Date: Self-assessment e.g.What type of poetry do you enjoy writing or reading? Is there anything you don’t like writing about or find difficult about writing poetry? How do you rate yourself as a poet? Does the shape of the poem contribute to the meaning? What is the purpose of the poem?

Range and preferences e.g.What do you like writing poetry about and for what type of audiences? What strategies do you use to make your poetry clear and interesting? What is the tone of the poem?

Skills e.g. Are your ideas more important than accurate spelling and correct sentence structure? How does the rhythm reinforce and create the meaning of the poem? If the poem rhymes does it sound natural or contrived? Do word chains built through synonyms, antonyms and repetition appear? Does the poem create sensory images? Does the imagination in the poem help you see things in a new way? Do noun groups, adverbs and adverbial phrases appear in the poem?

Current projects e.g.What poetry are you writing now? What would you like to write?

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BLM 46

Poetry Writing Assessment Name: Class: Date:

Task e.g. Rhyming, sensory or descriptive poetry; a ballad; a sonnet

Context e.g. Individual, pairs, group, teacher directed

ANALYSIS Content e.g. Purpose, organisation of verses or format, awareness of audience

Skills e.g. Planning, drafting, editing, redrafting, spelling, punctuation, handwriting

Language study e.g. Appropriate sensory and descriptive language, word chains, noun groups, adverbs and adverbial phrases, action verbs, metaphors for images

Teaching needs e.g. Attitude to task, teaching needed for further development

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BLM 47

Poetry Skills Checklist Name: Class:

Date/Level Date/Level Date/Level Date/Level

PURPOSE Understands the purpose of poetry.

STRUCTURE Writes a well-developed series of events when appropriate. Able to tie up ends in a clear resolution. Varies the stages of a poem when writing using different structures. Recognises different forms of poetry.

TEXT ORGANISATION Develops a well-sequenced plan for poetry writing. Uses stanzas appropriately. Changes rhythm to indicate a new element or different mood in the poem. Able to sequence thoughts clearly. Varies the point of view using different perspectives within a poem.

LANGUAGE FEATURES Uses noun groups to create clear images. Uses adjectives to identify characters and to write vivid images. Uses verbs. Uses adverbs and adverbial phrases to indicate, where, when, how. Uses word chains built from synonyms, antonyms and repetition. Uses first or third person and addresses audience directly as you at times. Uses sensory images for feelings and emotions. Uses rhythm appropriate to subject matter. Able to rhyme when appropriate Makes use of figurative language. Generally begins each line with a capital letter.

LEVEL CODES

1 Consistently evident

2 Sometimes evident

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3 Not evident

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