English 10: Writing a poem . . .

Based on today's lesson: How to get at big ideas through small details, chose one of the BIG TOPICS below and the details below and write a poem. Type it up and bring it to class tomorrow to share with a partner. Read the poems in your package for ideas and the poems in the three poetry books that you have.

BIG TOPICS

1. Losing a loved on
2. Homelessness
3. Bullying
4. A current war
5. Divorce or a break up
6. Environmental disaster
7. Something current in the news that upsets you
8. Fitting In
9. Growing Up
10. Racism

Write a poem using the following details:

1. a month
2. a body of water
3. I
4. a season
5. a car name plus its year
6. a brand name (food, clothing, implement)
7. you
8. an animal
9. a type of tree
10. a description of light
11. name of a place
12. love
13. a character from a film, book, TV or history
14. time of day
    
    Once you have a first draft, go back and add line breaks, enjambement, and sound (alliteration, assonance, dissonance, rhythm, repetition). Vary your line length and notice the effect.
    
    A poem uses all the ingredients we used when writing our stories, plus line break, enjambement, and sound.
    
    Fiction ingredients: point of view, character, setting, conflict, open endings, start in the middle of the action, use an image in the title, no cliches, surprise us with great language "plummets like a wounded bird", show don't tell, imply, concrete imagery which appeals to the five senses. 

Keep reading poems and adding favourites to your poetry log.
Keep reading books and filling in the forms for USSR. Forms due Dec. 1.