Activity One:Tips for Potential Poets

Activity Two:Poem Writing Time

Ideas are from: James Carter, http://www.poetryzone.ndirect.co.uk/index2.htm

Tip #1

• Keep a notebook at home. Put all kinds of stuff in it – ideas, poems, doodles, thoughts, memories, little stories. Try and write something in it every day. Don’t show it to other people – just keep it as your private writing place.

Tip #2• If you want ideas for poems, find

somewhere quiet and daydream for a while. See what ideas come to you. If nothing comes, why not try writing something that begins “I wish...” “I remember...”“When I was...”“100 years ago...”“Once when...”

Tip #3

• Where do ideas come from? – our memories and – our imagination.

• Think of something that has happened to you and change it around so that it becomes a fiction. Use it in a poem.

Tip #4

• Sometimes you can start to write a poem before the idea is ready to be written out. So it’s good just to think and ponder over your idea first. With a bit of luck, other ideas will come along too.

Tip #5

• Once you’ve written a new poem and you feel you can’t do any more to improve it, leave it for a while – say a week or so. Then come back to it fresh and see what needs to be done next.

Tip #6

• In your first draft, don’t worry about spellings or handwriting or punctuation, just get your ideas down. You can sort out all the spellings etc. later on.

Tip #7

• Computers are very useful when writing poetry. However, it’s best if you can write your poems first by hand and then later put them on the computer.

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Poem Writing Time

In this activity, we’re going to practice a special type of poem:

Diamante Poems

• Diamante is a seven-line, diamond shaped poem which contrasts two opposites. It is more a visual poem than one to be read aloud. Children can illustrate their final copies to produce an art piece.

http://teachit.acreekps.vic.edu.au/poetry/poem4.htm

The Format of a Diamante Poem• First Line and seventh line

(Name the opposites.)

• Second and sixth lines (Two adjectives describing the nearest opposite.)

The Format of a Diamante Poem• Third and fifth lines

(Three participles (-ing words) describing the nearest opposite.)

• Fourth line – two nouns for each of the opposites. (This is the transition point where the poem changes from one of the opposites to the other.)

Example #1

The opposite

The opposite

Four transitional nouns,

V-ing, V-ing, V-ing,

V-ing, V-ing, V-ing,Two adjectives,

Two adjectives,

Example #1

V-ing, V-ing, V-ing,

V-ing, V-ing, V-ing,Two adjectives,

Two adjectives

Earth

Moon

Four transitional nouns,

Example #1

V-ing, V-ing, V-ing,

V-ing, V-ing, V-ing,Round, Big,

Bright, Dust,

Earth

Moon

Four transitional nouns,

Example #1

Spinning, Rotating, Moving,

Shining, Glowing, Changing,

Earth

Moon

Round, Big,

Bright, Dust,

Four transitional nouns,

Example #1

Planet, World, Craters, Luna,

Spinning, Rotating, Moving,

Shining, Glowing, Changing,

Earth

Moon

Round, Big,

Bright, Dust,

Example #2

MoonBlue, orbit

Moving, twisting, coolingDark, still, light, busy

Turning, burning, warmingYellow, bright

Sun

Now It’s Your Turn…Follow the format and compose your

own diamante poemThe opposite

The opposite

Four transitional nouns,

V-ing, V-ing, V-ing,

V-ing, V-ing, V-ing,Two adjectives,

Two adjectives,

You can try…

• Teachers…Students

• Children…Adults

• Spring…Winter

• Day…Night

• Love…Hate

• Peace…War

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