Inglés avanzado, Tercero y Cuarto. Poetry Part 2: Writing Poetry

Poetry Part 2: Writing Poetry 3&4 Medio

When it comes to writing, the best thing you can do to improve your skill is to read. So, if you want to write good poetry you need to be reading and examining poetry. 



Stanza: A group of lines that make a verse in a poem. They are usually separated by stanza breaks to break up ideas and verses. 

Example:

 "It was many and many a year ago,

   In a kingdom by the sea,

That a maiden there lived whom you may know

   By the name of Annabel Lee;

And this maiden she lived with no other thought

   Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,

   In this kingdom by the sea,

But we loved with a love that was more than love—

   I and my Annabel Lee—

With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven

   Coveted her and me."

-Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe

The first group of lines is a stanza. Then, there is a stanza breaks between the stanzas and after, another stanza beings again. 

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Read these poems. While you read think about the answers to these questions: 

• What emotion does this poem make you feel? 
• Is the poet trying to tell you a specific message or idea? 
• Do they want you to think a certain way about a topic? 
• What lines are your favorites? 
• What lines make you feel a specific emotion? 
• What emotions are those? 
• What do you think the meaning of the poem is? 

Poetry is meant to bring forth a specific emotion while also conveying a message or idea. What are the emotions and ideas these poems bring forth in your mind?

"Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou

“You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin’ in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame

I rise

Up from a past that’s rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.”

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"A Good Day" by Kait Rokowski

"Yesterday, I spent 60 dollars on groceries,
took the bus home,
carried both bags with two good arms back to my studio apartment
and cooked myself dinner.
You and I may have different definitions of a good day.
This week, I paid my rent and my credit card bill,
worked 60 hours between my two jobs,
only saw the sun on my cigarette breaks
and slept like a rock.
Flossed in the morning,
locked my door,
and remembered to buy eggs.
My mother is proud of me.
It is not the kind of pride she brags about at the golf course.
She doesn’t combat topics like, ”My daughter got into Yale”
with, ”Oh yeah, my daughter remembered to buy eggs”
But she is proud.
See, she remembers what came before this.
The weeks where I forgot how to use my muscles,
how I would stay as silent as a thick fog for weeks.
She thought each phone call from an unknown number was the notice of my suicide.
These were the bad days.
My life was a gift that I wanted to return.
My head was a house of leaking faucets and burnt-out lightbulbs.
Depression, is a good lover.
So attentive; has this innate way of making everything about you.
And it is easy to forget that your bedroom is not the world,
That the dark shadows your pain casts is not mood-lighting.
It is easier to stay in this abusive relationship than fix the problems it has created.
Today, I slept in until 10,
cleaned every dish I own,
fought with the bank,
took care of paperwork.
You and I might have different definitions of adulthood.
I don’t work for salary, I didn’t graduate from college,
but I don’t speak for others anymore,
and I don’t regret anything I can’t genuinely apologize for.
And my mother is proud of me.
I burned down a house of depression,
I painted over murals of greyscale,
and it was hard to rewrite my life into one I wanted to live
But today, I want to live.
I didn’t salivate over sharp knives,
or envy the boy who tossed himself off the Brooklyn bridge.
I just cleaned my bathroom,
did the laundry,
called my brother.
Told him, “it was a good day.”

Assignment: You must write your own poem. These poems will be GRADED. Rubric (grading guidelines) can be found below. You can write either a free verse poem or a rhyming poem. NO HAIKUS. We already did those. 

You must write at least three stanzas or have 12 lines in total in your poem. 

This assignment is due Friday, May 1, 2020. 

Grading Rubric:

Your poems will be graded for: 

1. effort (did you put effort and thought into your poem?)
2. spelling (do you have any misspelled words?)
3. grammar (did you conjugate your verbs correctly?) 
4. did you follow the rules of three stanzas or 12 lines in your poem?

These are the items that your poems will be graded by. Before turning your poem in, look back over this rubric and make sure you didn't leave anything out! If you need any help, please send me an email or message me in our Whatsapp group!

Our Zoom meetings will be on Friday at 11 AM. Our ID is: 242-196-439