Guidelines

100 points

Memorized Poem: Due: On the day you signed up on the door, last day January 3, 2017


100 points
Poetry Collection/Explication Guidelines: Due January 5, 2017

　
After reading several poems, you must select at least ten different poems by at least seven different poets to include in this collection. You may not use poems we have discussed in class, but you may use other poems by poets we have discussed in class.
Copy each poem into your collection. Be sure to include the title and the poet’s name.
You must annotate, using circles, arrows, whatever, to mark and label the poetic devices the poet used in each poem. Be thorough, as you will be deducted for glaring omissions.
You will then write (by that, I mean type) a paragraph for each poem, explicating each one. Look for a "door" into the poem. Is there a point of tension? Is there a shift at some point? You may discuss such as symbols, tone, allusions, alliteration, assonance, rhyme scheme, meter, rhythm, and any other poetic devices used, but be sure to say what those devices DO for the poem. Don’t just note their presence. That’s what the annotations were for. Make meaning. Consider the title. Consider meaning. Make a claim, and back it up. You can do this.


100 points
Original Poetry Booklet Guidelines: Due January 9

You will create ten original poems, using at least seven different forms we’ve learned about in class.
Three, and only three poems may rhyme. At least one poem must rhyme.
Use examples of every poetic device we’ve learned about. (Obviously, you can’t use them all on one poem, but over the course of this assignment, you should utilize each device at least once.)
Look back at some of our poetry experiences in class. Some can be worked up into fine poem.
You need to make an attractive cover, so that the likelihood that you will end up saving this booklet and showing it to your grandchildren is increased.
Please make every attempt to avoid clichés, those over-used, worn out expressions that we’ve all heard before. They have lost their luster, and they will detract from your poem, rather than enhance it. I’m looking for fresh perspectives, unique metaphors, the originality that only you can bring to this assignment. While I’m sure it would be very easy to get away with plagiarizing these poems, I would hope that your honor and your own sense of self would prevent that. Impress me. But more important than that, impress yourself.

Help!

Help!! I’m stuck! I can’t think of anything to write about. I have nothing to say. I don’t wanna do this dumb assignment. I’m no poet. This is not fun!



If you ever feel like that, here are just a few ideas that may spark your creativity:

1. Make a long list of yellow things, blue, green.... Now substitute one of these words for the kind of yellow you are describing in a poem. For instance: pond scum green, new leaf green, August sky blue, cotton candy pink, green, the color of a six day old bruise, bumble bee yellow,

spider black, eyes that are fall-into-blue, coat closet black, corn silk yellow,

2. Make a long list of opposite, like black/white, good/evil, weak/strong, angel/devil, bold/timid,

innocent/experienced, flawed/perfect, fat/thin, cold/hot, smart/dumb, soft/hard, beloved/hated, young/old, slick/hick, joy/pain,

3. Select a few key words that you may want to include in a poem. Now find all the rhyming words you can for each word. (I do this by writing an alphabet at the top of my page.) Then, come up with a verse that has rhythm, rhyme and meter.

4. Sit out in nature for 15-20. Write down your observations. Listen. Feel. Hear. Look. Smell. Taste. Touch. Be detailed in your descriptions.

5. Scale it down. Study one square inch of dirt or floor or wall or ceiling or skin or scalp or chalkboard or sky or animal or water or tile or hair or desk or mirror or fabric or paper or anything. Record your thoughts.

6. Go to the Deseret Industries. Buy an old article of clothing. Put it on and write about who used to own it. Tell their story in but a few, well-chosen words.

7. Read some poetry by other poets than yourself.

8. Think about the extremes in your life: the most afraid you’ve ever been, the most excited, the most physical pain you’ve ever experienced, the most peaceful, the most fun, the most daring thing you’ve ever done, the most rotten thing, the most noble thing you’ve ever done. These extremes can prompt poetry.

9. Record your dreams. Keep a notebook by your bed.

10. Write as if you were someone else, something else, an old person, a baby, a person of another race, religion, height, weight, or possibly an inanimate object.

11. Use crayons to write your poetry. The colors you choose can be telling. You may even end up revising things as a result of the colors. They may inspire new thoughts.

12. Wake up early in the morning, before anyone else is up. Go into the yard, or some other quiet spot. Record the beginning of a day, or the end of one.

13. Take a bus ride and write about the characters you see, what they look like, where they might be going, make up a past, present, and future for them.

14. Splash cold water on your face. Try to put words to that sensation of shock.

15. Listen to music that is TOTALLY not your type.

16. Go for a walk.

17. Take your writing notebook to a new place. Create five columns, one for each of your five senses. Record what your eyes, ears, skin, tongue, nose tells you to record.

18. Write about your earliest recollection of life.

19. Write about a pet peeve.

20. Go to an art gallery. Allow yourself to become inspired by something you see.

21. Read poetry aloud. Feel the sounds of the words as they are formed using your lips and teeth and tongue and nose.

22. Write without stopping. Write without looking at what you’ve written. Write until your hand hurts.

23. Write about the weather.

24. Write about love. Write about envy. Write about loss. Write about seemingly insignificant details.

25. Listen. Listen to the sounds we hear everyday. Try to come up with a way to spell the words that sound like those sounds. For instance, how would you spell the sound a kiss makes?

26. Write a list of action verbs, juicy words, delicious words that move, have life, not dreary, boring words.

27. Do a spoof on a well-known poem, nursery rhyme, or fairy tale.

28. Use the following prompts:

I let go of anger.....

Right before I fall asleep, when....

I dreamed....

"This is just to say..."

My shadow knows...

My real name is...

I will be...

I remember...

29. Make lists:

Things under my bed, things I have not quite learned, things I wish my parents knew, things I wish my English teacher would do, things I would take with me if my house were on fire, things even my best friend doesn’t know about me, hours in my life I wish I could have back, why we love popcorn, reasons not to try at school, or life, or math, things I’m proud of but shouldn’t be, things my big brother inflicted upon me, qualities my grandmother thinks I possess, secrets I kept, what I would do with a cloak of invisibility, list what’s in the fridge right now? Cute tricks I performed as a child, Things I learned in junior high, what my shadow knows how to do, reasons why I adore English, places my mother used to drag me...