1. All four free verse poems must be typed and emailed to me (lisalavender06@gmail.com) by Thursday, May 17, 2012 by 10p.m.
2. All four free verse poems must be typed and printed off before getting to school on Friday, May 18, 2012. Mrs. Banks will check for your four poems in class (on separate sheets with title). Once your poems have been checked, you are to place them inside your portfolio. Make sure you have your portfolio in class on Friday. I will be at the school to check your completed portfolio soon, so make sure you have everything completed. Anyone who does not have the assignment in class the day that it is due and/or does not have it typed or completed will receive a zero, no exceptions!
Important Advice: Complete your work in time to print at school, before Friday, if you don't have access to a printer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Writing Free Verse
Free verse does not have a set pattern of rhyme or rhythm. There are no rules about line length in free verse. You try to keep the words that belong together on the same line, but, sometimes the poet will break these words if he/she wants to create a visual shape to support the poem's message, or feeling that the poet wishes the reader to experience. The poet may wish to put special emphasis on a word he/she has used so he will that word a line to itself, or place it on the next line so the reader notices it or is surprised by the poet's use of the word . Often a poet will end a line because it feels right to him/her to do so. The poet chooses the length of each line and the length of the poem according to the message, or feeling he/she wishes to communicate to his/her reader. When free verse is read aloud the reader can hear the rhythm of the words that the poet has used in his/her poem. Think of it as spoken music. Topic
Anything and everything can be the topic of a free verse lyrical poem. The poem can tell a story, describe a person, animal, feeling or object. They can serious, sad, funny or educational. What ever subject that appeals to the poet can end up in free verse.
Language
The poet attempts to describe his/her subject with language that shows, not tells. For example, instead of writing " We had so much fun today.", the poet would write "They wore smiles all the way home." The idea being that a grinning face is more descriptive of the fun they had. It also leaves a stronger impression with the reader. Free verse poetry tries to capture images , convey meaning ,or emotions through the use of lyrical phrases that will get the poet's message across without a lot of telling. Free verse poets use figurative language devices such as metaphors, similes, and personification to create these phrases.
Five steps to free verse.
Nevertheless, follow your instincts. The best way to write free verse is to start with wild abandon and funnel your choice of words and movement through a tightly-focused editing process. Try these five steps to unleash your inner poet:
Check your rough poem to see if anything is missing. If you need to add a line, or even a stanza, do so. If you’re missing a metaphor, simile, or turn of phrase, add it.
Read the rough poem aloud. Free verse is a rhythmic dance with voice and words, so check the sequence of lines and make sure that one flows into the other.
Move through your poem with an editor’s pen and make sure you’ve selected the words that give proper accent and cadence to the overall poem.
Read the poem aloud until it flows like honey and you feel it inside. That’s a sure sign of a well-completed piece of free verse.
Examples of Free Verse Poems Written by Famous Poets
Little Father by Li-Young Lee
I buried my father in my heart.
Now he grows in me, my strange son,
My little root who won’t drink milk,
Little pale foot sunk in unheard-of night,
Little clock spring newly wet
In the fire, little grape, parent to the future
Wine, a son the fruit of his own son,
Little father I ransom with my life.
Winter Poem by Nikki Giovanni
once a snowflake fell
on my brow and i loved
it so much and i kissed
it and it was happy and called its cousins
and brothers and a web
of snow engulfed me then
i reached to love them all
and i squeezed them and they became
a spring rain and i stood perfectly
still and was a flower
Disappointments by Vivian Gilbert Zabel
Every life has a room
where memories are stored:
A box of special occasions here,
Shelves of shared laughter there.
But back in the shadows
Lurks a trunk locked tight,
Not to be opened and searched.
There hide disappointments
Which darken every heart.
Fantasy or Life by Vivian Gilbert Zabel
So often you say you love me,
Yet you seemingly don't know
I cannot live in fantasy's fog,
Always in the blurred drug of dreams.
I need the clear, crisp light
Found in reality's realm of day,
Not the darkness of mere existence.
Free Verse Poems Written by Teens
I Take Back My Tears
By Lilyan H., Tallahasee, FL
I take back my tears
the wasted years
I spent crying
for what never could happen
I take back my heart
my shattered heart
Up off the ground
and back in my arms
I take back my hope
wasted on you
and toss it aside
for it has no meaning now
Nothing you say
no words
no songs
can heal the bleeding wound
That you opened again and again
I walk a free woman
held by nothing of yours
and fly away free
as free as the wind
Couch Potato
By foreverdreaming14, Redmond, WA
Couch potato.
That's what they call her,
Gossipers eagerly relay.
Lazy –
Just another name,
As familiar as her own.
Alone,
They say she has no company,
But she knows it's not the truth.
Company?
Who needs company?
Just people there to judge
The paleness of her skin
Stretched taut over her bones.
How her hair needed a wash,
Maybe, a few days ago.
Alone?
They don't know that she's never alone.
Not in her cluttered room.
On the table sits a book,
The most important one,
The one that gives her the choices,
The answers to her questions.
T-V G-U-I-D-E spells blockish on the cover,
And when the silver screen flips on,
Thousands of unreachable colors.
She leans in close and watches, watches, watches,
Thousands of tiny pixels
Showing her a greater thing.
Lives lived beyond her reach,
Beyond perfection.
And she reaches out and brushes her fingers,
Drifting them across the screen,
To feel the tingle –
Static electricity.
And imagines that they're really there,
Reachable just beneath the tingle.
Couch potato.
That's what they call her.
Maybe it's better that they don't know
