poetry writing for kids

poetry writing for kids

Exploring the Magic of Poetry: A Creative Guide for Kids

1. Introduction to Poetry: What Makes a Poem?

What is poetry? The writer Joseph Brodsky has defined it as “measured language.” The Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, who wrote most of his poetry as songs, says that a poem is “a tune that hints at other tunes, which this tune helps us to remember.” In a once popular book called Poetry as a Means of Grace, this definition is given: “Poetry is a magic basket of mirrory words and tunes. Anytime you want to peer into a peacock’s tail or to hear the hoot of an owl, or to feel how a snake’s scales are cold, or to see what light does on snow, just waltz through a poem’s rhythm into its rhyming, and there you are. Not just looking, listening, feeling the stuff of the world: part of it.” Walter de la Mare, a poet who loved animals and nature, has said that a poem is “the coal in the grate, the open fire, the good red wine on the wintery table, morning in a leafy glade.” That most practical of beings, the newspaper editor, requires poems to be written in short lengths: a good modern poem is often about the same length as a front-page news story or the column of short news and opinion morsels called “the editorial page.” Yet before the wholesale literacy of our day, epic poems, long and full of adventures, were most popular, just as the big-budget movie, the long best-seller, the immense restoration project are now most attractive. The scales of poetry will tip yet again. Form is the most essential quality in a poem. Poetry is incantation, charm – words beat into shape and tone – sound that suddenly takes over a language in order to make something happen. A poem can enchant a lonely hour, shape sorrow, comfort despair, help to soothe fears, explore fancy, describe color, crystallize time, commemorate loss, find support to match failure, exult in love, face death, and provide a reflection for immortality because it has form. Great similes in poems cube life like a slice of salty yellow cheese. Metaphors held life up before us like brilliant calla lilies. These poet tricks bring the mind to full alert. Metaphors close as mussels mean the real interchange – and close the poem into tight scrutiny as we try to draw meaning from the marble heart of its doubled form. Emily Dickinson said: “If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.” What an extraordinary thought! Does it work for you? If you do not feel this tingle when you write blank verse, or haiku, or cinquain, or metaphysical wit, then check – look for the tiny door, the jungle cranny between words, the hushed parentheses nestled in a line where sunlight and shadow, flesh and vision, rhythm and sense, spring open the poetry seed. The best modern poetry springs. Get to work opening the seed. Poetry helps kids spell BS of homework!

2. Fun with Words: Playing with Rhyme and Rhythm

Start by reading some rhyming and rhythmic poems. Dr. Seuss is famous for his sense of musical rhyme and rhythm. Look for poems by authors such as Jack Prelutsky, Roald Dahl, and Mayer Shevin; see if you and your group can create your own Beatnix-inspired free verse collaboration. Notice how using rhythm and rhyme creates a beat or music, a tick-tocking or teasing. Then create or find a simple rhythm instrument in the classroom, such as a drum, tambourine, or sticks. Tap along with the beat as you read some poems aloud. Can you catch the beat that the author has set up and read along? With your rhythm instrument, work out the beats with the clear, regular sounds of the metronome; this will help you catch the beat when you read more complex, varied rhythm- and rhyme-filled poetry.

Here are some terrific activities to get started. Let’s begin with a look at poetry’s oldest partners, rhyme and rhythm. Rhyming poems are fun to read and write because they create an expectation in the reader’s mind. You expect the poem to follow certain sound patterns, and the poet meets or surprises these expectations. Poets also have fun with rhythm, creating a feeling or beat that the reader’s voice follows. When you write a poem with rhymes and a rhythm, you are learning to create anticipation in your reader and to satisfy or delight this expectation! The more you read and write rhyming and rhythmic poetry, the more you will be able to predict and use words that rhyme and create natural beats and rhythms in your writing.

3. Imagery and Creativity: Painting Pictures with Words

The lines of the poem are arranged in a shape that emphasizes what the poet wants the readers to focus upon. The line breaks are there to give the poem a rhythm. In the poem some objects are just touched upon. There isn’t enough information here for the reader to figure out exactly what the poet is describing. Just enough is described so the reader can form a picture in his or her imagination and feel the mood that the poet is trying to bring to life. Creating a new picture of something ordinary, such as a child or a cat, is another trick that poets love to try. Your assignment is to create a new poem that describes something by only hinting at what it is, such as these poems do.

Not all poems picture objects or scenes that the readers can look at. Many poems only hint at things. To help the reader imagine more about the thing, the poet uses creative words that help the reader see it in a new way. The reader creates the picture in his or her own imagination. As you read the poem, you look at the words and are guided by them in forming a picture in your mind. The picture may remind you of waking up in the morning, or looking back at a peaceful day. It is written in such a way that many different readers will picture it differently. The trick is for the poet to describe only enough, and for the readers to use their own thoughts and past experiences to fill in the rest of the picture.

4. Finding Your Voice: Expressing Emotions and Ideas

Do you have a friend you can talk to about anything? That’s what poetry is: honest, intimate, and caring. Poetry is the voice of your soul and spirit. How can you resist opening up to it? All you have to do to write poetry is say, through the words of special phrases: “Hello. Here I am. This is really me.” Your thoughts and feelings develop, grow, and change. Trust the writing, and you’ll be able to look in a nurturing mirror that will reflect the beautiful creature living inside. You know what? Sometimes people start writing poems in anger, because they are annoyed or disagree with something. That’s okay too. Writing poetry can be like taking a magic journey – full of unexpected stories, with villains and heroes. Whatever your feelings, a poem is waiting inside them, and once you start pulling it out yummy words, well, your feelings will taste and smell good enough to eat!

Most kid poets are astrologer-magicians. They look at words in a different way, making them fizzle, glow, and shimmer, showing us that words are magical. They can perform wondrous, conjuring feats that amaze other kids. They delight in playing with words as much as they delight in playing with any other magic tricks. It’s like playing with the greatest magic tricks that have ever been created. Even at its simplest, poetry echoes the throb of the universe. You. Small, powerful, wonderful you, can make this music in words. Letting feelings, expressions, and ideas spill out of you is easy…as easy as riding a roller coaster. You shouldn’t be afraid of your feelings or expressions – you should celebrate them. Because when you celebrate, and when you write about these personal reactions, emotions, and ideas, you create poetry.

Poetry…is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words. – Edgar Allan Poe

5. Sharing Your Work: Celebrating and Improving

Publishing poems will also give you the chance to prepare your work by copying or typing it neatly. Writers always take time to present their best work to the world. You will want to read and think about your own poems, keep a notebook or journal to record your ideas and drafts, and preview and copy the drafts when you are ready to share them. Poems themselves will also give you the chance to see how other writers present their work. Knowledge of your favorite poems will give you the chance to see many of the different ways that poets organize their words.

One of the best things about writing poetry is sharing it with others. Sharing your poetry can make you feel proud and happy, and it can help you to appreciate the way others see the world. Hearing the poems that your friends or family write can inspire your own writing and show you new ways of expressing yourself. Performances for others, readings, and poetry slams give the chance to share your work with a wider audience. Posting poems in school, libraries, or coffeehouses, or sending them to a newspaper, magazine, or website can reach still more readers. Sharing your own work is only the beginning, and you can also celebrate the words of other poets.