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Showing posts with label meter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meter. Show all posts

2019 Post #15 -- Sing That Poem!


by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater


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Sometimes I find my way into a poem through the window of meter. I adore playing with meter, but when I find myself relying too heavily on the same syllable counts again and again, I turn to songs.

If you wish to write with meter but do not know where to begin, choose a song, any song: "Twinkle Twinkle" or "Happy Birthday" or "Three Blind Mice." Or don’t choose a song but instead, choose a poem with a meter you like and want to try. Write it out. Then, count out the syllables and mark the stresses.

Next or first, select a topic, maybe something new or perhaps something you have already written about but wish to try in a new form. Now, on a fresh page of your notebook, write the syllable counts down the left column of your page. Experiment with writing within this syllable and stress constraint. You may choose to vary a bit, or you may not, but either way, you will have tried something new. And to test if the meter works, sing your words to the tune of the song. Listen carefully and revise based what you hear.

In April 2015, I wrote from a different song meter each day. One of these poems ended up in my book With My Hands (Clarion, 2018). I always tell students that books have secrets, and one secret of With My Hands is that "Painting" (found in the image above) can be sung to the tune of "I’ve Been Working on the Railroad!"

Part of the work of a writer is stretching oneself. Experimenting with meter and song is one way to do this.

Further Reading:





Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is author of books including FOREST HAS A SONG, EVERY DAY BIRDS, READ! READ! READ!, DREAMING OF YOU, WITH MY HANDS, and POEMS ARE TEACHERS. Amy lives in Holland, NY, blogs for young writers at The Poem Farm and Sharing Our Notebooks, posts on Twitter @amylvpoemfarm, and visits classrooms all around.

2018 Poem #13 -- Wait, Rappers Are Poets?

by Zachary Sibel

This year I wanted to try something new when it came to teaching poetry, so I made a strange connection. I thought about what I like to eat when I go out. I realized that most the time my favorite items to order are appetizers; they are smaller portions, you get a variety of choices, and when you put the right combination together, you are rewarded with an experience that is filling. 

I decided to present poetry from various classes and movements to my students in the same way. I used three to five poems from the Romantic, Victorian, Modern, Postmodern, and Contemporary eras of poetry. I found that my students were more engaged when they got to read through and pick the one that stood out to them, rather than sit down and talk about them all.

One poem that really topped them all when it came to student engagement was Tupac’s "A Rose That Grew From Concrete." I present this poem with no context of who Tupac was (or still is, that is up for debate) and just focus on language and the use of metaphor. After reading the poem aloud twice, I ask students to dig into the imagery and symbolism of this poem. The beauty of this poem is it impacts students of all backgrounds and upbringings. 

This year I had a number of students connect with it, one of whom discussed the idea that, “the only person who needs to believe in you is you, " a rather sophisticated reflection for a middle school student to have. I let the students carry the discussion, and when I see it fit, I end with providing a little background as to who Tupac was, the idea of West Coast rap, and how language can be used to examine various social issues.

Additional fun: I focus a lot on the questions, “Is all music poetry? Is all poetry musical?" With Bob Dylan winning a Nobel Prize for literature, the question begs to be answered or at least discussed. After showing students "A Rose That Grew From Concrete," we play a little Kahoot game that requires students to read a line of verse/lyric and determine if it is poetry or hip-hop. Students find themselves recognizing some of the lyrics but not all. They realize that the distinction between hip-hop and poetry is more complex than we may originally think.

Further Reading:




Zachary Sibel is a hip-hop fan and an eighth-grade English teacher at Tohickon Middle School in Bucks County, PA. 

Go Poem #6 -- Deconstructing a Classic

by Zachary Sibel

As an English teacher, I find myself asking, “How do I get students to appreciate the classics?”
Steven Lynn says in Texts and Contexts, “The human drive to find organization and meaningfulness is so powerful that human beings can find shapes in clouds or the scorch marks of a tortilla. If we can find structure where there really isn’t any, we can also fail to detect structures, as in hidden codes or unknown languages.” In other words, we can make a poem a treasure hunt for hidden meaning.
I ask students what stands out the most to them in the "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost. We read the poem aloud as a class and discuss what the poem “does.” Most students will talk about the setting, a cold dark woods filling up with snow, or the speaker/ characters in the poem. I shift the focus of the discussion to the structure of the poem: “What does it look like? Why does it look like this?” Most students will note the four lines and four stanzas, to which I respond, “Why four?”


I demonstrate my knowledge of iambic tetrameter to the text (4 poetic feet/ 8 syllable line).  I let students discuss “WHY FOUR” amongst their table groups and poll answers. Most classes come up with theories about the four seasons, and some students even interpreted it as the four rhythmic beats in a horse’s trot. I end the discussion with the idea that we may never know Frost’s intent for the number 4, but does it really matter? As readers of poetry, it’s okay to create our own meaning and find our own messages in a given text. Frost, of all people, would want that.

Zachary Sibel is a middle school English teacher, poetry and hip-hop enthusiast from Bucks County PA. Follow him @MrSibelEng


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