Poetry+Notebook

Here is the Poetry Notebook document. All instructions can be found here; just scroll down within the document to find the page you need.



__Due dates__: 8E, 8F 4/26; 8G, 8C 4/27

Poetry Readings will take place in class on 4/26 and 4/27. Be sure to have a separate copy of each poem you want to share (one collected, one original).

__Journal Topics 1-3__: Answer each of the following in paragraph form on three separate pages, which will be printed out and included in your Poetry Notebook immediately following your three original poems.

1) Examine one of the nature pictures you photographed to use as an illustration on one of your five pictures pages. Focus on one specific object in that picture, whether it is a flower, leaf, branch, blade of grass, etc. Imagine what it would be like to be that one object in the great big natural world. How would you feel--special or insignificant? Base your writing on one of those feelings, yet elaborate to explain why you would feel that way.

2) If you were to be a season, which one would you be? In the many poems you have undoubtedly read as you collected your 15 for the notebook, you have probably come across a few examples of personification in them...wind in springtime can laugh, trees in the dead of winter can hear, a summer rain can whisper, a chill in the autumn air can warn...pick a season and think of objects in nature you would associate with that season. Then, using personification, describe how you would go about being that season by listing actions, behaviours, thoughts, feelings, etc. that only humans can perform. Start your journal entry with "I am" followed by spring, summer, fall or winter.

3) Pick an emotion, such as love, fear, anxiety, incredulity or trepidation. For each letter of that word, link it to any object or aspect found in nature that begins with that same letter. We have talked in class about all there is to nature beyond plants and animals: seasons, forces of nature/weather, the sky and all its inhabitants, bodies of water, geographical landforms. Then, write an acrostic poem, which is simply the word written, one letter per line, vertically down the left margin of your page. Lines beginning with each letter are written horizontally. You may write phrases in addition to one-word expressions, if you choose. No punctuation. No rhyming. Just pure thoughts, try to be instinctual (meaning write the first word/phrase about nature that comes to mind when you look at each letter). The goal is to make connections between what you think about when you think of that emotion and with aspects of the natural world. Example: "Love" Lapping sea water on a smooth, deserted shore Overwhelming sunsets of brilliant red, orange, purple and pink Vines of a weeping willow waving in a warm wind Ever changing rose petals curling and unfurling from day to night