LEARNING INTENTION

To entertain and extend the writers imagination.

Success Criteria
Develop an enjoyment of different kinds of poems.
Develop your skills in analysing poetry.
Recognise the influence of culture and experience on poets.
Explore, recognise and use patterns in a variety of poetry structures.
Experiment with the effects created by words.
Explore the quality of sounds produced by rhythm, rhyme, and alliteration.
Explore the use of similes, metaphors, and figurative language.
Use poems you have read as models for your own writing.

POETRY VOCABULARY
Ballad

Tells a story or describes a person or thing. Has a regular rhyme pattern, very often
having four lines per verse, with the 2nd and 4th lines rhyming.

Free Verse

Can be used to create an atmosphere and express mood or feeling. Has an irregular
rhythm.

Line

A unit of verse consisting of words in a single row.

Stanza

A verse of a poem.

Sonnet

A poem that has 14 lines and its usual rhyme scheme is abbaabba, followed by two
or three other rhymes in the remaining six lines.

Verse

A division of a poem.

See rest of unit for more vocabulary relating to poetry!

JEANNE

TASK

Jolly

Write your own

Acrostic Poem
using your name
and/or
surname!

Energetic
Academic
Nice
Neat
Efficient

A metaphor compares two unlike things using the words is or was;

e.g. He is a computer.
1.

Read each sentence and write a metaphor for each. For example:
She is very fast.

a.

He is very angry.

b.

She is a warm person.

c.

He is very mean.

d.

She is very pretty.

e.

He is very gentle.

f.

She is very slow.

She is a speedboat.

GREY
Grey is the playground just before lunch time.
Grey is the fog as it swirls around the houses.

TASK

Grey is the colour of the shells lying on the

beach in winter.

Use a Y-chart to
determine what your
chosen colour looks,
feels and sounds like.
Then write a colour
poem using metaphors
(not the words directly
from the Y-chart) .

Grey is the rainy spray on an afternoon road.

Grey is the soft coat on my mouse.
Grey is grey,
And most of all
Grey is my tired mums hair.

A simile compares two unlike things using the words like or as;
e.g. My friend is like a diamond.
1.

Read each sentence and write a simile for each. For example:
She shines like ..

the sun.

a.

He laughs like a ..

b.

He waddled like a ..

c.

The crowd poured into Jade Stadium like into a paddock.

d.

As big as a

e.

The players lumbered like .. through mud to get to the try line.

f.

He clung like a . to his surfboard.

SHAPE OF A GREYHOUND
A head like a snake
A neck like a drake
A back like a beam
A belly like a bream

TASK

A foot like a cat

Use the model to write

your own simile poem.

A tail like a rat.

LITERAL LANGUAGE
Literal language is meaning exactly what you say; e.g. Go jump in the lake.

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
Figurative language is saying one thing and meaning another; e.g. Go jump in a lake!
1.

What would the meaning of these

sentences be if you took them
literally:

2.

Read the sentences and decide if they

should be taken literally (L) or
figuratively (F):

a.

The test was a real killer!

a.

He was the apple of my eye.

b.

Are you chilling?

b.

He was very nice.

c.

Please give me a break!

c.

She had a mouth like a speedboat.

d.

That boy is two-faced!

d.

He had a crush on her.

e.

My friend drives me up the wall!

e.

She was a very good student.

f.

He had a bleeding heart for animals.

Alliteration repeats a
consonant over and
over; e.g. Betty bought
some butter but the
butter was bitter.

TASK:
The Toothpaste and
Snail shape poems use
alliteration. Write a
shape poem from one of
these ideas using
alliteration: A rugby ball,
a snake, a flower, a
ghost, a star, a banana,
a pair of glasses, your
choice.

Read the rap to yourself. Use the rhythm.

Write-a-Rap Rap
Hey, everybody, lets write a rap.
First theres a rhythm youll need to clap.
Keep that rhythm and stay in time,
cause a rap needs rhythm and a good strong rhyme.

But whatll we write? I hear you shout.

There aint no rules for what a raps about.
You can rap about a robber, you can rap about a king,
You can rap about a chewed up piece of string
(well, you can rap about almost anything!

You can rap about the ceiling, you can rap about the floor,
you can rap about the window, write a rap on the door.
You can rap about things that are mean or pleasant,
you can rap about wrapping up a Christmas present.

You can rap about a mystery hidden in a box,

you can rap about a pair of smelly old socks.
You can rap about something thats over and gone,
you can rap about something thats going on and on and on

But when you think there just aint nothing left to say..
you can wrap it all up and put it away.
Its a rap. Its a rap. Its a rap rap rap rap RAP!
By Tony Mitten

TASK
Make notes to help you write a rap about the Treaty (at least 8 lines long).
Think about: things that happened that are not fair (protest) or use some of
the ideas from the leaves off the poet-tree.
Write a draft first:
Line 1 The Treaty is .. and
Line 2 ..
..
Line 8 ..
Practice reading your rap and clap the rhythm.
Change anything you need to.
Read your rap to the class, using expression, timing, volume, speed and
rhythm.

A limerick is a fun poem that has five lines. Lines one, two and five have three strong
downbeats and the ends rhyme. Lines three and four have two strong downbeats and
rhyme.

Anna Maria

OToole
There once was a boy named OToole

Anna Maria from France

Who didnt act smart when at school.

Hated to sing and to dance

He tried to read books

But she boogied one day

But got dirty looks,

What and awful display!

And he grew up to be quite a fool.

When her neighbour set fire to her

pants.

TASK: Try write your own limerick.