Don't worry, it's not going be something stuffy or strict. All I'm going to do is to give you some tools to write your own poetry and have some fun at the same time. In a very broad sense, Poetry is using sounds and words differently than one does in normal speech to convey a concept, story, feeling, or image. In poetry, rules were meant to be broken as long as it contributes to your final goal. The rules help you to channel your ideas.
Click here if you wish to download a text file containing all these lessons. It is a text file. I only put "exe" at the end to tell your browser to download it.
Lessons:
Rhyming\Couplet and Bout-Rimes
Rhyming\Assonance and Blank Verse
Word Play\Alphabet Poems (variation 1 & 2)
Word Play\Shape Poems (Calligrams & Concrete)
Word Play\Alliteration and Alphabet Poem (var. 3)
Forms\Rhythm Patterns (Hiaku, Tanka, Cinquian)
Forms\Rhyme Patterns (Couplet, Tercet, Sonnet, Ballade[bal-LAYD])
Forms\Misc. Patterns (Pantoum, Terza Rima, Limerick)
Types (Abstract, Ballad, Ode, Epic)
In most cases, I will challange you to write a poem dealing with that lesson. It doesn't matter if the poem is stupid or silly or whatever other label you want to put on it. These are just exercises to get use to the forms. You'll be able to write masterpieces later on.
If you have any problems, feel free to email me and I'll see how I can help. Amanda_Doerr@Hotmail.com
Copyright © 1998, Amanda D. Doerr