Tanka, which means “short song,” has been an important literary form in Japanese culture for nearly a thousand years. The original Japanese form of tanka had only one line of poetry containing 31 speech sounds—what we would call syllables. However, most tanka poems that are written in English today are broken into five poetic lines with a certain number of syllables in each line.
The basic structure of a tanka poem is 5 – 7 – 5 – 7 – 7. In other words, there are 5 syllables in line 1, 7 syllables in line 2, 5 syllables in line 3, and 7 syllables in lines 4 and 5. If you have ever written a haiku, you will notice that tanka is kind of like a longer version of haiku that gives you a little more room to tell a story. Here is one example of a tanka poem:
Concrete poetry—sometimes also called ‘shape poetry’—is poetry whose visual appearance matches the topic of the poem. The words form shapes which illustrate the poem’s subject as a picture, as well as through their literal meaning.
This type of poetry has been used for thousands of years, since the ancient Greeks began to enhance the meanings of their poetry by arranging their characters in visually pleasing ways back in the 3rd and 2nd Centuries BC.
A famous example is “The Mouse’s Tale” from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The shape of the poem is a pun on the word tale/tail, as the words follow a long wiggling line getting smaller and smaller and ending in a point.
The name “Concrete Poetry,” however, is from the 1950’s, when a group of Brazilian poets called the Noigandres held an international exhibition of their work, and then developed a “manifesto” to define the style.
The manifesto states that concrete poetry ‘communicates its own structure: structure = content’
Free verse is one of the simplest, and yet most difficult, type of poetry to write. While it doesn’t constrict the poet with rules about form, it requires him or her to work hard at creating a piece that is beautiful and meaningful without any specific guidelines about rhyme and meter. If you’d like to try your hand at free verse, there are a few tips (not rules) that will help as you develop your own style.
Choosing Words Carefully
Carefully chosen words can help you create a poem that sounds like the situation, emotion, or object you are trying to portray. For instance, short words with sharp consonants cause the reader to stop-and- go in a choppy cadence: Cut, bash, stop, kick, lick, bite, punch, jump, stick, kiss. They almost sound like what they mean. Use these types of short words when you want to show excitement, fear, anger, new love, or anything that might make your heart beat quickly. Longer words with soft sounds cause the reader to slow down. Use them when you want to show pause, tension, laziness, rest.
Have you ever written a poem, only to be told that the rhymes sound “forced,” but didn’t know exactly what that meant? It can be confusing, because a “forced rhyme” may be any one of a number of different things. All of them, however, can make a poem less enjoyable to read. So, to improve your poetry as much as possible, you’ll want to learn how to avoid each of the various types of forced rhymes.
Rearranging a phrase to put the rhyme at the end of the line
Probably the most common type of forced rhyme is where the poet says something in an unnatural way in order to make the line rhyme. For example, take a look at this couplet:
Whenever we go out and walk,
with you I like to talk.
Now, in normal, everyday English, you would never say “with you I like to talk.” Instead, you would say “I like to talk with you.” And yet, some poets will write this unnatural way in order to force the lines to rhyme with one another; hence the term “forced” rhyme.
Poetry has a lot of terms with special meanings. This poetry dictionary for kids lists the most common poetic terms that kids might encounter, along with their definitions. If you need a more extensive poetry dictionary, I recommend the Poetry Foundation’s Glossary of Poetic Terms.
A
Accent
The emphasis placed on some syllables in words more than others. For example, the word “apple” has two syllables, and the accent is on the first syllable, so it is pronounced “AP-pull.” “Banana,” on the other hand, has three syllables, with the accent on the second syllable, so it is pronounced “buh-NA-nuh.”
Anagram
A word or phrase created by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase. For example, “notes” is an anagram of “stone.” See the poem Anna Graham for many more examples of anagrams.
Antonym
A word that has the opposite meaning of another word. For example, “dark” is an antonym of “light.” See also Synonym.
Assonance Repeating the vowel sounds in the stressed, or accented, syllables in nearby words. For example, in the phrase “flying kites” the repeated long “i” sounds are assonant. See Alliteration and Assonance Lesson Plan.
B
Ballad
A form of poetry, usually suitable for singing, that tells a story in stanzas of two or four lines, and often has a refrain.
Concrete Poem
A poem in which the meaning is conveyed by the placement and design of the words on the page instead of, or in addition to, the usual arrangement of words. Also sometimes called a “shape poem” or “visual poem.” See How to Write a Concrete or “Shape” Poem.
Consonance
The repetition of consonant sounds within nearby words, especially the consonant sounds at the ends of words, as in “a stroke of luck” or “a bite to eat.”
Couplet
Two lines of poetry, one after the other, that rhyme and are of the same length and rhythm. For example, “I do not like green eggs and ham. / I do not like them Sam I Am.”
D
Double Rhyme A rhyme where the stress is on the second-to-last syllable of the words, and the end sounds are the same, starting with the vowel of the stressed syllables. Some examples are batter / fatter, ocean / lotion, and camping / stamping. Double rhymes and triple rhymes are also called “feminine rhymes.” See How to Rhyme.
Epitaph
A short poem written about someone who has died, often inscribed on the headstone of their grave. Epitaphs usually praise the person, and are sometimes humorous. See How to Write a Funny Epitaph Poem.
Foot
In poetry, a group of two or more syllables, one of which is stressed. Metrical poems are often written in feet with the same number of syllables with the stress in the same place in each foot. For example, the line “My puppy punched me in the eye” is made up of four feet, each with the stress on the second syllable, as in “my PUP | py PUNCHED | me IN | the EYE.” The most common poetic feet are two or three syllables long. See Rhythm in Poetry – The Basics.
Forced Rhyme
Most commonly, an end rhyme where the lines are written in an unnatural manner in order to “force” the words to rhyme. A forced rhyme may also be a near rhyme, wrenched rhyme, or a line where irrelevant or unnecessary information is added to the poem for the sake of making lines rhyme. See Forced Rhymes and How to Avoid Them.
Form
A “type” of poem, written by following a set of rules such as the number of lines or syllables, the placement of rhymes, etc.. Common poetic forms include acrostic, cinquain, free verse, haiku, etc. See Poetry Lessons for Kids to learn how to write many different poetic forms.
Haiku
A short, unrhymed Japanese poetic form with three lines of five syllables, seven syllables, and five syllables. See How to Write a Haiku.
Homonym
A word that has the same spelling and sound as another word, but a different meaning. For example “fine” (an adjective meaning nice) and “fine” (a noun meaning money you have to pay as a punishment) are homonyms.
Homophone
A word that has the same sound as another word, but a different spelling and meaning. For example, “there,” “their,” and “they’re” are homphones.
Hyperbole
Pronounced “hi-PER-buh-lee.” A extreme and obvious exaggeration, not meant to be believed or taken literally. For example, “he has a million-dollar smile” or “this test is taking forever.” See How to Write an Exaggeration Poem.
I
Imagery Language and poetic techniques used to appeal to the reader’s senses (sight, sound, smell, etc.) to create mental pictures and cause emotions in the reader. See also Onomatopoeia.
Internal Rhyme Rhymes within a line of poetry. For example, the poem My Pet Germs contains an internal rhyme on the third line of each stanza.
L
Light Verse
Poetry that is intended to be humorous, amusing, or entertaining. While there is some light verse written in free verse, most light verse is written in rhyme and meter. There are also many light-verse poetic forms, such as limericks, clerihews, double-dactyls, etc.
Line
A single row of words in a poem. For example, a limerick has five lines, while a haiku has three lines. Lines are one of the main things that distinguish poetry from prose.
Metaphor
A figure of speech, where a thing is described as being something else in order to suggest a similarity between the two. For example, “The cat was a rag doll in my arms” or “Nature wore its winter robe.”
Nonsense Poem
A form of light verse, usually rhymed and metrical, often with strange characters, fantastic or impossible situations, and made-up words. Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky and Edward Lear’s The Owl and the Pussycat are famous examples of nonsense poetry.
Occasional Poem
A poem written to commemorate a specific occasion or event, such as a birthday, wedding, funeral, anniversary, graduation, military victory, etc.
Palindrome
A word or phrase that is spelled the same backward as it is forward, ignoring spaces, capitalization, and punctuation, such as “Bob,” “mom,” “radar,” “race car,” “madam, I’m Adam,” etc.
Parody
A poem written in the style of another poem, usually humorous. Parodies usually assume the reader is familiar with the original work. For example, the poem “Let Me Out of the Classroom” by Kenn Nesbitt is a parody of the song “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”
Perfect Rhyme
Two words that have exactly the same vowel and consonant sounds at the ends, starting with the first vowel of the last stressedsyllable. For example, green/bean, dummy/tummy, and cavity/gravity are all perfect rhymes. Note that the first consonant sound of the last stressed syllable must be different. For example leaf/belief is not a perfect rhyme because the final stressed syllable of each word begins with the same consonant “l” sound. See also: Near Rhyme, Assonance, and Consonance.
Personification
Giving human characteristics to non-human things, such as animals, inanimate objects, or ideas. For example, “The sun smiled down on the beach” or, “The trees waved at the birds flying by.”
Poem
A written composition, often using rhythm, rhyme, metaphor, and other such artistic techniques to express an idea, feelings, or a story.
Prose
Ordinary writing or spoken language, usually written in sentences and paragraphs, as opposed to rhythmical lines.
Pun
A “play on words,” usually using homophones or homonyms, where a word or phrase has multiple meanings. For example, “Six was afraid of Seven because Seven ate Nine.” This is a pun because the word “ate” sounds like “eight.”
Rhyme Scheme
The pattern of end rhymes in a poem, written out as letters, such as AABB or ABAB. See Rhyme Schemes Lesson Plan to learn how to write the rhyme scheme of a poem.
Rhythm
The sound and feel created by the pattern of accented and unaccented syllables, usually repeated, in a poem. See also Meter.
S
Sight Rhyme
Words that end with the same letters, but not the same sound, such as rough / cough / plough or prove / love / grove.
Simile
A comparison between to unlike things, usually using “like,” “as,” or “than.” For example, “his imagination was like a bird in flight.”
Single Rhyme
A rhyme in which the stress is on the final syllable of the words, such as cat / hat, and play / away. Also called a “masculine rhyme.” See How to Rhyme.
Stanza
A group of lines in a poem, separated by space from other stanzas, much like a paragraph in prose.
Subject
The main idea of a poem, or what the poem is about. For example, Basketball Is Lots of Fun is a poem about basketball, so basketball is the subject.
Syllable
A part of a word, usually a vowel and it’s surrounding consonants, that makes a single sound when spoken. All words have at least one syllable. For example, cat, I, and would are all one syllable long because they are spoken with a single movement of the mouth. Cattle, eyeball, and wouldn’t are all two syllables because they require two separate sounds to be spoken.
Synonym
A word that has the same, or nearly the same, meaning as another word. See also Antonym.
T
Tanka
A 5-line, 31-syllable unrhymed traditional Japanese poetic form, with five syllables on the first and third lines, and seven syllables on the second, fourth, and fifth lines. See also How to Write a Tanka Poem.
Tercet
A group of three lines that rhyme with one another, or are connected to another tercet by their rhyme scheme.
Theme
The main idea or point of a poem. The theme is different than the subject or topic of the poem. The subject is what the poem is about, while the theme is what the poem means. For example, in the poem “We Ate all the Cheetos,” the subject of the poem is eating tasty foods, but the theme of the poem is that it can be hard to eat healthy foods.
Triple Rhyme
A rhyme in which the third-to-last syllable in the words final stressed syllable. For example, cavity / gravity, hammering / stammering, and nobility / agility are all triple rhymes. Double rhymes and triple rhymes are also called “feminine rhymes.” See How to Rhyme.
Wrenched Rhyme Rhyming the final syllables of two words, where one is stressed and the other is not. For example the words “sing” and “morning” are a wrenched rhyme because “sing” is stressed on the final (and only) syllable, but “morning” is stressed on the second-to-last syllable. Other examples include tin/imagine, frog/catalog, etc. See also Perfect Rhyme and Forced Rhymes and How to Avoid Them.
Kenn Nesbitt, former U.S. Children's Poet Laureate, is celebrated for blending humor and heart in his poetry for children. Known for books such as "My Cat Knows Karate" and "Revenge of the Lunch Ladies," he captivates young readers globally.
Having an open mic poetry party is a great way for kids to showcase their talent while encouraging them to keep writing. Whether the children are budding poets, stand-up comedians, or just need some practice with public speaking, in a few simple steps you can provide everyone with a fun way to enjoy live poetry!
Step One: Decide on a Venue
Think about the type of party you’d like to host. Will it be a small gathering of friends, perhaps for a birthday or special occasion? Is it for your class, scout troop, or youth group? The size of the group, as well as the purpose of the party, will help you determine your venue.
There are many different places that would be great for an open mic night/party. Libraries have meeting rooms or sometimes stages that can be reserved for free or very low cost. Book stores and coffee shops often host open mic nights and poetry readings. Rooms in schools and churches can also provide a nice space. Even just your own living room can work well for small groups.
Once you decide on a space, you’ll have to call ahead and book it, as sometimes locations require reservations weeks or even months in advance.
Visual artists sometimes talk about using “found objects” in their artwork. In other words, they collect interesting things during the course of a normal day (such as bus tickets, objects from nature, or a toy found on the street) and then find a way to incorporate those objects into their artwork.
Did you know that you can do the same thing with language? A “found poem” is created by collecting interesting text from the world around us and then using those words to make a poem. When you create poetry this way, you are acting like a documentary filmmaker—using scenes from real life to tell an interesting story.
Here are three simple and fun ways to create “found poetry” from the language that is all around you.
A journal is a place to express yourself, to record your thoughts, feelings and observations, and to cultivate your poetic style. The cool thing about your journal is that it’s yours. You can keep it secret or share it with your friends and family. You might even read some of your poetry out loud at a talent show or poetry jam. Whatever you decide to do with it, a daily poetry journal will keep you writing. And the more you write, the better writer you become!
Step One: Choose a journal that fits your style
Do you like to draw pictures and doodle around your poetry? If so, you might want a book with blank pages. Do you need help keeping your words in order? Then try a journal with lines, such as a spiral-bound notebook. If you write all day long whenever inspiration strikes, use a smaller book with a hard cover that you can tuck into your backpack, purse, or pocket.
Step Two: Organize your journal
While this is an important step, it will be different for everyone. You can divide your journal in several different ways:
Emotions: Joy, Anger, Sorrow, Humility, Pride
Seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall (add the different holidays within each season.)
Chronological: Just write the date at the top of the page.
Subject: Sports, Humor, Dance, Friends, Nature, School
Once you’ve decided how to organize your journal, use a paper clip, divider, sticky note, or colored tape to divide your sections. (You do not need to do this for a chronological journal.)
Step Three: Write!
Jot down interesting words, phrases, sentences, or feelings on the page before starting your poem. This provides a jumping-off point for your thoughts.
For example, today I heard someone say, “I can’t be late for the bus!” So, I wrote that sentence on the top of a page in my “School” section.
Next, write down words that have to do with your phrase. For mine, I chose: Run, shout, nervous, hurry, stop, fast, heartbeat, homework, driver, windows, ice, puddles, clock, time, and wheels.
Then, decide what type of poem you want to write. For this one, I selected free verse.
Finally, use some of the words on your page to write your poem.
Bus Stop
My heart beats
so fast.
The puddles are lakes,
my homework… wet.
The clock ticks
faster than my feet
can run.
I shout to the driver,
“Stop!”
Wheels slow.
Take a breath.
I can’t be late for the bus.
Step Four: Keep it up!
It’s important to write in your journal on a regular basis. Finding a routine can help with that. Maybe you have quiet time at night before bed, when you’re riding on the bus, or at lunch break. Make it a part of your day, and soon you’ll have an entire journal full of incredible poetry!
Backward poems are one of the most fun types of poems to write. A “backward poem” is a poem in which everything is done in reverse of what you would usually expect. Often they are written about a “backward” person. For example, Shel Silverstein has a very famous poem called “Backward Bill” from his book A Light in the Attic, and Douglas Florian wrote a well-known poem called “Mr. Backward” in his book Bing, Bang, Boing. My poem “Mr. Brown the Circus Clown” from The Armpit of Doom is also an example of a backward poem.
Create a Backward Character
To write a backward poem, start by giving your backward person a name, such as “Backward Bill” or “Mr. Backward,” and maybe deciding where they are from. Then try rhyming the next line, like this:
Backward Bob from Backwardtown
is backward, flipped, and upside down.
Make a List of Backward Things
Now make a list of things that a backward person might do or say or have. For example, a backward person might wear his hat on his feet. Or he might have a cat that barks and a dog that meows. See if you can come up with several ideas like this and make a rhyming list, like this:
He wears his hat upon his feet
and wanders backward down the street.
His dog meows. His kitten barks.
His baby goldfish chases sharks.
You can add as many couplets (a “couplet” is two lines that rhyme) as you like to your list to make it as long as you want. For example, I thought of a few more things that Backward Bob might do:
His ears are blue. His nose is green.
He drives a purple submarine.
He eats his lunch when he’s asleep
and washes in a garbage heap.
Give Your Poem a Simple Ending
When you are writing a simple, descriptive poem – that is, a poem that describes someone or something, rather than telling a story – it’s okay to end your poem more or less the same way you started it. So you might write a couple of lines to end the poem like this:
And when he laughs he wears a frown.
He’s Backward Bob from Backward town.
Put it All Together
Once you’ve got your list and your beginning and end, just put it all together and, voila, you’ve got a shiny new backward poem, just like that.
Backward Bob
Backward Bob from Backwardtown
is backward, flipped, and upside down.
He wears his hat upon his feet
and wanders backward down the street.
His dog meows. His kitten barks.
His baby goldfish chases sharks.
His ears are blue. His nose is green.
He drives a purple submarine.
He eats his lunch when he’s asleep
and washes in a garbage heap.
And when he laughs he wears a frown.
He’s Backward Bob from Backwardtown.
Kenn Nesbitt, former U.S. Children's Poet Laureate, is celebrated for blending humor and heart in his poetry for children. Known for books such as "My Cat Knows Karate" and "Revenge of the Lunch Ladies," he captivates young readers globally.
If you would like to recite a poem for an audience – whether you are reciting a poem that you wrote yourself, or a poem by someone else – there are many different ways to go about it. Here are some of the things that will help you learn to recite poetry like an expert.
Choose a Poem that “Speaks to You”
When choosing a poem to recite, be sure to pick a poem that you really like. The more you like the poem, the more fun you will have learning and reciting it. Whether it’s a funny poem, a serious poem, a sad poem, a sports poem, a spooky poem, a jump-rope rhyme, or even a love poem, if it’s a poem that “speaks to you” – a poem that makes you feel something – you are going to enjoy sharing it with your audience.
It’s Okay to YELL!
There are lots of “right ways” to recite a poem, but in my opinion there is only one “wrong way.” The wrong way to recite a poem is to use your normal, everyday, “inside voice.” When you use your “inside voice,” you only speak loud enough for those closest to you to hear what you are saying. When you recite a poem, you need to speak loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear you.
Of course, if you really want to mess it up, you can also hold the poem in front of your face so no one can see your lips moving, making it that much harder for people to hear you. Oh, and look down at your shoes. When you speak, your voice travels in whatever direction you are facing. If you are looking at your shoes, your shoes can hear you really well, but other people might not.
So the first and most important thing to know when you want to recite a poem is that you really need to face your audience and use your “outside voice,” even if you are inside. In other words, it’s okay to YELL when reciting a poem. If anyone ever asks you why you were yelling when you recited a poem, please tell them Kenn Nesbitt said it was okay.
Memorize the Poem You Plan to Recite
To recite a poem well, it’s important to have it firmly committed to memory. If you don’t have the poem memorized, you are more likely to make mistakes when reciting it, even if you have it written on a piece of paper in front of you. Memorizing it will help make your recitation as good as possible.
I find that the best way to memorize a poem is to read a printed copy out loud as many times as possible. Depending on the length of the poem, you may have to read it out loud 10 or 20 times, or possibly even more, but each time you read a poem out loud, you will remember a little more of it.
How to memorize a poem:
Get a printed copy of the poem.
Look at the poem and read it out loud.
Turn it over so you can’t see it.
Recite as much of it as you can remember, from the beginning.
Repeat steps 2 through 5 until you can recite the entire poem from memory.
Other Ways to Recite a Poem
While it’s okay to just YELL when you recite a poem, here are several other things you can do that might make it even better:
Look for the voice of the poem, and speak in that voice. In other words, if it’s a poem about a cowboy, see if you can put on a cowboy accent. If it’s a poem about a monster, try using the scariest monster voice you can. If it’s a poem about a baby, an old person, or just some crazy character, think of what that person might sound like and try to speak in their voice.
Rap the poem. Some poems have a rhythm built into the words. When you’re read a jump-rope rhyme, or any other rhythmical poem, you may find that it’s suitable for rapping. If you want to have even more fun with it, try reciting it to a drum beat or to music. Watch this video for an example how I recite poems to music: https://youtu.be/CkoOSfNjc40
Recite it with a friend. Many poems have more than one voice. That is, a poem might have different speaking parts – such as the narrator, a mother or father, a teacher, a child, etc. – making it easy to split up and be read by two or more people. Even if it’s not, perhaps you and a friend could take turns reading every other line.
Put on a play. If a poem tells a small story, you can perform it in much the same way that you can perform a play. You can create sets and props, and even wear costumes. Make it a drama! Or a comedy! Or a musical! Visit this link for an example of how a poem can be turned into a play: https://youtu.be/Meyq2pgCG-g
Run around, wave your hands, say it like you mean it. Don’t just limit yourself to the ideas I’ve given above. Recite the poem in any way that seems best to you. If that means sitting in a chair, or jumping up and down, or stomping back and forth, or even dancing, that’s okay. Just put some feeling into it and “read it like you mean it” to give the best performance you can.
Have Fun!
However you decide to recite a poem, the most important thing is that you have fun doing it. So pick a poem, memorize it, practice reciting it a few different ways to see what works best, and then have fun sharing it with your audience!
