Poetry - Part 2

Our first week of poetry work was very general, serving as an introduction and warm-up.  Week two focused on a few particular types of poetry and we applied them to other topics we've covered recently.  Specifically, we worked on clerihews, acrostics, limericks, and quatrains.

Clerihew
These are short poems about a specific person.  The rules are simple:

1. four lines
2. the person is named at the end of the first line
3. the second line rhymes with the first, and the third and fourth lines rhyme
4. make it funny

I asked the kids to write three clerihews about figures in Greek or Roman mythology.

Alex
There was an old satyr
Who lived in a crater
He played his own pipe
That made the fruit ripe

I once saw Zeus
Eating a goose
He was ten feet tall
Not short at all

His name was Poseidon
He sure liked ridin'
so he created the horse
but couldn't use the Force

Emma
There once was a god named Zeus
Who went to the store to buy hair mousse 
He bought a football as well
And then went back to the motel

I once saw Pan
He is half goat, half man
He looked kinda funny
But he didn’t have money

Have you heard about Athena
Who went to the arena
I know she is smart
So she won’t throw a dart

Daddy
I laughed at Zeus
When he rode a goose
Though lord of the sky he may be
I was safely out of reach while at sea

The mother of gods, Juno
Said hey Jupiter, did you know
I live quite a strange life
as both your sister and your wife

I saw a winged horse named Pegasus
His mother’s hair was toothed and venomous
The offspring of Poseidon and Medusa, of course
Strangely, he came out as a flier instead of a seahorse

Acrostic
These poems use the first letter of each line to spell out a word or phrase.  They don't have to rhyme but each line should describe or relate to the main idea being spelled down.

We each wrote two acrostics, one about a figure in Roman mythology and one about ourselves.

Alex
Awesome
Like a mountain goat
Extraordinary
Xtramath champion

Never giving up
Everlasting life
Powerful weapon is a trident
Talked about in lots of stories
Uranus’s brother
Not the eldest
Eternal power

Emma
A smart goddess
The goddess of wisdom
High school diploma is in her temple
Excels at school 
Not dumb 
Amazing intelligence  

Egg getter
Make-up artist 
Miss farm girl
Apple picker

Daddy
Just a simple guy
A lucky dad
Married to a wonderful woman
Enjoys the outdoors
So excited to be moving out of town

Military god
Anger
Revenge
Son of Jupiter

Limerick
A limerick has five lines with an AABBA rhyming pattern, it is funny, and the first line ends with the name of a person or place.  It also a very specific rhythm - lines 1,2, and 5 have three beats while lines 3 and 4 have two beats.

Our assignment was to write two each - one about Greek or Roman mythology and one about anything we want (I got carried away and did a few extra). 

Alex
There once was a man named George
He fell in the New River Gorge
He was  a kind fellow
When he had a marshmallow
Now he works in a forge

There is a god named Ares
He really likes his cherries
They’re a nice treat
Better than a beet
He likes many other berries

Emma
There once was a god named Zeus
Who wanted some apple juice  
He was the lord of the sky
But they brought him a pie
So he kicked them in the caboose

Do you know my friend Tim
He is really quite slim
He eats some grapes
He has knee scrapes
And his shirt has trim

Daddy
I once met a god named Hades
He had a three-headed dog with rabies
A girl’d have to be nuts
To live with that beast, Cerberus
Which might explain his trouble with the ladies

There once was a guy named Hercules
His huge muscles looked like deformities
The Hydra he killed
Indeed he was skilled
But he never learned to speak Portuguese

I once met a guy in Santa Clara
I thought I'd seen him before with Hera
He said his name was Bruce
But I knew it was Zeus
That man is as slick as aloe vera!

I have a new a girl named Aphrodite
She's hot but seems a bit flighty
I hear that she's wed
I should tell her to drop dead
Instead I have date with her on Friday

I’m married to a lady from Clay
When we met she had a Chevrolet
Now she’s all Toyota
Wouldn’t touch a Dodge Dakota
But she still drives me crazy everyday

Quatrain
These are simply four-line poems that follow a particular rhyming pattern.

I asked the kids to write a poem about volcanoes.  It should consist of four stanzas of quatrains in the following patterns: ABCC ABCC AABB ABCC.

Alex
Volcanoes are cool
and really neat
They’re so very hot
It feels like a pot

I like them so much
Their lava is red
I wish they were cold
or sometimes less bold

They are so pretty
and sometimes real gritty
But sometimes they’re nice
and covered in ice

Some are very tall
but others are so short
Some shoot lava that’s red
but many others are dead

Emma
Volcanoes are cool
They are like a lava pool
The lava is so hot
They can melt a pot

When the hot lava splashes out
If you’re hit you’re burnt no doubt 
So be careful all the time
and watch out for the red hot slime

Volcanoes are weird  
They are sometimes feared 
They are scary
and they erupt unwary

Volcanoes are very pretty
They are in Mexico city
When the crust gets a crack
the lava goes whack