POETRY FRIDAY IS HERE!
WELCOME!
Two Pen Cases
Photo by Amy LV
Students - I fell in love with a meter last week. Yep, I did. I was home, just reading in this book...
I kept trying, kept writing, kept scribbling. Below you can see that my writing process really does require significant crossing out, something I find much more comfortable with pen on paper. Initial drafts for me need some serious black-pen-scribbling.
Frost Collection
Photo by Amy LV
...and I came across this poem, Asking for Roses, by Robert Frost. I read it quietly. And then I read it out loud, just listening to the rolling rhythm. I loved the story, but I really loved the meter.
Asking for Roses - in the Public Domain
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Photo by Amy LV
And while I was at it, I fell in love with the rhyme scheme too. I thought it was so NEAT that the word roses ended every single one of the six stanzas. And that there were six rhymes for the word roses, each ending the second line of each stanza. I took some notes about Frost's rhymes.
Frost's Rhymes
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Photo by Amy LV
Then I decided to try my hand at Frost's lovable meter, choosing first my six-times repeated word (writing!) and its associated rhymes. I needed seven words that rhymed...seven words that could make sense together. I visited RhymeZone to scout out rhymes, selecting the ones you see on my notebook page below. Honestly, at first, I did not think that the words below would work. I worried that they would not sound forced. But I pushed on.
Possible Rhymes
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Photo by Amy LV
Poemscribbles
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Photo by Amy LV
As always, I read and listened, read and listened until I liked how the poem sounded. Then I took it to my keyboard and continued revising a word here, a word there, over the course of a week. And I am pretty happy. My poem's meter learned from another poem's meter. And I learned too.
It is true that you, too, can fall in love with a poem and a meter, just as I did with Frost's Asking for Roses. I share a poem about this on the back cover of my new READ! READ! READ! (Wordsong), illustrated by Ryan O'Rourke, and released just this past Tuesday.
Back Cover Snip of READ! READ! READ!
Cookie by MamaSeuffertSweets
Read poems aloud often. And talk about the different meters you admire with your writing friends. Experimenting with meter is a wondrous way to challenge ourselves. Allow yourself to breathe in a meter you've never breathed in before, and you may just be surprised by the words that follow!
I am so happy to welcome author Caroline Starr Rose to my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks this month. Please stop by to read her notebook poem, to peek into her notebooks, and to enter her book giveaway! And know...I seek student notebook sharers over there...please consider sharing!
It's my pleasure to host the Poetry Friday roundup here today. If you wish to share the link to your poetry post, please do so below at the Inlinkz Link-Up, and I will be around to comment today and throughout the weekend.
All visitors - we welcome everyone to this poemgathering every single week. Anyone may read. Anyone may comment. Anyone may link in! Happy Poetry Week ahead!
xo,
Amy
Please share a comment below if you wish.
