Oct. 6th, 2017 is National Poetry Day in the UK (America celebrates Poetry Month in April so I may be back on this topic then). I don’t write poetry. You can see in this list of how-to-write-poetry tips why. In short, it requires too much thought for my brain–you have to put so much meaning into just a few words–but I follow several poets who I think are excellent. One is Audrey Dawn at Oldest Daughter and Red Headed Sister. Another, Andrew over at Andrew’s View of the Week, has these tips about writing poetry:
Sit in a quiet room and let the words come to you.
Stand in the noisy concert and let the rhythms of the music beat the words into you.
Listen to the babbling brook and write down all it says.
It’s all about the feeling
the emotion,
the image,
the metaphor.
It’s about letting your emotions run wild
and then corral them in 12 lines.
It’s about explaining rocks to apples.
It’s about comparing nails to clouds.
It’s about seeing infinity in a glass of water.
If you write poetry on a computer or would like to share it with friends, here are some great sites you might like to visit (remember: I teach K-8 so my resources tend to focus on that age group):
- Classical Poems for Kids
- Crocodile’s Toothache–video of a Shel Silverstein poem
- Famous Children’s Poems
- Favorite Poem Project
- Glossary of Poetry Terms
- Kids Magnetic Poetry
- Magnetic Haiku poetry
- Poetry Engine—writes poem for you
- Poetry for Kids
- Poets reading their own poetry–from the National Archives
- Rhyming Dictionary–find words that rhyme for poetry
- Shel Silverstein’s poetry website
- TED: Why Poetry (video)
- Word Mover--create poetry using pieces of existing poems
If you’re an iPad person, try these:
- Diamante Poems
- Acrostic Poems (iPad, Android – Free)
- Poems by Heart From Penguin Classics (iPad – Free with in-app purchases)
- Shakespeare’s Sonnets (iPad – fee)
- POETRY From The Poetry Foundation (iPad, Android – Free)
- Haiku Poem (iPad, Android – Free)
- Word Mover app for iPad
What are you going to do to celebrate National Poetry Day?
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy, and the thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. She is also the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for TeachHUB, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. You can find her books at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning.
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A lovely post, Jacqui. I love poetry and I do like writing poetry too.
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Thanks, Robbie. I remember how drawn to poetry I was as a student. I hope lots of kids feel that, too.
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I’ve bookmarked this page so I can continue to come back and use these links. These are brilliant suggestions and exactly the kind of resources I’ve been hunting down for my budding 8 year old writer. She’s a Shel Silverstein fan!!
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Oh she’ll love the Silverstein site. I am a devotee of his also. A lot of truth in his simplicity!
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great
786 islam
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Thanks.
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Great list of info in light of Poetry Day Jacqui. Thanks. 🙂
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Yes, a genre I don’t do well but definitely respect.
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I hear you on that. 🙂
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I have always been charmed by the Romantic Poets of English Literature. Poetry became my favorite genre just when I was introduced to Tennyson and Kipling and Keats and love kept growing till I learnt to pen my own verses. I have written about understanding poetry and how to write it. Here is one link of my guest post:
https://jeriwb.com/how-to-write-poetry-that-flows-spontaneously-58017/
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Thanks for sharing that link, Balroop. I’m going to check it out.
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Thanks for the links, Jacqui. There are some fun sites to check out. Are you going to try some poetry?? 🙂
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Absolutely not! But I do love what others write. It takes a certain talent…
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🙂
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I am not a poetry person either but I keep trying. Thanks for sharing this.
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I’ve moved beyond trying to vicariously enjoying.
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I love to write and read poetry. Thanks for sharing my thoughts on that.
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Your fans await your book of poetry, Andrew.
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getting close – just about to get the final illustrations completed.
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I like Andrew’s poem about poetry.Though I write a bit of poetry, I don’t consider myself a poet and rarely post any of them. Love to read it, and have a few dozen poetry books on my shelves. This is a good day to leaf through one. Thanks for all the sites, Jacqui. I like Poem-a-Day: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem-day
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Yes, I like that one too. Bitesize pieces serves me well.
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Hi Jacqui – I do occasionally bring verses of poems into my posts … but not often – and I certainly don’t write them … we do have some wonderful ones in our history … so they come out occasionally. I came across a Cornish one recently – Charles Causley – he’s a folklore poet … one day I’ll find out more … there was a BBC tv programme on him …
I’m learning from the blogging arenas … one day I’ll do more – cheers Hilary
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I just read a post by Robbie Cheadle (the talented author of the Sir Chocolate series) where a reader wrote their review as a poem. It was amazing. Poetry does communicate as nothing else.
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That’s the perfect poem about poetry by Andrew! You’ve listed some invaluable resources for all poets here, Jacqui…through blogging my interest in poetry has developed further, however not my skill at writing it! A very Happy National Poetry to everyone! 😀
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I tend toward children’s resources (K8) because of my other hat but many of these are also great for adults. I’m with you: I like poetry more thanks to the poets I follow but I’d never post it myself.
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Lovely post. I dabble in poetry from time to time, and I know how challenging it can be. But
If you hit that sweet spot and get it right? Glorious!
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That’s when I fell in love with poetry–when I found those poets who said in just a few lines what it would take me pages, and got all the significant emotion in also. Wow. How’d they do that?
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Good article, have reblogged on http://bobfairfield .org, hope that’s ok.
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Thanks for the reblog, Bobby.
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Reblogged this on Writing, events, competitions and even some self-penned bits and commented:
A reminder of the importance of this day and some handy hints for those wishing to fulfill their need to write poetry. Enjoy.
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I’m surprised by how many writers tackle poetry. I should say, I’m in awe. It seems to be one of the most difficult genres.
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I’m thankful for your educated eyes on my work, J. Thank you for the shout out and these useful tips and writing sources. The information you provide is always relevant. Have a great weekend. ♡
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Thanks, Audrey. When I think of blogging poets, I always think of you.
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As always such a useful post. I have come across a few poets via Wordsmith who really impress me and I always think how their words would have seen the light of day without the internet and, given their talents and insight, why they are not better known.
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The Internet is changing our access to writers of all colors. That’s good or bad, depending upon your vision. Me, I’m happy about it.
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I don’t write poetry either, but I admire those who do. Enjoy your day, Jacqui!
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Thanks, Jill. My son only has a few more days before he’s off to Japan with the Signal Corps. I will definitely enjoy our time together.
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I Like poetry that tells a story – like The Highwayman by Alfred Noyse. Ballards and old-fashioned poetry with the correct amount of lines. For poetry day I’m going to read The Highwayman again.
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I too loved The Highwayman. It used to be part of the regular classroom teaching. Now, I doubt it. Let’s not get into the reasons why!
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