Friday, April 16, 2010

Catch Up & Have a Nice Break!

Today we will watch a few video clips about poetry (since it's the day of silence). After the video, please complete your poem drafts: The Found Poem, the Steal a Line Poem, The Natural Metaphor Poem, the Characterization of Place poem, the Internal Monologue. By the end of today you should have written 5 separate drafts (at least one of each of these poems assignments).

PENFIELD POETRY CONTEST is due Thursday, April 29. Choose your best poem. Proofread and prepare your poem. Your poem should have a title page with your poem's title, name, address, zip code, and email or phone # on it. Your NAME should NOT appear on the poem draft. Just the title.

Some ways to do well in poetry contests: Best poems capture a single or small moment in life that reflects the whole. The more specific the better. The more interesting the image, the better. Usually slam or spoken word doesn't do as well because these are performance poems, meant to be performances. You only have the page for contests like this, and remember this is a public library.

What's hot right now? Original voices. Culture. Creative use of literary devices. Imagery. Personal poems that develop a voice, but are universal.

What's not so good? Swearing. Angry or political poems that point a finger. Sex poems. Break-up or boo-hoo poems. Vague language (lack of poetic devices). Poems that don't make sense or difficult to "see" in the reader's mind. Poems that are center aligned or have formatting/grammar errors.

No comments:

About this course!

This course stresses understanding the characteristics & techniques in the literary genres of fiction, poetry, and dramatic writing. This course will continue to build on students’ reading and writing skills begun in previous creative writing classes. Readings and discussions of works by major writers in the field will be examined as inspiration and models of fine writing. This educational blog is designed for the use of the students at the School of the Arts in Rochester, NY.