Hi, thanks for your visit!
Here’s my 8th tip or suggestion for helping your class create quality poetry:
ENCOURAGE SHORT LINES for PUNCH and RHYTHM
Here’s an example, with THE WIND as my theme:
Short lines aid rhythm
In my little poem here, there are only about 4 or 5 words per line – only 3 in the first line, and this brevity generates a rhythmic pattern through the verse. Sure, there are rhymes to help, but even if there weren’t, you would still sense that rhythm.
Imagine, though, if the lines went right across the page, as in a novel, with all sorts of extra details or developments! You’d lose both the rhythm and the simple process of actions central to the poem’s purpose. Or imagine the lines were merged –
‘slapping at our skirts, racing us and chasing
us home to our front door, where we shut it
out…’
It would sink into a shapeless, dreary diatribe against the inconvenient weather, rather than entertaining you with its cheeky ‘manners’.
Short lines also have other advantages:
– they prevent young writers feeling bogged down in the task;
– they help them focus on individual word choice and overall quality;
– they facilitate rhyme-crafting – when rhyme is invited;
– they help children to consider their work as a whole, with a start, middle and end.
Longer lines
Long lines have their place in poetry too, of course. You could either start off your class with free reign to write long and flowingly, then ask them to trim and select for tighter writing and greater effect; or start them off with short lines, then invite them to expand a certain section, perhaps with a richly extended metaphor or an embellishing detail.
Lengths for moods
Line length can also express mood – short for striking, shocking, fun or snappy; long for thoughtful, melancholy, dreamy, luxurious, profound, etc. Older and maturer writers would find this concept an intriguing one to take on board and experiment with.
Happy class poetry-writing, whichever way you do it!
Kate Williams
Author: Squeak! Squawk! Roar! Amazing Animal Poems: publishing 9th January with Otter-Barry Books
Lots more poems and poetry-class tips in my archived posts, and more on the way, e.g. you could put Silly Rhymes for Christmas or my Santa’s Café offer in the Search box.
Meanwhile, have fun in the wind!
Here’s my poem, The Wind, on YouTube, by the way – one of my first, so please forgive the tech quality!! https://youtube.com/shorts/rqfhv0S5M
Kate Williams 
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