Writing Assignment 4

So far you have had three writing activities. At this point your goal should be to have at least one poetic work in progress. There are only one more writing sessions till your first poetry workshop takes place.

One of the most beautiful things about poetry is it that can take any shape. If rhyming words and using rhyme schemes isn't working for you, then perhaps you could try a form know as “free verse”. Free verse poetry doesn't rhyme and it isn't written in any specific meter. Do you remember the T.S. Eliot poem we read earlier as homework entitled “The Wasteland”? That poem was written in free verse.

So if the poem doesn't rhyme or have any of the other tell-tell signs of being a poem, how is it a poem? A simplified way to think of a free verse poem is that it is a poem, because the poet says so. There are no rules or restrictions that apply to free verse. Do with it what you will.

When I write poetry, I write in free verse. Being the rebel that I am, I hate being bound by limits or restrictions.

With that said, I'm going to place restrictions on this next writing activity. I want you to write a free verse poem of your choice utilizing one of these poetic devices :metaphor, personification, and imagery. If your unfamiliar with any of these terms (shame on you), please look back to our earlier poetry lessons over poetic devices.

I picked these three devices because they would probably be the easiest for you to use. If you wanted to write a poem using imagery, write something very descriptive could appeal to any or multiple senses. If you chose metaphor or personification, I would suggest that you build the poem around this device. For example, in a poem about time you could use the metaphor “time flies” or use personification and say sometime about the “arms on a clock”.

Good Luck