Nature Journaling - Poetic Forms

From Susan Bray

Naturalist, Lakeside Nature Center

Handout from the December 4, 2006 Master Naturalist Class at Burr Oak Woods Nature Center

Poetic Forms

Haiku

Is a Japanese form of poetry that consists of three lines:  the first line has five syllables, the second line has seven syllables and the third line has five syllables.

 

Example:

                        Trees move in the breeze

                        Bare branches anticipate         

                        Softly falling snow

                                                SMB

 

Cinquain

Poems consist of five lines, and each line has a mandatory purpose and number of syllables:

1)       the title in two syllables

2)       a description of the title in four syllables

3)       a description of action in six syllables

4)       a description of a feeling in eight syllables

5)       another word for the title in two syllables

 

Example:

            Forests

            Graceful, growing

            Climbing among the clouds

            Calmly awaiting the sunrise

            Alive

 

Acrostic

Poetry shows an “acronym”, i.e. the first letter in each line, when read vertically, spells out the name of something or conveys some other kind of message.

 Example:

 

      Towering

      Reaching         

      Extending

      Embracing the sky.

 

Diamente

Poems are diamond-shaped and consist of seven lines that follow the following pattern:

1)       noun  (topic)

2)       adjective adjective  (descriptive words)

3)       verb verb verb  (action words)

4)       noun noun noun noun  (name or topic)

5)       verb verb verb  (action words)

6)       adjective adjective  (descriptive words)

7)       noun  (topic)

 Example:

                       Seed

                Small buried

      Growing breathing living

Protection oxygen shade habitat

      Dying rotting crumbling

               Moist rich                    

                     Soil

 

Picture Poetry

Forms a picture of what is happening in the poem.

Example:

Old

Old tree

Dead

 peeling

Holding

 onto earth

Vertical

Bumpy

Trunk

Reaching

Sheltering

Moss

Lichens

Moths

Owls

Larvae

A Home

                                                                        SMB

                                                                       

 

 

 

 

Windspark

Poetry has five lines with the following pattern:

1)       “I dreamed,”

2)       “I was….” (something or someone),

3)       where

4)       an action, and

5)       how

 

 

Example:

            I dreamed

            I was a tree

            On a hillside

            Playing with the wind

            Joyfully

 

 

Free Verse

Follows no set formula or style

 

 

 

Resource:

Environmental Education Activity Guide—Project Learning Tree

c.1993 American Forest Foundation