Poetry Exercise (Word Bank) & Spoon River

Today, let's take 20 minutes to do the following:
Creating a word bank for poetry
Go to the following website:

• http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/p180-list.html

Read poems #1-5. As you read, choose 3 words from EACH poem and make a list. (The best way to do this is either in your journal – where you will get credit; or you may keep a word document open and minimized on the bottom of your screen to collect the words).
Choose interesting or “powerful” words—words that draw YOUR attention; the best 3 single words in the poem. Avoid phrases.

Once you have a list with 15 words (3 words per poem x 5 poems = 15), use your word bank to create a poem of your own.

• You DO NOT have to use all 15 words in your poem.
• Your poem should make sense. Try to avoid sentence fragments. (Consider your character, setting, theme, conflict, etc. to help write a story...yes, even poetry has a story.)
• You may include as many OTHER words as you’d like. You may also lengthen or shorten words or change their tense (from past to present, for example).

After our exercise, we will take a trip to the library to pick up Spoon River. When we return, we'll start reading it as a class.

Spoon River is a collection of internal monologue poems by American poet Edgar Lee Masters.

As we read this collection, please note that each poem is "spoken" using the voice of the speaker. Certain characters speak seriously, in a, pardon the pun, grave manner. Other characters have a humorous or sarcastic tone to their "voice."

Each character is assumed to be dead and talking from the grave about his/her life. After reading the collection, feel free to try this technique yourself.

Journal Options (on-going deadline: you may do these exercises again and again thorughou):

1. Go to a cemetery. Record the names on gravestones. Imagine who this/these person or persons are. What meant the most to them? What kind of personality did they have? How did they live? How did they die? What did they do for a living? Who did they love or dislike? What was the most important object/idea/person to them? What do they most regret? Use these questions to create an internal monologue.

2. Look through a phone book. Record some names of people you don't know. Imagine who these people are. What meant the most to them? what kind of personality do they have? How do they live? How will they die? What do they do for a living? Who do they love/dislike? What means the most to them? waht do they regret? Use these questions to create an internal monologue.

3.Write several of these poems. Then put them together. At least two of your characters should know each other and reference the other character(s). See SPOON RIVER poems for examples.

 HOMEWORK: Please read Spoon River. As you read, pay attention to how the author creates a voice for his personas. For each poem, notice WHO the speaker is, WHY are they speaking (what secrets do they tell us?), and other characters they name in their poem. (Those characters might appear later in the book)