POETRY

 POETRY 1. Using the internet, define what poetry is. 2. Write notes on the different types and forms of poetry 3. Compose a poem of not less than twenty lines on the topic education. 4. Using the poem you have composed in 6 above, shot a three minutes video, reciting the poem you have written. Read the poem below carefully. Food! Food! Life is about you We toil so as to put you on our tables We work hard because of you Food! Food! We can never have enough of you Even after a heavy mean We are soon in need of you! Food! Food! We need you from the time we are born We need you even when we are about to die Kutesakwe Miriam. The separate parts of a poem are called stanzas instead of paragraphs . This poem has got 3 stanzas. Look at any poems either in the library or those that you have read before. They all have stanzas. Some have got only one stanza while others have more than one. This is one of the features of a poem and it makes poems different from plays or stories. Activity. Using the above poem, answer the following questions 5. What is this poem about? 6. What are the other features of this poem? 7. Give a suitable title for this poem. Share with your partners how different poems are from stories. You could use a table like the one below to give three differences . An example has been given to you. POETRY                                           STORY Short sentences                                 Long sentences Has got rhymes                                  Has no rhymes ………………………………….       …………………………………… …………………………………..        ………………………………………. …………………………………..          ……………………………………. Below are two poems. Read them carefully and make a comparison between them. a. What is similar between them? b. What is different? Children at work. Children at work To be filled with luck If you don’t work What to eat you will luck Happy are those who are hard at work If you don’t work the future will be dark So don’t tire of doing some work For life will be hard if you do not work.. Kutesakwe Miriam The song of the engine With a snort and pant the engine Dragged Its heavy train uphill, And puffed these words the while she Puffed And labored with a will: ‘I think- I can – I think – I can , I’ve got – to reach – the top I’m sure – I can – I will – get the re I simply must not stop And last the top was reached and passed, And then how changed the song! The wheels all joined in the engine’s joy As quickly she tore along! ‘I knew I could do it, I knew I could win, O rickety, rack! And now from a roaring rushing race On my smooth and shinning track! E Worsely Benson Activity. Using the internet or books in the library, read and choose poems written by the western world and those written in Africa. After reading the poems in groups identify; 1. The main ideas which are called themes, in the poems you have read. 2. The way in which the poems are written. 3. The main difference between the poems written by Africans and those written by non- Africans. Read the poem below aloud. Life in our village In our little village When elders are around Boys must not look at girls And girls must not look at boys. Because the elders say That is not good. Even when night comes Boys must play separately. Girls must play separately , But humanity is weak So boys and girls meet. The boys play hide and seek And girls play hide and seek The boys know where the girls hide And the girls know where the boys hide So in their hide and seek , Boys seek girls, And each to each sing Songs of love. Markwei Martie, Ghana. 1. Discuss with your partner the differences between a poem, story and a play. Write those differences and share them with another pair. 2. Write a poem of your own in your exercise book, about either urban or rural life. A POEM ABOUT THE SCHOOL. Literature introduces you to the different ways in which we can write. We have seen that you may use drama as in the role plays that we have used this year; we could have stories and poems. The way we decide d to write is determined by what the message is and who it is meant for. Here is a poem that you should read aloud to get the rhythm and the message. A poem has got verses instead of paragraphs and in each stana there are lines instead of sentences. Sometimes the lines are not written in correct grammar but they still make meaning. After reading, answer the questions that follow. First day at school A million billion willion miles from home Waiting for the bell to go. Why are they all so big, other children? So noisy? So much at home they Must have been born in uniform. Lived all their lives in play grounds. Spent the years inventing games That don’t let me in. games That are rough, that swallow you up. (First verse of poem by Roger Mcgough ) Questions . 1. How many verses does this poem have? 2. How many lines does the poem have? 3. Which words in the poem rhyme? 4. Which words do you think are made up by the poet? 5. In one sentences say what you think the poem is about.