Poet's Choice

Myself-Cinquain

Sing chorus

forget worries

see the bright side while sings

though the off-key flutters through sky

try best

Friends-Diamante

Jenny

Energic, romantic

Smiling, singing, swinging

French, princess, English, elf

Reading, running, riding

Talkative, creative

Alyssa

Adult-Tanka

Straight hair; coarse, warm hands

Whenever I am depressed

encourage my way

Coarse hands because of housework

I’ll take care her forever

Haiku

Haiku is a poetic form and a type of poetry from the Japanese culture. It often revolves around nature and natural things in the universe. Haiku combines form, content, and language in a meaningful, yet compact form. Haiku poets, which you will soon be, write about everyday things. Many themes include nature, feelings, or experiences. Usually they use simple words and grammar. The most common form for Haiku is three short lines. The first line usually contains five (5) syllables, the second line seven (7) syllables, and the third line contains five (5) syllables. Haiku doesn't rhyme. A Haiku must "paint" a mental image in the reader's mind. This is the challenge of Haiku - to put the poem's meaning and imagery in the reader's mind in ONLY 17 syllables over just three (3) lines of poetry!

The pattern for Haiku is the following:
Line 1: 5 syllables
Line 2: 7 syllables
Line 3: 5 syllables

Splendid Milky Way
trace of silver magpies' bridge
Cowherd waits Weave Maid

Round moon hangs in sky
dreary dark with sad howl
werewolves bear the pain

Dark, dense wings glitter 
falls swiftly from the heaven
angel arrives Earth

Tanka Poem

Misty, hazy sky

Gathers lonely, drifting clouds

Drips tears when it has homesick

Needs Nu Wa to weave the hole

Smiles when the sun shines the world

Modest and gentle

sways gracefully when wind blows

bowing with long hairs

stays with friends along the bank

greets merrily the boats pass by

- Willow

Red hat with white beard,

Ho!Ho!Ho! laughs happily

Climbs down the chimney

Brings wishes for good children

Ride the reindeer back to North

Cinquain Poem

Angel

Glitter halo

Extend flexible wings

Protect true love when screams and rings

Cherub

Fairy

Smiles cheerfully

Spreads magical powder

Not only tales cause dream will come true

Godmother

Friends

Sincere, truthful hearts

Dainty, warm hands hold me

Encourage to pass bottleneck

Buddy

Diamante Poem

Angel

exquisite, protective

flying, relying, guiding

glitter, halo, dark, powerful

falling, calling, holding,

mysterious, attractive

Fallen-angel

 

Heaven

Bright, gorgeous

Rive, rise, ride

Angels, gods, evils, punishment

Seek, shake, split

Deep, unlimited

Hell

 

Delight

Playful, colorful

Greeting, smiling, laughing

Fairy, elf, fragility, softy

Sighing, tearing, weeping

Painful, unstable

Sorrow

Acrostic

This is a special journal, because we're going to write an acrostic poem by our names.

A child likes to read stories
Never gives up daydreaming
Gradually improves her creativity
Enjoys her life happily
Loves to play in Disney
Always believes in fairies
Wants to make friend with Santa
Assumes to live in Toy Story
Needs to grow up eventually
Glitters in the future lately (for being the boss of playing-with-children company)
PS. I know this is very childish and immature, so don't blame me

Just wants to try her best
Often practices dancing secretly
Loves the applauds from the audiences
Idol in people's heart
Never shows her weariness
Treasures every chance to sparkle 
Singing beautifully with the birds
Always performs perfectly
Ideal model in my heart

Elements of Poetry

  Aside from "words", the elements of poetry are similar to the elements we find in fiction, such as plot, character, setting, figures of speech, conflict, and resolution. Plot is a series of ideas or incidents that related to each other. Poetry often has a plot that interests the readers. Character is the imaginary people in the story while characterization is a character's character. There are usually a main character and an opponent in poetries. Therefore, they might develop a conflict, which is a clash or sharp disagreement among character and character or character and setting. Setting is the place or location of the stories, the setting provides the historical and cultural context for characters. It often can symbolize the emotional state of characters in poems. If the setting is in the haunted house, at a dark night that we can't even find the stars, readers might assume that there may be scary things happen later. After all, there is a resolution, a way that story turns out, whether in a good way or bad way, readers will be curious how the story ends. There are often figures of speech in poems, because they make the words seem more interesting, such as simile, metaphor, personification. Ex. The fallen leaves are the designers, designing their clothes every season; the fallen leaves are the dancers, dancing ballet gracefully for a reason.

What Does Poetry Do?

  Poems are different from other forms of writing because they are pieces of writing that arranged in lines with a rhythm. Since most of the poems rhyme in a way that the words roll through our tongues smoothly, poems are considered to be another form of art. Although poems have only few lines, they can express the beauty of the words behind their meanings. Prose writing often follows standard rules in grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. On the other hand, poems don't really have to follow those complex rules. Because poems tend to hear and respond to the sounds, rhythms, cadence and structure of language, it has a great deal in common with music. Therefore, the main destination of writing poems is to sound musical. I think poems have similarities with other writings, such as imagery. Both poems and proses can remain lifelike imageries in readers' mind, because the descriptions are vivid, they keep a sensory picture which touched the readers. Furthermore, odes are lofty and dignified lyric poems, which mean that they don't have to rhyme as regular poems. Consequently, they can also write in a story or song. The most famous type of poem that records the heros' deeds and achievements is epic poem, which we students are writing in history class right now. It is an example of a story that writes in poem. Poems are somehow affecting our lives, such as poetry contest. People will also write poems to express their feelings, cause they can enjoy the writing that only contain few lines but meaningful. However, poems are important elements in literature, too. 

Spring Break

 During Spring Break, most of the students in PAS went to the wonderful graduation trip-Bali. I was looking forward because this was my first time to travel with my friends in such a far distance. When we arrived to Taoyuan Airport, we even prayed to Buddha. I knew that I was over-excited and crazy, almost hard to inhibit my enthusiasm. I truly had a great time in Club Med, and learn some special skills ( actually, doesn't even count as a skill )~ I would be very happy to recommend the delicious meals in Club Med, and I even took some pictures. The meals there are exactly tasty, we have different kinds of food everyday. Therefore, we can taste foreign flavour, including Spain, French, and Italy.......The Bar is also very convenient to rest and have drinks there. I asked for the mixture of watermelon, pineapple, orange juice and vanilla banana milkshake ( I know I'm weird ); anyhow, I wondered why I didn't have stomachache :) In addition, I love rafting pretty much. It's so excited to raft, just like an adventure, though I fell down four time. As for snorkeling, I've tried in Taiwan before( but I'm not skillful, only playful ), but I still feel kind of fresh to play in the sea. Though I was allergic to some substances in the sea, I had a good time discovering the fish and corals. In the evening, we shop with Ms. Pattichi and she taught us how to bargain with the storekeepers. Since we are foreigners, they will raise the prices on purposely, in order to get a higher profit. However, the souvenirs are truly cheap there. I got a wood carving turtle for NT100, drums for NT90, and beautiful necklaces and bracelets for NT16........ Although it's kind of cruel to ask them vowing to their religion, ( that's why I get blisters ), getting a cheap price is so interesting. Overall, I DID have an excellent time in Bali, though  missed it sooo much right now and willing to fly back and stay there for whole year.

Exaggeration

  Exaggeration is a statement that represents something as better or worse than it really is. It is often used as an important element in literature. I love to use exaggeration because it seems to make things sounds more interesting, and describes the words with imaginings in our minds. People sometimes talk with exaggeration but seldom find out, such as "I've answered this question once, in fact, I've answered it a thousand times." The sentence shows the inpatient of answering the same thing over and over again, though the person might didn't answer it a thousand times. Another example is " Its action was so funny that I was overwhelmed with laughter". I won't be overwhelmed with laughter unless there is a water flood in laughter. Therefore, it's an exaggeration.  In addition, exaggeration is famous to write imaginative poetry. When a person exaggerates in a poem, he or she usually picks one characteristic of the thing and overstates it as wildly as possible. The crazier the exaggerations, the more exciting the poem is. Exaggeration emphasizes the action and overstates it unbelievably. It seems to be more absorbing cause we readers think the action is incredible, and it often makes the sentence lively and vividly.