KidPoWriMo Day 12 ~ Repetition

If you know the Pledge of Allegiance, or can recite a prayer, or remember something a family member told you when you were little, it is because of one thing: repetition. Whether you were standing in a classroom with your hand on your chest, or kneeling in a house of worship or sitting at the kitchen table, you remember these things because you did them everyday or every week for long time.

When you share your poem, you may have just one chance. Someone might read your poem from a page or you may read it to them. Either way, at the end of the poem, your opportunity is over. If your message is important enough for you to write it in a poem, how will you get your audience to remember it? Use repetition.

Poetic word of the day: refrain (click here to see the definition on Merriam-Webster’s Word Central)

You can repeat words, phrases or whole stanzas in your poems.Spoken word artists use repetition often because it can boost the entertainment value of their poem. Printed poems also benefit when parts are repeated. Your main idea is the what you repeat. If one word makes your point, repeat it. If a phrase or sentence is needed, repeat that.  When you do, your audience will recognize something familiar that you gave them before and it sinks in a little deeper. Even if people don’t remember you name, they will remember your poem. Some may even repeat parts of it back to you.

You can be creative when repeating a section of your poem. Repeating something exactly the same way two or three times can become boring. If you are repeating a stanza, you can reword it or rearrange the phrases. You can even rewrite a phrase in the section. Your audience will notice what is different if you change one small thing each time you repeat it.

The best example of this that I can find is Dr. Seuss’ “Green Eggs and Ham” where there is lots of repetition and most repeated parts are different as the story goes on.

KidPoWriMo Day 4 ~ We owe it to odes

Happy 4th of July! It’s Independence Day in the United States and much of the country is celebrating with a day off, singing patriotic songs, cooking out and watching fireworks.

Some patriotic songs have lyrics that were originally poems which were later set to music. So, for today, it seems the right thing to do is to talk about the ode.

Poetic word of the day: “ode” (click here to read the definition on YourDictionary.com)

Now that you know what “ode” means, you can find odes almost anywhere. And if you are going to write an ode, you know you will be writing with a lot of respect and honor for the person or object of your poem, though the style of poem you choose to write may vary.

Click here to read a famous poetic example of an “ode” by Pablo Neruda: “Ode to my Socks” (on PoemHunter.com).

The words to the hymn: “Ode to Joy” are poetry, and there are more than one version of the poem, but the melody to the song is so famous, you would recognize it if I started humming it. I won’t have to, because when you turn on the television, you will find it is the background music for many commercials and is the theme for numerous movie soundtracks. Since we are working with poetry here, my point is that poetry often inspires music. I wonder: would the music ever have been written if it wasn’t for the poem?

On this patriotic day, I want to share the poetic words to “America the Beautiful” (click to hear on YouTube). Can we call the words to this song an “ode”? I think so.

PROMPT: Is there a person or an object that is very important to you? Write an ode. You can use rhyme (from Day 1) and/or iambs (from Day 2). You may use haiku. If you do, feel free to write a series or string of haiku to make your ode. Otherwise, you may use any style of poetry you like.

PARENTS WITH YOUNGER CHILDREN: Talk about something that is important in your family and discuss what you would put in an ode about that thing. The family car may be very important to your family and an ode will celebrate this fact. You might talk about what you would put in an ode to each other [i.e.: if mom or dad writes an ode to the child(ren) or the child(ren) will write an ode to the parents or grandparents]. If you have recently lost someone who was close to your child(ren), talk about making and ode to them. An older person should write down what the child says. Then pick out words that are iambs or that you can rhyme and write those words down, too. Your child(ren) may start telling you their poems. Be ready to write them down and save them.

If I am inspired to write an ode, I might write one for you to thank you for reading and sharing this project.