As a species, humans seemed hard-wired to make art. Sure, furniture and blankets and clothes serve a practical purpose too. But the mere need to survive doesn't explain the time and effort that millions of craftspeople apply to their projects everyday. From planning to building to finishing, there is a distinct joy in creating something beautiful and setting it out in the world.
You may feel this way when you write, or paint, or compose music. Or perhaps your "craft" involves something less permanent, like a soccer skill or a skateboard trick, or stand-up comedy. Chances are very high, though, that you've worked at something, from start to finish, to make it what you imagine it can be.
You can apply that same human genius for shaping objects or experiences to creative writing. Poems are especially rewarding to tweak and and polish because they are usually very short, which means that right away you can see the results of a few word changes or line break shifts here and there. Look back the poems you wrote for the first few lessons in this module: What Counts, Lyre, Lyre, and Stories with a Beat. Choose one of those poems to revise and edit. Paste two copies of the poem into a new word processing document titled Honor the Craft. Then revise the second copy of your poem by following the steps below.
| STEP 1 |
Ask yourself what the poem is trying to say about its subject--or what effect it is trying to create. Try to read the poem objectively, as though you're a reader seeing it for the first time. |
| STEP 2 |
Change or delete any phrases that get in the way of that meaning so that every word contributes to entire effect or theme of the poem. Also add images that make the poem's subject easier for readers to visualize. |
| STEP 3 |
Look back the lesson titled The Art and Craft of Poetry, and review the literary devices described in that lesson: allusion, hyperbole, personification, irony, homophones, alliteration, assonance, consonance, dissonance, and onomatopoeia. |
| STEP 4 |
Choose two of these devices to integrate into your poem and make it more "artful" or literary. |
| STEP 5 |
Consider how the entire poem works (including the title) now that you've added some literary effects. Edit other parts of the poem, as needed, so that they help it achieve its full impact on readers. |
When you have completed all five steps, study the rubric below, which your teacher will use to grade your work on this assignment. Before you submit your poem, make sure that it meets all of the criteria in the rubric, in ways that your teacher can easily see. (Also make sure that your file includes two versions of the poem--your teacher should be able to see both the original draft of the poem and your revision.) When you feel that your poem is fully polished, turn it in.
| Imagery and Precision - 10 points | |
|---|---|
| 5 points |
Your poem includes plenty of images that are easy to visualize because of the precise language you've chosen. |
| 5 points |
Your poem uses precise nouns and verbs to convey not only a clear image but also a recognizable tone or mood that suits the poem's meaning. |
| Tools of the Trade - 10 points | |
| 5 points |
Your poem incorporates at least two of the literary devices listed in the directions for revising a poem. |
| 5 points |
You revised or edited other parts of your poem so that the devices you added are enhanced by other words or sections in the poem. |
