Have you ever watched a potter at work? If you've used a potter's wheel yourself, you know that it's not as easy as it looks. In the beginning, the shape may emerge just as you want it to, but the longer the wheel turns and the taller the bowl or vase becomes, the more difficult it is to keep the form headed in the direction you want it go. Skill and experience help, but any potter can tell you that success depends upon paying close attention to each lump of clay as it takes shape, from start to finish.
Shaping a written work of art requires similar skill and perseverance. As a poem takes shape, you're likely to notice new aspects of your idea or theme that, like a lump of clay becoming a pitcher or a serving bowl, requires a little extra attention. Of course, when you change one element of a poem, especially a poem written in a particular form, other elements may need to shift as well.
Try shaping your ideas a little more deliberately, now that you have them out on the page. Look back at the poems you wrote for the lessons The Art and Craft of Poetry and Form an Idea. Choose one of those poems to revise and edit, and paste two copies of the poem into a new word processing document titled Shape Your Art. Then revise the second copy of your poem by clicking and following the steps below.
| STEP 1 |
Decide what the poem is trying to say or what kind of experience it creates for readers. Try to imagine how someone else would feel when reading the poem for the first time. |
| STEP 2 |
Look back at the lesson on forms (Form an Idea). What form does your poem have now, and how could you help it fit the form more completely? If the poem was not written in a form, choose a form that would help develop its message. |
| STEP 3 |
Revise the poem to fit a new form or edit what you have written so that the poem better fits the form it already has. (You may need to make some dramatic changes.) |
| STEP 4 |
Add at least one of the following devices to your poem: allusion, hyperbole, personification, irony, homophones, alliteration, assonance, consonance, dissonance, and onomatopoeia. Integrate the device in a way that helps the poem's overall effect. |
| 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. When you feel that your revision represents your best effort to demonstrate all of the skills covered in this module, turn it in.
| Form and Features - 10 points | |
|---|---|
| 5 points |
Your poem's purpose or shape and structure fits one of the forms described in this module: epic poem, ballad, ode, elegy, sonnet, haiku, tanka, or cinquain. |
| 5 points |
Your poem includes features that help readers know that it is written in the form, and these features are well-integrated. |
| Tools of the Trade - 10 points | |
| 5 points |
Your revised poem includes at least one additional literary device described in the lesson The Art and Craft of Poetry. |
| 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. |
