Writing Unit 3: Poetry

This writing uint will have students writing a piece of poetry.

Target Skills: Rhyme Patters and Meter

Read the classic Christmas poem from 1823 A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore.  The modern image of Santa Claus, how he looks and how he delivers toys, can be largely attributed to this poem.  After reading the poem, you can listen to it by watching the YouTube video linked below it.

A Visit from St. Nicholas

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, DASHER! now, DANCER! now, PRANCER and VIXEN!
On, COMET! on CUPID! on, DONNER and BLITZEN!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!

Read the poem again and look for the rhyme pattern.  A rhyme is a word that has the same end sound as another word.  Cat and Hat are rhymes, as are Bed and Head.  Notice, as with Bed and Head, endings do not need to be spelled the same to rhyme.  Kite and Night rhyme, even though their endings are spelled very differently.  What is important is that they sound the same.

The rhyme patter in this poem is that the last word on each line rhymes.

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

Now listen to the meter of the poem.  

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

To find the meter, break the words into their syllables.

'Twas the night be-fore Christ-mas, when all through the house
Not a crea-ture was stir-ring, not e-ven a mouse;
The stoc-kings were hung by the chim-ney with care,
In hopes that St. Nic-ho-las soon would be there;

The chil-dren were nest-led all snug in their beds,
While vis-ions of su-gar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'ker-chief, and I in my cap,
Had just set-tled down for a long win-ter's nap,

The meter of this poem is:

1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3

1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3

1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2

1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2

When you write your own poem, it does not need to use the same rhyme pattern or meter as this poem.  But do try to have a rhyme pattern and a meter.

This poem also has strong imagery that lets the reader feel what is happening in the poem.  Here are some examples of imagery in this poem.

"all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse"

Image: the house is extremely quiet.

"The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads"

Image: children are comfortable in bed having good dreams.

"The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below"

Image: the bright moon shining on the white snow lights everything up like the sun in the daytime.

"As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too."

Image: Santa and his sleigh flew quickly to the rooftop like a dry leaf blowing in a typhoon.

"He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;"

Image: What St. Nicholas (Santa) looks like.

Since poems are usually not very long, they should have good imagery to communicate a feeling or picture to the reader.  One reason that people like to read poems is that they can give a strong feeling without much reading.

In class this week we will be writing 10 bar poems (1 bar is one line).  The poems should have a rhyme pattern, a meter, and give the reader a feeling by using imagery.  

Here are some poems by the famous children's poet Shel Silverstein.  Some of these poems are around 10 bars, about the length we will be writing in class.

20 of Our Favorite Shel Silverstein Poems