Back From Break & Into Poetry

Welcome back! I hope everyone had an amazing spring break, I know I sure did. I know your brains are probably still in relaxation mood, so we'll do a simple poem today. I want you to try your first rhyming poem.

Basically every other line is going to rhyme with the one before that. In other words, the first line will rhyme with the third and the second line with rhyme with the fourth...BUT ONLY THE LAST WORD.

For example: An excerpt from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night:

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Come away, come away, death,
And in sad cypress let me be laid;
Fly away, fly away, breath;
I am slain by a fair cruel maid.
My shroud of white, stuck all with yew,
O, Prepare it:
My part of death, no one so true
Did share it.

Not a flower, not a flower sweet,
On my black coffin let there be strown;
Not a friend, not a friend greet
My poor corpse, where my bones shall be thrown.
A thousand thousand sighs to save,
Lay me, O where
Sad true lover never find my grave,
To weep there.

In the play, this rhyme is sung by Feste, the fool. You can learn a great deal about songwriting by examining the two stanzas closely and noticing how Shakespeare puts the melody right in the words. If you listen to other song lyrics, most songs are poems! I bet you your favorite song uses the rhyming style that you are going to use today!

Word of advice...end the lines with easy rhyming words (cat, mat, hat etc...) it'll make it a lot easier on you, but also don't be afraid of a challenge. Have fun with it and make it your own! Happy writing :)