MS AIDAH'S ENGLISH CLASS

How to write a shape poem?

The first step to do this is to think of a shape that says something about a your interest. When choosing a topic it should about something you like. This means you can write about your collection, game, interest, favorite sport or hobby. The next step would be to brainstorm about topics.

Now, draw a shape or form in which to cover the poem. You could draw a star, basketball, football, flower, computer, fruits etc. Once you have drawn a shape, write a draft of four to six lines about the topic. A shape poem has no restriction when it comes to rhyming so it’s up to you if you want to rhyme or not. Write the text around the shape, it would be a lot better if you can add color to it. There, that’s how you write shape poems.

History of Shape Poems

Click on the link to find out more about the history of shape poetry:
http://www.shapepoems.co.uk/what_are_the_shape_poems.htm

Tree poem

In shape poetry the words must be outlined to take the form of the topic. If the poem is about a plant, the texts used are arranged in the form of a plant. In this poem, the writer takes the point of view of a tree. It also tells us about love and devotion between a tree and its owner.

From http://www.shapepoems.co.uk/

"Idea: Old Mazda Lamp, 50-100-150 W" By John Hollander

From: http://www.rhetoricainc.com/eofa/e_of_a/shape.html
"Idea: Old Mazda Lamp, 50-100-150 W" By John Hollander, Used with permission

When our eye, top-to-bottom, reads the words, we are made to think about how we see the lightbulb and the ideas in the poem. We are asked to ponder the uneasy relationship between words and the objects to which they refer. The effect of enjoyment is immediate because we get to see the object.