POETRY WRITING COMPETITION FOR 7-11 YEAR-OLDS

LET’S GET STARTED

Today you are going to:

• Create a monster • Learn about narrative poetry • Write a narrative poem Young Writers’

Monster Poetry competition

Descriptive Words

Monster Examples

Create Your Monster

Use the planning sheet to describe and draw your monster

What is a narrative poem?

• A poem that tells a story • Has a beginning, middle and end • Uses a range of poetry techniques for effect

What could you write about? • A day out with your monster • How your monster saved the world • Your monster’s evil plan to take over the universe • Your monster going for lunch with the Queen • What happened when your monster came to school

Poetry Techniques

• Simile A simile describes something or someone ‘like’ or ‘as’ something else. Example: ‘She was as white as a ghost’

• Alliteration Alliteration is the repetition of the same starting sound in several words of a sentence. Example: ‘Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper’

• Rhyme A rhyme is a word that is identical to another in its terminal sound. Example: ‘cat and hat’ Example 2: ‘while and mile’

• Rhythm Rhythm refers to the pattern of sounds made varying the stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem

Examples of Narrative Poems Simile Alliteration Rhyme

Key

IV And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked Where Tim the ostler listened; his face was white and peaked; His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay, But he loved the landlord's daughter, The landlord's red-lipped daughter, Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say- V 'One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize to-night, But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light; Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day, Then look for me by moonlight, Watch for me by moonlight, I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way.' VI He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand, But she loosened her hair I' the casement! His face burnt like a brand As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast; And he kissed its waves in the moonlight, (Oh, sweet, black waves in the moonlight!) Then he tugged at his rein in the moonlight, and galloped away to the West. By Alfred Noyes, 1906

The Highwayman PART ONE I THE wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees, The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas, The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor, And the highwayman came riding- Riding-riding- The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door. II He'd a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin, A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin; They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh! And he rode with a jewelled twinkle, His pistol butts a-twinkle, His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky. III Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard, And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred; He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there But the landlord's black-eyed daughter, Bess, the landlord's daughter, Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

The Listeners "Is there anybody there?" said the Traveller, Knocking on the moonlit door; And his horse in the silence champed the grass Of the forest's ferny floor; And a bird flew up out of the turret, Above the Traveller's head: And he smote upon the door again a second time; "Is there anybody there?" he said. But no one descended to the Traveller; No head from the leaf-fringed sill Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes, Where he stood perplexed and still. But only a host of phantom listeners That dwelt in the lone house then Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight To that voice from the world of men: Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair, That goes down to the empty hall, Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken By the lonely Traveller's call. And he felt in his heart their strangeness, Their stillness answering his cry, While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf,

'Neath the starred and leafy sky; For he suddenly smote on the door, even Louder, and lifted his head:-- "Tell them I came, and no one answered, That I kept my word," he said. Never the least stir made the listeners, Though every word he spake Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house From the one man left awake: Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup, And the sound of iron on stone, And how the silence surged softly backward, When the plunging hoofs were gone. By Walter de la Mare, 1912

Simile Alliteration Rhyme

Key

Examples of narrative poems

Plot Planning

• Where is your monster from? • Does it have friends? • Is it good or bad? • What adventures can you go on? • Where can you go? • What did you see? • What did you hear? • What did you smell? • What did you feel? • What did you taste?

Write your ideas on your planning sheet

Example Monster Poems

The Sabre-Toothed Huggle On the way to school I met A monster all fluffy and blue He wasn’t a lost pet And he was about 6 foot 2. His teeth were pointy and white Yet he was a friendly creature When he asked to go and fly a kite ‘Of course!’ said my teacher. We felt the wind pull the kite string We smelt BBQ on the breeze We played on the swings And then climbed up the trees. Today was amazing, today was just brill I hope Huggle visits again, he said he will!

The Fiend The Fiend was born in a volcano It has molten-red skin and yellow eyes that glow It smells smoky and has crooked teeth It is mean and likes chaos. It left the volcano on an adventure It needed to be nasty and make people sad But it met me on the beach. I trapped The Fiend in a hole I’d dug And it sizzled as the tide came in Its flaming skin turned blue ‘I’m sorry,’ it said and turned to dust. ‘Hooray! You saved us!’ the people said And I smiled at them with my crooked teeth and yellow eyes that glowed …

Writing Your Monster Poem

Use the monster you have created along with your poem and plot ideas to compose a poem. Try to include at least one of the following:

Alliteration, rhythm, simile, rhyme

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WE HOPE YOU HAVE ENJOYED WRITING YOUR MONSTER POEM TODAY!