Want to write a poem, but don't think you know how? Staring at a blank page (or computer screen) may not be the best way to get your creative poetry writing juices flowing. Experienced teachers and famous poets offer poem writing advice, lessons and tips at the following sites.
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The thirty-five poetry lessons at Giggle Poetry's Poetry Class are written by a variety of children's poets including Bruce Lansky, Kenn Nesbitt, and Eric Ode. Because each lesson stands on its own, they do not need to be tackled in any particular order. So just pick a few that sound fun, and jump in. Most focus on poetry starters, such as How to Write a "Mary Had a Little Something" Poem and How to Write a "Roses Are Red" Poem.
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Join Jack Prelutsky, Karla Kuskin and Jean Marzollo as they share poetry writing tips and techniques in three Scholastic workshops. Each poet's workshop includes samples of their work, warm-up exercises, the poet's biography and the opportunity for students to submit poems for possible publication online. Prelutsky's lessons are geared to students in grades one to four. Marzaollo's riddle writing project targets grades two to five. Kuskin's tips are for older writers between the grades of four and eight.
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John Hewitt of the Writer's Resource Center shares thirty-eight tips he calls his "personal guidelines for writing poetry." Here's one of my favorites. "Make a list of poems you can remember specific lines from. Go back and read those poems. Figure out why they stuck with you." Following the tips, is a virtual poetry workshop (written for grownups but suitable for high-school students) titled "30 Poems in 30 Days" that provides a month's worth of daily lessons, featured poets, and daily writing assignments.
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By Barbara J. Feldman. Originally written on Apr 03, 2008. Last Modified on Aug 23, 2011.
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Buy How to Write Poetry Printable for $2.00 or try a FREE trial of the Printables Club
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Honorable Mentions
The following links are either new discoveries or sites that didn't make it into my newspaper column because of space constraints. Enjoy!
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