How to Read and Write a Poem | Learn English Poetry with Homework

Hello, students. This is a very special English lesson.

I’m going to teach you to read a basic poem.

Also, I’m going to teach you how to write a basic poem yourself.

I love teaching poetry.

And learning about poetry will help you improve your English speaking and writing abilities.

So be sure to stay until the end of the video because I will give you a quiz and some homework.

Let's get started.

So what is a poem?

It's an arrangement of words written or spoken.

They usually rhyme.

They are a great way to express your experiences, ideas, or emotions, in an artful way.

So, why do we write poetry?

Because poetry is beautiful and I want to share that beauty with you.

Here is my poem. I wrote it.

So let's look at my poem and I’ll read it now.

“In the morning, when I’m alone, I like to watch the sun rise up.

I play soft music on my phone, I drink fresh coffee from my cup.

The sun is shining fresh and bright, The sky outside is clear and blue,

My mind is calm, My heart is light,

Today will be a good day, too.”

So this is a short poem.

And I want to teach you about rhyme.

‘rhyme’ in poetry.

So let's look at the last words of each line.

“alone” “alone”

Does it rhyme with the word "up"?

“alone” “up” No.

Rhyming words have a similar sound.

So “alone” and “up” don't rhyme

but “alone” and “phone” do rhyme.

“alone” and “phone” have a similar sound.

And “up” and “cup” have a similar sound.

So this is the rhyme scheme, or the rhyme pattern of this poem.

This poem has different rhyming words, so we're going to call

“alone” rhyme A

and “up” is rhyme B.

And “phone” is A.

And...

“cup” is B.

“alone” “up” “phone” “cup”

This is our rhyme pattern or our rhyme scheme.

And in the next part, it's very similar.

“bright” and “blue” don't rhyme

but “bright” rhymes with “light”

and “blue” rhymes with “too”

so...

these are new words we'll label them

C, “bright”

and “blue” is D,

“light” is C

and “too” is D.

So these are our rhyming patterns for this poem.

Not all poems have to rhyme.

But it's very nice when they do.

It's something good to try.

It's traditional.

So this is our rhyme and our rhyming pattern.

And also, in poems we need a stanza.

This poem has two stanzas, or two parts.

So a stanza is a part of a poem.

This is part one. This is part two.

Some poems have many many stanzas but this poem has only two.

A stanza can be two lines long.

But my stanzas are four lines.

And you can write as many as you want.

But a simple poem will be one or two stanzas.

Also, in my poem, there are many images, there are many pictures of things.

When you write a poem you want to add some images.

It says, “I like to watch the sun rise up,”

“The sun” is an image.

“I play soft music on my phone, ” “The phone” is an image.

“I drink fresh coffee from my cup, ” “cup” is an image.

So when you write a poem, maybe you can put in some pictures of things.

Also when you finish adding your images,

if you want to add some repeating words to your poem.

Do you see any repeating words in my poem?

I think the word ‘I’ repeats.

“I like to watch” “I play music”

“I drink fresh coffee” “I... I... I...”

And in other places, too.

“My mind is calm” “My heart is light”

So repeating words are also beautiful in a poem.

You don't have to repeat words,

but they make the poem more lovely.

So that is our images and our repeating words.

So are… uh… so our images were

“sun”

and “phone”

and “cup”.

And there's one more thing a poem needs that this poem does not have.

A poem needs a title.

So, everyone… what do you think?

My poem has no title.

What would be a good title for it?

Please let me know in the comments.

What is a good title for this poem?

And I’m very excited to see what you will write.

So now we've looked at this poem, let's move on.

Let's learn how to write your own poem.

So we have looked at my poem, and now, I want to teach you how to write your own poem.

So when we write a poem, we want to start with the main idea.

And the main idea can also be our title.

So I want to choose an easy main idea for this poem.

Let's go with “Summer”.

“Summer” is a great title,

so I will write the word ‘Summer’ here.

So if our title is “Summer,” let's think about some images that go with summer.

I think we all think about the sun in summer.

So what rhymes with “sun,” everybody? “sun” rhymes with “ton”.

Rhymes with “one”. Rhymes with “run”.

But I think I want to choose “fun”.

“sun” and “fun” can be my rhymes.

But also, when it's hot outside, what do you want?

I usually want to drink something cold. I want to drink soda or an icy drink.

So my first line, I think will be about drinking something cold.

There we go.

“Cool soda can,”

‘Cool soda can,’ is my first line.

And second line, I want to end on that word “sun”.

“Cool soda can, hot summer sun,”

So we have the cool drink and the hot weather.

But our next rhyming word “can” - and what rhymes with “can”?

“tan” and “ran” and “man”

So let's try the word “plan”.

“Hot summer sun,...

no special plan,”

“Cool soda can, hot summer sun, no special plan,”

But…

but we're having fun.

So do you remember the rhyme scheme?

“can” and “plan” rhyme

and “sun” and “fun” rhyme,

so we can mark our rhyme scheme A B A B

“can,” “plan,”

and “sun,” “fun.”

And you might notice that at the end of some of my lines, I have commas.

And at the end of the last line, I have a period.

This is because when you write a poem, it's okay to be unstructured.

It's okay to change the rules.

So in my poem, I begin with capital letters and I end with commas and a period,

but you don't have to.

You can break the rules of grammar and the rules of punctuation when you write a poem.

So this is a how many stanzas poem?

It's a one stanza poem.

And I think that all of you can definitely write a one stanza poem.

So let's move on and try it.

Now, it's time for the homework and quiz.

You can find the quiz in the description of this video.

And for homework, I want you to try and write a basic poem.

Please post the poem, your homework, in the comments section of this video.

Good luck and I am eager to read your poems.

See you in the next video.

Bye.