A Kick in the Head: An everyday guide to poetic forms

Pic courtesy flipkart.com

A Kick in the Head:
An everyday guide to poetic forms
Selected by Paul B Janeczko
Illustrated by Chris Raschka
Published by Candlewick Press
Ages: 8+

Do you know what a couplet is? A quatrain? A haiku? A sonnet? A limerick? A ballad? An elegy? An ode? You do? Great!

Now, do you know what a clerihew is? A roundel? A triolet? A villanelle? A senryu? An aubade? An acrostic? A pantoum? A cinquain? No? Do all those words sound as if they were a set of carpenter's / goldsmith's tools? Or some kind of flowers or herbs? (That is what A thought they were.) Well, they're not. They're forms of poetry, which follow certain rules.

Let's take a senryu, for example. Our book explains a senryu thus: "I like to call senryu a 'haiku with an attitude.' A senryu follows the same pattern as a haiku -- three lines of 5-7-5 syllables -- but it is about human nature rather than the natural world around us."

Intrigued? Let's take the senryu in our book to illustrate the point.

First day, new school year,
backpack harbours a fossil...
last June's cheese sandwich.

Or let's take an acrostic- one of the simplest way for a child to write poetry. "Descriptive poems- when read downward, the first letter of each line must form a word or phrase, usually the subject of the poem." It is a form that any enterprising child can experiment with, using any word that they may. Even their own or their friends' names. And it can be so much fun!

Santa Claus will come out tonight
And deliver presents
Near the
Time of midnight you can hear him
And what you will hear are the words ho ho ho

OR

Father
And
Mother
I
Love
You!

All these poetic forms have certain rules that have to be followed, for them to fit in the particular category. Doesn't that make it more difficult in a way? Why not write in free verse?

Free verse does have its merits, especially in modern poetry, which often is an unfettered expression of thought and feelings, a way of writing prose with a cadence, if you may.

Having specific rules for poetry does make it that much more fun to write, though, as well as making it fun to enjoy and appreciate it. As Paul Janeczko explains in his foreword, "Knowing the rules makes poetry -- like sports -- more fun, for players and spectators alike."

Beautifully illustrated in quirky watercolours by Chris Raschka, the book can be read as a picture book for younger children too, as the lilt and rhythm will appeal to the little ones too. Older children can appreciate the poems better, the form, the themes and the beauty of them. High school kids? The details of each poetry form will make much sense to the student with a literary bent of mind. Adults too can take a lot away from the book. Great for learning a particular form at a time, researching it, dabbling in it. Or just to keep it on the shelf to dip into a bit of poetic joy from time to time!

Acrostics, opposites, riddles, limericks, tanka, haiku...A and I have tried our hand a little bit at each. Here's a site which makes it easy for children. Why don't you try it?

A multiple award winning book, this is a poetry anthology with a difference. A must read for anyone appreciative of fine poetry.

I will be entering this book for the Reading the World Challenge over at Papertigers for A, under US of A, poetry.