Poetic Structure

Poetic Structure

Poetic Terms

Form

The physical structure of a poem: the length of the lines, their rhythms, and their system of rhymes and repetition.

Fill in the Blanks

If I ask you to look at the form of a poem, what am I asking you to look at?

Rhymes

• When a poem has rhyming words at the end of the line, these are called 'end rhymes'

Rhyme Scheme

A 'rhyme scheme' is a way of describing the pattern of end rhymes in a poem. Each new sound at the end of a line is given a letter, starting with "A", then "B", and so on.

If an end sound repeats the end sound of an earlier line, it gets the same letter as the earlier line.

Rhyme Scheme: AABB

My cat is nice [A]

My cat likes mice [A]

My cat is fat [B]

I like my cat [B]

Rhyme Scheme: ABAB

My cat is nice [A]

My cat is fat [B]

My cat likes mice [A]

I like my cat [B]

Rhyme Scheme: ABCB

My cat is gray [A]

My cat is fat [B]

My cat is cute [C]

I like my cat [B]

Fill in the Blanks

Read the following poem and identify the rhyme scheme:

Mr. Brown, the circus clown

puts his clothes on upside down.

He wears his hat upon his toes

and socks and shoes upon his nose.

Fill in the Blanks

Read the following poem and identify the rhyme scheme:

The fallen leaves are cornflakes

That fill the lawn's wide dish,

And night and noon

The wind's a spoon

That stirs the with a swish.