A Three Phrase Lyric

Definition and purpose: A lyric is designed to communicate a feeling through imagery.

1. Pick an image that means something to you
2. Examine the feelings it give you
3. Craft them into phrases that communicate the picture and emotion without a subject or a verb.

Rubric pattern:

First Line: Participial Phrase (Refrain)

Second Line: Gerund Phrase

Third Line: Infinitive Phrase

Fourth Line: Refrain

Fifth Line: Infinitive Phrase

Sixth Line: Gerund Phrase

Seventh Line: Refrain 

Example:

Moonlight

By Hope Ellen Rapson

Shimmering in the moonlight

The shining of peaceful dark

To sleep in a quiet wood

Shimmering in the moonlight

To drink deeply of quiet air 

The resting of the busy day 

Shimmering in the moonlight

Here are some student responses to this lesson:

Waterfall

By Shelby Blakeman (Grade 10)

Trickling

The tranquilizing

To rush

Washing away all fears

The feeling of peace

Washing away all cares.

Related reading: Use Poetry to Teach Parts of Speech; Feel the Emotions: evocative poetry; A Richard Taylor Poem; The Deeper Mysteries of Halloween

Use Poetry to Teach Parts of Speech

Why not use poetry to teach parts of speech?  Many students learn best this way because verse engages them.

What follows is a creative writing teacher's model used to practice the differences between the adverb, adjective and noun clause.

God’s Rain

By Hope Ellen Rapson

When I gaze through windows on a rainy day

        which seems to fill my whole world with

                tears shed by God just for me,

                        I pray.

Where is the gray cloud of sin inside my soul

        which causes You, God, to singly send

                the pattering puddles I see?

                        I ask.

Because I question my self-centered heart

        Which often fogs or blurs heaven’s answer,

                “Only grace and mercy fall here,”

                        I trust.            

Review of The Girl From Snowy River

The Girl From Snowy River
by Jackie French
for ages 13-16
published in 2012 | Harper Collins | 343 pages


Reviewed by Claire Cannon

French's books help to put heart into history. Her characters are so real and warm you can just about feel their pulse; they are people you get to know, and after reading their story a part of them lives on in you.

This third installment of her Matilda Saga narrates an experience of World War I for those left behind. Told through the eyes of seventeen year old Flinty McAlpine, the novel starts with her frustration at not being able to find out what the war was really like.

Then, as we get to know her and her siblings and neighbours, a new and initially surprising element is introduced in the figure of a young man from the future with whom Flinty is able to converse. While a little disconcerting at first, his presence allows some apt comparisons between the attitudes and experiences of the early and later 20th century, and somehow his appearance doesn't feel inconsistent with mountain folklore.

Other staples of French's stories feature here as well: a strong female character whose strength is not merely bestowed by the author but earned through a life of struggle; a wonderful, holistic romance that has its ups and downs but ultimately works everything for the good; and it poses the kind of questions about history that one has always wanted to ask, dealing with it as something real and lived through rather than mere text-book facts.

French has now announced the series will contain six books, spanning from 1894 - 1972. After thoroughly enjoying A Waltz for Matilda, A Rose for the ANZAC Boys, and now The Girl From Snowy River, I'm very much looking forward to the next three.


Clare Cannon is the editor of www.GoodReadingGuide.com and the manager of Portico Books in Sydney.

Ana Maria Matute's Childhood

Alice C. Linsley


Ana Maria Matute nació en Barcelona, España el dia 26 de julio de 1926. Era la segunda de cinco hijas. Su padre era dueño de una fábrica de paraguas. Su madre era muy religiosa. La familia pasaba los veranos en Mansilla de la Sierra donde vivían los abuelos de Matute. Muchos de sus relatos reflejan sus experiencias del ambiente rural de Mansilla de la Sierra en La Rioja.

A los cinco años, tras haber estado a punto de morir por una infección severa de riñón, ella escribió su primer relato. Además, gozaba dibujar y sus dibujos revelan la fecundidad de su imaginación infantil. (Dos de sus dibujos se ven aquí.)

A la edad de ocho, comenzó a padecer de otra enfermedad y fue a vivir con sus abuelos en Mansilla de la Sierra. Muchos de sus cuentos relatan sus experiencias de su niñez en el ambiente rural de esta parte de La Rioja.

Matute se educó en un colegio católico en Madrid. A los diecisiete años escribió su primera novela, ‘Pequeño teatro’ por la que recibió 3.000 pesetas. Sin embargo, la obra no se publicó hasta ocho años después.

Un tema repetido de Matute es la niñez y la destrucción de la inocencia durante la guerra civil en España (1936-1939). Era imaginativa y original y frecuentemente mezclaba la historia y la fantasía.

Puede leer más de Matute aquí.