Poetic Form 7: Backwards Poetry

irony (n.) the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning

oxymoron (n.) a figure of speech in which contradictory terms are combined

Today's poetic form is inspired by our work with Holes by Louis Sachar. As a novel, Holes contains quite a bit of implied irony, primarily through Sachar's use of extended oxymorons (Camp Green Lake, anyone?). A Backwards poem is one which contains oxymoron as a means of communicating a level of irony.

Here's some easy-to-follow-steps to getting started:

1. Write four or five interesting adjectives.

2. For each adjective choose a noun which you would NOT normally associate with it

3. Draft four ironic word pairings and use them in a rhyming poem of no less than two stanzas, four lines per stanza, and four words per line.

a.) If you are having a difficult time, please use this "Irony Maker" generator, as shown in class.

4. Carefully review your word combinations and try to tell a story or silly situation using the "oxymoronic" pharses.

5. Draft a single poem consisting of at least 2 stanzas (4 lines per stanza/4 words per line). Your final poems should be no less than three lines in length.

This is a challengin form, so do your best!

Read Up and Write On!