edHelper.com Poetry

You Can Write Blank Verse

---

You Can Write Blank Verse
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	high interest, readability grades 4 to 5
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	4.27

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		many-colored, pentameter, repeated, shakespeare, unstressed, aspect, dialogue, writing, verse, enamel, plural, poetry, lines, portion, title, history
	content words:		William Butler Yeats, Ezra Pound, Robert Frost

---

Print You Can Write Blank Verse

Print You Can Write Blank Verse  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)

Quickly Print - PDF format

	Quickly Print: PDF (2 columns per page)
	Quickly Print: PDF (full page)

Quickly Print - HTML format

Quickly Print: HTML

Proofreading Activity

Print a proofreading activity

---

Feedback on You Can Write Blank Verse

Leave your feedback on You Can Write Blank Verse  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

---

You Can Write Blank Verse By Brenda B. Covert

---

¹     What do the words blank verse bring to mind? Does it make you think of fill-in-the-blank poetry? There's an idea! Let's try that in a minute. First, let me explain blank verse. Blank verse is poetry without rhyme but with meter. Free verse is a type of poetry that has no rhyme or meter. The two are similar, but the beat (meter) makes the difference. The normal meter found in blank verse is iambic pentameter. Have you studied sonnets? Sonnets are another style of poetry written in iambic pentameter. The meter in iambic pentameter has ten syllables. The beat falls on the even syllables: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM. Blank verse doesn't have to be written in iambic pentameter. Poets can choose any meter as long as all lines in the poem contain the same meter or the meter has only slight changes to it.
 
²     Let's play with a familiar poem. We'll change it into blank verse. Remember those "roses are red" poems? Each line has the same meter, perfect for our first attempt at writing blank verse. The problem is that the lines rhyme; blank verse should not rhyme. I'm going to insert blanks, and you are going to fill them in with words that don't rhyme. Ready?
 
³     
Roses are red (4 syllables)
Puppies are ___________________ (add a one-syllable word)
Pencils are ___________________ (add a one-syllable word)
And ________________ (add a plural, two-syllable word) fly
 
⁴     Let's look at the history of blank verse. This type of poetry has been around for at least 500 years. Shakespeare often formed dialogue in his plays into blank verse. Other poets famous for their blank verse poetry include William Butler Yeats, Ezra Pound, and Robert Frost.
 
⁵     Below is an example of blank verse. "Birches" by Robert Frost is a poem written in blank verse. A portion of the poem is shown below. None of the end words rhyme. There are ten to eleven syllables per line. The rhythm displayed in the lines' feet is unstressed, stressed (da DUM).

Paragraphs 6 to 12:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

---

Weekly Reading Books

Create Weekly Reading Books Prepare for an entire week at once!

---

Poetry

Poetry

---

More Activities, Lesson Plans, and Worksheets

Back to School Graphic Organizers Alphabet Worksheets Sight Words Math Worksheets Mazes 50 States Monthly Themes January February March April May June July August September October November December

Fractions Place Value Time and Calendar Money Earth Day Solar System Analogies Nouns Following Directions Listening Capitalization Cursive Writing Patterns and Sequencing Dinosaurs All About Me Kindergarten First Grade Second Grade Third Grade Fourth Grade Fifth Grade Sixth Grade

Multiplication Division Main Idea Cause and Effect Measurement Decimals Rounding Order of Operations Verbs Community Helpers Adjectives Plants Grammar Addition and Subtraction Contractions Bulletin Board Ideas Word Searches Crossword Puzzles Printable Puzzles Reading Comprehension Reading Skills English Language Arts

Copyright © 2011 edHelper