ENGLISH
TIME TO RHYME
Dear students,
Using the same rhyme scheme as you find in the Raven I want you to write your own POEm.
1: Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, A (8+8)
2: Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, B (15-17)
3: While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, C (8+8)
4: As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. B (8+8)
5: "'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door; B (15-17)
6: Only this and nothing more." B (7-8)
Stick to the same genre, (gothic) horror, if you like, but that is not obligatory. However, following the rhyme scheme is. Below you'll find a a reconstruction of a piece a former student of mine wrote a few years ago. Please beware, it is somewhat morbid. This awesome piece of amateur poetry uses the same rhyme scheme as The Raven (FYI the original was better, but, alas, it is lost). The rythm or meter (in this case trochaic octameter) is occasionally a bit off, but in general it is correct. Read Poe's original aloud and compare.
1: Sometime after we lost mother, in the kitchen I saw brother. A
2: At the table – alone, but for the smell of old French fries. B
3: How my heart started beating, when I saw what he was eating. C
4: Certainly not a discreet thing, My heart froze – turned to ice. B
5: Smiling, looking at the ceiling. Slowly chewing father’s eyes. B
6: “Tasting this again is nice.” B
For more on The Raven click here. Or here. Those of you who feel like listening to Darth Vader reading the poem, go here. No, I am not kidding. James Earl Jones, who is the man reading, is – among many things – famous for doing the voice of grown up, post-Jedi Anakin Skywalker.
But that's another story... Get busy with your poems!
Good luck!
