VOA日常语法2023--Reviewing Your Poetry

Reviewing Your Poetry

In the past few weeks, we asked readers and listeners to write structured poems using either parts of speech or syllables². Many of you wrote in with cinquains, haiku, and diamond poems.

In this week's Everyday Grammar, we will read some of your poems.

Your poems

Thao wrote a cinquain poem with parts of speech. Let's take a look:

Summer

Warmer, dry, bright

Lighting³, heating, cuddling

Waiting for the raindrops

Passion

Thao's subject is "summer," which is his one-word noun. The second line has three adjectives that describe the season. This line should only have two adjectives, but it is okay. The poem is still a cinquain with five lines. Next, Thao moves onto the third line with three -ing verbs.

The fourth line uses the phrase, "Waiting for the rain drops." This line describes Thao's feelings about summer and the longing⁴ for relief from the warm weather. And in the last line, Thao uses the word "passion" which is a strong emotion of love and considers his thoughts about summer. Wonderful job, Thao!

Our next two poems come from Francis and Muhammad. They both wrote diamond poems. Let's start with Francis' poem:

Mother

Gentle, kind

Caring, loving, understanding

Sister, daughter, aunty, wife

Worrying, crying, protecting

Sweet, beautiful

Woman

Francis wrote about a "mother." He used four adjectives, two in the second line and two in the sixth line, "gentle," "kind," "sweet," and "beautiful." In the third and fifth lines he used six -ing verbs. While the two lines describe the subject, "mother," there is a change in the 5th line to more powerful images of "crying," "worrying," and "protecting."

The fourth line includes other nouns and parts the subject might play. Lastly, Francis ends his lovely cinquain with "woman." Francis created his cinquain with synonyms⁵, words with similar meanings. Now let's read one with antonyms⁷, words with opposing meanings, that Muhammad sent in.

Teacher

Kind, caring

Teaching, perspiring⁸, inspiring

Notebooks, books, chalk, duster

Advising, leading, bearing

Disrespectful, unruly

Student

In his diamond poem, Muhammad starts with "teacher" as his subject and ends with "student." He describes a "teacher" as "kind" and "caring." Then he compares a teacher to a student using adjectives in the seventh line like "disrespectful" and "unruly." Those negative adjectives are a smart choice for the antonym⁶ poem.

There is one word we would like to give feedback on, "perspiring." It means to sweat when our bodies work hard. I will admit teaching is a physical activity, and we do sweat as teachers. Another word we could use is "enduring," which means working hard over a long period of time. Such a fun poem, Muhammad!

Lastly, we have two poems using syllables from Jack⁹. One is a haiku with 17 syllables, and another is a cinquain with 22 syllables. Let's start with Jack's haiku:

We were always doomed¹¹,

I will never understand,

Inevitable¹².

Jack uses powerful words like "doomed" and "inevitable." All the words fit the syllable¹ structure of the haiku with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second line, and five again in the last line.

Here is Jack's cinquain:

Grey sky,

Shepherds delight,

The blue sky is tranquil¹³,

A natural phenomenon,

Look up.

All of Jack's words fit the structure of a cinquain with syllables.

Grey sky, (2 syllables)

Shepherds delight, (4 syllables)

The blue sky is tranquil, (6 syllables)

A natural phenomenon, (8 syllables)

Look up (2 syllables)

There is a connection to the common saying, "red sky at night, shepherd's delight." It means that if there is a bright red sky in the evening, the following day will bring good weather. Instead of red, Jack chose "grey," followed by "blue sky." We know that once grey skies clear, blue skies and sunny days will follow.

Jack ends with a request, "look up." The mood of this poem is very peaceful, and your word choices fit the syllables! Thank you, Jack!

Closing thoughts

In today's report, we read structured poems from our listeners. You chose subjects like "summer," "sky," mother" and "teacher." You chose words that fit poem structures, parts of speech and syllables. Your poems were filled with emotion and descriptive images.

We hope that you have enjoyed learning about ways to create poetry in English. And we thank all of you who sent us your good work.

Words in This Story

syllable – n. any one of the parts into which a word is naturally divided when it is pronounced

cuddle – v. to hold (someone or something) in your arms in order to show affection

passion – n. a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something

relief – n. a pleasant and relaxed feeling that someone has when something unpleasant stops or does not happen

aunty – n. diminutive¹⁴ your mother or father's sister

role – n. the function, job, or position of a person, organization, or thing

perspire¹⁵ – v. to sweat through the skin

inspiring – adj. causing people to want or create something or to lead their lives in a different way

chalk – n. a soft, light-colored rock used for writing

sweat – v. to give off salty moisture through the pores of the skin

duster – n. a cloth that is used to remove dust from objects

bear – v. to carry the weight of

unruly – adj. to be disruptive

sweat – v. to give off salty moisture through the pores of the skin

doom¹⁰ – v. to make certain the failure or destruction of

inevitable – adj. sure to happen

shepherd – n. a person whose job is to take care of sheep — sometimes used figuratively

delight – n. a strong feeling of happiness

tranquil – adj. quiet and peaceful

phenomenon – n. an event or interesting happening that can be observed and studied and that is not easy to explain or understand

mood –n. the way a person feels

1 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。

2 syllables   

n.音节( syllable的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a word with two syllables 双音节单词
• 'No. But I'll swear it was a name of two syllables.' “想不起。不过我可以发誓，它有两个音节。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

3 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

4 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

5 synonyms   

同义词( synonym的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• If you want to grasp English, you must carefully discriminate synonyms. 如果你想掌握好英语，你必须仔细区分同义词。
• Study the idioms and synonyms l wrote down before your test. 学考试前我给你写的习惯用语和同义字。

6 antonym   

n.反义词

参考例句：

• "Long" is the antonym of "short".“长”是“短”的反义词。
• Give the synonym and antonym of this word.给出这个词的同义词和反义词。

7 antonyms   

反义词( antonym的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• And have listed these antonyms through simple illustration to out. 并把这些反义词通过简单例证列了出来。
• Can you give the antonyms of the following adjectives? 你能给出下列形容词的反义词吗？

8 perspiring   

v.出汗，流汗( perspire的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He had been working hard and was perspiring profusely. 他一直在努力干活，身上大汗淋漓的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• So they "went it lively," panting and perspiring with the work. 于是他们就“痛痛快快地比一比”了，结果比得两个人气喘吁吁、汗流浃背。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

9 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

10 doom   

n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定

参考例句：

• The report on our economic situation is full of doom and gloom.这份关于我们经济状况的报告充满了令人绝望和沮丧的调子。
• The dictator met his doom after ten years of rule.独裁者统治了十年终于完蛋了。

11 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

12 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

13 tranquil   

adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的

参考例句：

• The boy disturbed the tranquil surface of the pond with a stick. 那男孩用棍子打破了平静的池面。
• The tranquil beauty of the village scenery is unique. 这乡村景色的宁静是绝无仅有的。

14 diminutive   

adj.小巧可爱的，小的

参考例句：

• Despite its diminutive size,the car is quite comfortable.尽管这辆车很小，但相当舒服。
• She has diminutive hands for an adult.作为一个成年人，她的手显得非常小。

15 perspire   

vi.出汗，流汗

参考例句：

• He began to perspire heavily.他开始大量出汗。
• You perspire a lot when you are eating.你在吃饭的时候流汗很多。