Dylan Thomas “Poem in October”Pale rain over the dwindling harbourAnd over the sea wet church the size of a snailWith its horns through mist and the castleBrown as owlsBut all the gardensOf spring and summer were blooming in the tall talesBeyond the border and under the lark full cloud.There could I marvelMy birthdayAway but the weather turned around.
Thomas Hardy “A thunderstorm in town”She wore a terra-cotta dress,And we stayed, because of the pelting storm,Within the hansoms dry recess,Though the horse had stopped; yea, motionlessWe sat on, snug and warm.Then the downpour ceased, to my sharp sad pain,And the glass that had screened our forms beforeFlew up, and out she sprang to her door:I should have kissed her if the rainHad lasted a minute more.
Longfellow “The rainy day”The day is cold, and dark, and drearyIt rains, and the wind is never weary;The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,But at every gust the dead leaves fall,And the day is dark and dreary.My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;It rains, and the wind is never weary;My thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past,But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,And the days are dark and dreary.Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;Thy fate is the common fate of all,Into each life some rain must fall,Some days must be dark and dreary.
Coleridge Ode To The RainI know it is dark; and though I have lain, Awake, as Iguess, an hour or twain,I have not once opend the lids of my eyes, But I lie inthe dark, as a blind man lies.O Rain! that I lie listening to,Youre but a doleful sound at best:I owe you little thanks,tis true,For breaking thus my needful rest!Yet if, as soon as it is light,O Rain! you will but take your flight,Ill neither rail, nor malice keep,Though sick and sore for want of sleep.But only now, for this one day,Do go, dear Rain! do go away!
And now it’s your turn!!!You’re going to try and produce your own poem….. An easy one, don’t panic. How about a limerick?
Let’s see first what a limerick is.A kind of witty, humorous or nonsense poem, a five line stanza with a strict rhyme scheme (AABBA), very popular in the XVIII and XIX centuries in England.Some people say the limerick was invented by soldiers returning from France to the Irish town of Limerick in the 1700s
The last line of a good limerick contains the PUNCH LINE or “the heart of the joke”, being “there was a …. from….” a classical beginning:
There was a young lady called Rose Who had a large wart on her nose, When she had it removed Her appearance improved, But her glasses shipped down to her toes A flea and a fly in a flue Were caught, so what could they do? Said the fly, “let’s flee”, Let us fly, said the flea,So they flew through a flaw in the flue.
An exceedingly fat friend of mineWhen asked at what time he’d dine Replied, “At eleven, At three, five and seven,And eight and a quarter past nine” A macho young swimmer named Dwyer, Really liked playing with fire, One night in the dark He swam with a shark, And his voice is now two octaves higher
Elements to take into an account• Number of lines: 5• Number of syllables: 8/8/5/5/8• Rhyme: AABBA• Rhythm pattern: da DUM da da DUM da da DUM For lines first, second and fifth da DUM da da DUM For lines third and fourth
And the topic?... The rain!! obviouslyHere are some words that may help you build your limerick:pain/ train/ faint/gain/ lain/ drain/ claim/rail/ Wales/ tale/sale/ nail/ male/ tail