This document provides instructions and examples for 8 types of poems students must include in their 7th grade poetry portfolio: acrostic, haiku, cinquain, limerick, free verse, diamante, ode, and sonnet. It defines each type of poem and its structural requirements. Examples are provided for each poem type. A rubric is also included for grading the portfolio based on completeness, accuracy, presentation, and language/mechanics.

1. Poetry portfolio
7th Grade Language Arts

2. Poetry Portfolio – 3rd Bimester
Project
Your Poetry Portfolio must
contain the following 8 poem
types:
• 1 Acrostic Poem -- Minimum 6
letter word; lines need to be
multi-word
• 1 Haiku
• 1 Cinquain
• 1 Limerick
• 1 Free Verse Poem Minimum 6
lines
• 1 Diamante Poem
• 1 Ode - Minimum 8 lines
• 1 Sonnet - 14 lines (ABAB
CDCD EFEF GG)

4. Acrostic Poem
• An acrostic poem is a type of poetry where the first,
last or other letters in a line spell out a particular
word or phrase. The most common and simple form
of an acrostic poem is where the first letters of each
line spell out the word or phrase.

5. Acrostic Example
• An acrostic poem
• Creates a challenge
• Random words on a theme
• Or whole sentences that rhyme
• Select your words carefully
• To form a word from top to bottom
• Is the aim of this poetry style
• Choose a word then go!

6. Acrostic Example – Letters in
Middle

7. Acrostic – Letters at End

8. Haiku
• Haiku is a Japanese poem which can also be known
as a Hokku. A Haiku is a type of poetry that can be
written on many themes, from love to nature.
• A Haiku consists of 3 lines and 17 syllables.
Line 1: 5 syllables
Line 2: 7 syllables
Line 3: 5 syllables

9. Haiku Example
• Summer
(5) The sky is so blue.
(7) The sun is so warm up high.
(5) I love the summer.
• Toast
(5) I really like toast.
(7) It is yummy when it's hot.
(5) I like it best cold.

10. Cinquain
• A cinquain poem is a verse of five lines that do
not rhyme. The cinquain poem was created by Adelaide
Crapsey.
• A cinquain consists of five unrhymed lines.
• Each line has a set number of syllables see below:
Line 1: 2 syllables
Line 2: 4 syllables
Line 3: 6 syllables
Line 4: 8 syllables
Line 5: 2 syllables

11. Cinquain Example
My mum (2 syllables)
Is so caring (4 syllables)
She is always helpful (6 syllables)
She is so beautiful and kind (8 syllables)
Love you. (2 syllables)

12. Limerick
• Five-line poem that tells a funny or silly story.
• Lines 1, 2, and 5 rhyme and have the same number
of syllables.
• Lines 3 and 4 rhyme, have the same number of
syllables and are usually shorter than the other lines.
• Line 5 refers back to line 1.

13. Limerick Example

14. Diamante Poetry
• A diamante poem is made up of 7 lines using a set
structure:
Line 1: Beginning subject
Line 2: Two describing words about line 1
Line 3: Three doing words about line 1
Line 4: A short phrase about line 1, a short phrase about line 7
Line 5: Three doing words about line 7
Line 6: Two describing words about line 7
Line 7: End subject
• It is written in the shape of a diamond.

15. Diamante Example
Light,
Sun, Bright,
Happy, Confident, Joyful,
Care free, Smiling, Masking ,Melancholy,
Poignant, Sad, Depressed,
Heartbreaking, Scary,
Dark

16. Free Verse
• Expresses an idea, story, or feeling in rhythmic form.
It has no particular pattern, and may or may not have
rhyming phrases.
• Free verse doesn’t have a specific pattern. In free
verse, it is the rhythm and the language used to
express an idea that makes the poem.
• Without set rules, you are free to decide where to
break your form into stanzas, what (if any) rhyming
scheme you use, and even your style of grammar.

17. Free Verse Example

18. Ode
• What is a Ode?
• An Ode is a lyric poem, usually addressing a
particular person or thing. It originated in Ancient
Greece.
• Odes use similes, metaphors and sometimes a
technique called hyperbole.

19. Ode Example
Ode to an Olive
Oh Olive,
You are as precious to me as any gem,
With your beautiful, pure skin as smooth as silk
And as green as the grass in summertime.
I love your taste and the smell of your tender fruit
Which hides beneath your green armour.
Olive, sweet, tasty Olive,
How I love you so and my mealtimes wouldn't be the same
If you weren't in my life.
Oh Olive,
Nothing can compare to you, nothing at all,
You are food of the gods, a king's riches
And, most importantly, you are mine, oh Olive!

20. Sonnet
• A Sonnet is a poem of an expressive thought or idea
made up of 14 lines, each being 10 syllables long.
• Its rhymes are arranged according to one of the schemes
– Italian, or the more common English which is three
quatrains followed by a rhyming couplet.
• Structure of an English sonnet:
• ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG

21. Sonnet Example
• Sonnet 18 – William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st;
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

22. Rubric for Grading
• Completeness -- all required poems are included and labeled
appropriately / 4
• Accuracy -- All poems are written according to the specifications of
the genre /2
• Presentation -- Final portfolio is attractively presented, shows effort
and creativity / 2
• Language Use & Mechanics -- All words are spelled correctly; no
grammatical or mechanical errors
/ 2