Basic Craft : Aboard the Pentameter

The Pentameter has been a common form in English verse for over a thousand years.

The worksheet shows the simple pattern and a list of words to help build a poem about the sea.

To make the poem you fill in the boxes - one beat to a box. The boxes are in groups (called feet) of two beats, giving a TUM-tum or tum-TUM rhythm. This is the rhythm of oars, of waves.

You can choose up to twelve words from the list (all the words have one beat or syllable) to help you start, and then add words of your own to build sentences or short phrases to make a description or story. You should try some out in the spare space first, hearing how they sound when you say them to the rhythm and counting up the beats to check that they fit into the pattern.

REMEMBER - you should only choose twelve words from the list to put into the poem, all the others should be your own, BUT you can use the listed words in any form - ROCK, for example, could be ROCKY, ROCKING, ROCKED - though these may need more than one beat/box.

For further information on this sort of game click on games listed under BASIC CRAFT in the INDEX side bar.