Assignment 1

Task 1

The poem 'Maintaining My Defenses' has 12 syllables in each line.

The alliterations are 'External to the edges of my existence', I have no control over the consequences', 'Infringements upon my inflamed interior', 'cutting canines of critters', 'feral from fear and famishment', 'defenses are delusion and denial', 'continuously caring costs', 'more than my mind's methodology can manage'.


Task 2

Read the poem below out loud. It is supposed to be a 5 stanza rhyming quatrain written with eight syllables per line with an a,a,b,b rhyme scheme. If you find a line with the wrong number of syllables, put an asterisk * at the end of the line and put the number of syllables you found. Determine and mark any instances of alliteration.

Aging Woman in Repose

She gathers and guards her treasures – gathers/guards
there is little else to measure
a lifetime now in the past tense.
She mutters not making much sense.- mutters/making/much

Yellowed letter from her husband,
envelope opened and reopened,*9
a twist of lovely golden hair* 9
from when he was young and fair.

Ragged heart shapes with childish scrawls,
"I love you, Mom," the message calls
to old memories of days gone by.
Oh, how quickly the time can fly!

Ink penned poems in a journal, - penned/poems
paint a picture like a mural, - paint/ picture
of woman's romantic soul,
composed when her mind was still whole.

She gathers and guards her treasures.- gathers/ guards
These tokens provide a measure
of a lifetime now in the past tense.
She mutters and to God makes sense.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Task 3

Create a Quatrain poem using a, a, b, b rhyme scheme. Write the poem with eight syllables in each line. Use alliteration at least once in each stanza, more if you can. Please make your poem no more than four stanzas.

Standing at the threshold again,
fierce rain taking away the pain.
Smile shines on my once sullen face,
as rain fades away the tears' trace.