Ideas for Poetry Creations

Your end product for our poetry unit is supposed to be a piece created by you, but inspired in some way by the poem you chose. Not very specific, is it? There are so many possibilities! This could be overwhelming, but check out some of these beautiful options for turning your poem into a piece of art.

Remember when we talked about the different forms of poetry and I mentioned concrete poems? Concrete poetry—sometimes also called ‘shape poetry’—is poetry whose visual appearance matches the topic of the poem. The words form shapes which illustrate the poem’s subject as a picture, as well as through their literal meaning. Here are some examples:

This poem isn't really about a cat, but it does use the metaphor of a cat, so the cat was a clever choice of an image to use.

This one actually is about drinking coffee, but still a cleverly drawn concrete poem.

You could also draw or paint a picture and then use concrete poetry for part of the image.

Another option I love are these altered book pages. You could use any page from pretty much any book to create one of these works of art inspired by your poem. Check out some of these outstanding examples:

These are beautiful examples of altered book pages. See how the creators of these works emphasized certain words to make a poem? And then they artfully decorated the rest of the page? If this is something you're interested in, let me know, and I'll copy a page out of any book for you.

Another cool option are these art journal pages. Get some inspiration from your poem, and create a work of art paired with words of your own or some of the words from your poem - maybe just a few lines that you love.

Many, many, many more examples here! Check them out - there are seriously tons.

Or you could even record parts of a poem on a physical object that reminds you of your poem. Whatever speaks to you! I love this seashell example!

If you love artful text (I totally do!), you could copy a part of your poem in a creative way and then make an illustration to go along with it. This awesome book of illustrated Walt Whitman poems is a perfect example:

All images found here. Click the link for more!

Whatever you decide to do, just have fun and put as much of yourself into it as you can! This is your chance to truly express your creativity in a really cool and poetic way. Embrace it and find something that holds meaning for you!