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English Language: Middle School: Grades 6, 7 and 8 Quiz - Poetry (Part 2) (Questions)

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Poetry can be found everywhere. In fact, you probably use poetry every day and don’t even realize it. One of the most common places to find poetry is in music. Musical scores have a type of rhyme that makes it easy for the listener to remember the words, as well as to feel the emotions the words are trying to portray.

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The written poem also can do this. It can help the reader to open their mind towards learning to think and analyze cultures and behaviors. Learning the different styles of poetry can be a little tricky but once you understand their rhythmic format, it will become easier to distinguish what kind of a poem you are reading, as well as help you to learn to write your own poem.

In Poetry (Part 2), we will be focusing on a new grouping of poems – the rhyming poems.

RHYME - For new writers and those who are not all that keen on poetry, the poems that rhyme tend to be the favorite kinds. Even poems that rhyme, however, come in different styles, including the couplet (is when you have two phrases and each rhymes at their end), the tercet (which has a total of six lines and either lines 1 and 2 rhyme as do lines 4 and 5 and then lines 3 and 6 or lines 1, 2 and 3 rhyme while lines 4, 5 and 6 rhyme) and the ballad stanza (for each group of four lines, lines 2 and 4 rhyme). The ballad stanza is also known as a quatrain.

Here is an example of a couplet:

Jimmy could only see red, when he was told he had to go to bed.

Here is an example of a tercet:

“My dog has a toy, (line 1)
It resembles a boy. (line 2)
A boy with dark colored glasses. (line 3)

His lightning scar (line 4)
Can be seen from afar (line 5)
And gee, does he love molasses.” (line 6)

Here is an example of a ballad stanza:

I know I just met you.
It was in the Summerland Park. (line 2)
I’ll give you my number.
Call if you felt a little spark. (line 4)

LIMERICK - A limerick is also a rhyming poem that consists of five rhymes. Lines 1, 2 and 5 rhyme while lines three and four rhyme. Most limericks have a humorous nature to them.

Here is an example of a limerick:

Limericks can bring such delight (line 1)
when trying to find words that sound right. (line 2)
But heaven forbid (line 3)
You slip on a squid (line 4)
And rip your pants that were too tight. (line 5)

TANKA - A Tanka poem is similar to a Haiku. Both are Japanese poems. The Tanka poem has more syllables and it uses similes, metaphors and personification. In the Tanka poem the first and third lines have 5 syllables each while the second, fourth and fifth lines have 7 syllables each. The poems focus on nature, the seasons and emotions.

Here is an example of a Tanka:

Beautiful mountains (5 syllables)
Rivers with cold, cold water. (7 syllables)
White cold snow on rocks (5 syllables)
Trees over the place with frost. (7 syllables)
White sparkly snow everywhere. (7 syllables)

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For each poem shown below, see if you can determine which style of poem it is.
1. Oh, I forbid ye maidens all
That wear gold in your hair.
To come or go by Carterhaugh
For young Tam Lin is there.
[ ] Limerick
[ ] Couplet
[ ] Ballad stanza
[ ] Tercet
2. Shall we go dance the hay, the hay?
Never pipe could ever play
Better shepherd’s roundelay.

Shall we go sing the song, the song?
Never Love did ever wrong,
Fair maids, hold hands all along.
(by Nicholas Breton)
[ ] Limerick
[ ] Tercet
[ ] Tanka
[ ] Couplet
3. Early morning hours
Mother nature awakens
All life, resonates
to her bio-rhythms and
a new day stretches its' wings.
(by M.L. Kiser)
[ ] Tanka
[ ] Couplet
[ ] Limerick
[ ] Ballad stanza
4. I will whip out my hot gun,
You hold the barrel, have fun;
Stroke with your finger,
Then pull the trigger
And hit the target anon!
(by Abdul Malik)
[ ] Ballad stanza
[ ] Couplet
[ ] Limerick
[ ] Tercet
5. In my life each moment is it very instant,
while birds and nature are being persistent.
(by James Horn)
[ ] Ballad stanza
[ ] Tanka
[ ] Limerick
[ ] Couplet
6. In Scarlet Town, where I was born
There lived a fair maid dwellin';
Made many a youth cry well-a-day,
And her name was Barbara Allen.
[ ] Tercet
[ ] Ballad stanza
[ ] Couplet
[ ] Tanka
7. I salute our troops
who are serving in harm’s way
in Afghanistan.
May they all return safely
to their families and homes.
(by Jerry Stevenson)
[ ] Couplet
[ ] Tercet
[ ] Tanka
[ ] Quatrain
8. My bare feet sunk into the mud left from the pouring rain.
I tried to call on your phone, I fear I caused you too much pain.
(by Casarah Nance)
[ ] Tercet
[ ] Couplet
[ ] Ballad stanza
[ ] Limerick
9. He clasps the crag with crooked hands:
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world, it stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
(by Lord Alfred Tennyson)
[ ] Limerick
[ ] Couplet
[ ] Ballad stanza
[ ] Tercet
10. The “Bad Witch of Oz” lost her throne
They weren’t gonna’ leave her alone
… the water was fracked
… it’s how she got whacked
But … how many others aren’t known!
(by Jack Clark)
[ ] Limerick
[ ] Tanka
[ ] Couplet
[ ] Tercet
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English Language: Middle School: Grades 6, 7 and 8 Quiz - Poetry (Part 2) (Answers)
1. Oh, I forbid ye maidens all
That wear gold in your hair.
To come or go by Carterhaugh
For young Tam Lin is there.
[ ] Limerick
[ ] Couplet
[x] Ballad stanza
[ ] Tercet
In this poem the end of the second line and the end of the fourth line rhyme. When lines 2 and 4 rhyme this shows us that the style of the poem is that of a ballad stanza. Answer (c) is correct.
2. Shall we go dance the hay, the hay?
Never pipe could ever play
Better shepherd’s roundelay.

Shall we go sing the song, the song?
Never Love did ever wrong,
Fair maids, hold hands all along.
(by Nicholas Breton)
[ ] Limerick
[x] Tercet
[ ] Tanka
[ ] Couplet
When lines 1, 2 and 3 rhyme and then lines 4, 5 and 6 rhyme, this is the poetic style referred to as a tercet. Answer (b) is correct.
3. Early morning hours
Mother nature awakens
All life, resonates
to her bio-rhythms and
a new day stretches its' wings.
(by M.L. Kiser)
[x] Tanka
[ ] Couplet
[ ] Limerick
[ ] Ballad stanza
In this poem we can see that the first and third lines have a total of five syllables and the second, fourth and fifth lines each have 7 syllables. When we see this style we have a Tanka poem. Answer (a) is correct.
4. I will whip out my hot gun,
You hold the barrel, have fun;
Stroke with your finger,
Then pull the trigger
And hit the target anon!
(by Abdul Malik)
[ ] Ballad stanza
[ ] Couplet
[x] Limerick
[ ] Tercet
In a poem, when lines 1, 2 and 5 rhyme and lines three and four rhyme, you have the classic limerick. This poem here is a good example of a limerick making Answer (c) correct.
5. In my life each moment is it very instant,
while birds and nature are being persistent.
(by James Horn)
[ ] Ballad stanza
[ ] Tanka
[ ] Limerick
[x] Couplet
When you have two phrases and each rhymes at their end you have a couplet poem. Answer (d) is correct.
6. In Scarlet Town, where I was born
There lived a fair maid dwellin';
Made many a youth cry well-a-day,
And her name was Barbara Allen.
[ ] Tercet
[x] Ballad stanza
[ ] Couplet
[ ] Tanka
In this poem the end of the second line and the end of the fourth line rhyme. When lines 2 and 4 rhyme this shows us that the style of the poem is that of a ballad stanza. Answer (b) is correct.
7. I salute our troops
who are serving in harm’s way
in Afghanistan.
May they all return safely
to their families and homes.
(by Jerry Stevenson)
[ ] Couplet
[ ] Tercet
[x] Tanka
[ ] Quatrain
In this poem we can see that the first and third lines have a total of five syllables and the second, fourth and fifth lines each have 7 syllables. When we see this style we have a Tanka poem. Answer (c) is correct.
8. My bare feet sunk into the mud left from the pouring rain.
I tried to call on your phone, I fear I caused you too much pain.
(by Casarah Nance)
[ ] Tercet
[x] Couplet
[ ] Ballad stanza
[ ] Limerick
When you have two phrases and each rhymes at their end you have a couplet poem. Answer (b) is correct.
9. He clasps the crag with crooked hands:
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world, it stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
(by Lord Alfred Tennyson)
[ ] Limerick
[ ] Couplet
[ ] Ballad stanza
[x] Tercet
When lines 1, 2 and 3 rhyme and then lines 4, 5 and 6 rhyme, this is the poetic style referred to as a tercet. Answer (d) is correct.
10. The “Bad Witch of Oz” lost her throne
They weren’t gonna’ leave her alone
… the water was fracked
… it’s how she got whacked
But … how many others aren’t known!
(by Jack Clark)
[x] Limerick
[ ] Tanka
[ ] Couplet
[ ] Tercet
In a poem, when lines 1, 2 and 5 rhyme and lines three and four rhyme, you have the classic limerick. This poem here is a good example of a limerick making Answer (a) correct.