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Anna Hestler

Words are the building blocks of poems. Finding the right word

to express something is important in poetry because your words serve as the reader's eyes.

Just like a painter needs paint and brushes, a poet needs tools to help him paint pictures with words. These include a rhyming dictionary, a standard dictionary and a thesaurus.

Rhyming dictionary

Writing poetry doesn't mean you have to be an expert in rhyme. And you don't even have to use it in your poetry.

But learning to rhyme is fun. And it's easy if you have a dictionary that lists words that rhyme with the end sounds of other words.

A good rhyming dictionary is Scholastic Rhyming Dictionary by Sue Young.

You can also use online rhyming dictionaries such as www.rhymezone.com and www.poetry4kids.com

Use a rhyming dictionary to find all the words that rhyme with black and choose one to complete the poem below.

Apples are red

Raisins are black

I'm hungry

It's time for a ______.

Standard dictionary

The English language contains thousands of words, so there are bound to be some you don't know.

A dictionary gives you the definitions of words, as well as information about parts of speech, pronunciation and usage.

Words in the dictionary are in alphabetical order. If you're looking up two words that start with the same letter, look at the second letter to decide on the alphabetical order.

If the first two letters are the same, look at the third letter of each word and so on. For example, hair comes before hat because i comes before t.

See if you can put the words below in alphabetical order. Then look up their meanings:

Noise, racket, clatter, crash, clamour, hullabaloo

To speed up your search, use the guide words at the top of the pages.

The word on the left is the first word on the page and the one on the right is the last word on the page.

A useful dictionary is the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary or online dictionaries such as www.wordcentral.com and www.dictionary.com

Thesaurus

A thesaurus helps you find different ways of saying what you want to. It can bring the language of your poem to life by giving you alternatives for overused words.

A thesaurus is a dictionary of synonyms (words that mean the same) and antonyms (words that are opposites) that are listed in alphabetical order.

The Concise Oxford Thesaurus or Merrium Webster's online thesaurus at www.thesaurus.com are two helpful ones.

Now write a synonym poem. First, choose a word and write it in capital letters. Then look up four synonyms and write them on the second line.

On the third line write a sentence about the word. Try to make the last word rhyme but don't worry if you can't. Here's an example.

FEAR

Fear, horror, panic and fright

Can keep you awake all night.

Words are your tools in poetry, so the more you know, the better. The best way to boost your word power is to read.

When you come across a word you don't know, look it up in the dictionary. Then write it down in your journal - you might be able to use it in one of your poems.



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