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28 March 2020

Posted by Tabby Hayward

ODES AND PRAISE SONGS (ONLINE WORKSHOP)

11-14 group - 17 in attendance
15-18 group - 9 in attendance


Today, in both groups, we were looking at Odes - poems in celebration of someone or something.

To get ourselves in the mood for poetry, we began with the Rhyming Couplets Challenge as a warm-up - coming up with a line to rhyme with each of the lines on the screen, to create a springtime poem. For example, one of the lines was 'Fields and woodlands bloom with flowers' and Annie rhymed this with 'Trees are swaying like tall towers.'

Next, in the younger group we looked at the poem 'Praise Song for My Mother' by Grace Nicholls and wrote our own versions praising either our mothers or another family member or friend or pet, using the form of Nicholls' poem as a template and filling in with our own images and metaphors. Evie wrote a beautiful poem about her mum and Jasmine wrote a very sweet one about her guinea pig, Puffer, who also attended the workshop (one of the advantages of going online - we also met Haillie's dog, Bernard, and Martha's cat, Derek!)

In the older group, we looked at Wordsworth's 'Intimations of Immortality' ode and wrote our own odes to springtime based on this - some were very poignant, looking out of the window at flowers blooming during the lockdown, or missing going on walks with friends - and some also saw the positives of these strange circumstances, helping out neighbours and appreciating the little things we can still do to enjoy the Spring!

Finally, in both groups, we looked at Pablo Neruda's 'Ode to My Socks' and used this as inspiration for an ode to a household object - Lillia wrote a brilliant Ode to Soy Milk (well worth celebrating for the lactose intolerant!), Charlotte's ode was to the TV remote (never there when you need it!) and Thomas, of course, wrote his ode to a lamp!

Although it's not the same as meeting in person, our online workshops are off to a great start and there's some brilliant writing coming out of them, which we look forward to sharing!


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