Composition - Making a Blackout Poem (Tuesday; 9/5) (Wednesday; 10/5)

K: Know what a blackout poem is.

U: Understand the features of a blackout poem.

D: Do a blackout poem.

Words of the Day

1. Blackout

2. Free verse poem

Let's Begin!

Prepare the used pages and some art materials.

What is Blackout Poem?

It is also known as erasure poetry. Great blackout poetry can be short or long, abstract or concrete, linear or lateral. There’s only one rule of the form: have fun making it!

It gives new meanings to old texts, and the interplay of those texts often creates new and surprising meanings. 

Examples of Blackout Poetry

1. Travels with a Donkey in the Cevénnes by Robert Louis Stevenson (Chapter 10).

“In my solitude
I became aware of
lack.
Lie near me
in the starlight, quiet
and free.
A faint noise
of people passing in
sleeping cities
after hours of stillness.
There is romance
in the black
hours.”

2. Headline from the New York Times announcing the 1929 stock market crash.

“Because I could not stop for debt, he kindly stopped for me.”

3. The Crown Ain’t Worth Much.

“Dearest,

I feel certain I am going mad again.

we will go through terrible times. And revolver. I
begin to hear your voice, and can’t concentrate. So I am
doing what seems

will give me the greatest possible happiness.

I don’t think two people could have been happier with
this disease. I know
that without you I can’t properly feel.

What I want to say is You have

saved me.

Everything has gone from me

but the certainty of your goodness.”

How to do a Blackout Poem

1. Identify the text you want to blackout.

2. Draw boxes over meaningful words, images, phrases, and ideas.

3. Draw an image outline or arrows for reading the text, if necessary.

4. Color it in!

Task 1

Using used pages and the step-by-step guide, create your own blackout poem. Your poem can either be a free-verse poem or a poem with certain rules.

After creating your poem, rewrite your poem in your Composition book or test pad.