Year 7 Poetry Writing

The powers of imagination and expression

by Annabel Grigg, Teacher of Language & Literature

Our unit this term is The Student as Author and Critic. Students have been analysing and creating a number of forms of poetry, learning and employing a range of language techniques to create rich and diverse poetry portfolios.

One of the forms we’ve looked at is haiku. While many students knew about the form's distinctive 5-7-5 structure, they did not know its origins.

Through study of prolific haiku poet Matsuo Basho in particular, students learnt about the form’s grounding in Zen Buddhism and the elements it encompasses:

Wabi – satisfaction with simplicity and austerity

Sabi – an appreciation of the imperfect

Karumi – lightness, and

Muga – loss of awareness of oneself.

Students aimed to replicate these elements, to use personification as a key poetic technique and to include images to accompany their  natural poetry, the result of which is seen in these beautiful examples.