TABLE OF CONTENTS What Are Quatrains 4 I Saw an Invisible Lion Today 6 It s Raining Adjectives 8 I Can’t Find My Thesaurus 10 My Father’s Mustache 11 Sleepover Party 12 I’ve Done Almost Everything 13 On Opposite Day 14 It’s Grandma 16 There’s a Reason I’m Asking 17 It Could Be Worse 18 Home 19 My Neighbors Have Got a Pet Rhino 20 A t the Shore 21 You’re Supposed to Be You 22 Rhyme Time 23 Oh Wait 24 Quatrain for a Tot Train 25 Summer Camp 26 Think Again 27 My Least Favorite Things 28 Almost Everyone 29 At the Muzzaloo Store 30 Further Reading 32
What Are Quat rains rains Quatrains are four-line verses that Quatrains are four-line verses that usually rhyme A quatrain might be just a single stanza that’s basically a paragraph of poetry in a paragraph of poetry in a longer poem Or it could be the longer poem Or it could be the entire poem Quatrains come in entire poem Quatrains come in twelve possible rhyme schemes or patterns twelve possible rhyme schemes or patterns These are the most common types AAAA AABB These are the most common types AAAA AABB ABCB and ABAB In an AAAA rhyme scheme all four lines will end with words that rhyme with one another like cat bat hat and that Simple right In AABB poems the first two lines rhyme with each other for example dog and frog The next two lines will rhyme with each other but not with the first two as in pen and hen The lines of an ABAB poem rhyme on alternating lines every other line Lines 1 and 3 rhyme with each other and lines 2 and 4 rhyme with each other That sounds really complicated but here’s an example of this rhyme scheme in a poem about quadruplets 4
Matthew was born at ten twenty-seven And Molly at ten thirty-four Brendan was born at a half past eleven and Connor arrived just before A B A B Do you see how lines 1 and 3 the A lines rhyme with each other and lines 2 and 4 the B lines also rhyme with each other but not with the other lines An ABAB rhyme scheme is as simple as that In this book you’ll also find examples of an In this book you’ll also find examples of an ABCB rhyme scheme In this pattern lines ABCB rhyme scheme In this pattern lines 2 and 4 in each stanza rhyme with each 2 and 4 in each stanza rhyme with each other but the other lines don’t rhyme other but the other lines don’t rhyme Don’t think of these rhyme schemes as Don’t think of these rhyme schemes as rules think of them more as options options Pick a topic and tell your story in whatever rhyming pattern you choose whatever rhyming pattern you choose Have fun with your rhyming and with your poems 5
