Fun Poetry

Funny poetry can exist in any form or measure of poetry, granted that the topic or
tone of the poem is humorous.
Several types, however, are used almost exclusively for comedic purposes.
Poetry gives students the freedom to express themselves and their identities
through metaphor, imagery, and symbolism.

Types of Fun poetry:

Riddle: a mystifying, misleading, or puzzling question posed as a problem to be
solved or guessed.
 A riddle is a statement, question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning,
put forth as a puzzle to be solved.
 thought-provoking
 require critical thinking — and a sense of humor — to solve correctly. 
The first discovered written riddles are close to 4,000 years old. They were written in
Cuneiform, the writing of the ancient Sumerians.

A shortened and simplified version of one of these earliest riddles is: “A house you
enter blind, but come out with sight. What kind of house is it?” The answer is a
school, although some may raise an eyebrow at this answer.

Perhaps the most famous riddle from antiquity is the Riddle of the Sphinx to
Oedipus, recorded in ancient Greek around the fifth century BC: “What is the
creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in
the evening?”
The answer is a human being. When a baby we crawl on four legs, as an adult we
walk on two legs, in old age we need a third leg (a walking stick).

Even 4,000 years ago, people tested one another’s critical thinking skills with riddles
and logic puzzles. This ancient civilization, located in what is today the country of
Iraq, left us with one of the earliest known examples of a written riddle. (Ancient
Sumer is also the civilization with the oldest surviving writing system that we know
of!) Here is the riddle: “There is a house. One enters it blind and comes out seeing.
What is it?”

Example:
1. Kira's mother has three children. Their names are Huey, Dewey, and ... ?
(Answer: Kira)
2. I have a tail, and I have a head, but I have no body. I am NOT a snake.
What am I? (Answer: A coin)
3. What word begins with a T, ends with a T, and has a T in it?
(Answer: A teapot)
4. What belongs to you, but is used by everyone else? (Answer: Your name)
5. A boat sinks and every single person drowns. Who survives?
(Answer: The married people)

Limerick: A limerick is a five-line poem that consists of a single stanza, an

AABBA rhyme scheme, and whose subject is a short, pithy tale or description.
The limerick form was popularized by Edward Lear in his first A Book of
Nonsense (1846) and a later work.

Examples:
Edward Lear wrote many iconic limericks. Among the most famous of these is
the opening poem from A Book of Nonsense:

1. There was an Old Man with a beard, Who said, 'It is just as I feared! Two
Owls and a Hen, Four Larks and a Wren, Have all built their nests in my
beard!'
2. There was an Old Man who said, 'Hush! I perceive a young bird in this
bush!' When they said, 'Is it small?' He replied, 'Not at all! It is four times as big
as the bush!'
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3. Hickory, dickory, dock. The mouse ran up the clock. The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down, Hickory, dickory, dock. - Mother Goose

3. Haiku - A haiku is an unrhymed Japanese poetic form that consists of 17

syllables arranged in three lines containing five, seven, and five syllables,
respectively.
 Haiku originated as an opening part of a larger Japanese poem called
renga. These haiku written as an opening stanza were known as hokku
and over time they began to be written as stand-alone poems. Haiku was
given its current name by the Japanese writer Masaoka Shiki at the end of
the 19th century.
 Matsuo Bashō - recognized as the greatest master of haiku. Matsuo Bashō's poetry is
internationally renowned, and, in Japan, many of his poems are reproduced on
monuments and traditional sites.

Example:
“The Old Pond” by Matsuo Bashō

An old silent pond

A frog jumps into the pond—

Splash! Silence again.

“Lines on a Skull” by Ravi Shankar

life’s little, our heads

sad. Redeemed and wasting clay

this chance. Be of use.

“April Wind” - Richard Wright

Whitecaps on the bay:

A broken signboard banging

In the April wind.

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If you didn't know

Haikus are Japanese poems,

This is a haiku.