Poetry Portfolio Guidelines and Grading

Due date: Friday 3/17 to turnitin.com by 11:59 pm

There are three parts to this portfolio. They are (in the order in which they should appear):
1) your reflection,
2) table of contents with explanation of why each poem is in the portfolio,
3) the 10 poems you chose

Please read the following carefully and ask if anything is unclear to you. Here is a link to
a complete portfolio

Explanation of parts:

1) Reflection-A one to two page reflection of your growth over the past quarter. Double space
Include commentary, keeping them all as equal as possible, on each of the following
six points for discussion:

1. what stage of writing you were in before beginning this class

2. where you feel you are now as a writer

3. what things you have learned about yourself as a writer during this quarter- for example,
your strengths, weaknesses

4. in what areas you have grown artistically

5. your favorite activity, least favorite activity, what we should have done more of,
what we should have done less of, something we didn’t do that you wish we
would have had time for

6. anything else you can add about your writing or how the course helped you or
did not help you, likes/dislikes, suggestions for me, etc. Do you think I went too
fast?

2) Table of Contents- A table of contents of your 10 poems with artistic reason as to why
you chose each one for the portfolio. Each entry needs to be objective only. Keep the
subjective out of here!

This is the section where it is important to highlight your understanding of literary

devices in relation to your own works. You are proving you learned things in this class
and can clearly identify and explain this learning in your poems.

3) The 10 poems in the same order as the table of contents page. They must be free of
corrections or comments. Each must be on its own page freshly reprinted free of errors
with an original title for each (not assignment name). Revise them as necessary and fix
grammar errors.
How it will be graded:

1) Your self-reflection is worth 20 points. It will be judged on length and if all

components were addressed with insight.

2) Table of contents page is worth 50 points. It will be graded on clarity and insight of
rationale. You need to prove to me that you can apply terms and understanding of poems
in relation to your own works. Pay attention to the bold below so you do this correctly
and refer to your term sheet to help you. The more specific you are, the better your grade
will be. The next page contains some samples from previous students.

You cannot give a personal/ subjective reason as in “I like it. I think it is

good”; rather it must have artistic rationale such as “The theme of the poem
is shown clearly by my use of visual imagery in stanza two about the flowers
blooming and then again in stanza four when I talk about the rain clouds
changing colors to dark black”. Use your critique sheet to help you. If you
are unclear on this see me for clarification!!!!

3) Your ten poems section is worth 10 points. It will be graded on having a variety of
poetic styles- visual structure, rhymed/unrhymed, stanza/non-stanza, imagery, concrete
writing, variety of theme or message, variety of narration and that the copies are clean
and free of errors. You should revise each poem as you see fit. First drafts need to be
re-worked.

Your portfolio can be as creative as you would like. At a minimum it must be organized
and well laid out. Make it clean and easy to view and understand.

Portfolios are due by Friday 3/17 by 11:59. I will accept them late but you will lose 10%
each day it is late.

Poems to consider: Choose ten of the following:

1. Abstract is concrete 2. Connotation through imagery 3. Sense poem

4. Prom Queen haiku 5. Prom Queen ballad 6. Prom Queen sonnet
7. Prom Queen free verse 8. The Words Lists 9. Sorry/Not Sorry
10. Do I Dare? 11. Student Choice 12. Epistolary
13.Weird/Syntax 14. Person poem 15. Pick a Style
16. Common/Uncommon #1
17. Common/Uncommon #2
18. An original poem you wrote outside of this class
19. A blackout poem if you use it as a starting point for a new poem and create one
20. Reverse poem
 Sample Entries for Table of Contents and my Scoring and Rationale

5/5 points because it specifies three reasons, identifies each by line number and
specific line, and explains each using our academic vocabulary (literary terms)

¨Genesis” is the first poem I chose to be in my portfolio for three reasons. One being that
I used an excessive amount of imagery. Imagery and description is what makes the
poem. The Line 6 ¨All black outfit with heels and her precious phone on one hand is the
usual” gives a picture of how the character in my poem looks like. I also chose this
poem because of the metaphor in Line 8 ¨ Toughie to handle but has a heart of gold”.
Line 8 was a way to explain her personality. The onomatopoeia used in Line 5 also
gives a sudden change in mood by using the ¨BAM” in the sentence.Genesis also
happens to be my best friend, as to why it was easy for me to describe and she motivated
me to create this poem as best as possible to represent her.

4/5 points because it discusses the poem’s qualities using academic vocabulary.
Weaknesses of this entry are it is vague in spots- i.e. “good meter” “wide
variety” and does not identify actual lines.

I chose this poem due to its good meter and wide variety of literary devices. Firstly, the
poem begins with a quatrain with a rhyme scheme of ABAB and then ends with the same
rhyme scheme. By doing so, the poem has a really nice circular feel and it wraps up well.
The use of an anaphora in lines 5,6, and 7 allow for a repetition that creates a nice flow
from one line to the next. The use of a double simile in the third stanza comparing the
melodies to wind chimes, then the song to a pleasant fragrance creates even more flow
from one point to the next. So in the end, this tale has a really great poetic flow that
brings the reader from one point to the next, then wraps the whole poem up in a nice little
circle.

3.5/5 points because it goes into subjective rationale. Because it does discuss and
identify placement of literary devices and identifies the two metaphors it
earned 3.5 rather than 3/5.

Literary Devices: 4 lines (quatrain) and 2 rhymes (lines 2 & 4) and 2 metaphors
This poem is one of my favorite poems I have created. I believe it is very original and
cute. I chose this poem to be part of my portfolio because it was one of my favorites that I
have made and this poem was one of my favorite topics to write about. The type of
literary devices that were used in this poem were four lines, two rhymes, and two
metaphors. In every stanza there are only four lines. The lines two and four in every
quatrain rhymes flow nicely. The two metaphors that I used were “Apple of my eye” and
“love lasts forever”.