Rock and Rhyme (Poetry Writing Exercises)
Rhyming poetry goes in and out of vogue all the time, except when it comes to children’s poetry, which must always and absolutely be packed with fun and clever rhymes.
Some poets take to rhyming like it’s nothing, and sound-a-like words roll off their tongues like butter. But others struggle, dancing through the alphabet and flipping through rhyming dictionaries just to find a rhyme as simple as bat and cat.
Poems that rhyme may be a challenge for some, but they’re still fun to write, and a blast to read – especially to read out loud. Even when rhyming is not popular among poets, it’s still good practice for exploring language and having fun with word play.
When I first started writing poetry, I was all about the rhyme and I enjoyed the challenge of trying to come up with interesting and unusual rhymes to end my lines. I was fairly good at it, even without a handy rhyming dictionary.
In honor of the tradition of rhyming poems, are some poetry writing exercises designed to help you get your rhyme on — especially fun because we get to play with music.
We’ll start with the core exercise. I like to call it Rock and Rhyme. Then, we’ll move on to a few variations that you can try.
Rock and Rhyme
All you need is a song. A good song, rhythmic and rhyme-y, but not with a lot of fancy runs. You’ll want a relatively simple tune. Go for an old Beatles song, or just about anything from the eighties. Disco could work, if you’re into that kind of thing, but forget about classical music because most of it doesn’t have words, and what we’re doing requires words. We’re writers, right?
You might want to start with a short, simple three-chord pop song. If you can do that, graduate yourself to longer and more complex tunes.
If you know all the lyrics to your song, that will be immensely helpful. If not, Google the song title with the word “lyrics” and you’ll find it in three seconds flat. Take those lyrics, and rewrite them, trying to match as many rhymes in the song as possible, and not just the end rhymes. Make an effort to match the internal rhymes too. Your rhymes can be as strict or as loose as you want.
If you do just a few of these, pretty soon rhyming will start to feel more natural, and your rhymes will flow with ease.
See How I Roll?
Here’s my attempt with the first chorus from 80s one hit wonder 99 Red Balloons by Nena.
The Original Verse
You and I in a little toy shop
Buy a bag of balloons with the money we’ve got
Set them free at the break of dawn
Till one by one they were gone
Back at base, bugs in the software
Flash the message: something’s out there
Floating in the summer sky
Ninety-nine red balloons go by
My Attempt to Catch the Rhyme
Shoes untied at a little bus stop
Sigh and whistle a tune ’cause it’s all that you’ve got
Set your feet on the fake green lawn
Tie your shoes and then you yawn
Flash the mace, thugs on the make here
Cash is precious: buy a cold beer
Waiting till the bus comes by
Mighty fine greasy spoon — let’s dine!
Pretty bad, I know, but it’s the best I could do in just a few minutes.
More Rhyming Poetry Writing Exercises
Here are a few variations that you can use for this exercise:
- Try it with nursery rhymes. Hey diddle diddle.
- Try it with a famous poem. Shakespeare anyone?
- Try it using a song without lyrics. You’re on your own!
As always, the most important thing is to have fun and challenge yourself. Try to do it on your own first, but if you’re really struggling, hit up a rhyming dictionary or a thesaurus to give yourself a boost.
Are You Ready to Get Down?
Try it for yourself and post a verse or a chorus in the comments! If you’re looking for a song lyric resource, then check out 99 Red Balloons and 100 Other All-Time Great One-Hit Wonders
Do you have any poetry writing exercises or rhymes to share? If so, we’d love to hear from you so leave a comment or use the form on the contact page.
And have a great weekend! Don’t forget to write!
Do you have any favorite poetry writing exercises to share? Did you give this one a try? Share your thoughts and ideas by leaving a comment.
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[...] poem was inspired by an exercise on the blog Writing Forward, Writing Tips and Ideas. The idea is to take a good song with rhythm and rhyme and a relatively simple tune and rewrite it [...]
Right on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, I like to rock.
I tried it on one of my favorite John Farnham songs, “Don’t you know it’s magic”.
Original:
See her at the marketplace
Where she comes from nobody knows
Now that you ask me
I guess I like the way she wears her clothes
The way she smiles at him
My heart just swells it grows and grows
You think I’m telling you fairytales
I suppose
My Version:
Can’t you see her smiling face?
Her hips sway wherever she goes.
Blue eyes sparkling bright
makes you wonder what it is she knows.
She walks right by with a grin
leaves hearts broken in rows and rows.
She’s in every man’s fairytales
to her toes.
And this time with Toby Keith’s, “You shouldn’t kiss me like this”:
Original:
I got a funny feeling
The moment that your lips touched mine
Something shot right through me
My heart skipped a beat in time
There’s a different feel about you tonight
It’s got me thinkin’ lots of crazy things
I even think I saw a flash of light
It felt like electricity
You shouldn’t kiss me like this
Unless you mean it like that
Cause I’ll just close my eyes
And I won’t know where I’m at
We’ll get lost on this dance floor
Spinnin’ around
And around
And around
And around
They’re all watchin’ us now
They think we’re falling in love
They’d never believed we’re just friends
When you kiss me like this
I think you mean it like that
If you do baby kiss me again
My version, “If I could have just one wish”:
My head spins, boy I’m reeling;
maybe its this bottle of wine.
My eyes burn I can’t see;
I’m sure that I’m not feeling fine.
Your skins burning like an amber light;
a fire deep inside me begins.
I wonder when your eyes grew bright
wonder at simplicity.
If I could have just one wish
I’d hold you right where we sat
Never say my goodbyes
it’d be as easy as that.
In your arms like before
our love sound
so sound
so sound
so sound
We’d never have this row
we’d rise high above
in my dreams this never ends
if I had just one wish
we’d stay right where we once sat
What would you baby do with me then?
You really have to listen to the lyrics to get the full affect of these songs and rhymes. I love the opportunity to really listen to music. So often I have it playing in the background but I tune the words out while I work. It makes me forget how truly beautiful the lyrics can be sometimes. I’ll have to make an effort to listen to the words more often.
Original: So Lonesome I Could Cry by Hank Williams
My version: We Said Our Last Goodbye
http://joycefied.wordpress.com/2010/04/11/we-said-our-last-good-bye-a-rock-and-rhyme-poem/
Standing on a lonely hill
Beneath a cloudy sky
He always thought our love would grow
Before we said our last good bye.
.
Didn’t know just what he did wrong
Never got to ask me why
Why must I be so doggone proud
To make us say good bye
.
Will I ever get a full night’s sleep
When clouds roll through the sky
For I never learned how to forgive
When we said our last good bye.
.
I always wonder from afar
Let out a mournful sigh
As I wish upon a star
After we said our last good bye.
This is excellent! You’ve done a great job using imagery and storytelling in recreating the lyrics to this classic tune. Nice work!
I love this concept. I’m a habitual rhymer and often there’s a tune playing in my head when I write something down.
So I’ll give it a whirl with Paul McCartney
============================================
ORIGINAL
Oh yeah, I´ll tell you something
I think you’ll understand
When I say that something
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
Oh, please, say to me
You’ll let me be your man
and please, say to me
You’ll let me hold your hand
Now let me hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
And when I touch you i feel happy, inside
It’s such a feeling
That my love
I can’t hide
I can’t hide
I can’t hide
Yeah you, got that something
I think you’ll understand
When I say that something
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
And when I touch you I feel happy, inside
It’s such a feeling
That my love
I can’t hide
I can’t hide
I can’t hide
Yeah you, got that something
I think you’ll understand
When I say that something
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your ha-a-a-a-a-a-and
===========================================
MY SILLY VERSION
Oh say, can you see me
I’m waving both my hands
Descend the plane so gently
Here is the place to land
Here is the place to land
Here is the place to land
I hope you see my signal
Alone upon the sand
And please do not kill me
As you attempt to land
Here is the place to land
Right here upon the sand
And when I spot you I get nervous and cry
It’s such a worry
Oh my nerves
I might die
I might die
I might die
Thank God you saw my signal
As you approached the sand
Thankfully you did not crush me
In your attempt to land
You found the place to land
Right here upon the sand
As I read this, I kept thinking about some person on an island with a plane flying overhead and trying to land. Interesting concept. You did a good job staying in tune with the rhythm of the Beatles song!