Remember your favorite playground games? Whether you played Hopscotch, Tether Ball; Red Light, Green Light; or braved the Dodgeball court, one thing was clear– recess was defined by rules. In order to play, we needed to learn how to play.
Didactic poetry is a type of form that seeks to instruct. It is poetry with direct intention. Didactic poetry originated in the proverb, a miniature form. The Greeks established a traditional model to their verse, with a purpose which operated in two ways: It taught how to do something, like how to keep bees or plow a field. It could also teach what to know about something, such as philosophy or mathematics. Hesiod is considered the father of didactic poetry. In his poem Theogony (ca. 700 B.C.E.), he explains the genealogy and myths of the gods, the origins of the cosmos. He also lovingly tends to practical matters and teaches about farming methods in his poem Works and Days (ca. 700 B.C.E.).
Even Robert Frost leaned toward the idea of poetry as entertainment and instruction when he said that a poem “begins in delight and ends in wisdom.”
Try It
Put your books away and come join us outside on the playground. Pick your favorite playground game and write a didactic poem on either what the reader needs to know about the game or how to play it. Here are a few traditional playground games to help you along. Share your poem with us in the comment section below. Let’s play!
Featured Poem
In last week’s prompt we explored sports. Rick cast his line and shared a poem about the sport of fly fishing:
The Complete Angler
October boasts of the Walleye and Crappie,
But I wade the White,
Where Brown and Rainbow find their way
To where my graphite and dun wait.
Cold to the bone, the water now,
And my fingers numb,
The sun a fickle friend, clouds of winter gathering.
I cast a weighted line cross-stream,
Barely a ripple made,
Mend and mend again to mind the drift, my charade
Draws up a nose that with a swirl retreats.
Gently I draw in the fly, then fake
A cast or two, then let the tippet fall.
Lighter than a leaf of Sycamore
Disguised in the water’s
course and corrugation lays the bait.
Now the strike with furious folly comes,
Brown or Rainbow hidden
in the froth and fight,
The rod tip bent
As if to breaking.
Give and take is its own reward,
Before I let the monster go.
Photo by Phalinn Ooi. Creative Commons via Flickr.
Browse more Games
Browse more writing prompts
Browse poetry teaching resources
How to Write a Poem uses images like the buzz, the switch, the wave—from the Billy Collins poem “Introduction to Poetry”—to guide writers into new ways of writing poems. Excellent teaching tool. Anthology and prompts included.
“How to Write a Poem is a classroom must-have.”
—Callie Feyen, English Teacher, Maryland
- Poetry Prompt: Misunderstood Lion - March 19, 2018
- Animate: Lions & Lambs Poetry Prompt - March 12, 2018
- Poetry Prompt: Behind the Velvet Rope - February 26, 2018
Bethany says
I enjoyed reading this, Richard. Love how with just a few words, I could see and feel: “The sun a fickle friend, clouds of winter gathering.”
And what a line: “Give and take is its own reward”
Thank you for sharing this.
Rick Maxson says
Thank you, Bethany.
Andrew H says
Out of curiosity, was it inspired by this?
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/fish-2
I came across it a while back and loved it.
Rick Maxson says
I love that poem, but no, my poem was more inspired by events like this:
Andrew H says
British Bulldogs
British Bulldogs, the rough and tumble sport.
The teachers forbade it, said it
Was dangerous to the likes of us.
Here is how to play it, so that you
May better ignore them.
First find a circle, any round
Or even square shaped playing ground.
One in the middle, to divide
Between the two opposing sides.
Beware the growling foe! Pass him by,
And if you’re lucky you will survive
To pass through to the other side,
Where in the shadows, you – can hide.
But if he catches you! Do not go quiet!
Let your brethren know you did not
Go easy to meet the foe.
For you’re like him now, and if you had
Honour, you’d bid your former friends beware
That you are coming.
Note: This is a game probably local to me. Or at least the name is. One person would stand between two lines of children. After a count, the two sides would run towards the opposite end, and the “bulldog” would try to catch you. If he did, then you had to stay with him and help.
Heather Eure says
“But if he catches you! Do not go quiet!” Great line, a fun didactic poem, and sounds like a fun game. What’s with those teachers? Don’t they know how boys play games? 😉
Rick Maxson says
Andrew, sounds like a cool game. We used to call that game (or something very similar) Red Rover. Good poem about nonetheless.
Rick Maxson says
Thanks for featuring my poem.
Heather Eure says
You betcha, Rick. 🙂
Glynn says
It’s been at least half a century since I played this.
Red Rover, Red Rover
Send someone right over but
first
two captains alternate choices
of their teams membership,
not unlike the NFL draft except
no media attention
second
each time lines up facing each
other at a suitable distance,
not unlike a football kickoff except
no sportscasters’ gratuitous comments
third
the teams join hands
definitely unlike a football game
imagine sportscasters’ reactions in the booth
fourth
one team calls out red rover red rover
send (insert name here) right over
fifth
(insert name here) makes a mad dash
to the opposing team with fixed purpose:
break through the joined hands
breakthrough, successful: (insert name here) takes
an opposing team member back to his/her team
breakthrough, failed: (insert name here)
is absorbed into the opposing team
sixth
the other team gets it turn,
not unlike what happens after a touchdown
or safety in football
seventh
repeat as often as necessary
until no one is left on one side
while the other side celebrates
its scorched earth victory, not
unlike American politics,
another playground game,
just more expensive.
Monica Sharman says
Tetherball
In this case, tension is a good thing.
Keep the rope taut. Don’t let it unwind.
Imagine the rope as the radius of a circle
and you’re hitting the ball on the tangent
The closer you get to winning, the shorter
is the rope, the smaller the circle,
the faster the spin. Strike the ball hard;
the pole it’s tethered to won’t move.
Don’t miss a hit at every go-around.
Like you, your opponent is not done
growing. Take advantage of this
and strike at an angle that maximizes
the ball’s height right where she stands.
Unless she’s better than you. In that case,
move on your half of the circle
to where the ball’s at minimum height.
Slow the momentum. Reverse
to counterclockwise. Wipe that look
of defeat off your face.
nancy marie davis says
the games they play
on this land of black tar
heated by the sun
one must run
and run
and run
or be tagged
to be it
and being it
is not all it’s cracked-up
to be