Line B: Two vivid adjectives that describe the topic
Line C: Three interesting -ing action verbs that fit the topic
Line D: Four-word phrase that captures feeling about the topic
Line E: A very specific term that explains Line A
Examples:
Planet
Graceful, ringed
Spinning, whirling, twirling
Dances with neighbour Jupiter
Saturn
Insect
Hidden, hungry
Preening, searching, stalking
Waits as if praying
Mantis
Word Pair Ideas: General topic / specific topic
- bird/parrot (or crow, canary, dove)
- fruit/apple (or pear, banana, watermelon, peach, etc.)
- season/spring (or summer, fall, autumn, winter)
- winter/January (or spring / April, summer / July, autumn / October)
- candy/jawbreaker (or Snickers, jelly beans, liquorice)
- storm/tornado (or hurricane, blizzard, squall)
- water/river (or ocean, lake, stream, creek)
- grandparent/Nana (or Grandma, Papa, Pops)
STEPS:
- Pick out your most descriptive words from your brainstorming and put your cinquain together.
- Your cinquain should have 5 lines and the finished poem should only have 11 words.
- When you are satisfied, recopy the poem onto clean notebook paper.
- Centre your cinquain on the paper.
- Begin each line with a capital letter, and remember your commas. Do not use ending punctuation.
- When finished, double-check for concreteness!
