Writing an Apology Poem: What Else Can We Do with a Direct Address?

Increasing the focus on clear communication moves writing,

speaking, and listening to the center of our teaching. What are ways other than speech and argument essay writing can we teach students to address an audience? How do we foreground students’ creativity? Furthermore, what are ways other than speech and argument essay writing can we teach students to address an audience? Also, how do we foreground students’ creativity?

sorry Some poems take the form of “direct address”—that is, the speaker in the poem talks directly to a specific person. Poems can be used to develop initial reactions to situations or current events or as extensions of other types of writing.

An apology poem uses direct address to apologize for something the speaker has done or said. One of the most famous examples is William Carlos Williams’ “This Is Just to Say.” The following activity description can guide students through close reading, analyzing, creative brainstorming, purposeful drafting, language revising, and peer collaborating.

Possible script for writing an apology poem:

  • Read Williams’ poem.
I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold
  • Decide for yourself whether the speaker is actually sorry for what he has done.
  • Think of a situation like this from your own life.  Have you ever been forced to apologize when you didn’t really mean it? Try to recall two or three examples of times like this from your own experience.
  • For each example, write a very short description of what you have done (the action).
  • Think about details of sense: taste, touch, sound, sight, or smell. Give your readers a clear idea of what the action felt like for you.
  • Choose one of your examples to mine very short lines for your apology poem in a similar format to the one by Williams. Probably no punctuation is necessary.
  • Finally, use “This is just to say” as your first line if you wish. If you want, you can also include the words “Forgive me” in the last stanza of your poem.

Experiment with different ways to make line breaks or stanza breaks in order to get the effect that you want. Remember, there is no wrong way to write an apology poem. When William Carlos Williams wrote “This Is Just to Say,” no one had ever created a poem quite like this before. You can borrow his format if you want, or you can create something totally new.

Give the activity a try and post a comment or tweet a link to your draft! Better yet, come show it to us in person at our mini-conference on March 14th! You are welcome to share this post. Consider including hashtags such as #ilwrites, #teachwriting, #writing, as well as your own chat groups.

Four-Square Activity for Brainstorming

Returning to the Classroom

Classroom writing after any departure from routine is certainly challenging, particularly following winter and summer breaks. Tapping into personal experiences may be the way to re-engage students (and teachers) in the return to routine writing.

This four-square activity can be used for brainstorming details about an event in one’s life. Structuring the paper into four quadrants chunks the writing into manageable quantities. This activity enables writers to recall details to help paint a vivid word-picture of an event that the person has experienced. It is not necessarily intended for an external political or social event (unless that event itself had an immediate effect on the person). brainstorming

The activity script can be something like this:

  • Identify an important event that you have experienced.
  • On a full-sized sheet of paper, draw a vertical and horizontal line to divide the sheet into four equal rectangles.
  • Use each square to brainstorm a list of words and phrases about one of the following aspects of the event:
    • Visuals: place, others who were there, description of the place
    • Emotions: how you felt before, during and after the event
    • Action: the time or timing, plus words and phrases that describe how the event took place
    • Dialogues: quotes, words or phrases from the event
  • Turn and talk with a partner. See if that leads to any additional details.
  • On the reverse of this paper, quick write for 5-7 minutes. Write whatever you are thinking about the event to get as much down as possible. Do not worry about format, punctuation or spelling. Get your thoughts and memories onto the page.
  • Decide what type of writing you would like to do: poem, narrative, letter to a friend, announcement, memoir.
  • Draft the piece OR outline what you plan to do. People can share when ready.

Give the activity a try and post a comment or tweet a link to your draft! Better yet, come show it to us in person at our mini-conference on March 14th! You are welcome to share this post. Consider including hashtags such as #ilwrites, #teachwriting, #writing, as well as your own chat groups.