Assignment #7 Bad poetry

What makes a bad poem?

1. Too much rhyme
2. Inconsistent rhyme
3. Cliches
4. Wandering off topic
5. Too abstract
6. Analogies that are too detailed
7. Analogies that compare things that have nothing in common
8. Anlogies that compare things that aer the same
9. Bad diction

Write a poem that includes examples of each of the above criteria. Hopefully by looking at what makes a bad poem, you will gain some understanding of what makes a good poem.

Student example:

Rivers

Rivers are magical, they are peacful and shiny
Sometimes big and sometimes tiny - never whiney.
You can sit on a boat
And float
With the stream and it never stops
Like you were sitting in a car and the brakes are broken
Except that eventually the car will stop
Because you hit a tree or a house or the road starts going up and gravity kicks in.
But a river goes on and on.

I like to stare into the water, stare
With that kind of glare
That one uses to look at a guy on the bus
Who is picking his nose and he thinks that no one is looking.
That's disgusting though
And a river isn't.
A river is nice and calm or loud and wild
Like a lazy child.

The awesome thing about a river is
That they don't care if you try to stop them.
They don't stop - just like a little kid. If you tell him not to put his finger in An electrical socket, he's still gonna do it.

That's why I like rivers. They are blue, like a crayon that's blue or a can of paint That's blue.
So I hope you like them too.