Definition Poem

1. The first line of the poem is your full name: last name, first and middle names, nicknames in parentheses.
2. The second line is your grammatical role in the world. What part of speech do you play? Are you a noun, verb, adjective, adverb, determiner, conjunction, preposition, pronoun, or interjection? And why?
3. The next line (or lines) is the etymology of your name, either the true origin or a creative guess. Put the etymology in square brackets.
4. The next several lines of the poems are definitions of who you are with an example from your life to illustrate each definition. The first definition consists of synonyms, followed by an example.
5. The second definition consists of negation, telling what you are not by antithesis or antonyms, followed by an example.
6. The third definition consists of metaphor or metonymy, comparing yourself to things that have similar or contiguous qualities.
7. The fourth definition consists of an explanation of your relationship to another person or people.
8. The last line of the poem gives clues to your register and usage in slanting brackets.

Hallen, Cynthia Leah (Cindy, Ninny, Moose).
Noun, place holder for the truth.
[Hallen < German Halle, `salt' of the earth;
Cynthia < Greek Cynthus, 'mountain of the moon goddess';
Leah < Hebrew 'gazelle' or 'weary' or 'tender-eyed'].

1. Simplicity; enthusiasm; professor; word-nerd.
   • Sept 1996: I feel delicious on the first day of the new school year.
2. A skater instead of a skier; a Familyist instead of a Feminist.
   • Wint 1964: Fourth grade teacher broke her leg skiing, so I am superstitious about the sport.
3. Aspen; deer; harp; rainbow.
   • Summ 1973: Solo in Colorado among the tall, fair, arching, trembling trees, and two deer came when I was eating potatoes and cheese.
4. Aunt of miracle "sniece" who like to eat, sleep, and sneeze.
   • Apr 22 1996: Emily Lynn, born in Phoenix, Arizona, to my sister Diana [< Latin 'goddess of the moon and childbirth'].

Your Poem: Please compose a Definition Poem and bring two copies to class.