Writing With Character

Characters are people or creatures that come to life in our poems and stories. They can be real or imagined like George Washington and Curious George; heroes or villains like Batman and The Joker; serious or comical like Queen Elizabeth and Mr. Bean.

Ask your students to identify some of their favorite characters from books, movies, or their own imaginations. It could be a man or a beast, a girl or an angel, sweet as a blossom or mean as a pirate. Suggest people you’ve studied in class: Picasso, Sir Isaac Newton, Lewis & Clark - history, science and art are full of characters.

The poetic classroom can be a noisy place. It’s funny how we talk about a writer’s voice, and then we insist on quiet in the classroom. Encourage your writers to talk, to walk, and to gesture as they imagine things their character might say. And have them write these expressions down as they are saying them.

• I'm the Irate Pirate.
• I shout all day.
• I'm rude and reckless.
• I spit in the dirt.
• I'm chased all day.
• I look out to sea.
• I wear a patch on one eye.
• I've got a peg leg.
• I've got bad breath.
• My hand's a hook.
• I'll make you walk the plank.

Once they have collected some lines, encourage your students to put them together and create a monologue poem in the voice of their character. Good characters are multi-dimensional, so remind your kids to show the various sides of their character. Notice how the Irate Pirate is frightening (“I’ll run you through”) but also sympathetically sad (“I’ve got a peg for a leg”).

The Irate Pirate

Aye! I’m the Irate Pirate
I shout all day:
Shiver me timbers.
Get out of me way!

I’ll knock yer block off.
I’ll run you through!
Have you walk the plank.
And make shark bait out of you.

Many a landlubber wants to know why
I’m irate and angry all the time.
Many there be that sail up to me
Asks me to tell ‘em why I’m so mean.

Then I look out to sea
With me one good eye,
Take a long, deep breath
And heave a salty sigh.

What’s the use complainin’.
You can’t understand.
I got a peg for a leg
And a hook for a hand.
I wear a patch on one eye
So I can barely see land.

But I’ll sail on in spite of the pain,
Chasin’ all the ruches in Spain.
Fightin’, screamin’ and rasin’ Cain.

‘Cause I’m the Irate Pirate.
II shout all day:
Shiver me timbers.
Get out of me way!



He may not be the greatest American poet, but he is certainly one of the most important! Before Walt Whitman, American poets were copycats imitating British writers. Whitman would have none of it!

The classic rebel, Walt was determined to be himself and sound his “barbaric yawp” over the rooftops. Listen to Old Walt below from Kiss The Fish. Have your students write a poem making themselves the main character.