The Diamante is one of a family of poetry forms known as “shaped Poems” as, when centered on a page, they often take on the shape of the poetry form’s name (or, they are so named because of the shape they take on when centered). The Diamante, as the name may imply, takes on a kind of diamond shape when centered.
The first line is one word, the second line is two words, the third line three words, the fourth line four words. Line five is three words, line six is two words, and finally line seven is one word.
The words in each poetry line of a Diamante should be as follows:
Line one: A noun
Line two: Two adjectives
Line three: Three “ing” verbs
Line four: Two nouns having to do with one thing, and then two nouns that are the opposite or contrast to the first two
Line Five: Three “ing” verbs having to do with the last two words in line four
Line six: Two adjectives having to do with the last two words in line four
Line seven: A noun that is the opposite or contrasts with the word in line one.
Below is my example.
Summer
Hot, vacation
Swimming, travelling, relaxing
Content, happy, disappointed, sad
Returning, learning, working
Cooler, school
Fall.
© Stacey Uffelman 10/30/15
The above, as the reader may have guessed, is a child’s/school student’s view of Summer, then Fall. Diamante poems can be written on any subject that one can contrast with something else.
Day
Warm, bright
Working, playing, enjoying
Sunny, warmth, darkness, cool
Retiring, sleeping, dreaming
Dim, starry
Night.
© Stacey Uffelman 10/30/15
The above poem contrasts day and night. Finally:
Alone
Sad, lonely
Sighing, crying, longing
Frown, tear, smile, laugh
Hugging, talking, listening
Happy, together
Group.
© Stacey Uffelman 10/30/15
The words in the poems above may not all be of the right “type” as in the instructions of the poem, but I was never really good at the grammar-y part of English class. 🙂 I think the poems above may all be Diamantes anyway. 😉