Hello Folks …
have you ever thought of wanting to teach something … but didn’t want to just write an instruction booklet? So have many poets Shakespeare, William Blake, Ezra Pound, Rainer Marie Rilke … and many others. The poetic form of teaching poems is called the Didactic poem and here’s one by Edna St. Vincent Millay:
Love Is Not All
by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Love is not all: It is not meat nor drink
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain,
Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink
and rise and sink and rise and sink again.
Love cannot fill the thickened lung with breath
Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;
Yet many a man is making friends with death
even as I speak, for lack of love alone.
It well may be that in a difficult hour,
pinned down by need and moaning for release
or nagged by want past resolution’s power,
I might be driven to sell your love for peace,
Or trade the memory of this night for food.
It may well be. I do not think I would.
So today, let’s explore the Didactic Poem … it is characterized more by its content than its form actually. It can be a sonnet, or free verse, blank verse or maybe a tanka. The important thing is that it carries a lesson of some sort. For more information and oodles of classical examples click HERE. But you can also find a lot of more modern examples at Poetry Soup.
At the beginning of the year, I wrote a brief Didactic poem about how to make a yogurt Cake:
Yogurt Cake
Ah, you liked my yogurt cake
It’s so easy for you to make
I’ll write for you my recipe
For a perfect bake!
You’ll need a jar of white yogurt
The jar you’ll use to measure
2 of sugar 3 of flour
It’s easy you see, a pleasure!
Now look at this:
Count down: 3,2, and 1
whole eggs, tablespoons of oil
and packet of baking powder…
Then you’ll need a pinch of salt
And you’ll grate in some lemon zest…
Add the sugar to the yogurt
Then slowly add the rest
Saving for the very last
The tangy lemon zest –
Stir and stir the mess around
‘Til the batter’s been well mixed
Put it in a non-stick pan,
Pop it then, into the oven,
Which will do for you the rest!
Bon Appetite!
So today’s form is the Didactic Poem … and for inspiration (you may want to choose to use your own artwork – but pls credit your art contributor):

You may write a Shadorma or maybe you’d like to try out the Didactic Poem as a Shadorma … what ever you choose to write please:
TAG B&P’s Shadorma & Beyond and Mindovemisery’s Menagerie. Then add your link to the Mister Linky widget below.
Ciao and have a great week, Bastet!
[…] For: B&P’s Shadorma & Beyond […]
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Bastet, what a fabulous recipe poem–sounds delicious, well done!
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Thanks Valida 🙂 it really isn’t half bad and with strawberries on top it’s heaven!
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How many ounces are in the “jar of yogurt”? Here, it comes in 5 1/2 or 6 oz cups–or the much larger 32 oz (which I buy because recipes usually call for “a cup”).
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125 grams …. don’t know how much that is in ounces … as it’s the smaller size, I’d presume that’s the 51/2 oz.
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Ahh, thank you, Bastet–I may give this recipe a try.
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Hope you like it!
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[…] to Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie where the prompt asks for a Didactic poem. […]
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https://thotpurge.wordpress.com/2015/07/25/space-cousins/ Didactic… sort of 🙂
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Now that should be interesting!
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Oh, Millay is one of my favorites! And this selection is quite a good one. Okay gonna dive in…
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Thanks for diving in .. glad I chose one of your favourites!
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[…] B&P’s Shadorma & Beyond via MindLoveMisery’s Menagerie […]
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[…] Written for: BJ Shadorma and Beyond at MindlovemiserysMenagerie […]
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Miam que ça l’aire délicieux!!
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🙂 and you wrote a lovely poem to prove it!!!
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https://debispoems.wordpress.com/2015/07/25/sunset-forecast/
Not sure if this is a didactic or just descriptive poem.
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Well thanks for linking up … I’ll run over to have a peek!
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didactic poems
.
grab the image
chew it into small pieces…
spew it on the page
.
Shadorma: (3/5/3/3/7/5)
grab the horns
of the raging bull
show no fear
meet his gaze
then gently rub his back and
lead him on the page
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Wow … thanks Opie a lovely didactic haiku, and the shadorma calls to mind the Zen story about the ox!
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[…] for B&P’s Shadorma & Beyond. The prompt was to write a didactic poem: it is characterized more by its content than its form […]
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[…] https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2015/07/25/bps-shadorma-beyond-didactic-poem-july-24-… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike_(mythology) Goddess of Victory See some very good instructions here: https://imprompt.wordpress.com/2015/07/25/form-1/ […]
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Tad slow with this prompt.
While I have often been told what and how to ‘do’ –
I am not one to give instruction.
I combined this with the Cascade form for a simple ‘trip’
https://juleslongerstrandsofgems.wordpress.com/2015/07/27/be-victorious-7-27-s/
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Hiya … hope to get around today to read your work … I’ve been lollygagging on the beach these days to catch the breeze!
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Enjoy the beach…
🙂
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Thanks … better than AC for sure 🙂
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Salt air is not quite the same as humid air by the creek. There are benefits to that wonderful salted air! Enjoy!
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Very very true .. and it has a totally different perfume too!
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[…] *Written in response to BJ’s Shadorma & Beyond […]
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[…] MindLoveMisery’s Menagerie: B&P’s Shadorma & Beyond: Didactic Poem July 24, 2015 […]
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[…] for B&P’s Shadorma & Beyond – Didactic Poem. The didactic poem carries a lesson of some sort. As it is characterised by its content, it is […]
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