Module 3: Poetic Form

Module 3: Poetic Form

Nine: A Book of Nonet Poems

Ivana Marmolejo

Bibliography

Latham, Irene, and Amy Huntington. Nine: A Book of Nonets. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2020. 

Summary

Nine: A Book of Nonet Poems is a book that is comprised of nineteen poems that are all nonet poems. I had never heard of a nonet poem and loved learning about this poetry form. A nonet is a poem made up of nine lines beginning with a single syllable in the first line, two syllables in the second line, and so on. The last line should have nine syllables. The inverse could also be applied, beginning the first line with nine syllables and the last line ending with one syllable. 

The book is dedicated to nine-year-olds and ninety-nine-year-olds. Readers will also love that each of the eighteen poems is written about the number nine. For example, some poems are about a nonet, a nine-month pregnancy, the number nine, baseball, the nine-banded armadillo, and even some history about nine African American students facing integration in 1957! There are many more nonets that readers will find fascinating, and they will also enjoy the illustrations that perfectly depict each nonet. 

Analysis

Although the poetry form of a nonet may seem restricting, Irene Latham masterfully adds figurative language to her poems. A poem called Apollo 9 has personification when it says, “Meanwhile the moon waited,/ watched as three men took/ essential steps/ toward that/ cosmic/ leap.” In another poem, an example of a simile is, “My new shoes and your bow tie/ make us sparkly as stars.” 

The poems do not rhyme due to their poetic form, but they do have imagery. One poem is in the voice of a mother telling her child that he “grew big/ as a melon/ inside a garden/ of heartbeat and fluid.”

All ages will enjoy this book, but young children will likely love the idea of writing a nonet and seeing so many fun examples. The book is easy to read because the reader knows the formulaic writing for each poem, and it varies when the author chooses to start with nine syllables in the first line. There is also a feature in the back of the book where the author provides information about the number nine, its multiples, and even that the book is measured nine inches by nine inches! She includes background information for each poem readers will want to learn about.

Except and Use

Students will love all the poems because they relate to childhood experiences. Students would learn about the poetry form of a nonet poem and then read the poem below called Play Ball! After that, they would write their own. They could choose any topic, but following the example, they might choose a sport or extracurricular activity that interests them.