Tweetspeak Poetry

  • Home
  • FREE prompts
  • Earth Song
  • Every Day Poems—Subscribe! ✨
  • Teaching Tools
  • Books, Etc.
  • Patron Love

Sun and Moon Poems: Night Poetry Prompt

By Callie Feyen 7 Comments


I made no secrets regarding my fear for teaching Romeo and Juliet. How afraid was I? Let me count the ways.

You’ve got your inappropriate language aimed towards females. You’ve got your teenage sneaking around. You’ve got one giant Mercutio. A Friar who means well, but you really need to be skeptical of anyone who suggests taking poison that makes it look like you’re dead in order to get out of marriage. I haven’t even gotten to the double suicide part. Basically, everything that could go wrong in this play does.

“What was Shakespeare thinking?” I believe were my exact words as I sat at my desk in my classroom one afternoon, waving the play above my head.

In my lazier, poor moments of planning, I was banking on the hope that my students wouldn’t understand the bard anyway, or that the school year would end before we could wonder wherefore art thou Romeo.

My fear stuck with me and succeeded to prevent me from any deep planning until I read Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor and Park. It was her opening scene, the one that was so vulgar I didn’t think I could read the rest of the book, and the one that paralleled the opening scene of Romeo and Juliet, that changed things for me. Yes, both authors begin their story with nasty language and behavior, but not only is that a component of many teenagers’ lives, but both stories show this is only one facet of being a teenager. What happens in both scenes is crass, yes, but if we see can stay in the story, we might see more than what’s disgusting, or, as I used to say when I was that age, “sick and wrong.” We might even see that this messy behavior and language is useful or even brave.

Realizing this, I fell in love with Romeo and Juliet, but also Mercutio and Tybalt. Suddenly, they were kids in my class, and it became urgently important to me to teach their story. Not as a warning, but rather as a layered, textured, complicated, and glorious life that was lived and that mattered.

I began reading the entire play this way — what at first seemed bad, I’d stop to wonder if there was anything more there. What could we celebrate? What could we be curious about? What beauty could be dug up and revealed?

I found this exercise helpful in working with Shakespeare’s use of night. Usually, the dark symbolizes evil, the lost, and people like Saruman and Voldemort, but in Romeo and Juliet, the night is a time of delicious mystery, excitement, and beginnings. Romeo and Juliet meet at night, they declare their love and vow to marry at night, and in a scene that will forever make me blush, Juliet begs for night to arrive so that she can consummate her marriage to Romeo.

In Romeo and Juliet, night is a time of opportunity, new ways for thinking and seeing. It is a place where imagination can run wild.

It’s not that I wanted to endorse what went on in the play, but I did think it was important (and fun) for my students to experience night in all its glory and get a little swept away in darkness. Where better to do that than in the classroom?

There will always be something to be afraid of in those dark hours. I wonder now if the greatest lesson I could’ve taught my students is to look at that fear with curiosity and love.

Try It

This week’s prompt comes straight from the book Shakespeare Set Free. On a piece of paper, write the word “night” and create a web of words, memories, and perhaps even sounds that you associate with this time of day. Then using those words, construct a poem that shows night in its mysterious glory. Try to make a picture with words for the reader.
 

Photo by Fresh Waffles, Creative Commons via Flickr. Post by Callie Feyen, author of Twirl: my life with stories, writing & clothes and The Teacher Diaries: Romeo and Juliet.

Browse more poetry prompts

A Writer’s Dream Book

“Callie Feyen has such a knack for telling personal stories that transcend her own life. In my years in publishing, I’ve seen how hard that is—but she makes it seem effortless, and her book is such a pleasure. It’s funny, it’s warm, it’s enlightening. Callie writes about two of the most important things in life—books and clothes—in utterly delightful and truly moving ways. I’m impressed by how non-gimmicky and fresh her writing is. I love this book.”

—Sarah Smith, Executive Editor Prevention magazine; former Executive Editor Redbook magazine

BUY TWIRL NOW

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Callie Feyen
Callie Feyen
Callie Feyen likes Converse tennis shoes and colorful high heels, reading the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, and the Twilight series. Her favorite outfit has always been a well-worn pair of jeans and a white T-shirt, but she wants hoop skirts with loads of tulle to come back into style. Her favorite line from literature comes from Sharon Creech’s Absolutely Normal Chaos: “I don’t know who I am yet. I’m still waiting to find out.” Feyen has served as the At-Risk Literacy Specialist in the Ypsilanti Public Schools and is the author of Twirl: my life with stories, writing & clothes and The Teacher Diaries: Romeo and Juliet.
Callie Feyen
Latest posts by Callie Feyen (see all)
  • Poetry Prompt: Courage to Follow - July 24, 2023
  • Poetry Prompt: Being a Pilgrim and a Martha Stewart Homemaker - July 10, 2023
  • Poetry Prompt: Monarch Butterfly’s Wildflower - June 19, 2023

Filed Under: English Teaching, English Teaching Resources, Night Poems, Poetry Classroom, poetry teaching resources, Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare, writer's group resources, Writing, writing prompt, writing prompts

Try Every Day Poems...

About Callie Feyen

Callie Feyen likes Converse tennis shoes and colorful high heels, reading the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, and the Twilight series. Her favorite outfit has always been a well-worn pair of jeans and a white T-shirt, but she wants hoop skirts with loads of tulle to come back into style. Her favorite line from literature comes from Sharon Creech’s Absolutely Normal Chaos: “I don’t know who I am yet. I’m still waiting to find out.” Feyen has served as the At-Risk Literacy Specialist in the Ypsilanti Public Schools and is the author of Twirl: my life with stories, writing & clothes and The Teacher Diaries: Romeo and Juliet.

Comments

  1. Richard Maxson says

    April 1, 2019 at 6:06 pm

    Night Wind

    I looked for you in the wind; I thought I heard your breath
    against my ear, rising and falling. I thought I felt your
    fingers in my hair, pushing it back. And like opened doors,
    I saw the leaves go silver as they turned, and beyond,
    each one revealed a universe of midnight starry skies,
    appearing and subsiding at your touch. Was it the wind or more
    at work? I looked for you behind each one. Was it you or
    my heart’s desire to see the stars as your bright eyes.
    I reached for you in the air, but the warmth was the night,
    it slipped from my arms without a trace, and I turned
    to follow you, thinking I saw your face, but it was moonlight.
    I listened everywhere and every sound I ever learned
    I heard, and felt again your breath—I thought I heard you sigh.
    I looked for you in the wind. Was it you I felt pass by?

    Reply
    • Samip Adhikari says

      September 12, 2019 at 7:02 am

      So beautiful!!!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Poetry Prompt: Five Senses Poems | says:
    April 15, 2019 at 5:00 am

    […] Sun and Moon Poems: Night Poetry Prompt […]

    Reply
  2. Poetry Prompt: Cupcake Poems | % says:
    April 22, 2019 at 5:00 am

    […] Sun and Moon Poems: Night Poetry Prompt – April 1, 2019 […]

    Reply
  3. Poetry Prompt: A Poetry Notebook | says:
    July 1, 2019 at 5:01 am

    […] Sun and Moon Poems: Night Poetry Prompt […]

    Reply
  4. Poetry Prompt: The five senses reading and writing poetry | says:
    July 22, 2019 at 5:00 am

    […] Sun and Moon Poems: Night Poetry Prompt […]

    Reply
  5. Poetry Prompt: Your Queen Mab—What Helps Or Haunts You? | says:
    August 26, 2019 at 10:20 am

    […] Sun and Moon Poems: Night Poetry Prompt […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Take How to Read a Poem

Get the Introduction, the Billy Collins poem, and Chapter 1

get the sample now

Welcome to Tweetspeak

New to Tweetspeak Poetry? Start here, in The Mischief Café. You're a regular? Check out our May Menu

Patron Love

❤️

Welcome a little patron love, when you help keep the world poetic.

The Graphic Novel

"Stunning, heartbreaking, and relevant illustrations"

Callie Feyen, teacher

read a summary of The Yellow Wallpaper

meet The Yellow Wallpaper characters

How to Write Poetry

Your Comments

  • Glynn on World War II Had Its Poets, Too
  • Sandra Fox Murphy on World War II Had Its Poets, Too
  • Glynn on Poets and Poems: Kelly Belmonte and “The Mother of All Words”
  • Bethany R. on Poets and Poems: Kelly Belmonte and “The Mother of All Words”

Featured In

We're happy to have been featured in...

The Huffington Post

The Paris Review

The New York Observer

Tumblr Book News

Stay in Touch With Us

Categories

Learn to Write Form Poems

How to Write an Acrostic

How to Write a Ballad

How to Write a Catalog Poem

How to Write a Ghazal

How to Write a Haiku

How to Write an Ode

How to Write a Pantoum

How to Write a Rondeau

How to Write a Sestina

How to Write a Sonnet

How to Write a Villanelle

5 FREE POETRY PROMPTS

Get 5 FREE inbox poetry prompts from the popular book How to Write a Poem

Shakespeare Resources

Poetry Classroom: Sonnet 18

Common Core Picture Poems: Sonnet 73

Sonnet 104 Annotated

Sonnet 116 Annotated

Character Analysis: Romeo and Juliet

Character Analysis: Was Hamlet Sane or Insane?

Why Does Hamlet Wait to Kill the King?

10 Fun Shakespeare Resources

About Shakespeare: Poet and Playwright

Top 10 Shakespeare Sonnets

See all 154 Shakespeare sonnets in our Shakespeare Library!

Explore Work From Black Poets

About Us

  • • A Blessing for Writers
  • • Our Story
  • • Meet Our Team
  • • Literary Citizenship
  • • Poet Laura
  • • Poetry for Life: The 5 Vital Approaches
  • • T. S. Poetry Press – All Books
  • • Contact Us

Write With Us

  • • 5 FREE Poetry Prompts-Inbox Delivery
  • • 30 Days to Richer Writing Workshop
  • • Poetry Prompts
  • • Submissions
  • • The Write to Poetry

Read With Us

  • • All Our Books
  • • Book Club
  • • Every Day Poems—Subscribe! ✨
  • • Literacy Extras
  • • Poems to Listen By: Audio Series
  • • Poet-a-Day
  • • Poets and Poems
  • • 50 States Projects
  • • Charlotte Perkins Gilman Poems Library
  • • Edgar Allan Poe Poems Arts & Experience Library
  • • William Blake Poems Arts & Experience Library
  • • William Shakespeare Sonnet Library

Celebrate With Us

  • • Poem on Your Pillow Day
  • • Poetic Earth Month
  • • Poet in a Cupcake Day
  • • Poetry at Work Day
  • • Random Acts of Poetry Day
  • • Take Your Poet to School Week
  • • Take Your Poet to Work Day

Gift Ideas

  • • Every Day Poems
  • • Our Shop
  • • Everybody Loves a Book!

Connect

  • • Donate
  • • Blog Buttons
  • • By Heart
  • • Shop for Tweetspeak Fun Stuff

Copyright © 2025 Tweetspeak Poetry · FAQ, Disclosure & Privacy Policy