• 60 ideas
  • Checked October 2026

Poem Drawing Ideas

Three ideas at a time for the poem in your hand, each with where the words go.

Poem Drawing Ideas

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  1. A bird poem under a branch with one feather fallingWords: below the branch that crosses the top. The feather drifts down the left margin, line by line.
  2. A spiral that winds in to the last wordWords: start at the outside and turn the paper as you go. The last word sits alone at the center.
  3. A concertina strip with one line on every panelWords: one line to a panel. The drawing runs on across the folds, so the whole strip is one scene.

Next step Words drawn as picturesMore borders to draw

All 60 ideas

Shape poems 12

  • A kite whose last line trails away as the string Words: inside a diamond, short lines at the top and bottom points. The final line wanders down the page.
  • A mountain with one word at the peak Words: centered, each line a little longer than the one above. Plant a small flag on the first word.
  • A raindrop for a short poem Words: one word at the tip, lines widening to the round base. Count the words in each line before inking.
  • A ring with no beginning, for a poem that repeats Words: round a plate traced in pencil, the last word meeting the first. Mark the start with a star.
  • A river winding down the page between two banks Words: follow the bends, a line to each stretch of water. Draw reeds on the banks in the spaces.
  • A sitting cat filled with the poem Words: across the body, short lines at the neck. Two small words fill the ears; the tail is the last line.
  • A snail with the poem coiled inside its shell Words: round and round the shell, starting at the rim. The title runs along the body underneath.
  • A spiral that winds in to the last word Words: start at the outside and turn the paper as you go. The last word sits alone at the center.
  • A staircase where each line is one step down Words: a line to a step, each starting further right. Suits a poem that counts down or climbs.
  • A tree with the title down the trunk and a line along each branch Words: on the branches, longest lines lowest. Pencil the whole tree first and erase it after.
  • A wave that rises, curls over and falls Words: along three curling pencil guides, biggest at the crest. Turn the page as you letter.
  • Rain, with each line falling as a column of letters Words: one letter under the next, in columns of different lengths. A cloud at the top holds the title.

One line illustrated 12

  • A line about a sound, drawn as the shape of the sound Words: riding the sound's own line: a zigzag for a crash, loops for humming, dots for dripping.
  • A line about weather seen through a window Words: lettered along the windowsill. The frame's cross divides the scene outside into four panes.
  • A line as the label on a jar that holds what it describes Words: on the label, in neat capitals. Fill the jar with the stars, the sea or the fog of the line.
  • A line hidden inside the drawing Words: lettered onto something in the scene: a shop sign, the spine of a book, the tail of a kite.
  • A line with a color in it, drawn in that color and black only Words: in black, except the color word, which is written in its own color and nothing else is.
  • A line written along the path its subject travels Words: follow the flight of the bird, the bounce of the ball, the road. Draw the subject at the end.
  • The first line as a title page with one picture under it Words: across the top third, in capitals. One drawing below and nothing else on the page.
  • The last line alone under a wide empty sky Words: small, near the bottom edge. Leave most of the page blank above a low horizon.
  • One line split across a strip of four panels Words: a few in a caption box at the top of each panel. The picture changes a little each time.
  • One strong word drawn huge with the rest of the line beneath Words: the big word fills the width, its letters built from what it means: icicles for cold.
  • The same line drawn twice: what it says and what it means Words: across the middle, half over each picture. A line down the center keeps the two apart.
  • Your favorite line in a speech bubble Words: in the bubble. Its tail points at whoever or whatever says the line: a crow, the wind, a boot.

Borders and frames 12

  • A bird poem under a branch with one feather falling Words: below the branch that crosses the top. The feather drifts down the left margin, line by line.
  • A food poem served on a plate Words: in the middle of a drawn plate, short lines at top and bottom. Knife and fork stand either side.
  • A garden poem beside a vine that flowers at every stanza break Words: to the right of the vine. One bloom sits beside each gap between stanzas.
  • A journey poem ringed by a dotted route Words: inside the route, which runs round all four sides and ends in an X beside the last line.
  • A night poem on a dark panel ringed with stars Words: in white or silver pen on navy. The stars thin out as they get nearer the lines.
  • A nonsense poem with a border of small mistakes Words: plain and tidy in the center. Round them: a fish in a tree, a clock with three hands, a shoe in a nest.
  • A poem about home framed as a window with curtains tied back Words: in the glass, where the view would be. A plant on the sill hides the last period.
  • A poem for someone, framed as a postage stamp Words: inside a toothed edge. Their initial goes in a round postmark that overlaps one corner.
  • A rain poem bordered by umbrellas seen from above Words: in the dry middle. Each umbrella is a circle cut into eight wedges, two colors by turns.
  • A sea poem inside a rope frame with a knot at each corner Words: in straight lines inside. Draw the rope as a row of slanted S shapes, all leaning one way.
  • A winter poem with icicles along the top edge only Words: start well below the longest icicle. Leave the other three sides bare, like snow.
  • An autumn poem with leaves heaped in the bottom corners Words: in the clear middle. A few leaves are still falling past the first and last lines.

Hand-lettered verses 12

  • A decorated first letter in its own box Words: the letter fills a square the height of three lines, a tiny picture behind it. The verse wraps round.
  • A repeated line boxed every time it returns Words: the line that comes back is boxed in one color each time, so the eye finds it like a chorus.
  • A verse lettered across the pages of an open book Words: half on the left page, half on the right, in ruled lines. A ribbon marker hangs from the fold.
  • A verse lettered on wavy lines Words: on rules drawn wavy on purpose, all the waves matching. Suits water, wind and sleep.
  • A verse with its first word three lines tall Words: the first word in block letters filled with pattern, the rest in your everyday handwriting.
  • A verse with the last line alone on a ribbon Words: all but the last line on pencil rules; the last on a banner with folded ends, set apart below.
  • Each stanza in its own box, like windows in a wall Words: one stanza to a box, boxes stacked with a gap between. A different small roof on each.
  • Every rhyming pair lettered in a matching color Words: all in black first. Then go over each pair of rhymes in one color, so the pattern shows.
  • Lines that shrink as the poem grows quieter Words: each line a little smaller than the last. The final line is the smallest you can write clearly.
  • Loud words in tall capitals and quiet words small and pale Words: sized by how they would be said aloud. Pencil the whole verse first to see where it swells.
  • The title on a signpost and the verse on the road below it Words: title on the sign's arm; lines get wider toward the bottom, as a road does coming nearer.
  • White lettering on a panel painted dark Words: in white gel pen, once the panel is dry. Rule the guidelines lightly in pencil before you letter.

A poem as a small book or strip 12

  • A bookmark poem down one tall strip Words: short lines, centered, top to bottom. A drawn tassel hangs under the last one.
  • A comic strip with one panel for each line Words: in a box at the bottom of the panel. Keep the same character in every frame.
  • A concertina strip with one line on every panel Words: one line to a panel. The drawing runs on across the folds, so the whole strip is one scene.
  • A lift-the-flap poem Words: a question line on the flap, its answer line underneath. Draw the surprise under the flap too.
  • A mini book folded from one sheet Words: a line or two at the foot of each page, a picture above. The cover takes the title and your name.
  • A paper chain with one line on each link Words: written along each strip before it is glued into a ring. Read the chain from the top link down.
  • A poem wheel that shows one line at a time Words: round a paper disc like spokes. A second disc on top has a window cut in it; turn it to read.
  • A postcard poem Words: where the message goes, with the title in place of the address. One picture fills the other side.
  • A scroll that unrolls between two pencils Words: down a long strip, a stanza and then a picture, by turns. Tape a pencil to each end to roll it.
  • A strip of four views of one place as the poem's day passes Words: one line under each view. Only the light, the sky and the shadows change from box to box.
  • A tiny book the size of a stamp for a two-line poem Words: one line on each inside page, in your smallest lettering. A single drawing on the cover.
  • A wall strip with each stanza on its own card Words: one stanza and one drawing to a card. Clip the cards to a string in reading order.

How it works

Bring your own poem, one you wrote or one you were given. These 60 poem drawing ideas turn it into a shape, a picture for one line, a border, a lettered verse or a small book.

Read the full guide

Shape poems

Lay the lines out as the thing the poem is about: a tree with a line along each branch, rain that falls a letter at a time, a spiral winding in to the last word. Draw the shape in pencil, letter the words inside it, then erase the pencil.

When the poem is long

A long poem will not squeeze into a shape. Keep it in plain rows and letter it: the first word three lines tall, each stanza in its own box, the last line alone on a ribbon. Or spread it out, a line or two to a page, in a mini book folded from one sheet.

  • Write the whole poem out in pencil first. Spelling and spacing are easier to fix before the ink.
  • Count the words in your longest line before you choose a shape. That line decides how wide the drawing must be.
  • The small books, flaps and paper chains need scissors, so an adult helps a young child with the cutting.

Questions and answers

What is a shape poem?

A poem whose words are arranged to depict its subject. Shaped poems in the form of an egg, wings and a hatchet survive from Greek Alexandria of the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE. Concrete poetry, a modern term, grew out of that tradition.

How do you illustrate a poem?

Read it twice and mark the line you can see most clearly. Draw that one picture and put the words where they belong in it: along a windowsill, on a jar's label, on a sign in the scene. One line illustrated holds twelve ways.

What are easy poem drawing ideas?

A border. Leave the verse in neat rows and draw only round it: leaves heaped in the bottom corners for autumn, umbrellas seen from above for rain, a vine that flowers at each stanza break. Nothing has to fit a shape.

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