March 21 marked World Poetry Day and to celebrate we’ve chosen poetry for this month’s Word for Wednesday theme. The word poetry dates to the late-fourteenth century and comes from the Old French ‘poetrie’, from the Latin ‘poeta’. Over March, we’ve looked at the words sonnet, limerick, villanelle, and haiku. Our final word of the month is acrostic. An acrostic is a poem in which the first letters of each line form a word. The word acrostic dates to the 1580s and comes from the medieval Latin ‘acrostichis’, from the Greek ‘akrostikhis&rsq...
March 21 marked World Poetry Day and to celebrate we’ve chosen poetry for this month’s Word for Wednesday theme. The word poetry dates to the late-fourteenth century and comes from the Old French ‘poetrie’, from the Latin ‘poeta’. Over the past few weeks we’ve looked at the words sonnet, limerick, and villanelle. Today’s word is haiku. A haiku is a three-lined Japanese poem made up of seventeen syllables, with five syllables in the first and final lines and seven syllables in the middle line. Haiku often describe the natural world. The word haiku was first used...
March 21 marks World Poetry Day and to celebrate we’ve chosen poetry for this month’s Word for Wednesday theme. The word poetry dates to the late-fourteenth century and comes from the Old French ‘poetrie’, from the Latin ‘poeta’. So far we’ve looked at the words sonnet and limerick. This week’s word is villanelle. A villanelle is a nineteen-lined lyrical or pastoral poem made up of five three-lined stanzas (tercets) followed by one four-lined stanza (a quatrain). This type of poem uses a pattern of two repeated lines (refrains). The first line of a villanelle is ...
March 21 marks World Poetry Day and to celebrate we’ve chosen poetry for this month’s Word for Wednesday theme. The word poetry dates to the late-fourteenth century and comes from the Old French ‘poetrie’, from the Latin ‘poeta’. Last week, we looked at the word sonnet, today’s word is limerick. A limerick is a humorous poem made up of five lines that follows the AABBA rhyme scheme. It is also the name of a port city in southwestern Ireland. The word, in reference to the poem, dates to 1896, but it is unclear if it is linked to Limerick in Ireland. One theory suggests that the name...
March 21 marks World Poetry Day and to celebrate we’ve chosen poetry for this month’s Word for Wednesday theme. The word poetry dates to the late-fourteenth century and comes from the Old French ‘poetrie’, from the Latin ‘poeta’. Our first poetry-themed word for March is sonnet. A sonnet is a poem made up of fourteen lines with a fixed rhyming structure. There are two popular types of sonnet: the Petrarchan (or Italian) sonnet and the Shakespearean (or English) sonnet. The Petrarchan sonnet is made up of an eight-lined stanza (an octet) and a six-lined stanza (a sestet). The rhyme scheme is ABBAABBA CDECDE or ABBAABBA CDC...
April 23 marked Shakespeare Day in the UK and to celebrate we’ve picked characters from Shakespeare’s plays for this month's Word for Wednesday theme. William Shakespeare was born in 1564 and died in 1616. Scholars believe his birthday and death day were both April 23. His work—which is still wildly popular today—includes 38 plays and over a hundred poems. Learn more about how Shakespeare influenced the English language here. So far we’ve looked at Romeo from Romeo and Juliet, Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Falstaff who appears in four of Shakespeare’s plays. Our final Shakespearea...
April 23 marks Shakespeare Day in the UK and to celebrate we’ve picked characters from Shakespeare’s plays for this month's Word for Wednesday theme. William Shakespeare was born in 1564 and died in 1616. Scholars believe his birthday and death day were both April 23. His work—which is still wildly popular today—includes 38 plays and over a hundred poems. Learn more about how Shakespeare influenced the English language here. So far we’ve looked at at Romeo from Romeo and Juliet and Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Today’s Shakespearean character is Sir John ...
April 23 marks Shakespeare Day in the UK and to celebrate we’ve picked characters from Shakespeare’s plays for this month's Word for Wednesday theme. William Shakespeare was born in 1564 and died in 1616. Scholars believe his birthday and death day were both April 23. His work—which is still wildly popular today—includes 38 plays and over a hundred poems. Learn more about how Shakespeare influenced the English language here. Last week, we looked at at Romeo from Romeo and Juliet.Today’s character is Puck—a fairy who appears in Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Th...
Just yesterday, I was introduced to a piece of music so beautiful and mysterious that I couldn’t stop listening. It was set to a poem written by Richard Dehmel, whose work has been a fruitful source of inspiration for many composers in the last century. The piece is Schoenberg’s ‘VerklärteNacht’ or ‘Transfigured Night’. Composed in only three weeks in 1899. I don’t often listen to Schoenberg, and he has a name for his radical, serialism and atonality but certainly do take the time to listen to this darkly ethereal exploration of Dehmel’s poem. The piece is a single movement, but contains five sections, presumably pertaining to each of the poem’s five stanzas. In the first few seconds ...
American vs. British English
Common Mistakes
Commonly Confused Words
English Idioms Explained
English Literature
Exams & Tests
Grammar & Punctuation
Mindful Spelling
Spelling at School
Spelling Games
Spelling Homework
Spelling Tips
Spellzone Tips & Tools
Supporting Adult Learners
Supporting Dyslexic Learners
Supporting EAL Learners
Word Origins & Stories
Writing & Vocabulary
"Thank goodness for Spellzone during this remote learning phase. The site is easy for students to navigate independently and they're really enjoying the activities and spelling games. You get an awful lot for your money with Spellzone. Really reassuring is the very prompt response with helpdesk queries. I've very rarely needed the helpdesk, but when I have, the issue has been addressed and sorted within a very short time."
Sarah Taggart, Oasis Academy Lord's HillConnect with us at: 
