Sharing the process of creating my list poem around Macbeth, Act One.

I have started to tutor home educated young 'uns. We are reading and responding to Macbeth together at GCSE level. I have never engaged with Shakespeare until now. I absolutely love Macbeth. I am so annoyed with myself that I waited 56 years to hang out with Lady Macbeth! What a character!

Anyhow, to summarise plots, and have some fun, I like to create haikus and 'list' poems - it actually helps to remind me where we are in the book. My head can jump a bit so for me this also acts as a review of the story so far.

After Act One of Macbeth I have created a list poem. It started like this:

Macbeth, Act One as a List Poem

A battle has finished 

Witches plan to meet Macbeth

The King thinks Macbeth is brave

Witches predict Macbeth will be king

Witches predict Banquo’s descendants will be king

Macbeth learns he’s now a Thane

The person who was the Thane that Macbeth now is, gets executed

The King thanks Macbeth and Banquo for their victory 

The King makes his son Malcolm heir to the throne

Macbeth considers murdering the King

Lady Macbeth reads a letter from Macbeth

Lady Macbeth begins to plot the King’s murder

Macbeth arrives home and they plot the King’s murder

The King arrives at Macbeth’s castle 

The King is welcomed by Lady Macbeth

Macbeth has doubts

Macbeth is talked out of his doubts by Lady Macbeth. 

This reads like a recipe. The ingredients are a King, some witches, two schemers, and one of their mates. I like the directness of it, and it certainly helps explain the plot simply and quickly. To make it more poetic, I reread each scene with the relevant sentences and formed them into a bullet-point list.

Eighteen Steps Into The Fog

• A battle finished on a smoking heath.

• Three witches waiting in the fog to speak of a crown.

• A grateful king praising a brave warrior.

• Three whispered prophecies of royal power.

• A friend promised a bloodline of future kings.

• A messenger arriving with the words about treason.

• A traitor swinging from the gallows high and cold.

• A royal court gathered to watch the execution.

• A son named heir.

• A Thane dreaming of a path stained deep with royal blood.

• A letter read in candlelight behind a castle door.

• A lady begging spirits to unsex her ready.

• A husband greeted home with a dark and murderous ideas.

• A trusting monarch welcomed with sweet words and bitter wine.

• A hostess smiling blindly like an innocent flower.

• A coward stepping backward from the shadows.

• A man's pride shattered by his wife's commands.

• A false face forced to hide a heart that chooses death.

From this I have only had to change a few words to create a rhyming, flowing piece.

Macbeth, Act One as a List Poem

Eighteen Steps Into The Fog

A bloody battle finished on the smoking heath,

Three sisters waiting in the fog weave a crown of death.

A grateful king praising a warrior brave and bold,

Three whispered prophecies of royal power untold.

A friend promised a bloodline of future kings,

A messenger arriving with the wealth that treason brings.

A traitor swinging from the gallows high and cold,

A royal court gathered to watch the victory unfold.

A son named heir, a barrier placed upon the road,

A captain dreaming of a path stained deep with royal blood.

A letter read in candlelight behind a castle door,

A lady begging spirits to unsex her for the war.

A husband greeted home with a dark and murderous design,

A trusting monarch welcomed with sweet words and bitter wine.

A hostess smiling blindly like an innocent flower,

A coward stepping backward from the shadow of the tower.

A man's pride shattered by his wife's commanding breath,

A false face forced to hide a heart that chooses death.