Printable Renga links worksheets
The opening stanza has three lines (about 5-7-5 syllables); each answering stanza has two lines of seven. Each stanza answers only the one before it, then the chain moves on.
Renga is linked verse written by more than one person. An opening stanza of three lines (about five, seven and five syllables) is answered by a stanza of two seven-syllable lines, which is answered in turn, each new stanza responding only to the one immediately before it — never to the whole poem, never to the original subject. That single rule creates the form's beautiful drift: a chain that starts with this morning's weather may end three links later at the sea, and every step still makes local sense. In a classroom, renga is the rare collaborative form where nobody can dominate, because each writer owns exactly one link and must let go. Run it on paper passed around a table, folded so each writer sees only the last stanza. Reading the finished chain aloud is the lesson: the class hears coherence and surprise produced by the same mechanism. Set one constraint per round — this link must include a sound; this one must change the season. The final discussion question never fails: where did the poem go, and who took it there? Nobody did, and everybody did.
By year level
- Renga links worksheet for Years 5–6 — Eight writing lines (four links), chains written in pairs, folding the page so only the last stanza shows. One sound word required per chain.
- Renga links worksheet for Years 7–8 — Twelve writing lines (five to six links), groups of three, each link must change one of: place, season, or scale. Final link must echo an image from the first without repeating its words.
- Renga links worksheet for Years 9–10 — Sixteen writing lines, full-class chain of eight or more links, constraints rotate per link (sound, season, scale, question, silence). Closing artist's note per writer on their handover.
Worked example: Chain of four links
rain on the awning —
the market opens slowly,
gulls argue over chips
salt on the wind, and somewhere
a radio learns the news
static, then a love song —
the bus exhales at the kerb,
nobody gets off
streetlights in puddles,
the whole town, doubled
Each stanza answers only its predecessor: weather → harbour sounds → radio → street. Ask students to find the exact word in each link that hands over to the next — that handover word is the entire craft of the form.
Make a fresh Renga links worksheet
Every generated sheet draws its theme and task order by seed, so a class set gives every student a different worksheet. The first three downloads are free.