Poetry Unit - EnglishMethods

Transcription

Poetry Unit
10th Grade English Composition
Five Weeks of Instruction
Sara Erfurth
EDUC, Fall 2010
Unit Plan
Introduction and Context:
The poetry unit created here is designed to take place in a 10th grade English
Composition course. The reasoning for this is that is focuses a great deal of the elements of
poetry and how they contribute to successful writing, making it ideal for the study of
composition, as many of these poetic elements are often included in other forms of creative
writing. The units preceding this one would therefore probably be something along the lines of
personal narrative or memoir, or even fictional writing, as the poetry unit calls for a high
command of knowledge in the elements of tone, imagery, and the stylistic manipulation of
conventions. While these elements are given instruction in the poetry unit, I believe the unit
would be more effective if it was supported by previous student encounters with the elements of
creative writing. I would recommend that this unit actually be done in the second semester of the
year, or towards the end of the class if it is only a semester long for these reasons.
The units following this poetry unit would probably be either a unit on creative fiction, if
not already covered, but it is also easy to use this unit to transition to formal research writing if
the poetry unit is used as a conclusion to the study of creative writing. Therefore, the unit is
actually very flexible in its use and placement.
The students in the class this is designed for are all around the same age of 15/16 and are
a wide range of abilities, as Composition is a general required course. Therefore, you’ll note that
throughout the unit there are several projects that are adaptable according to students abilities.
Their interests will probably likewise be varied, but the unit is designed for a group of students
who are not interested in the study of poetry. Indeed, one of the biggest aims of this unit is to
change that disinterest through the demonstration of relevance and creative function poetry can
have in the lives of the students. It is catered to tap into their love of music and their need for
expression, and therefore does recognize student interests.
I am using a great many texts for this unit, but no formal text compilation. Instead, all of
the texts the students read for this unit will be done in class, as poetry can be intimidating to
deconstruct on one’s own. The genres used for this unit are poetry, obviously, and song lyrics, as
they are a form of poetry. On the following page I have listed all the texts used in this unit. I also
used the two youtube videos of the Original Mary Poppins Trailers, and Scary Re-cut Mary
Poppins Trailer.
The standards used for this unit are all the Colorado Draft Content Standards, and the unit
specifically addresses many standards, but particularly those that apply to close reading and
literary elements, as well as presentation and group work. The district this unit is designed for is
the Poudre School District, as this is the district with which I have the most familiarity, having
completed much of my education practicum in its schools.
I tried to include nearly all of the materials I would actually use within the unit, with an
exception of the sound clips of the songs used. However, I did include the lyrics in the slideshow,
so all that is left is to retrieve the songs themselves from itunes. Hopefully, the attention to detail
I paid throughout the unit will allow it to be seen as a cohesive whole, and, if implemented,
actually lead the cultivation of student interest in the study of poetry.
The text selection for the poetry unit: (listed in order used)
(Note: on all the slideshows and handouts, the poems were retrieved from
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php and the song lyrics from
http://www.songmeanings.net)
The Killers “When You Were Young”, Gnarls Barkley “Crazy”, The Beatles “Come Together”,
Gorillaz “Feel Good Inc.” “The Red Wheelbarrow”, “This is Just to Say” - William Carlos
Williams, “Sestina” - Elizabeth Bishop, “Carnation Milk” - Anonymous,
, Theodore Roethke - “My Papa’s Waltz”, Ezra Pound - “In a Station of the Metro”, Billy Collins
- “Embrace”, Aaron - “U-turn (Lili)”, The Airborn Toxic Event “Sometime Around the
Midnight”, Slowblow - “Hamburger Cemetary”, William Blake - “The Tyger”, Henry Van Dyke
- “The Empty Quatrain”, Robert Graves - “Counting the Beats”, Edgar Allan Poe - “The Raven”,
Samuel Taylor” Theodore Roethke - “The Root Cellar”, Thomas Hardy - “The Convergence of
the Twain”, William Shakespeare “That Time of Year Thou Mayest in Me Behold”, Norah Jones
- “Carnival Town”, Cake - “Short Skirt/Long Jacket, Metric - “Rock Me Now”, John Donne “Batter My Heart, three-personed God, for You,”, Adrienne Rich - “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers”,
William Shakespeare - “When my love swears that she is made of truth” (Sonnet 138), Lola Ray
- “Automatic Girl”, Postal Service - “Recycled Air”, The Raconteurs - “Steady as She Goes”,
Langston Hughes - “Harlem (Dream Deferred)” Andrew Marvell - “To His Coy Mistress”,
Imogen Heap - “Hide and Seek”, BT - “The Antikythera Mechanism”, William Butler Yeats “Leda and the Swan”, A.E. Housman - “When I Was One-and-Twenty”, Robert Frost - “Nothing
Gold Can Stay”, Edgar Allan Poe - “Bells”, A.E. Housman - “Eight O’Clock”, Emily Dickinson “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”, “Everywhere We Go” Cadence, Alfred Lord Tennyson “Break, Break, Break”, Gwendolyn Brooks - “We Real Cool”, John Donne - “The Flea”, William
Shakespeare - “Shall I compare thee to a summers day?”, Emily Dickinson - “I Heard a Fly Buzz
- When I Died”, Ronald Gross - “Yield”, William Butler Yeats - “The Second Coming”, William
Stafford - “Traveling Through the Dark”, Sylvia Plath - “Metaphors”, Margaret Atwood - “You
fit into me”, William Shakespeare - “My mistress’s eyes are nothing like the sun”, Percy Bysshe
Shelley - “Ozymandias”, The Killers - “Mr. Brightside”, The Decemberists - “The Perfect Crime
#2), Norah Jones - “The Prettiest Thing”, Jeff Buckley - “Hallejuah”, Sylvia Plath - “Lady
Lazarus”, Robert Frost - “Out, Out-”, Daniel Thiel - “The Minefield”, Robert Frost - “The Road
Not Taken”, Cake - “Comfort Eagle”, Jack Johnson - “Break Down”, The Decemberists - “The
Crane Wife 3”, The Beatles - “Lady Madonna”, Dido - “My Lover’s Gone”, Animal Kingdom “Tin Man”, Lewis Carroll - “Jabberwocky”, Emily Dickinson - “It Dropped So Low - in My
Regard”, Fred Chappell - “Narcissus and Echo”, T.S. Eliot - “Virginia”, George Herbert - “Easter
Wings”, Walt Whitman - “O Captain! My Captain!”, Gwendolyn Brooks - “We Real Cool”,
Stevie Smith - “Not Waving But Drowning”, T.S. Eliiot - “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”,
Lord Alfred Tennyson - “Ulysses”, Dylan Thomas - “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”,
Coldplay - “Sparks”, Civil Twilight - “Letters From the Sky”, Portishead - “Glory Box”, Sea
Wolf - “Black Dirt”, Motion City Soundtrack - “Resolution”, The XX - “Basic Space”.
Introduction and Context:
The poetry unit created here is designed to take place in a 10th grade English
Composition course. The reasoning for this is that is focuses a great deal of the elements of
poetry and how they contribute to successful writing, making it ideal for the study of
composition, as many of these poetic elements are often included in other forms of creative
writing. The units preceding this one would therefore probably be something along the lines of
personal narrative or memoir, or even fictional writing, as the poetry unit calls for a high
command of knowledge in the elements of tone, imagery, and the stylistic manipulation of
conventions. While these elements are given instruction in the poetry unit, I believe the unit
would be more effective if it was supported by previous student encounters with the elements of
creative writing. I would recommend that this unit actually be done in the second semester of the
year, or towards the end of the class if it is only a semester long for these reasons.
The units following this poetry unit would probably be either a unit on creative fiction, if
not already covered, but it is also easy to use this unit to transition to formal research writing if
the poetry unit is used as a conclusion to the study of creative writing. Therefore, the unit is
actually very flexible in its use and placement.
The students in the class this is designed for are all around the same age of 15/16 and are
a wide range of abilities, as Composition is a general required course. Therefore, you’ll note that
throughout the unit there are several projects that are adaptable according to students abilities.
Their interests will probably likewise be varied, but the unit is designed for a group of students
who are not interested in the study of poetry. Indeed, one of the biggest aims of this unit is to
change that disinterest through the demonstration of relevance and creative function poetry can
have in the lives of the students. It is catered to tap into their love of music and their need for
expression, and therefore does recognize student interests.
I am using a great many texts for this unit, but no formal text compilation. Instead, all of
the texts the students read for this unit will be done in class, as poetry can be intimidating to
deconstruct on one’s own. The genres used for this unit are poetry, obviously, and song lyrics, as
they are a form of poetry. On the following page I have listed all the texts used in this unit. I also
used the two youtube videos of the Original Mary Poppins Trailers, and Scary Re-cut Mary
Poppins Trailer.
The standards used for this unit are all the Colorado Draft Content Standards, and the unit
specifically addresses many standards, but particularly those that apply to close reading and
literary elements, as well as presentation and group work. The district this unit is designed for is
the Poudre School District, as this is the district with which I have the most familiarity, having
completed much of my education practicum in its schools.
I tried to include nearly all of the materials I would actually use within the unit, with an
exception of the sound clips of the songs used. However, I did include the lyrics in the slideshow,
so all that is left is to retrieve the songs themselves from itunes. Hopefully, the attention to detail
I paid throughout the unit will allow it to be seen as a cohesive whole, and, if implemented,
actually lead the cultivation of student interest in the study of poetry.
The text selection for the poetry unit: (listed in order used)
(Note: on all the slideshows and handouts, the poems were retrieved from
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php and the song lyrics from
http://www.songmeanings.net)
The Killers “When You Were Young”, Gnarls Barkley “Crazy”, The Beatles “Come Together”,
Gorillaz “Feel Good Inc.” “The Red Wheelbarrow”, “This is Just to Say” - William Carlos
Williams, “Sestina” - Elizabeth Bishop, “Carnation Milk” - Anonymous,
, Theodore Roethke - “My Papa’s Waltz”, Ezra Pound - “In a Station of the Metro”, Billy Collins
Midnight”, Slowblow - “Hamburger Cemetary”, William Blake - “The Tyger”, Henry Van Dyke
- “The Empty Quatrain”, Robert Graves - “Counting the Beats”, Edgar Allan Poe - “The Raven”,
Samuel Taylor” Theodore Roethke - “The Root Cellar”, Thomas Hardy - “The Convergence of
the Twain”, William Shakespeare “That Time of Year Thou Mayest in Me Behold”, Norah Jones
- “Carnival Town”, Cake - “Short Skirt/Long Jacket, Metric - “Rock Me Now”, John Donne “Batter My Heart, three-personed God, for You,”, Adrienne Rich - “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers”,
William Shakespeare - “When my love swears that she is made of truth” (Sonnet 138), Lola Ray
- “Automatic Girl”, Postal Service - “Recycled Air”, The Raconteurs - “Steady as She Goes”,
Imogen Heap - “Hide and Seek”, BT - “The Antikythera Mechanism”, William Butler Yeats “Leda and the Swan”, A.E. Housman - “When I Was One-and-Twenty”, Robert Frost - “Nothing
Gold Can Stay”, Edgar Allan Poe - “Bells”, A.E. Housman - “Eight O’Clock”, Emily Dickinson “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”, “Everywhere We Go” Cadence, Alfred Lord Tennyson “Break, Break, Break”, Gwendolyn Brooks - “We Real Cool”, John Donne - “The Flea”, William
Shakespeare - “Shall I compare thee to a summers day?”, Emily Dickinson - “I Heard a Fly Buzz
- When I Died”, Ronald Gross - “Yield”, William Butler Yeats - “The Second Coming”, William
Stafford - “Traveling Through the Dark”, Sylvia Plath - “Metaphors”, Margaret Atwood - “You
fit into me”, William Shakespeare - “My mistress’s eyes are nothing like the sun”, Percy Bysshe
Shelley - “Ozymandias”, The Killers - “Mr. Brightside”, The Decemberists - “The Perfect Crime
#2), Norah Jones - “The Prettiest Thing”, Jeff Buckley - “Hallejuah”, Sylvia Plath - “Lady
Lazarus”, Robert Frost - “Out, Out-”, Daniel Thiel - “The Minefield”, Robert Frost - “The Road
Not Taken”, Cake - “Comfort Eagle”, Jack Johnson - “Break Down”, The Decemberists - “The
Crane Wife 3”, The Beatles - “Lady Madonna”, Dido - “My Lover’s Gone”, Animal Kingdom “Tin Man”, Lewis Carroll - “Jabberwocky”, Emily Dickinson - “It Dropped So Low - in My
Regard”, Fred Chappell - “Narcissus and Echo”, T.S. Eliot - “Virginia”, George Herbert - “Easter
Wings”, Walt Whitman - “O Captain! My Captain!”, Gwendolyn Brooks - “We Real Cool”,
Wolf - “Black Dirt”, Motion City Soundtrack - “Resolution”, The XX - “Basic Space”.
Understanding By Design Unit Template
Title of Unit
Curriculum Area
Developed By
Poetry
Grade Level
10th Grade English Composition
Time Frame
5 weeks
Sara Erfurth
Identify Desired Results (Stage 1)
Content Standards
1,
2,
3,
3,
1:
1:
1:
3:
Content that is gathered carefully and organized well successfully influences an audience (a, b, d,)
Literary and historical influences determine the meaning of traditional and contemporary literary texts (d, e)
Literary or narrative genres feature a variety of stylistic devices to engage or entertain an audience (a, b, c, d, e)
Grammar, language usage, mechanics, and clarity are the basis of ongoing refinements and revisions within the writing process (a, b)
Understandings
Essential Questions
Overarching Understanding
Overarching
Poetry is form of composition and communication that is
invaluable to the expression of thoughts and ideas. It is nearly
boundless in its forms and flexibility, not to mention constant
relevence as a window into the human experience.
What purpose does poetry
have in the expression of
thoughts and ideas? What are its
benefits over prose?
How is poetry relevant to
everyday life?
Related Misconceptions
Who writes poetry and does
poetry
as a form have limitations
Poetry is for overly sensative people, and is not relatable to in the
in
terms
of who can write and
American 21st Century. Only certain kinds of people can write poetry
read
it?
and it’s nearly impossible to write and read correctly.
Topical
What makes a poem “good”
What are some of the
different forms of poetry?
What are elements of poetic
writing? How do these contribute
to meaning?
How does one go about
writing a poem? Is there a process
or is it different for everyone?
How do you interpret poetry?
Knowledge
Skills
The relevance and benefits of poetry, as well as have an
appreciation for it as an art form and method of communication.
How to effectively interpret and analyze poems in order to find
their meaning and message.
The different elements of poetry and how they contribute to
meaning.
Analyze poetry and annotate poems for their meaning and
their specifc elements.
Write their own poetry in several different forms.
Present their interpretation of a poem in a persuasive manner
that reveals the meaning of the poem and is supported by the
poem.
Students will know…
Students will be able to…
Assessment Evidence (Stage 2)
Performance Task Description
To have students look closely at song lyrics and find poetric elements used and how poetry is still alive and fully
relevent to their own lives.
RoleMusician/Artist
Musician/Artist who created lyrics and are producing accompaning music video
Audiencepotentially
potentially millions of viewers, classmates, teacher.
Students present interpretation of poem/music lyrics in a student-made music video that reveals the meaning of
Situation
the lyrics, what and how poetic elements are used, and the overall message and tone.
Product/PerformanceA
A music video made by each student that carefully analyzes the lyrics of the song chosen as a poem.
1, 1: Content that is gathered carefully and organized well successfully influences an audience (a, b, d)
Standards 2, 1: Literary and historical influences determine the meaning of traditional and contemporary literary texts (d, e)
Goal
Other Evidence
Students will be annotating their selected song several times for different poetic elements - they will turn in each annotation to check for
understanding and progress on Music Video Project.
Students will write poems of their own in several different forms - these will be turned into a portfolio, and several will be reviewed by peers
The favorite poem of the portfolio of each student they will read aloud at a “Coffee House Poetry Jam” at the end of the unit
Learning Plan (Stage 3)
Where are your students headed? Where have
Through this unit my students will be headed towards gaining an appreciation of poetry
they been? How will you make sure the students and confidence in their own abilities to read and write poetry. The students may have
know where they are going?
encountered poetry in their previous classes and own thier own, but I’m assuming from
the onset of this unit that they have had mostly negative experiences with it. Therefore,
my goal throughout the unit will be to make poetry more approachable for them. I will
try and make sure the students are aware of this goal by relating poetry to their own
lives and providing them with oppourtunities to connect it to themselves.
How will you hook students at the beginning of
I will hook the students with my introductory activity, where I have the students
the unit?
complete a survey regarding their opinoins on the study of poetry and then show them
how in actuallity they probably enjoy it more than they think by revealing how music
lyrics are poetry as well.
What events will help students experience and
We are doing several activities throughout this unit, but the two biggest assessments, which are
explore the big idea and questions in the unit?
the Music Video project and the poetry portfolio will probably most help the students understand
How will you equip them with needed skills and the large aims and ideas of this unit. The Music Video project will ensure that students have an
knowledge?
understanding of how to analyze poetry for meaning, as well connect it to their own lives, and
the poetry portfolio they create of their own poems will help them build confidence in their own
poetic abilities and allow them to experiment with the different forms and elements of poetry in
order to better understand them when they are reading them.
How will you cause students to reflect and
The students will reflect on the lessons of each day by applying the knowledge they
rethink? How will you guide them in rehearsing, have learned regarding poetic elements to their own chosen song lyrics that they will
revising, and refining their work?
turn into the music video. They also will complete a reflection on how and why they
made the artistic choices in the creation on their Music Video, as well as complete a
reflection on their poetry portfolio that discusses the process of writing their own
poetry and how they’ve grown as a poet. Additionally, the students will write me a letter
in the 2nd to last week of the unit discussing how their perceptions on poetry have
changed.
How will you help students to exhibit and selfThe students will get a chance to exhibit their growing skills, knowledge and
evaluate their growing skills, knowledge, and
understanding through their chosen lyric annotations, the culminating Music Video they
understanding throughout the unit?
create, and the portfolio they turn in at the end of the semester. They will evaluate
themselves through both the porfolio reflection, as well as the Music Video reflection,
as both projects should reflect their growth in the study of poetry.
How will you tailor and otherwise personalize the The unit plan can easily be tailored to meet the needs of all students, by allowing the
learning plan to optimize the engagement and
students to pick their own chosen song lyrics to analyze. If you have students who are
effectiveness of ALL students, without
less advanced than others, help them select a more appropiate selection of lyrics for
compromising the goals of the unit?
their proficiency level. Likewise, the poems that the students write have a great deal of
freedom in them, so students can challenge themselves to write longer, more elaborate
poems, or can choose to write a more simple version of the poem assigned. Because of
the high level of individual choice in this unit, there is also a great deal of room built in
for adaptations.
How will you organize and sequence the learning The unit will build in its level of intensity. It starts with a basic overview of what poetry
activities to optimize the engagement and
is and can be and works to break down preconceptions regarding poetry. It then begins
achievement of ALL students?
discussing some of the more general aspects of poetry with tone and imagery. It then
moves to a discussion on the importance of word choice and word connotations, tying
in the function of adverbs and adjectives. Then the unit goes into the more complex
aspects of poetry, discussing sound, rhythm, and punctuation choices. Towards the end
of the unit we discuss the more inferential aspects of poetry that are usually the most
complicated, such as the roles of figures of speech and reader expectations, symbolism,
allusion, and even covering how sentence structures can be manipuled for affect. The
students own writing of poety also grows in complexity; they begin the unit by writing
general quatrains with which they have a great deal of personal freedom. They then are
restricted in that freedom in the writing of haikus, where they must demonstrate a high
command of selective word choice and imagery. Then the students are restricted even
further to the nested poetry form, where they must rely on punctuation to create and
change meaning. The last form of poetry they write is free choice, however, as I think
that after witnessing a great deal of various poetic forms, they might like to experiment
with a particular one.
From: Wiggins, Grant and J. Mc Tighe. (1998). Understanding by Design, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
Sara Erfurth
Unit Rationale: Poetry Unit
Poetry is something that most people in our modern, American society will turn their
nose up at. With some notable exceptions, Americans don’t have an extensive history of reading
and writing poetry, and these days poetry has received an undeserved reputation of being only
written by overly-sensitive and emotionally disturbed individuals. Likewise, the act of reading
and analyzing poetry is seen as nearly impossible to do “correctly”. Therefore, the sad truth is
that most people, even those who are enthusiastic about literature, shy away from reading and
writing poetry, whether it is because of intimidation, disdain, or overall confusion.
I believe that poetry is an incredibly expressive creative and communicative outlet and
that everyone should have an opportunity to discover these traits. Poetry is a poignant literary
form that takes all of the power and possibility of language and condenses it to meaning. It is the
absolute manifestation of the power of word choice, of the significance embodied in punctuation,
and the subconscious pull there is in rhyme and meter. Emotions and experience can be conveyed
in a brief, intense stanza in a manner that pages of prose could never convey. There is also no
other literary form in which there is more freedom of form and more variation in the ways an
idea can be expressed.
Not only does poetry have significant value as a literary form, but it also has a great deal
of relevance to students, whether or not they realize it. Poetry is in their daily lives through song
lyrics, which embody nearly all the same poetic traits as most poems in anthologies do.
Therefore, in addition to a great deal of “canonical” poetry, I will have the students analyze song
lyrics, particularly songs that they already listen to. In that process, hopefully students will
realize that they, too, are active listeners and lovers of poetry. In addition, it is important that
students are educated regarding poetry reading and writing as it is a liberating form of expression
that can be crucial to the formation of identity, the relief of overwhelming emotions, and the
communication of ideas and beliefs; all of which are innate aspects of the transition from
teenager to adult. In order to gain a comfort level with the idea of writing poetry, students will
write their own poetry, with every week of the unit focusing on a different form of poetry
writing. They will also be sharing their favorite poem they wrote with the class to help give them
pride in their writing and recognize that they too are legitimate poets.
It is critical that poetry be taught in an approachable manner that allows students to really
relate to the poems, understand their power as a literary form, and experiment with the process of
writing poems themselves. Only if the intimidating curtain of “only-certain-types-of-peopleread-and-write-poetry” is lifted can students really begin to appreciate poetry as a form that is
actually relevant and useful to their own lives.
Sara Erfurth "
Week 1
Monday
(Day 1)
Tuesday
(Day 2)
Wednesday
(Day 3)
Thursday
(Day 4)
Friday
(Day 5)
Texts Used
The Killers
“When You
Were Young”,
Gnarls Barkley
“Crazy”, The
Beatles “Come
Together”,
Gorillaz “Feel
Good Inc.”
Song lyrics that
students bring
in.
“The Red
Wheelbarrow”,
“This is Just to
Say” - William
Carlos Williams,
“Sestina” Elizabeth
Bishop,
“Carnation Milk”
- Anonymous,
“That time of
year thou
mayest in me
behold” William
Shakespeare,
“I heard a Fly
buzz - when I
died,” - Emily
Dickinson
Youtube videos
- Original Mary
Poppins
Trailers, and
Scary Re-cut
Mary Poppins
Trailer
Theodore
Roethke - “My
Papaʼs Waltz”,
Ezra Pound “In a Station of
the Metro”,
Billy Collins “Embrace”,
Aaron - “U-turn
(Lili)”, The
Airborn Toxic
Event
“Sometime
Around the
Midnight”,
Slowblow “Hamburger
Cemetary”
NO CLASS
William Blake “The Tyger”,
Henry Van
Dyke - “The
Empty
Quatrain”,
Robert Graves
- “Counting the
Beats”
Writing
survey
responses - how
students feel
about the study
of poetry
Students
choose song to
use for unit
project and write
a rationale for
what makes it
substantial for
analyzation
purposes and
why it counts as
poetry.
Students
quickwrite:
analyzing the
tone of both
Mary Poppin
trailers.
Students
annotate their
chosen song
lyrics for tone
NO CLASS
Students write
in journals for 5
minutes about
their favorite
hobby.
Studentsʼ write
their own
quatrain
Language
Study
N/A
How language
(and poetry)
changes and
varies in form
and style:
students look at
various forms of
poetry, including
modern song
lyrics.
How diction
creates tone in
writing
(especially
poetry):
Students
analyze the
tone of poems
through
focusing on the
diction used.
NO CLASS
N/A
Sara Erfurth "
Monday
(Day 1)
Tuesday
(Day 2)
Wednesday
(Day 3)
In-class
Activity
Unit Intro:
Students
complete survey
regarding their
opinions on
poetry, then
listen to popular
songs and take
a poll on opinion
- reveal to class
that they enjoy
poetry after all when it is in
lyrical form.
Have students
share favorite
song lyrics with
each other in
pairs or small
groups.
Introduce
culminating unit
project:
Students make
music video out
of a songʼs lyrics
which they
analyze as a
poem. Show
example(s).
Show students
poem examples
and ask what
makes them
count as poetry.
On the board,
have the class
come up with a
list of what
makes poetry
“poetry”.
Show students
the original
Mary Poppins
trailer and ask
them to
quickwrite/
discuss the
tone conveyed.
Show students
the recut trailer
and ask them
to do the same
thing, noticing
differences in
tone.
Have students
get into small
groups and act
out a sentence
such as “I just
saw someone
key a teacherʼs
car out in the
parking lot” with the tone of
angry, amused,
and
astonished.
Discuss how
diction creates
tone in writing show them
example
poems/songs
and discuss as
a class what
the tone is and
how we know.
NO CLASS
Tell students
they will be
writing their
own quatrain
poems. Show
them examples
of quatrain
poems and
discuss that
quatrain poems
do not have
any defined
format beyond
being sets of
four lines or
rhyme scheme,
but they have
several that are
commonly
used. On
board, show
abab form and
aabb form.
Have students
write in their
journals for five
minutes about
their favorite
hobby/activity.
Then have
them change
the prose into a
poem that is in
quatrain
structure.
Objectives
To have
students
challenge their
prior biases
towards poetry
and create
relevance to
themselves in
the study of
poetic form.
- Discuss what
is poetry
(a.ka. why
should we
care?)
- Introduce unit
project
- students
learn the
purposes of
diction and
how it
creates tone
- students
learn to
identify tone
in a poem
NO CLASS
To teach
students how
to write a
quatrain poem
and give them
experience and
confidence in
writing their
own poetry.
Week 1
Thursday
(Day 4)
Friday
(Day 5)
Sara Erfurth "
Week 1
Monday
(Day 1)
Tuesday
(Day 2)
Wednesday
(Day 3)
Assignments
Students bring
in the songs that
have their
favorite lyrics.
Students decide
on a song with
strong lyrics to
analyze over the
course of the
semester - turn
in for approval.
Students
annotate their
unit project
poem for tone,
paying close
attention to the
diction used.
Thursday
(Day 4)
NO CLASS
Friday
(Day 5)
Studentsʼ write
their own
quatrain about
their favorite
hobby OR a
topic of their
choosing.
Sara Erfurth "
Monday
(Day 6)
Tuesday
(Day 7)
Wednesday
(Day 8)
Texts Used
Edgar Allan Poe
- “The Raven”,
Samuel Taylor”
Theodore
Roethke - “The
Root Cellar”,
Thomas Hardy “The
Convergence of
the Twain”,
William
Shakespeare
“That Time of
Year Thou
Mayest in Me
Behold”, Norah
Jones “Carnival Town”,
Cake - “Short
Skirt/Long
Jacket, Metric “Rock Me Now”
John Donne “Batter My
Heart, threepersoned God,
for You,”,
Adrienne Rich “Aunt Jenniferʼs
Tigers”, William
Shakespeare “When my love
swears that she
is made of
truth” (Sonnet
138), Lola Ray “Automatic Girl”,
Postal Service “Recycled Air”,
The Raconteurs
- “Steady as
She Goes”
Langston
Hughes “Harlem (Dream
Deferred)”
Andrew Marvell
- “To His Coy
Mistress”,
Imogen Heap “Hide and Seek”
NO CLASS
Writing
Students
describe picture
in their
notebooks.
N/A
Students listen
to “Hide and
Seek” and write
in their journals
what the five
most powerful
adverbs/
adjectives are
and how they
alter the
meaning of the
word they are
describing.
NO CLASS
Week 2
Thursday
(Day 9)
Friday
(Day 10)
Students return
to quickwrite
written on
Monday. Then
they narrow
down the
important words
to 10-15, then
try and narrow it
down to
seventeen
syllables in
order to turn it
into a haiku.
Sara Erfurth "
Week 2
Language
Study
Monday
(Day 6)
N/A
Tuesday
(Day 7)
Wednesday
(Day 8)
Students will
understand how
to differentiate
between a
wordʼs
denotations and
connotations.
Students learn
how adverbs
and adjectives
function by
playing apples
to apples and
how they can be
implemented in
poetry to
enhance
meaning by
looking at
adverbs/
adjectives in
“Hide and Seek”
Thursday
(Day 9)
NO CLASS
Friday
(Day 10)
N/A
Sara Erfurth "
Monday
(Day 6)
Tuesday
(Day 7)
Wednesday
(Day 8)
In-class
Activity
Give each
student a scenic
picture and
have them
describe it in
their notebooks
with as much
detail as they
can. Then show
students
examples of
imagery in
poems and ask
them how it
contributes to
the poem.
Have students
break into three
groups - one for
“Automatic Girl”,
“Recycled Air”,
and “Steady as
She Goes”, and
as a group have
students come
up with as many
meanings
possible of the
song just by
looking at the
title. Then show
them the whole
song(s) and ask
them what
meaning best
applies.
Give very quick
mini-lesson on
how adverbs
and adjectives
function in a
sentence, and
then have
students get
into groups of
4-5 and play
“Apples to
Apples”. After a
game, discuss
as a class how
adverbs/
adjectives can
completely
modify
meaning. Have
them listen to
“Hide and Seek”
and write in
their journals
what the five
most powerful
adverbs/
adjectives are
and how they
alter the
meaning of the
word they are
describing.
(Practice for
homework)
NO CLASS
Students are
told that they
will be writing a
haiku. They are
shown several
examples of
haiku and
introduced to
what is entailed
in a haiku seventeen
syllables (ish)
and the art of a
few words
suggesting
much meaning.
They do a
quickwrite
activity where
they write in
their journals for
10 minutes
about an image
that gives them
an emotional
response. Then
they narrow
down the
important words
to 10-15, then
try and narrow it
down to
seventeen
syllables in
order to turn it
into a haiku.
Objectives
Students learn
how imagery
functions as a
poetic device
Students
understand the
impact of the
connotations in
word choice
Students learn
how adverbs
and adjectives
become
powerful
elements of a
poem and how
they act as a
part of speech
NO CLASS
Students learn
how to write
haikuʼs to give
them
experience and
confidence in
writing their own
poetry.
Week 2
Thursday
(Day 9)
Friday
(Day 10)
Sara Erfurth "
Week 2
Assignments
Monday
(Day 6)
Students
annotate their
chosen song
lyrics for
imagery
Tuesday
(Day 7)
Wednesday
(Day 8)
Students
analyze the
connotations of
ten words within
their chosen
song lyrics.
Students find
five adjectives/
adverbs in their
chosen song
lyrics and write
how they impact
the meaning of
word they are
describing.
Thursday
(Day 9)
NO CLASS
Friday
(Day 10)
Students write a
haiku.
Sara Erfurth "
Monday
(Day 11)
Tuesday
(Day 12)
Wednesday
(Day 13)
Texts Used
BT - “The
Antikythera
Mechanism”,
William Butler
Yeats - “Leda
and the Swan”,
A.E. Housman “When I Was
One-andTwenty”, Robert
Frost - “Nothing
Gold Can Stay”,
Edgar Allan Poe
- “Bells”, A.E.
Housman “Eight OʼClock”,
Emily Dickinson
- “Because I
Could Not Stop
for Death”
“Everywhere
We Go”
Cadence, Alfred
Lord Tennyson “Break, Break,
Break”,
Gwendolyn
Brooks - “We
Real Cool”,
John Donne “The Flea”,
William
Shakespeare “Shall I compare
thee to a
summers day?”
Emily Dickinson
- “I Heard a Fly
Buzz - When I
Died”, Ronald
Gross - “Yield”,
William Butler
Yeats - “The
Second
Coming”,
William Stafford
- “Traveling
Through the
Dark”
NO CLASS
“Nested Poems”
by Faith Evans
Writing
N/A
N/A
Students will
rewrite
paragraph to
include
punctuation.
NO CLASS
Students will
write their own
nested poems.
Language
Study
N/A
N/A
Students will
understand how
punctuation
functions within
a sentence and
how it can be
manipulated to
change and
create meaning,
particularly
within poetry. :
Paragraph
where meaning
changes
depending upon
punctuation;
Sentence
boards activity.
NO CLASS
Students must
change
meaning in their
nested poem by
manipulating
the punctuation
rather than the
words.
Week 3
Thursday
(Day 14)
Friday
(Day 15)
Sara Erfurth "
Week 3
In-class
Activity
Monday
(Day 11)
Tuesday
(Day 12)
Wednesday
(Day 13)
Have students
go to theatre
and sit by
themselves (not
next to anyone)
and play “The
Antikythera
Mechanism” tell them there
was euphony
and cacophony
in the song, that
they are
opposites, and
that the songs
starts with
euphony and
ends with
cacophony then ask them
what the terms
mean and how
they influenced
the song. Show
students
examples of
euphony and
cacophony in
poems and
have they
contribute to
poetic meaning.
Also show them
elements of
alliteration,
assonance, and
rhyme (exact
rhyme and offrhyme)
Students march
to cadence
“Everywhere
We Go” and pay
attention to how
they know to
separate the
beats into foot
falls. Then go
back to class
and give
minilesson on
rhythm and
iambic meter.
Show them
examples of
iambic
pentameter and
then have them
get into small
groups and try
to find the
iambic
pentameter in
“Shall I compare
thee to a
summers day?”
Students will
come in to a
paragraph on
the board that
has no
punctuation.
They will be
asked to place
the punctuation
where they think
it goes - then
show students
an alternate
way of
implementing
punctuation in
the paragraph
that totally
changes
meaning. Give
students
posters (each
has a word from
a sentence in it
OR a
punctuation
mark in a
different color)
Tell students
what the
sentence needs
to say, using the
correct inflection
and have them
create that
meaning using
the punctuation
marks. Arrange
the sentence so
that several
different
meanings are
possible
depending upon
the punctuation.
Give students
examples of
how punctuation
changes
meaning in
poems.
Thursday
(Day 14)
NO CLASS
Friday
(Day 15)
Students are
taught how to
write a nested
poem - give a
minilesson (line
one is a simple
thought - a
couple of words;
line two is line
one again
exactly, only
with a few more
words added;
line three is line
two exactly, and
a few more
words added
and shift in
meaning or
direction - often
by punctuation;
line four and
five follow the
same pattern as
the last lines,
but uses
punctuation,
spelling and
word meaning
to shift the
meaning of the
poem - the last
line should have
twist or
surprise.) Show
students my
own example
and other
examples by
Faith Evans.
Tell students to
try on their own,
but to share
with a partner to
ensure that the
poem meets all
the
requirements.
Sara Erfurth "
Monday
(Day 11)
Tuesday
(Day 12)
Wednesday
(Day 13)
Objectives
Students will
understand how
sound
influences
poetic style and
meaning and
can be used as
a literary device.
Students will
understand how
rhythm affects
poetry and can
relate to
meaning.
Students will
understand how
punctuation
functions in a
sentence,
provides
meaning, and
can be
manipulated in
poetry.
NO CLASS
Students learn
how to write
nested poems
to give them
experience and
confidence in
writing their own
poetry.
Assignments
Students
annotate their
chosen song
lyrics for
elements of
sound, including
rhyme,
alliteration,
assonance,
cacophony, and
euphony.
Students
choose one
Shakespeare
sonnet and try
to mark the
iambic
pentameter in it.
Students will
choose 10
punctuation
marks in their
chosen song
lyrics and
explain how
they influence
the meaning of
the sentence
they are in.
NO CLASS
Students will
write their own
nested poems.
Week 3
Thursday
(Day 14)
Friday
(Day 15)
Sara Erfurth "
Monday
(Day 16)
Tuesday
(Day 17)
Wednesday
(Day 18)
Texts Used
http://
jijasali.com/
riddles.php,
Sylvia Plath “Metaphors”,
Margaret
Atwood - “You
fit into me”,
William
Shakespeare “My mistressʼs
eyes are
nothing like the
sun”, Percy
Bysshe Shelley
- “Ozymandias”,
The Killers “Mr. Brightside”,
The
Decemberists “The Perfect
Crime #2),
Norah Jones “The Prettiest
Thing”, Jeff
Buckley “Hallejuah”
Sylvia Plath “Lady Lazarus”,
Robert Frost “Out, Out-”,
Daniel Thiel “The Minefield”,
Robert Frost “The Road Not
Taken”, Cake “Comfort
Eagle”, Jack
Johnson “Break Down”,
The
Decemberists “The Crane
Wife 3”, The
Beatles - “Lady
Madonna”, Dido
- “My Loverʼs
Gone”, Animal
Kingdom - “Tin
Man”
Lewis Carroll “Jabberwocky”,
Emily Dickinson
- “It Dropped So
Low - in My
Regard”, Fred
Chappell “Narcissus and
Echo”, T.S. Eliot
- “Virginia”,
George Herbert
- “Easter
Wings”, Walt
Whitman - “O
Captain! My
Captain!”,
Gwendolyn
Brooks - “We
Real Cool”
NO CLASS
Stevie Smith “Not Waving But
Drowning”, T.S.
Eliiot - “The
Love Song of J.
Alfred Prufrock”,
Lord Alfred
Tennyson “Ulysses”, Dylan
Thomas - “Do
Not Go Gentle
Into That Good
Night”, Coldplay
- “Sparks”, Civil
Twilight “Letters From
the Sky”,
Portishead “Glory Box”,
Sea Wolf “Black Dirt”,
Motion City
Soundtrack “Resolution”,
The XX - “Basic
Space”
Writing
Students take
one figure of
speech and shift
is so that the
meaning of it
changes to what
is unexpected.
Students
annotate their
group poem for
symbolism/
allusion and
how it relates to
meaning.
Students write
out a paragraph
about why they
“canʼt write a
poem” - then
have them
break that
paragraph into a
poem, being
creative with the
line breaks in
the sentence.
NO CLASS
Students write
about what has
been their
favorite poem/
song that weʼve
looked at this
semester, as
well as reflect
upon how their
attitudes and
perceptions of
poetry have
changed/not
changed over
the course of
the unit.
Week 4
Thursday
(Day 19)
Friday
(Day 20)
Sara Erfurth "
Week 4
Language
Study
Monday
(Day 16)
Figures of
speech tap into
students natural
language sense
to either
summarize
meaning or
surprise them
with an
unexpected shift
- can be used
as powerful or
weak literary
tools.
Tuesday
(Day 17)
N/A
Wednesday
(Day 18)
Sentence
Structure - how
students have
innate
knowledge of
sentence
structure and
how it can be
manipulated to
increase
meaning in
poems language
changes and
varies.
Thursday
(Day 19)
NO CLASS
Friday
(Day 20)
N/A
Sara Erfurth "
Week 4
In-class
Activity
Monday
(Day 16)
Tuesday
(Day 17)
Wednesday
(Day 18)
Students will
each receive in
an envelope a
riddle and its
answer that
they alone will
be able to ask.
They then ask
five people their
riddle and see
how many are
able to guess it
in five guesses
or less. Meet as
a class and then
discuss how
riddles are
powerful
because they
contain and
manipulate
figures of
speech - show
them poetic
examples. Have
students take
one figure of
speech and shift
it so that the
meaning
changes to
something
unexpected.
Students are
broken into
seven groups
and each group
given a different
song that either
has strong
symbolism or
allusion in it.
Each group
then has to
figure out what
the symbolism
or allusion is
and then
analyze the
poem for how it
shifts/creates
the poems
meaning. Each
group then
reports their
findings to the
rest of the class.
Reconvene as a
class and then
discuss how
poetry often
utilizes symbols
and allusions to
cue the reader
to a deeper
meaning.
Students are all
given a copy of
the first stanza
of
“Jabberwocky”
and told to
identify the
parts of speech
listed on the
board within the
poem - they can
work in partners
or small groups.
Reconvene as a
class and
discuss how
they knew what
each word
stood for
without knowing
the meaning of
the word. Read
them Humptey
Dumpteyʼs
explication of
“Jabberwocky”.
Explain how
sentence
structure can be
manipulated
stylistically in
order to create
meaning in
poems. Show
students poetic
examples of
this. Then have
students write
out a paragraph
about why they
“canʼt write a
poem” - then for
homework have
them break that
paragraph into a
poem, being
creative with the
line breaks in
the sentence.
Thursday
(Day 19)
NO CLASS
Friday
(Day 20)
Tell students
this is a day to
review and
cover poems/
songs that we
haven't had a
chance to look
at yet. Read
them the
poems/have
them listen to
the songs listed
in the text and
tell students
these are some
of my personal
favorites. Ask
them to get out
a sheet of paper
and write a
letter to me
telling me what
their favorite
poem/song
weʼve looked at
has been and
why, and how
their perception
of poetry has
changed (or not
changed) since
the start of the
unit. Answer
any questions
about the
upcoming
presentations of
music videos or
poetry jam that
will be
happening next
week.
Sara Erfurth "
Monday
(Day 16)
Tuesday
(Day 17)
Wednesday
(Day 18)
Objectives
Students will
understand how
figures of
speech function
in poetry and
how they can be
used effectively
Students will
understand how
symbolism and
allusion
contribute to a
poems
meaning.
Students will
understand how
sentence
structure
functions, how
they have a
natural
language sense
of sentence
structure, and
how they can
manipulate
sentence
structure to
affect meaning
in poems.
NO CLASS
Review poetic
styles/forms,
have students
reflect on poetry
and their
perceptions
regarding it, and
to discuss some
other poems/
songs that have
not had a
chance to be
looked at yet.
(Unit Wrap-up)
Assignments
Students will
annotate their
chosen song
lyrics for any
figures of
speech and how
they add
meaning to the
lyrics.
Students will
annotate their
chosen song
lyrics for any
symbols or
allusions and
write how they
contribute to
meaning.
Students break
down their
paragraph into a
poem, being
creative with the
way they break
the lines apart.
NO CLASS
Students will
write a poem of
any form or
style they
choose. They
must make their
music video on
their chosen
song lyrics,
paying attention
to all of the
poetic elements
they have
already
identified within
it. They will
present this,
along with their
favorite poem
they have
written in the
course of the
unit to the class
next week.
Week 4
Thursday
(Day 19)
Friday
(Day 20)
Sara Erfurth "
Week 5
Monday
(Day 21)
Tuesday
(Day 22)
Wednesday
(Day 23)
Thursday
(Day 24)
Friday
(Day 25)
Texts Used
N/A
N/A
N/A
NO CLASS
N/A
Writing
N/A
N/A
N/A
NO CLASS
N/A
Language
Study
N/A
N/A
N/A
NO CLASS
N/A
In-class
Activity
Students are
taken down to
computer lab
and given crash
course in using
the editing
programs
available.
Students spend
period editing
their music
video footage.
Students are
taken down to
computer lab
and spend
period editing
their music
video footage.
Each students
presents his/her
Music Video to
the class for a
grade.
NO CLASS
Poetry Coffee
House: Each
student read
his/her favorite
poem theyʼve
written aloud
and turns in
their poetry
portfolio.
Objectives
Students will get
a chance to edit
their music
videos in the
computer lab.
Students will get
a chance to edit
their music
videos in the
computer lab.
Students
present Music
Videoʼs on their
chosen song
lyrics to
demonstrate
their
understanding
on the elements
of poetry and
how they impact
meaning.
NO CLASS
Students share
with the class
their favorite
poem they have
written over the
course of the
semester to
give them
confidence in
their own poetry
writing skills and
to give them
recognition for
their own poetic
skills. Students
also turn in
portfolio of all
other poems
written over the
course of the
unit for a grade.
Sara Erfurth "
Week 5
Monday
(Day 21)
Tuesday
(Day 22)
Wednesday
(Day 23)
Assignments
Students must
work on
polishing their
portfolio.
Students must
complete their
music video
footage, if they
haven't already.
Students must
finish and polish
their music
video for
presentations
next day.
Students polish
poetry portfolios
for tomorrow
and rehearse
their favorite
poem to share
with the class.
Thursday
(Day 24)
NO CLASS
Friday
(Day 25)
N/A
Course: 10th Grade Composition
Unit: Poetry
Instructor: Sara Erfurth
Topic: Unit Introduction
Lesson Number: 1
Standards:
Colorado Academic Standards, 10th Grade
2. Reading for All Purposes
1.Literary and historical influences determine the meaning of traditional and
contemporary literary texts
b. Evaluate the contribution to society made by traditional, classic, and
contemporary works of literature that deal with similar topics and problems
Subject of Lesson/Objective:
To introduce students to a poetry unit, hook their attention and enthusiasm, and to have them
reconsider the study of poetry by exploiting their preconceptions regarding it.
Instructional Aids, Materials, or Tools Needed:
An ipod with the above songs of it.
A survey for every member of the class
Time Duration:
50 minutes
Lesson Outline
Introduction:
1. Pass around a survey that asks the students to rate their enthusiasm in the study of poetry.
Prepare for mostly negative results
2. Once the surveys are all passed back, read some of them aloud (anonymously) and summarize
that most of them aren't super thrilled about the idea of poetry. Confirm with them that it is
because they feel they can’t relate it to their own lives, they feel like they aren't the “right
person” to analyze and write poetry.
Instruction:
1. Start playing a bit of The Killers “When You Were Young” and ask students if they like it by
show of hands. Next play Gnarls Barkley “Crazy” and ask again for a show of hands. Do the
same thing with Black Eyed Peas “I Got a Feeling”, The Beatles “Come Together” and
Gorillaz “Feel Good Inc.” Overall you should get a positive feedback.
2. Abruptly stop the music and inform the students that they are in for some news. Not only are
they enthusiastic about poetry, but they listen to it everyday. They read it frequently, and some
of them indeed, do write it. Song lyrics are poetry. So long as they appreciate music with
lyrics, they are fans of poetry.
3. Have the students write down three of their favorite songs (with lyrics) as their exit ticket.
Have a few volunteers share to the class.
4. Explain to students that for their final project in this unit they will be making a music video of
a song of their choice, with the music video focusing on the meaning of the lyrics.
Assignments:
Have students go home and bring in a list of songs that they feel have strong lyrics. Tell them to
challenge themselves and make sure the lyrics have a lot of analyzation potential - while “I Want
to Hold Your Hand” by The Beatles may be a great song, it doesn’t have a lot of depth.
Poetry Survey!!
(Be honest or the gremlins will get you)
Answer on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being never, 5 being all of the time.
How often do you sit down and read poetry?
How often do you write poetry?
How much poetry do you actively listen to?
What is your general feeling towards the study of poetry?
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Unit: Poetry
Topic: What is Poetry?
Lesson Number: 2
Standards:
2. Reading for all purposes
2. The development of new ideas and concepts within informational and persuasive
manuscripts
b. Analyze how a concept is presented and developed in multiple texts
c. Compare the development of an idea or concept in multiple texts supported by
text-based evidence
The many alternate forms that poetry can take place gives students an understanding of how
poetry can change and vary depending upon purpose. The students learn the basic elements that
poetry is comprised of and why poetry is significant as a form of expression.
Slideshow of songs and poems: “The Red Wheelbarrow”, “This is Just to Say” - William Carlos
Williams, “Sestina” - Elizabeth Bishop, “Carnation Milk” - Anonymous, “That time of year thou
mayest in me behold” - William Shakespeare, “I heard a Fly buzz - when I died,” - Emily
Dickinson
Students bring in printed out song lyrics, which is placed on overhead, and song lyrics on ipod,
which is played on ipod speaker.
Time Duration:
50 minutes
Lesson Outline
Introduction:
1. Students are asked to challenge their preconceptions of what is poetry. Show them “This is
Just to Say” and ask them if it counts as poetry. Have them explain why or why not.
Instruction:
1. Show students “Carnation Milk”, “Sestina”, “The Red Wheelbarrow”, “I heard a Fly buzz when I died”, and “That time of year thou mayest in me behold” and create a class what traits
connect all of these poems.
2. Make a list of what traits poems have on the board and come to a conclusion as a class of what
poetry is.
3. Give students a chance to share a songs that they brought in - discuss how they, too, count as
poetry.
4. Tell students that they will be choosing one song’s lyrics to analyze over the course of the
semester and to turn into a music video, based on their analyzations. Pass out assignment sheet
and rubric and answer any questions regarding it.
5. Have students choose one song from the three they brought in as their song to analyze. Them
have them write a rationale for why the lyrics are substantial for analyzation purposes and
why the song counts as poetry. At the end of the period have the students turn this in along
with their chosen song lyrics. (Tell the students that for the rest of the unit they need to bring
in a copy of their chosen lyrics every day to class in case they need to turn them in with
annotations.)
Assignments:
Students begin thinking of ways in which to turn chosen song lyrics into music video.
The Red Wheelbarrow
- William Carlos Williams
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
This is Just to Say
- William Carlos Williams
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold.
Sestina
~ Elizabeth Bishop
September rain falls on the house.
In the failing light, the old grandmother
sits in the kitchen with the child
beside the Little Marvel Stove,
reading the jokes from the almanac,
laughing and talking to hide her tears.
She thinks that her equinoctial tears
and the rain that beats on the roof of the house
were both foretold by the almanac,
but only known to a grandmother.
The iron kettle sings on the stove.
She cuts some bread and says to the child,
It's time for tea now; but the child
is watching the teakettle's small hard tears
dance like mad on the hot black stove,
the way the rain must dance on the house.
Tidying up, the old grandmother
hangs up the clever almanac
on its string. Birdlike, the almanac
hovers half open above the child,
hovers above the old grandmother
and her teacup full of dark brown tears.
She shivers and says she thinks the house
feels chilly, and puts more wood in the stove.
It was to be, says the Marvel Stove.
I know what I know, says the almanac.
With crayons the child draws a rigid house
and a winding pathway. Then the child
puts in a man with buttons like tears
and shows it proudly to the grandmother.
But secretly, while the grandmother
busies herself about the stove,
the little moons fall down like tears
from between the pages of the almanac
into the flower bed the child
has carefully placed in the front of the house.
Time to plant tears, says the almanac.
The grandmother sings to the marvelous stove
and the child draws another inscrutable house.
Carnation Milk
~Anonymous
Carnation Milk is the best in the land;
Here I sit with a can in my hand Not tits to pull, no hay to pitch,
You just punch a hole in the son of a bitch.
That time of year thou mayest in me behold
~ William Shakespeare
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see'st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals all up in rest.
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the deathbed whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.
This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
I heard a Fly buzz - when I died
~Emily Dickinson
I heard a fly buzz when I died;
The stillness round my form
Was like the stillness in the air
Between the heaves of storm.
The eyes beside had wrung them dry,
And breaths were gathering sure
For that last onset, when the king
Be witnessed in his power.
I willed my keepsakes, signed away
What portion of me I
Could make assignable, -- and then
There interposed a fly,
With blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz,
Between the light and me;
And then the windows failed, and then
I could not see to see.
Music Video Assignment (Culminating Assignment)
(Read this - it’s important!!)
What is it?
During this class we’ve talked about the ways in which songs are another form of poetry through
their lyrics. Therefore, for your big project in this unit you will be creating a music video of one
song’s song lyrics. The music video you create must show the overall meaning and tone of your
lyrics, as well as demonstrate how the lyric’s use of word choice, imagery, sound, figures of
speech, punctuation, symbolism, allusion, and structure contribute to the meaning of the song.
Over the course of the unit you will be doing annotations on your lyrics addressing all of these
elements in order to assist you in determining meaning.
What can it look like?
The music video can either be a compilation of video clips that you take with a video camera, or
it can be a stylized slideshow of images that flow together like a video. In the final week of the
unit you will have two workshop days in the computer lab to edit your video clips or images in
order to create a professional-looking music video. (Please come see me if you need help
obtaining either a camera or a video camera.) For the finished product you will combining your
set of images or video clips to the actual song that you are analyzing.
How do I choose said lyrics?
The song lyrics can be of your choice, but must be approved by me in the first week of the unit.
The lyrics you choose should be relatively school-appropriate, and need to have significant
substance that you can analyze. For example, there are many great Beatles songs, but “I Want to
Hold Your Hand” would not be the best choice for analyzation as its lyrics are very
straightforward and basic. (There are however, other Beatles songs that would be excellent). Use
your judgement on this, but remember that the more material there is to work with, the better
your music video will come out. For ideas on songs with excellent lyrics you may consult and
use the list on the next page.
All the fun details:
This project is due Wednesday of the last week of this unit (Week 5) in class. Along with
presenting your music video to the class you must also have:
- Your annotations (8) for your chosen song lyrics (tone, imagery, word connotations, adjectives/
adverbs, elements of sound, punctuation, figures of speech, symbolism and allusion). Please
note that if you have less than all 8 of your annotations your grade automatically goes to the
lowest possible.
- A one-two page reflection on your creation of the music video, which includes a self-evaluation
of your own work, and an explanation of any artistic choices made in its presentation
- Your rubric for this project
Remember: this is your chance to show off what an expert you are at your song be creative and make yourself look good!
Suggestions for songs with strong lyrics:
“Summersong” - The Decemberists
“Crooked Teeth” - Death Cab for Cutie
“It’s All Understood” - Jack Johnson
“Belief” - John Mayer
“Seven Nation Army” - The White Stripes
“Be Here to Love Me” - Norah Jones
“Twisted Logic” - Coldplay
“Speeding Cars” - Imogen Heap
“Teardrop” - Massive Attack
“Lazarus” - Porcupine Tree
“Glory Box” - Portishead
“Silhouettes” - Postal Service
“Black Dirt” - Sea Wolf
“I Sing I Swim” - Sea Bear
“Angel Dust” - Aaron
“Cystalised” - The XX
“Fixing a Hole” - The Beatles
“Come Together” - The Beatles
“Run-Around” - Blues Traveler
“Fortunate Son” - Creedence Clearwater
“Crash Into Me” - Dave Matthews Band
“Bohemian Rhapsody” - Queen
“Kings and Queens” - Aerosmith
“Wires” - Athlete
“Falling Out of Trees” - Barcelona
“Silent Sea” - KT Tunstall
“Diamonds” - A Sides
“Everybody Loves a Loser” - Morcheeba
“Spring and By Summer Fall” - Blonde Redhead
“Ocean Breathes Salty” - Modest Mouse
“Kidz with Guns” - Gorillaz
“Kill the Messenger” - Jack’s Mannequin
“Together We’ll Ring in The New Year” - Motion City Soundtrack
“This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race” - Fall Out Boy
“The Only Difference Between Martydom and Suicide Is Press Coverage” - Panic! At the Disco
“Map of the Problematique” - Muse
“Chocolate” - Snow Patrol
Music Video Project
4
Excellent
3
Good
2
Needs Improving
1
Unsatisfactory
Presentation
20 pts /100
Product is extremely
polished and flows well.
The product functions as a
professional music video
for the song.
Product shows evidence
of polishing and flows well
enough in order to not be
distracting from content.
Some effort was made to
polish product and to
incorporate flow, but there
are still rough parts that
are distracting.
Minimal to no effort was
put into polishing the
product and the flow is
rough and distracting from
the productʼs content.
Content
30 pts /100
The meaning and tone of
the lyrics are clearly
shown in the music video,
with strong focus on how
the lyricʼs use of word
choice, imagery, sound,
figures of speech,
punctuation, symbolism,
allusion, and structure
contribute to the meaning
of the song.
the lyrics is conveyed, but
is not always clearly
evident. There is some
focus on how the lyricʼs
use of word choice,
imagery, sound, figures of
speech, punctuation,
symbolism, allusion, and
structure contribute to the
meaning of the song.
the lyrics is not clearly
demonstrated and there is
weak or unclear focus on
how the lyricʼs use of word
figures of speech,
of the song.
the lyrics is not evident in
the music video and there
is little to no focus on how
the lyricʼs use of word
figures of speech,
of the song.
Annotations
30 pts / 100
All 8 annotations are
handed in with product.
Annotations do a thorough
job of analyzing the lyrics
for their designated
elements.
Annotations analyze the
lyrics for their designated
elements, but some are
insufficient in their
coverage
Annotations consistently
are overly simplistic and
insufficient in their
analyzations.
Less than 8 annotations
are handed in with
product.
Reflection
20 pts /100
Self-reflection is thorough
and honest in its selfevaluation, and gives
explicit explanations of
artistic choices.
Self-reflection provides
adequate self-evaluation,
and provides explanation
for most artistic choices,
but is not completely
thorough, or is overly
general.
Self-reflection skims over
self-evaluation and
provides minimal and
general explanation of
artistic choices.
Self-reflection provides
little to no self-evaluation
and little to no explanation
of artistic choices.
Points Earned: ______ / 100
Unit: Poetry
Topic: Identifying Tone in Poetry
Lesson Number: 3
Standards:
1. Oral Expression and Listening
2. Effectively operating in small and large groups to accomplish a goal requires active
listening
b. Contribute effectively in both small and large groups to collaboratively
accomplish a goal
d. Analyze how literary components affect meaning
manuscripts
b. Analyze how a concept is presented and developed in multiple
texts
Students learn the purposes and uses of diction and how it relates to tone. Students will also
know how to identify tone within a poem.
Youtube videos - Original Mary Poppins Trailers, and Scary Re-cut Mary Poppins Trailer - Mary
Poppins trailers are to demonstrate to students tone
Theodore Roethke - “My Papa’s Waltz”, Ezra Pound - “In a Station of the Metro”, Billy Collins
Midnight”, Slowblow - “Hamburger Cemetary”; poems and songs are all examples of tone and
how it is created.
Students bring in their chosen lyrics.
Time Duration:
90 minutes
Lesson Outline
Introduction:
1. Show students the original Mary Poppins trailer and ask them to quickwrite about what the
tone conveyed is.
2. Show students the recut trailer and ask them to do the same thing, noticing differences in tone.
(The second trailer is cut to make the movie look scary - simply by manipulating the images
chosen and the background sound.)
3. Discuss as a class how tone was manipulated.
Instruction:
4. Have students get into small groups and act out a sentence such as “I just saw someone key a
teacher’s car out in the parking lot” - with the tone of angry, amused, and astonished.
5. Discuss how diction creates tone in writing - show them example poems/songs and discuss as
a class what the tone is and, most importantly, how we know.
6. Then have students look at their own chosen song lyrics and notice any words that clue them
into tone.
7. Provide quick mini-lesson on overhead on how to annotate a poem and then let them attempt
it for themselves. They will turn their lyric annotations of tone at the end of the class period.
Assignments:
Students annotate their unit project poem for tone, paying close attention to the diction used.
Original Mary Poppins Trailer
Re-cut Mary Poppins Trailer
My Papa’s Waltz
~ Theodore Roethke
The whiskey on your breath
Could make a small boy dizzy;
But I hung on like death:
Such waltzing was not easy.
We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother's countenance
Could not unfrown itself.
The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.
You beat time on my head
With a palm caked hard by dirt,
Then waltzed me off to bed
Still clinging to your shirt.
In a Station of the Metro
~ Ezra Pound
The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
petals on a wet, black bough.
Embrace
~ Billy Collins
You know the parlor trick.
wrap your arms around your own body
and from the back it looks like
someone is embracing you
her hands grasping your shirt
her fingernails teasing your neck
from the front it is another story
you never looked so alone
your crossed elbows and screwy grin
you could be waiting for a tailor
to fit you with a straight jacket
one that would hold you really tight.
U-turn (Lili)
~ Aaron
Lili, take another walk out of your fake world
Please put all the drugs out of your hand
You'll see that you can breathe with no back up
So much stuff you've got to understand
For every step in any walk
Any town of any thought
I'll be your guide
For every street of any scene
Any place you've never been
I'll be your guide
Lili, you know there's still a place for people like us
The same blood runs in every hand
You see it's not the wings that make the angel
Just have to move the bats out of your head
I'll be your guide
I'll be your guide
Lili, easy as a kiss we'll find an answer
Put all your fears back in the shade
Oh don't become a ghost with no colour
Cause you're the best paint, life ever made
I'll be your guide
I'll be your guide
Sometime Around Midnight
~ Airborn Toxic Event
And it starts...
Sometime around midnight
Or at least that's when
You lose yourself
For a minute or two
As you stand...
Under the barlights
And the band plays some song
About forgetting yourself for a while
And the piano's this melancholy soundtrack
To her smile
And that white dress she's wearing
You haven't seen her
For a while
But you know...
That she's watching
She's laughing, she's turning
She's holding her tonic like a cross
The room suddenly spinning
She walks up and asks how you are
So you can smell her perfume
You can see her lying naked in your arms
And so there's a change...
In your emotions
And all of these memories come rushing
Like feral waves to your mind
Of the curl of your bodies Like two perfect circles entwined
And you feel hopeless, and homeless
And lost in the haze
Of the wine
And she leaves...
With someone you don't know
But she makes sure you saw her
She looks right at you and bolts
As she walks out the door
Your blood boiling
Your stomach in ropes
And when your friends say what is it
You look like you've seen a ghost
And you walk...
Under the streetlights
And you're too drunk to notice
That everyone is staring at you
And you so care what you look like
The world is falling
Around you
You just have to see her
And you know that she'll break you
In two
Hamburger Cemetery
~ Slowblow
I didn't know that afternoon the ground
was waiting to become another grave in just a few short days.
too bad I couldn't grab the bullet out of the air and put it back into the rifle barrel.
and it would spiral itself back down the barrel
and into the chamber and
refasten itself into the shell
and it'd be as if it had never been fired or even loaded into the gun.
I wish the bullet was back in its box
with the other forty-nine brother and sister bullets
and the box was safely on the shelf in the gun shop
and i had just walked by the shop on that rainy february afternoon
and had never gone inside.
I wish I had been hungry for a hamburger instead of bullets.
there was a restaurant right next to the gun shop.
they had very good hamburgers, but i wasn't hungry.
for the rest of my life i will think about that hamburger.
i was sitting there at the counter holding it with tears draining down my cheeks.
the waitress will be looking away
because she doesn't like to see kids crying while they're eating hamburgers.
and also, she doesn't want to embarrass me.
I am the only customer in the restaurant.
Unit: Poetry
Topic: Quatrain Poems
Lesson Number: 5
Standards:
3. Writing and Composition
1. Literary or narrative genres feature a variety of stylistic devices to engage or
entertain an audience
b. Write literary and narrative texts using a range of stylistic devices
(poetic techniques, figurative language, imagery, graphic elements) to
support the presentation of implicit or explicit theme
c. Enhance the expression of voice, tone, and mood in a text by selecting and
using vivid and precise diction, syntax, and punctuation
Students will learn how to write a quatrain poem, and, more importantly, gain confidence in their
own ability to write poetry.
William Blake - “The Tyger”, Henry Van Dyke - “The Empty Quatrain”, Robert Graves “Counting the Beats” - all of these poems are examples of a quatrain poem that will help students
in understanding what a quatrain can look like.
Overheads of the poems, as well as handouts with the poems, so as to provide students with takehome examples.
Time Duration:
50 minutes
Lesson Outline
Introduction:
1. Tell students they will start writing their own poems. Pass out assignment for Quatrain poem.
Instruction:
4. Show them examples of quatrain poems and discuss elements of quatrain poems - quatrain
poems do not have any defined format beyond being sets of four lines or rhyme scheme, but
they have several that are commonly used.
5. On board, show abab form and aabb form. Check for understanding by having students
identify which poem uses which format.
6. Have students write in their journals for five minutes about their favorite hobby/activity.
7. Then have them change the prose into a poem that is in quatrain structure. (If they wish, the
students can use another topic for their quatrain.)
Assignments:
Students’ write their own quatrain about their favorite hobby OR a topic of their choosing.
Examples of Quatrains
The Tyger
~ William Blake
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright,
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
The Empty Quatrain
~ Henry Van Dyke
A flawless cup: how delicate and fine
The flowing curve of every jewelled line!
Look, turn it up or down, 't is perfect still,-But holds no drop of life's heart-warming wine.
Counting the Beats
~ Robert Graves
You, love, and I,
(He whispers) you and I,
And if no more than only you and I
What care you or I ?
Counting the beats,
Counting the slow heart beats,
The bleeding to death of time in slow heart beats,
Wakeful they lie.
Cloudless day,
Night, and a cloudless day,
Yet the huge storm will burst upon their heads one day
From a bitter sky.
Where shall we be,
(She whispers) where shall we be,
When death strikes home, O where then shall we be
Who were you and I ?
Not there but here,
(He whispers) only here,
As we are, here, together, now and here,
Always you and I.
Counting the beats,
Counting the slow heart beats,
The bleeding to death of time in slow heart beats,
Wakeful they lie.
Unit: Poetry
Topic: Imagery in Poetry
Lesson Number: 6
Standards:
1. Literary and historical influences determine the meaning of traditional and
e. Explain the relationship between author's style and literary effect
1.Literary or narrative genres feature a variety of stylistic devices to engage or
Students will understand how imagery works within poetry and why it is important as a literary
and poetic device.
Edgar Allan Poe - “The Raven”, Samuel Taylor” Theodore Roethke - “The Root Cellar”,
Thomas Hardy - “The Convergence of the Twain”, William Shakespeare “That Time of Year
Thou Mayest in Me Behold”, Norah Jones - “Carnival Town”, Cake - “Short Skirt/Long Jacket,
Metric - “Rock Me Now” - all poems/songs are examples of the impact of imagery in poetry.
One scenic picture for every student of the class (all pictures different and are designed to evoke
an emotional response)
Slideshow of songs and poems listed - slideshow contains lyrics/words, as well as the music for
those that apply.
Time Duration:
50 minutes
Lesson Outline
Introduction:
1. Students are each given a picture when they come into class (each picture is different, displays
a scenic image, and is designed to evoke a certain emotion), and then are told to write about the
picture for ten minutes straight, without pausing, and to write whatever comes into their head as
they look at the picture.
Instruction:
4. Then show students examples of poem/songs with very strong imagery and ask the students
how they create it.
5. Make a list as a class and discuss the role that emotions play in imagery.
6. Have students annotate their chosen song lyrics for imagery that day for homework (or in
class, if time).
Assignments:
Students annotate their chosen song lyrics for imagery
The Raven
~ Edgar Allan Poe
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber doorOnly this, and nothing more."
In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore;
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed
he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber doorPerched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber doorPerched, and sat, and nothing more.
This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamplight gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamplight gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;- vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow- sorrow for the lost LenoreFor the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name LenoreNameless here for evermore.
Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore.
"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no
craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the Nightly shoreTell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."
Then methought the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor.
"Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee- by these angels he
hath sent thee
Respite- respite and nepenthe, from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!"
Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning- little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blest with seeing bird above his chamber doorBird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as "Nevermore."
"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!- prophet still, if bird or
devil!Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchantedOn this home by horror haunted- tell me truly, I imploreIs there- is there balm in Gilead?- tell me- tell me, I implore!"
And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me- filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,
"'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber doorSome late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;This it is, and nothing more."
Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you"- here I opened wide the door;Darkness there, and nothing more.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering,
fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore!"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!"Merely this, and nothing more.
Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
"Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice:
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery exploreLet my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;'Tis the wind and nothing more."
Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and
flutter,
But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered- not a feather then he flutteredTill I scarcely more than muttered, "other friends have flown
beforeOn the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before."
Then the bird said, "Nevermore."
Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden boreTill the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore
Of 'Never- nevermore'."
But the Raven still beguiling all my fancy into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and
door;
Then upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yoreWhat this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking "Nevermore."
"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil- prophet still, if bird or
devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us- by that God we both adoreTell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name LenoreClasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore."
"Be that word our sign in parting, bird or fiend," I shrieked,
upstarting"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken!- quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my
door!"
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the
floor;
The Root Cellar
~ Theodore Roethke
Nothing would sleep in that cellar, dank as a ditch,
Bulbs broke out of boxes hunting for chinks in the dark,
Shoots dangled and drooped,
Lolling obscenely from mildewed crates,
Hung down long yellow evil necks, like tropical snakes.
And what a congress of stinks!—
Roots ripe as old bait,
Pulpy stems, rank, silo-rich,
Leaf-mold, manure, lime, piled against slippery planks.
Nothing would give up life:
Even the dirt kept breathing a small breath.
The Convergence of the Twain
~ Thomas Hardy
I
In a solitude of the sea
Deep from human vanity,
And the Pride of Life that planned her, stilly couches she.
II
Steel chambers, late the pyres
Of her salamandrine fires,
Cold currents thrid, and turn to rhythmic tidal lyres.
III
Over the mirrors meant
To glass the opulent
The sea-worm crawls -- grotesque, slimed, dumb, indifferent.
IV
Jewels in joy designed
To ravish the sensuous mind
Lie lightless, all their sparkles bleared and black and blind.
V
Dim moon-eyed fishes near
Gaze at the gilded gear
And query: 'What does this vaingloriousness down here?'. . .
VI
Well: while was fashioning
This creature of cleaving wing,
The Immanent Will that stirs and urges everything
VII
Prepared a sinister mate
For her -- so gaily great -A Shape of Ice, for the time fat and dissociate.
VIII
And as the smart ship grew
In stature, grace, and hue
In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too.
IX
Alien they seemed to be:
No mortal eye could see
The intimate welding of their later history.
X
Or sign that they were bent
By paths coincident
On being anon twin halves of one August event,
XI
Till the Spinner of the Years
Said 'Now!' And each one hears,
And consummation comes, and jars two hemispheres That time of year thou mayest in me behold
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see'st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals all up in rest.
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the deathbed whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.
This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
Carnival Town
~ Norah Jones
Round 'n round
Carousel
Has got you under it's spell
Moving so fast...but
Going nowhere
Up 'n down
Ferris wheel
Tell me how does it feel
To be so high...
Looking down here
Is it lonely?
Lonely
Lonely
Did the clown
Make you smile
He was only your fool for a while
Now he's gone back home
And left you wandering there
Is it lonely?
Lonely
Lonely
Short Skirt/Long Jacket
~ Cake
I want a girl
With a mind like a diamond
I want a girl
Who knows what's best
I want a girl
With shoes that cut
And eyes that burn
Like cigarettes
I want a girl
With the right allocations
Who's fast and thorough
And sharp as a tack
She's playing with her jewelry
She's putting up her hair
She's touring the facility
And picking up slack
I want a girl with a short skirt and a lonnnng jacket......
I want a girl
Who gets up early
I want a girl
Who stays up late
I want a girl
With uninterupted prosperity
Who uses a machete
To cut through red tape
With fingernails
That shine like justice
And a voice that is dark
Like tinted glass
She is fast and thorough
And sharp as a tack
She's touring the facility
And picking up slack
I want a girl with a short skirt and a long.... long jacket
I want a girl
With a smooth liquidation
I want a girl
With good dividends
And at the city bank
We will meet accidentally
We'll start to talk
When she borrows my pen
She wants a car
With a cupholder arm rest
She wants a car
That will get her there
She's changing her name
From Kitty to Karen
She's trading her MG
For a white Chrysler LeBaron
I want a girl with a short skirt and a long jacket
Rock Me Now
~ Metric
The town where she was born, like the town where I was born,
Was built by white settlers seeking gold and other treasures
Like me she feels uncomfortable in the clothing of her ancestors
It's not easy she would say, ripping her fingers into the ashtray
It's not easy to erase your blood
Rock me now (sing with me),
In the arms of cobwebs
Roll me out,
Once she found a man to treasure and together
They planted flowers of warning fearing frost
Late on shallow evenings while their enemies slept
They hammered the soil asking for answers in cream
His value declined when he offered his name
Why did he offer?
His value declined,
When he offered his name
His value declined,
(...through the ally-ways. blaming it on the dump-truck, blaming it on the fuel.
transient, transient, everybody owes gotta be livin off the dump-truck, livin off
the fuel)
When she was seven years old she saw a man get shot but,
No one came for a long time because
It happened in a remote parking lot in Las Vegas
And she was waiting for her mom to come back
From working the blackjack table at the Circus Circus casino
And that night her mom said the two of them and the now dead guy
Were the only three people that ever really lived in Las Vegas
Everybody else just arrived,
Ate their complementary shrimp cocktail, and left.
Rock me now,
It's a one-room city here,
It's a one-room city here
(So can you roll me) roll me out,
(It's a one-room city here)
His value declined,
You rent a one-room city here,
It's a one-room city here
The wall to wall to wall to wall
Go street to street to street.
Unit: Poetry
Topic: The Influence of Word Connotations
Lesson Number: 7
Standards:
listening
accomplish a goal
manuscripts
d. Describe how the author's use of persuasive vocabulary influences
readers' opinions or actions
Students will understand the differences between a word’s denotations and connotations.
Students will also know how a word’s connotations impact meaning and the importance of word
choice in poetry.
John Donne - “Batter My Heart, three-personed God, for You,”, Adrienne Rich - “Aunt Jennifer’s
Tigers”, William Shakespeare - “When my love swears that she is made of truth” (Sonnet 138),
Lola Ray - “Automatic Girl”, Postal Service - “Recycled Air”, The Raconteurs - “Steady as She
Goes” - all poems/songs are examples of the impact of word connotations in poetry.
those that apply.
Notecards with song title - either “Automatic Girl”, “Recycled Air”, or “Steady as She Goes”,
on it and even amount of notecards per title. (one notecard for every student in the class).
Time Duration:
50 minutes
Lesson Outline
Introduction:
1. Students are handed notecard with song title in it when they come into class and are told to get
into groups depending on their song title.
2. Each group then has to analyze the song title name given on their card and come up with as
many possible meanings that the title could be hinting at.
Instruction:
1. Reconvene as a class and have each group report their possible meanings discussed.
2. Show the class the full songs/lyrics and then ask each group which possible meaning they
discussed fits the best with the rest of the song.
3. Discuss how ambiguity of meaning can be powerful.
4. Give quick mini-lesson on denotations verses connotations.
5. Show students poems that play with a with the connotations of words.
6. Have students annotate their chosen song lyrics - analyze the connotations of ten words and
discuss how they relate to the overall meaning of the poem.
Assignments:
Students analyze the connotations of ten words within their chosen song lyrics and write how
they affect meaning.
Batter My Heart, three-personed God, for You,
~ John Donne
Batter my heart, three-personed God; for You
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me,'and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurped town, to'another due,
Labor to'admit You, but O, to no end;
Reason, Your viceroy'in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly'I love You,'and would be loved fain,
But am betrothed unto Your enemy.
Divorce me,'untie or break that knot again;
Take me to You, imprison me, for I
Except You'enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except You ravish me.
Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers
~ Adrienne Rich
Aunt Jennifer's tigers prance across a screen,
Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.
They do not fear the men beneath the tree;
They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.
Aunt Jennifer's finger fluttering through her wool
Find even the ivory needle hard to pull.
The massive weight of Uncle's wedding band
Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand.
When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie
Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.
The tigers in the panel that she made
Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.
When my love swears that she is made of truth
When my love swears that she is made of truth
I do believe her, though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutored youth,
Unlearnèd in the world's false subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue;
On both sides thus is simple truth suppressed.
But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
O, love's best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love, loves not to have years told.
Therefore I lie with her, and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flattered be.
Automatic Girl
~ Lola Ray
Shrink wrap your kiss in plastic love
Make my mind up when you return
I don’t know what has happened to me these days
But it feels like love in the strangest ways
How much have you learned uh-oh
How much have yo-ou learned u-uh-oh
Don’t fear cause when you return I’ll be here
Waiting by your side, it doesn’t matter dear
This is end of the world so it seems
I’ve got automatic love for automatic girl
This is the world of the end that I see
I’ve got automatic guns for automatic boys
Automatic toys for automatic girls
Everything keeps the right melody
I’ve got a couple of killing machines
(Automatic girl, automatic girl)
Lick my lips just to hear the sound
Trash my room when you’re not around
I don’t know what has happened to me these days
But it feels like love in the strangest ways
How much have we learned uh-oh
How much have we-e learned u-uh-oh
Don’t fear cause when you return I’ll be here
Waiting by your side, it doesn’t matter dear
This is end of the world so it seems
I’ve got a couple of killing machines
I have..
(Automatic girls, automatic girls, automatic girl…. automatic!)
This is the end
This is the end
This is the end of the world so it seems
We’ve got a couple of killing machines
Automatic guns for automatic boys
Gotta a couple of killing machines
Couple of killin machines
Yeah, yeah
Recycled Air
~ Postal Service
I take a breath
And pull the air in until there's nothing left
I'm feeling green
Like teenage lovers between the sheets
Ba ba ba ba . . .
Knuckles clenched to white
As the landing gear retract for flight
My head's a balloon
Inflating with the altitude
Ba ba ba ba . . .
I watch the patchwork farms
Slow fade into the ocean's arms
And from here they can't see me stare
The stale taste of recycled air
I watch the patchwork farms
Slow fade into the ocean's arms
Calm down, release your cares
The stale taste of recycled air
Steady as She Goes
~ The Raconteurs
Find yourself a girl, and settle down
Live a simple life in a quiet town
Steady as she goes (steady as she goes)
So steady as she goes
Your friends have shown a kink in the single life
You've had too much to think, now you need a wife
So steady as she goes (steady as she goes)
Well here we go again, you've found yourself a friend, that knows
you well
But no matter what you do, you'll always feel as though you
tripped and fell
Steady as she goes
Settle for a girl and buckle down
Send it to the crowd that's gathered round
Settle for a girl and buckle down
Send it to the crowd that's gathered round
When you have completed what you thought you had to do
And your blood's depleted to the point of stable glue
Then you'll get along
Then you'll get along
Well here we go again, you've found yourself a friend that knows
you well
But no matter what you do, it always feels as though you tripped
and fell
Steady as she goes
Are you steady now?
Steady as she goes
Are you steady now?
Steady as she goes
Are you steady now?
Steady as she goes
Are you steady now?
Steady as she goes
Unit: Poetry
Topic: The Influence of Adjectives and Adverbs
Lesson Number: 8
Standards:
manuscripts
d. Describe how the author's use of persuasive vocabulary influences
readers' opinions or actions
3.Grammar, language usage, mechanics, and clarity are the basis of ongoing
refinements and revisions within the writing process
c. Identify the various types of clauses and use this knowledge to write
varied, strong, correct, complete sentences
Students will learn how adjectives and adverbs function as a part of speech and how they can be
utilized to impact meaning and direction in a poem.
Imogen Heap - “Hide and Seek” - all poems/songs are examples of the impact of adjective/
adverb use in poetry.
“Apples to Apples” game
those that apply.
Time Duration:
90 minutes
Lesson Outline
Introduction:
1. Ask students what is more powerful: the sentence “I walked to the store this morning and got
some juice”, or the sentence “I distractedly walked to the run-down store this hazy morning
and got some pulpy orange juice in a sticky carton.”
2. Ask students to explain why the first sentence is stronger.
3. Tell students that today we will focusing on the impact of adjectives and adverbs.
Instruction:
1. Give students a quick mini-lesson/review on how adverbs and adjectives function in a
sentence.
2. Then have students get into groups of 4-5 and play “Apples to Apples”. As they are playing,
have one person record what the most memorable combinations of nouns and adjectives are.
3. After a game, (or roughly 20 minutes), have each group report what the most memorable
combination were. Discuss how adverbs/adjectives can completely modify meaning.
4. Have them listen to “Hide and Seek”
5. Have students write in their journals what the five most powerful adverbs/adjectives are and
how they alter the meaning of the word they are describing.
6. Have students find five adjectives/adverbs in their chosen song lyrics and write how they
impact the meaning of the word they are describing.
Assignments:
Students find five adjectives/adverbs in their chosen song lyrics and write how they impact the
meaning of word they are describing.
Harlem (Dream Deferred)
~ Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
To His Coy Mistress
~ Andrew Marvell
Had we but World enough, and Time,
This coyness Lady were no crime.
We would sit down, and think which way
To walk, and pass our long Loves Day.
Thou by the Indian Ganges side.
Should'st Rubies find: I by the Tide
Of Humber would complain. I would
Love you ten years before the Flood:
And you should if you please refuse
Till the Conversion of the Jews.
My vegetable Love should grow
Vaster then Empires, and more slow.
An hundred years should go to praise
Thine Eyes, and on thy Forehead Gaze.
Two hundred to adore each Breast.
But thirty thousand to the rest.
An Age at least to every part,
And the last Age should show your Heart.
For Lady you deserve this State;
Nor would I love at lower rate.
But at my back I alwaies hear
Times winged Charriot hurrying near:
And yonder all before us lye
Deserts of vast Eternity.
Thy Beauty shall no more be found;
Nor, in thy marble Vault, shall sound
My echoing Song: then Worms shall try
That long preserv'd Virginity:
And your quaint Honour turn to durst;
And into ashes all my Lust.
The Grave's a fine and private place,
But none I think do there embrace.
Now therefore, while the youthful hew
Sits on thy skin like morning glew,
And while thy willing Soul transpires
At every pore with instant Fires,
Now let us sport us while we may;
And now, like am'rous birds of prey,
Rather at once our Time devour,
Than languish in his slow-chapt pow'r.
Let us roll all our Strength, and all
Our sweetness, up into one Ball:
And tear our Pleasures with rough strife,
Thorough the Iron gates of Life.
Thus, though we cannot make our Sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.
Hide and Seek
~ Imogen Heap
Where are we?
What the hell is going on?
The dust has only just begun to fall
Crop circles in the carpet
Sinking feeling
Spin me around again and rub my eyes
This can't be happening
When busy streets a mess with people
Would stop to hold their heads heavy
Hide and seek
Trains and sewing machines
All those years
They were here first
Oily marks appear on walls
Where pleasure moments hung before
The takeover, the sweeping insensitivity
Of this still life
Hide and seek
Trains and sewing machines
Blood and tears
They were here first
Mm what'cha say?
Mm, that you only meant well
Well of course you did
Mm what'cha say?
Mm that it's all for the best
Of course it is
Mm what'cha say?
Mm that it's just what we need
You decided this?
Mm what'cha say?
Mm what did you say?
Ransom notes keep falling out your mouth
Mid-sweet-talk newspaper word cutouts (paper word cutouts)
Speak no feeling; no, I don't believe you
You don't care a bit
You don't care a bit
Unit: Poetry
Topic: Haiku Poems
Lesson Number: 10
Standards:
1. Literary or narrative genres feature a variety of stylistic devices to engage or
a. Use conventional structures and expectations of literary genres (such
as short story, personal narrative, script, poem, or song) to select content,
represent ideas, make connections, generate new insights, and develop
an organizational structure for drafting
b. Write literary and narrative texts using a range of stylistic devices (poetic
techniques, figurative language, imagery, graphic elements) to support the
presentation of implicit or explicit theme
c. Enhance the expression of voice, tone, and mood in a text by selecting
and using vivid and precise diction, syntax, and punctuation
Students will learn how to write a haiku poem, which will give them experience in writing
poetry, an appreciation for the importance of word choice, and confidence in their own abilities
to write poetry.
Matsuo Basho - “Heat-Lightening Streak”, Taniguchi Buson - “On the ONe-Ton Bell”, “I Go”,
Kobayashi Issa - “Only One Guy”, “Cricket”, Richard Brautigan - “Haiku Ambulance” - all of
these poems are examples of a haiku poem that will help students in understanding what a haiku
can look like.
Overheads of the poems listed, as well as handouts with the poems, so as to provide students
with take-home examples.
Quickwrites that students completed on Monday.
Time Duration:
50 minutes
Lesson Outline
Introduction:
1. Students are told that they will be writing a haiku and asked what their experience with haikus
is.
Instruction:
4. Students are shown several examples of haiku and introduced to what is entailed in a haiku seventeen syllables (ish) and the art of a few words suggesting much meaning.
5. Review discussion of the power of word connotations, imagery, and adjectives and adverbs.
6. Have students pull out their quickwrites from Monday where they described the picture for ten
minutes strait.
7. Tell them to read over it and decide what was important - have them narrow down the
important words to 10-15, then try and narrow it down to seventeen syllables in order to turn it
into a haiku.
Assignments:
Students write a haiku.
Haiku Examples
Heat-Lightening Streak
~ Matsuo Basho
Heat-lightening streak through darkness pierces
the heron’s shriek.
On the One-Ton Bell
~ Taniguchi Buson
On the one-ton bell
a moonmoth, folded into sleep,
sits still.
Only One Guy
~ Kobayashi Issa
only one guy and
only one fly trying to
make the guest room do.
Cricket
~ Kobayashi Issa
Cricket, be
careful! I’m rolling
over!
Haiku Ambulance
~ Richard Brautigan
A piece of green pepper fell
off the wooden salad bowl:
so what?
Unit: Poetry
Topic: Sound in Poetry
Lesson Number: 11
Standards:
manuscripts
text-based evidence
Students will know what the elements of sound are - i.e. alliteration, assonance, rhyme,
cacophony, and euphony, and how sound can be used to impact meaning within a poem.
BT - “The Antikythera Mechanism”, William Butler Yeats - “Leda and the Swan”, A.E. Housman
- “When I Was One-and-Twenty”, Robert Frost - “Nothing Gold Can Stay”, Edgar Allan Poe “Bells”, A.E. Housman - “Eight O’Clock”, Emily Dickinson - “Because I Could Not Stop for
Death” - all poems/songs are examples of the impact of sound use in poetry. slideshow of songs
and poems listed - slideshow contains lyrics/words, as well as the music for those that apply.
ipod speaker - or, preferably, theatre sound system. Ipod.
Time Duration:
50 minutes
Lesson Outline
Introduction:
1. Have students go to theatre and sit by themselves (not next to anyone) and play “The
Antikythera Mechanism”. (Song is long - but is a wonderful example of euphony breaking into
cacophony).
Instruction:
3. After the song, tell them there was euphony and cacophony in the song, that they are
opposites, and that the songs starts with euphony and ends with cacophony - then ask them
what they think the terms mean and how they influenced the song.
4. Show students examples of euphony and cacophony in poems and discuss how they contribute
to poetic meaning.
5. Show students elements of alliteration, assonance, and rhyme (exact rhyme and off-rhyme)
with poem examples.
6. Have students annotate their chosen song lyrics for any stylistic elements of sound, including
rhyme, alliteration, assonance, cacophony, and euphony. (Have them look at the sound of the
song as well, but not in place of the lyrics)
Assignments:
Students annotate their chosen song lyrics for elements of sound, including rhyme, alliteration,
assonance, cacophony, and euphony.
Leda and the Swan
~ William Butler Yeats
A sudden blow: the great wings beating still
Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed
By the dark webs, her nape caught in his bill,
He holds her helpless breast upon his breast.
How can those terrified vague fingers push
The feathered glory from her loosening thighs?
And how can body, laid in that white rush,
But feel the strange heart beating where it lies?
A shudder in the loins engenders there
The broken wall, the burning roof and tower
And Agamemnon dead.
Being so caught up,
So mastered by the brute blood of the air,
Did she put on his knowledge with his power
Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?
When I Was One-and-Twenty
~A.E. Housman
When I was one-and-twenty
I heard a wise man say,
"Give crowns and pounds and guineas
But not your heart away;
Give pearls away and rubies
But keep your fancy free."
But I was one-and-twenty,
No use to talk to me.
When I was one-and-twenty
I heard him say again,
"The heart out of the bosom
Was never given in vain;
'Tis paid with sighs a plenty
And sold for endless rue."
And I am two-and-twenty,
And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.
Nothing Gold Can Stay
~ Robert Frost
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf,
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day
Nothing gold can stay.
The Bells
~ Edgar Allan Poe
I
Hear the sledges with the bellsSilver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bellsFrom the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.
II
Hear the mellow wedding bells,
Golden bells!
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!
Through the balmy air of night
How they ring out their delight!
From the molten-golden notes,
And an in tune,
What a liquid ditty floats
To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats
On the moon!
Oh, from out the sounding cells,
What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
How it swells!
How it dwells
On the Future! how it tells
Of the rapture that impels
To the swinging and the ringing
Of the bells, bells, bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells,bells,
Bells, bells, bellsTo the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!
III
Hear the loud alarum bellsBrazen bells!
What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!
In the startled ear of night
How they scream out their affright!
Too much horrified to speak,
They can only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune,
In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,
In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,
Leaping higher, higher, higher,
With a desperate desire,
And a resolute endeavor,
Now- now to sit or never,
By the side of the pale-faced moon.
Oh, the bells, bells, bells!
What a tale their terror tells
Of Despair!
How they clang, and clash, and roar!
What a horror they outpour
On the bosom of the palpitating air!
Yet the ear it fully knows,
By the twanging,
And the clanging,
How the danger ebbs and flows:
Yet the ear distinctly tells,
In the jangling,
And the wrangling,
How the danger sinks and swells,
By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bellsOf the bellsOf the bells, bells, bells,bells,
Bells, bells, bellsIn the clamor and the clangor of the bells!
IV
Hear the tolling of the bellsIron Bells!
What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!
In the silence of the night,
How we shiver with affright
At the melancholy menace of their tone!
For every sound that floats
From the rust within their throats
Is a groan.
And the people- ah, the peopleThey that dwell up in the steeple,
All Alone
And who, tolling, tolling, tolling,
In that muffled monotone,
Feel a glory in so rolling
On the human heart a stoneThey are neither man nor womanThey are neither brute nor humanThey are Ghouls:
And their king it is who tolls;
And he rolls, rolls, rolls,
Rolls
A paean from the bells!
And his merry bosom swells
With the paean of the bells!
And he dances, and he yells;
To the paean of the bellsOf the bells:
To the throbbing of the bellsOf the bells, bells, bellsTo the sobbing of the bells;
As he knells, knells, knells,
In a happy Runic rhyme,
To the rolling of the bellsOf the bells, bells, bells:
To the tolling of the bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bellsBells, bells, bellsTo the moaning and the groaning of the bells.
Eight O’Clock
~A.E. Housman
He stood, and heard the steeple
Sprinkle the quarters on the morning town.
One, two, three, four, to market-place and people
It tossed them down.
Strapped, noosed, nighing his hour,
He stood and counted them and cursed his luck;
And then the clock collected in the tower
Its strength, and struck.
Because I Could Not Stop For Death
~ Emily Dickinson
Because I could not stop for Death-He kindly stopped for me-The Carriage held but just Ourselves-And Immortality.
We slowly drove--He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility-We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess--in the Ring-We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain-We passed the Setting Sun-Or rather--He passed us-The Dews drew quivering and chill-For only Gossamer, my Gown-My Tippet--only Tulle-We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground-The Roof was scarcely visible-The Cornice--in the Ground-Since then--'tis Centuries--and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
Were toward Eternity--
Unit: Poetry
Topic: Meter in Poetry
Lesson Number: 12
Standards:
listening
accomplish a goal
2.Reading for All Purposes
Students will understand how rhyme, and in particular, iambic meter, can affect a poem’s flow
and can relate to a poem’s meaning.
“Everywhere We Go” Cadence, Alfred Lord Tennyson - “Break, Break, Break”, John Donne “The Flea”, William Shakespeare - “Shall I compare thee to a summers day?” - all poems/songs
are examples of the impact of meter use in poetry. Hand-outs of the words to the march cadence,
overheads of the poems listed. Give each student a packet of about 20 Shakespearian sonnets
from which they can choose their sonnet to mark for meter.
Time Duration:
50 minutes
Lesson Outline
Introduction:
1. When students come in inform them they are going on a march (preferably outdoors if the
weather permits).
2. Give each student a copy of the cadence they will sing as they march and practice it a couple
times as a class. Tell them that as they march to pay attention to how they know to separate the
beats into foot falls.
3. Students march to cadence “Everywhere We Go” for five to ten minutes, or however long it
takes to get them into the rhythm of it.
Instruction:
1. Go back to classroom and give minilesson on rhythm and iambic meter.
2. Show students examples of iambic pentameter and then have them get into small groups and
try to find the iambic pentameter in “Shall I compare thee to a summers day?”
3. Reconvene as a class and decide where the stressed and unstressed syllables are.
4. Then have them practice independently with a Shakespearian sonnet of their choice - give
them time to work during class (in order to answer any questions) and have them finish for
homework.
Assignments:
Students choose one Shakespeare sonnet and try to mark the iambic pentameter in it.
“Everywhere We Go” Cadence
Everywhere we go - oh
Everywhere we go - oh
People wanna know - oh
Who we are
Where we come from
So we tell them
We are Bravo
Mighty Mighty Bravo
Rough - n - tough Bravo
Straight shooting Bravo
Better than Alpha
Awful awful Alpha
Better than Charlie
Chicken chicken Charlie
Better than Delta
Dumb-dumb Delta
Better than Echo
Icky icky Echo
We are Bravo
Mighty mighty Bravo
http://www.b2501airborne.com/cadence.html
Break, Break, Break
~Alfred Lord Tennyson
Break, break, break,
On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!
An dI would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me.
O well for the fisherman’s boy,
THat he shouts with his sister at play!
O well for the sailor lad,
That he sings in his boat on the bay!
And the stately ships go on
To their haven under the hill;
But O for the touch of a vanish’d hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still!
Break, break, break,
At the foot of thy crags, O Sea!
But the tender grace of a day that is dead
Will never come back to me.
We Real Cool
~ Gwendolyn Brooks
THE POOL PLAYERS.
SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL.
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
The Flea
~ John Donne
Mark but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deny'st me is;
It sucked me first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea, our two bloods mingled be;
Thou knowest that this cannot be said
A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead.
Yet this enjoys before it woo,
And pampered, swells with one blood made of two,
And this, alas, is more than we would do.
Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,
Where we almost, yea, more than married are.
This flea is you and I, and this
Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is;
Though parents grudge, and you, we are met
And cloistered in these living walls of jet.
Though use make you apt to kill me,
Let not to that self murder added be,
And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.
Cruel and sudden, hast thou since
Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence?
Wherein could this flea guilty be
Except in that drop which it sucked from thee?
Yet thou triumph'st, and sayest that thou
Find'st not thyself, nor me, the weaker now.
'Tis true, then learn how false fears be;
Just so much honor, when thou yieldst to me,
Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee.
Shall I compare thee to a summers day?
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Unit: Poetry
Topic: Punctuation and Meaning
Lesson Number: 13
Standards:
3. Grammar, language usage, mechanics, and clarity are the basis of ongoing
a. Apply dashes, colons, and semi-colons to create varied sentences, to
emphasize important ideas, and to show relationships among ideas.
Students will understand how punctuation functions in a sentence, how it can impact meaning,
and how it can be used stylistically to change the direction or meaning of poetry.
Emily Dickinson - “I Heard a Fly Buzz - When I Died”, Ronald Gross - “Yield”, William Butler
Yeats - “The Second Coming”, William Stafford - “Traveling Through the Dark” - all poems are
examples of the impact of punctuation creative use in poetry. Dry Erase boards (one for every
word in the sentence and any punctuation marks that would apply). Overhead of paragraph
without punctuation (paragraph must be able to change in meaning with change in punctuation).
Overheads of the poems listed.
Time Duration:
90 minutes
Lesson Outline
Introduction:
1. Students will come in to a paragraph on the overhead that has no punctuation. They will be
asked to place the punctuation where they think it goes.
2. Have a few students share what they thought the punctuation to be. Read the paragraph aloud,
with the punctuation included, placing inflection on how the sentence changes due to the
punctuation.
3. Then show students an alternate way of implementing punctuation in the paragraph that totally
changes meaning.
Instruction:
1. Hand out posters to student volunteers. Each poster has a word from a sentence in it OR a
punctuation mark in a different color. Tell students what the sentence needs to say, using the
correct inflection, and have them create that meaning using the punctuation marks.
2. Arrange the sentence so that several different meanings are possible depending upon the
punctuation. (Adapted from Louann Reid)
3. Give students examples of how punctuation changes meaning in poems.
4. Have students choose ten punctuation marks in their chosen song lyrics and explain how they
influence the meaning of the sentence they are in.
Assignments:
Students will choose 10 punctuation marks in their chosen song lyrics and explain how they
influence the meaning of the sentence they are in.
Punctuation Exercise: How Punctuation Can Change Meaning
Paragraph Without Punctuation
i would like to apply for a job with your company for two years i have been employed as a sales
clerk for the jones store i sold nothing that i did not take pride in i am sure it will be the same if i
work for you
Paragraph with Punctuation #1
I would like to apply for a job with your company. For two years I have been employed as a sales
clerk for the Jones store. I sold nothing that I did not take pride in. I am sure it will be the same if
I work for you.
Paragraph with Punctuation #2
I would like to apply for a job with your company for two years. I have been employed. As a
sales clerk for the Jones store I sold nothing. That, I did not take pride in. I am sure it will be the
same if I work for you.
I heard a Fly buzz - when I Died
~ Emily Dickinson
I heard a fly buzz when I died;
The stillness round my form
Was like the stillness in the air
Between the heaves of storm.
The eyes beside had wrung them dry,
And breaths were gathering sure
For that last onset, when the king
Be witnessed in his power.
I willed my keepsakes, signed away
What portion of me I
Could make assignable, -- and then
There interposed a fly,
With blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz,
Between the light and me;
And then the windows failed, and then
I could not see to see.
Yield
~ Robert Gross
Yield.
No Parking.
Unlawful to Pass.
Wait for Green Light.
Yield.
Stop.
Narrow Bridge.
Merging Traffic Ahead.
Yield.
Yield.
The Second Coming
~ William Butler Yeats
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at laSt,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Traveling Through the Dark
~ William Stafford
Traveling through the dark I found a deer
dead on the edge of the Wilson River road.
It is usually best to roll them into the canyon:
that road is narrow; to swerve might make more dead.
By glow of the tail-light I stumbled back of the car
and stood by the heap, a doe, a recent killing;
she had stiffened already, almost cold.
I dragged her off; she was large in the belly.
My fingers touching her side brought me the reason-her side was warm; her fawn lay there waiting,
alive, still, never to be born.
Beside that mountain road I hesitated.
The car aimed ahead its lowered parking lights;
under the hood purred the steady engine.
I stood in the glare of the warm exhaust turning red;
around our group I could hear the wilderness listen.
I thought hard for us all--my only swerving--,
then pushed her over the edge into the river.
Unit: Poetry
Topic: Nested Poems
Lesson Number: 15
Standards:
a. Use conventional structures and expectations of literary genres (such as short
story, personal narrative, script, poem, or song) to select content, represent
ideas, make connections, generate new insights, and develop an organizational
structure for drafting
3. Grammar, language usage, mechanics, and clarity are the basis of ongoing
a. Apply dashes, colons, and semi-colons to create varied sentences, to
emphasize important ideas, and to show relationships among ideas.
Students will learn how to write nested poems, which will give them further experience in
writing poetry, an appreciation for how punctuation and word choice can shift the direction of a
poem, and further confidence in their own abilities to write poetry.
“Nested Poems” by Faith Evans - these poems provide students with examples of what a nested
poem looks like and a handout on how to create them.
Time Duration:
50 minutes
Lesson Outline
Introduction:
1. Students are told that they will be writing nested poems - a unique and seldom-heard of form
of poetry that, like haikus, say much in few words, and focus on the multiple meaning of words
and the manipulation of punctuation to change meaning throughout.
Instruction:
4. Teach students how to write a nested poem - give a minilesson (line one is a simple thought - a
couple of words; line two is line one again exactly, only with a few more words added; line
three is line two exactly, and a few more words added and shift in meaning or direction - often
by punctuation; line four and five follow the same pattern as the last lines, but uses
punctuation, spelling and word meaning to shift the meaning of the poem - the last line should
have twist or surprise.)
5. Show students my own example, (walk them through the steps) and other examples by Faith
Evans.
6. Tell students to try on their own, allowing the poem to grow naturally, and to not force
anything. Encourage them to make several attempts at the format.
7. Have students share their poem with a partner to ensure that they did the format correctly.
Assignments:
Students will write their own nested poems.
Unit: Poetry
Topic: Figures of Speech in Poetry
Lesson Number: 16
Standards:
2.The development of new ideas and concepts within informational and persuasive
manuscripts
text-based evidence
Students will understand how figures of speech function and the ways in which they can
manipulated in poetry in order to shift meaning.
Sylvia Plath - “Metaphors”, Margaret Atwood - “You fit into me”, William Shakespeare - “My
mistress’s eyes are nothing like the sun”, Percy Bysshe Shelley - “Ozymandias”, The Killers “Mr. Brightside”, The Decemberists - “The Perfect Crime #2), Norah Jones - “The Prettiest
Thing”, Jeff Buckley - “Hallejuah” - all poems/songs are examples of the impact of figure of
speech use in poetry. One notecard for every student with a riddle and an answer of it. Riddles
taken from : http://jijasali.com/riddles.php. Slideshow of songs and poems listed - slideshow
contains lyrics/words, as well as the music for those that apply.
Time Duration:
50 minutes
Lesson Outline
Introduction:
1. Students will each receive in an envelope a riddle and its answer that they alone will be able to
ask. They then ask five people their riddle and see how many are able to guess it in five guesses
or less.
Instruction:
3. Reconvene as a class and then discuss how riddles are powerful because they contain and
manipulate figures of speech. We expect certain meanings of figures of speech and therefore
they can be manipulated to shift meaning in ways that individual words cannot.
4. Show students poetic examples of how figures of speech are manipulated.
5. For individual practice, have students take one figure of speech and write a paragraph in
which the figure of speech is shifted so that the meaning of it changes to what is unexpected.
6. Have students annotate their chosen song lyrics for any figures of speech and write how they
contribute to the meaning of the lyrics.
Assignments:
Students will annotate their chosen song lyrics for any figures of speech and how they add
meaning to the lyrics.
Riddles! (Figure of Speech lesson)
Take these riddles and cut them apart so that they are all separated. Then, put each riddle and it’s
answer in one envelop (one for each student).All the riddles come from either jijsali.com/
riddles.php or from http://www.rinkworks.com/brainfood/p/riddles3.shtml.
A word I know, six letters it contains, subtract one, and twelve remains. What am I??
Answer: Dozens. Because dozen means twelve, and since dozens is a six-letter word, if you take
away the 's' then you get dozen.
A woman who lives in new york legally married three men, she did not get divorce, get an
annulment, or legally separate. How is this possible?
Answer: she’s a minister
You use a knife to slice my head and weep beside me when I am dead. What am I?
Answer: An onion.
What does man love more than life, Fear more than death or mortal strife, What the poor have,
the rich require, And what contented men desire, What misers spend, and spendthrifts save, And
all men carry to the grave?
Answer: Nothing.
What question can you never answer yes to?
Answer: Are you asleep yet?
Three lives have I.
Gentle enough to soothe the skin,
Light enough to caress the sky,
Hard enough to crack rocks,
What am I?
Answer: water
What goes up and down at the same time but doesn't move?
Answer: The stairs.
Marble walls as white as milk, lined with skin as soft as silk, in a fountain crystal clear, a golden
apple will appear, there is no key to this stronghold, yet thieves break in and steal the gold. What
am I?
Answer: An egg.
I pass before the sun, yet make no shadow. What am I?
Answer: The wind
Many things can create one, it can be of any shape or size, it is created for various reasons, and it
can shrink or grow with time. What is it?
Answer: A hole.
No sooner spoken than broken. What is it?
Answer: Silence.
What can you catch but not throw?
Answer: A cold.
Until I am measured, I am not known. Yet how you miss me, When I have flown. What am I?
Answer: Time.
I am the fountain from which no one can drink. For many I am considered a necessary link. Like
gold to all I am sought for, But my continued death brings wealth for all to want more. What am
I?
Answer: Oil.
I fly in the air, But I am not always there. I cannot be touched, But I can be felt or held. Think
very hard, But if you live near the equator, You may have a tough time seeing me. What am I?
Answer: Your breath.
I am not alive, but I grow; I don't have lungs, but I need air; I don't have a mouth, but water kills
me. What am I?
Answer: Fire
This old one runs forever, but never moves at all. He has not lungs nor throat, but still a mighty
roaring call. What is it?
Answer: A waterfall.
This is as light as a feather, yet no man can hold it for long. What is it?
Answer: Your breath.
They have not flesh, nor feathers, nor scales, nor bone. Yet they have fingers and thumbs of their
own. What are they?
Answer: Gloves.
What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, and gray when you throw it away?
Answer: Charcoal.
What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries?
Answer: A towel.
I can run but not walk. Wherever I go, thought follows close behind. What am I?
Answer: A nose.
What goes around the world but stays in a corner?
Answer: A stamp.
I have holes in my top and bottom, my left and right, and in the middle. But I still hold water.
What am I?
Answer: A sponge.
Give me food, and I will live; give me water, and I will die. What am I?
Answer: Fire
The man who invented it doesn't want it. The man who bought it doesn't need it. The man who
needs it doesn't know it. What is it?
Answer: A coffin.
What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a
bed but never sleeps?
Answer: A river.
I'm the part of the bird that's not in the sky. I can swim in the ocean and yet remain dry. What am
I?
Answer: A shadow.
I went into the woods and got it. I sat down to seek it. I brought it home with me because I
couldn't find it. What is it?
Answer: A splinter
I am weightless, but you can see me. Put me in a bucket, and I'll make it lighter. What am I?
Answer: A hole.
At night they come without being fetched, and by day they are lost without being stolen. What
are they?
Answer: Dreams.
I'm where yesterday follows today, and tomorrow's in the middle. What am I?
Answer: A dictionary.
Pronounced as one letter,
And written with three,
Two letters there are,
And two only in me.
I'm double, I'm single,
I'm black, blue, and gray,
I'm read from both ends,
And the same either way.
What am I?
Answer: An eye.
Metaphors
~ Sylvia Plath
I’m a riddle in nine syllables,
An elephant, a ponderous house,
A melon strolling on two tendrils.
O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!
This loaf’s big with its yeasty rising.
Money’s new-minted in this fat purse.
I’m a means, a stage, a cow in calf.
I’ve eaten a bag of green apples,
Boarded the train there’s no getting off.
You Fit Into Me
~ Margaret Atwood
you fit into me
like a hood into an eye
a fish hook
an open eye
My mistress’s eyes are nothing like the sun
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
Ozymandias
~ Percy Bysshe Shelley
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: `Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear -"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.'
Mr. Brightside
~ The Killers
I'm coming out of my cage
And I've been doing just fine
Got to, got to be down
Because I want it all
It started out with a kiss
How did it end up like this?
It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss
Now I'm falling asleep
And she's calling a cab
While he's having a smoke
And she's taking a drag
Now they're going to bed
And my stomach is sick
And it's all in my head
But she's touching his chest now
He takes off her dress now
Let me go
I just can't look, it's killing me
And taking control
Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
Swimming through sick lullabies
Choking on your alibis
But it's just the price I pay
Destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes
Because I'm Mr. Brightside
I'm coming out of my cage
And I've been doing just fine
Got to, got to be down
Because I want it all
It started out with a kiss
How did it end up like this?
It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss
Now I'm falling asleep
And she's calling a cab
While he's having a smoke
And she's taking a drag
Now they're going to bed
And my stomach is sick
And it's all in my head
But she's touching his chest now
He takes off her dress now
Let me go
Because I just can't look, it's killing me
And taking control
Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
Turning through sick lullabies
Choking on your alibis
But it's just the price I pay
Destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes
Because I'm Mr. Brightside
I never
I never
I never
The Perfect Crime #2
~ The Decemberists
Sing, Muse, of the passion of the pistol
Sing, Muse, of the warning by the whistle
On a night so dark and waning
A dawn obscured by slate sky raining, oh, oh
Five and twenty burglars by the reservoir
A teenage lookout on the signal tower
The mogul's daughter in hog-tie
The mogul fingers the wrong guy, all right
It was a perfect, the perfect, the perfect, the perfect crime
It was a perfect, the perfect, the perfect, the perfect crime
The bagman's quaking at the fingers
The hand-off glance a little lingers
A well-dressed man in the crosshairs
A shot rings out from somewhere upstairs
It was a perfect, the perfect, the perfect, the perfect, the perfect, the perfect crime
It was the perfect crime
It was like a ticker-tape parade
When the plastique on the safe was blown away
And we all gaze from eye to eye
As we mouth our silent goodbyes
The valley's sleeping like a bastard
It stinks of slumber and disaster
Two words are spoken with tap wire
The agent's pull finds a surefire backfire
The Prettiest Thing
~ Norah Jones
The prettiest thing
I ever did see
Was lightening from the top of a cloud
Moving through the dark a million miles an hour
With somewhere to be
So why does it seem
Like a picture
Hanging up on someone else's wall
Lately I haven't been myself at all
It's heavy on my mind
I'm dreaming again
Like I've always been
And way down low
I know
The prettiest thing
I ever did see
Was dusty as the handle on the door
Rusty as a nail stuck in the old pine floor
Looks like home to me
I'm dreaming again
Like I've always been
And way down low
I'm thinkin' of the prettiest thing
Hallejuah
~ Jeff Buckley
Well, I heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
Well it goes like this: the fourth, the fifth
The minor fall and the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Well, your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to her kitchen chair
She broke your throne and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
Baby I've been here before
I've seen this room and I've walked this floor
You know, I used to live alone before I knew you
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
And love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
Well there was a time when you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show that to me, do you?
But remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah
Maybe there is a god above
But all I've ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you
And it's not a cry that you hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
Unit: Poetry
Topic: Symbolism and Allusions in Poetry
Lesson Number: 17
Standards:
1.Oral Expression and Listening
listening
accomplish a goal
Students will understand how symbolism and allusion function as a poetic device and how they
can affect the deeper meaning of a poem.
Sylvia Plath - “Lady Lazarus”, Robert Frost - “Out, Out-”, Daniel Thiel - “The Minefield”,
Robert Frost - “The Road Not Taken”, Cake - “Comfort Eagle”, Jack Johnson - “Break Down”,
The Decemberists - “The Crane Wife 3”, The Beatles - “Lady Madonna”, Dido - “My Lover’s
Gone”, Animal Kingdom - “Tin Man” - all poems/songs are examples of the impact of
symbolism and/or allusion use in poetry. Handouts of song lyrics “Comfort Eagle”, “Break
Down”, “The Crane Wife 3”, “Lady Madonna”, “My Lover’s Gone”, and “Tin Man” - there
should be an equal number of each song lyrics and enough lyrics for every student in the class.
(Class number divided by seven for number of lyrics made of each song). Overheads of the
poems listed. Access to a computer lab.
Time Duration:
50 minutes
Lesson Outline
Introduction:
1. Students are broken into seven groups by numbering off and each group given a different
song’s lyrics. Each song either has strong symbolism or allusion in it.
2. Go down to the computer lab in order for groups to better research their allusion or symbol.
Each group then has to figure out what the symbolism or allusion is and then analyze the
poem for how it shifts/creates the poems meaning.
3. Each group then reports their findings to the rest of the class
Instruction:
1. Reconvene as a class and then discuss how poetry often utilizes symbols and allusions to cue
the reader to a deeper meaning.
2. Show the students poetic examples of symbol and allusion.
3. Have the students annotate their chosen song lyrics for any instances of symbol and/or
allusion and then write how the symbol/allusion influence the overall meaning of the poem.
Assignments:
Students will annotate their chosen song lyrics for any symbols or allusions and write how they
contribute to meaning.
Comfort Eagle
~ Cake
We are building a religion
We are building it bigger
We are widening the corridors
And adding more lanes
A limited edition
We are now accepting callers
for the pendant key chains
To resist it is useless
It is useless to resist it
His cigarette is burning
But he never seems to ash
He is grooming his poodle
He is living comfort eagle
You can meet at his location
But you better come with cash
Now his hat is on backwards
He can show you his tattoos
He is in the music business
He is calling you "DUDE!"
Now today is tomorrow
And tomorrow today
And yesterday is weaving in and out
And the fluffy white lines
That the airplane leaves behind
Are drifting right in front
of the waning of the moon
He is handling the money
He's serving the food
He knows about your party
Now do you believe
In the one big sign
The double-wide shine
On the boot-heels of your prime
Doesn't matter if you're skinny
Doesn't matter if you're fat
You can dress up like a sultan
In your onion-head hat
We are making a brand
We're the only ones to turn to
When your castles turn to sand
Take a bite of this apple
Mr. Corporate Events
Take a walk through the jungle
Of cardboard shanties and tents
Some people drink Pepsi
Some people drink Coke
The wacky morning DJ
Says democracy's a joke
He says, "Now do you believe
In the one big song?"
He's now accepting callers
Who would like to sing along?
She says, "Do you believe
In the one true edge,
By fastening your safety belts
And stepping towards the ledge?"
He is serving the food
He is now accepting callers
He is calling me "DUDE!"
Now do you believe
In the one big sign
There's no need to ask directions
If you ever lose your mind
We're behind you
We're behind you
And let us please remind you
We can send a car to find you
If you ever lose your way
We are building
A religion
A limited
Edition
We are now accepting callers...
For these beautiful...
Pendant keychains
BreakDown
~ Jack Johnson
I hope this old train breaks down
then I could take a walk around
and see what there is to see
and time is just a melody
with all the people in the street
walk as fast as their feet can take them
I just roam through town
and though my windows got a view
well the frame i'm looking through
seems to have no concern for me now
so for now
I need this old train to breakdown
oh, please just let me please breakdown
but this engine screams out loud
saying the beat gonna crawl westbound
so I don't even make a sound
cause it's gonna sting me
when I leave this town
and all the people in the street
that I'll never get to meet
these tracks don't bend somehow
and I got no time
that I got to get to
where I don't need to be
so I need this old train to breakdown
I want to break em down
but I can't stop now
let me break em down
but you can't stop nothing
if you got no control
of the thoughts in your mind
that you kept in, you know
you don't know nothing
but you don't need to know
the wisdoms in the trees
not the glass windows
you can't stop wishing
if you don't let go
the things that you find
and you lose and you know
you keep on rolling
put the moment on hold
the frame's too bright
so put the blinds down low
but things that you find
and you lose, and you know
you keep on rolling
the frames too bright
The Crane Wife 3
~ The Decemberists
And under the boughs unbowed
All clothed in a snowy shroud
She had no heart so hardened
All under the boughs unbowed
Each feather, it fell from skin
Until threadbare, she grew thin
How were my eyes so blinded?
And I will hang my head, hang my head low
A gray sky, a bitter sting
A rain cloud, a crane on the wing
All out beyond horizon
Lady Madonna
~ The Beatles
Lady Madonna, children at your feet
Wonder how you manage to make ends meet
Who finds the money when you pay the rent?
Did you think that money was heaven sent?
Friday night arrives without a suitcase
Sunday morning creeping like nun
Monday's child has learned to tie his bootlace
See how they run
Lady Madonna, baby at your breast
Wonders how you managed to feed the rest
See how they run
Lady Madonna, lying on the bed
Listen to the music playing in your head
Tuesday afternoon is never ending
Wednesday morning papers didn't come
Thursday night your stockings needed
mending
See how they run
Wonders how you managed to make ends
meet
My Lover’s Gone
~ Dido
My lover's gone, his boots no longer by my
door
He left at dawn, as I slept I felt him go
Returns no more, I will not watch the ocean
My lover's gone, no earthly ship will ever
bring him home again
My lover's gone, I know that kiss will be my
last
No more his song, the tune upon his lips has
passed
I sing alone, while I watch the ocean
My lover's gone, no earthly ships will ever
bring him home again,
Bring him home again
Tin Man
~ Animal Kingdom
I got no arms
I got no legs
Got no shoulders
But I got a head
I got a head that tells me stupid things to do.
But I got heart
And I got hard
And it was slowly pulling me apart
Cause Ill never feel the same as you
So tell me if its love
Cause baby Im a tin man
Tell me if its love
Wanna be a real word (oh)
And is this love?
Is this pain?
Got a feeling I cannot mend
Slowly changing every part of me.
I know you think Im just a toy
But I wanna be a real boy
Only want to feel the same as you.
Tell me if its love
Wanna be a real word
Tell me if its love
Cause Baby Im a tin man
Since you took my heart
I’ve gotta missing part.
I’ve gotta missing part
I’ve got a missing part!
I’ve got a missing part
I got no arms
I got no legs
Got no shoulders
But I got a head
I cannot eat
I cannot sleep
I’ve got a hole inside of me
Cause Ill never feel the same as you.
I wanna be a real word
I got a missing part.
I got a missing part
(more more)
(more, I need more)
(more more)
Got a missing part
(more more)
(oh oh ooh)
Got a missing part!
Lady Lazarus
~ Sylvia Plath
I have done it again.
One year in every ten
I manage itA sort of walking miracle, my skin
Bright as a Nazi lampshade,
My right foot
A paperweight,
My face a featureless, fine
Jew linen.
Peel off the napkin
0 my enemy.
Do I terrify? The nose, the eye pits, the full set of teeth?
The sour breath
Will vanish in a day.
Soon, soon the flesh
The grave cave ate will be
At home on me
And I a smiling woman.
I am only thirty.
And like the cat I have nine times to die.
This is Number Three.
What a trash
To annihilate each decade.
What a million filaments.
The peanut-crunching crowd
Shoves in to see
Them unwrap me hand and foot
The big strip tease.
Gentlemen, ladies
These are my hands
My knees.
I may be skin and bone,
Nevertheless, I am the same, identical woman.
The first time it happened I was ten.
It was an accident.
The second time I meant
To last it out and not come back at all.
I rocked shut
As a seashell.
They had to call and call
And pick the worms off me like sticky pearls.
Dying
Is an art, like everything else,
I do it exceptionally well.
I do it so it feels like hell.
I do it so it feels real.
I guess you could say I've a call.
It's easy enough to do it in a cell.
It's easy enough to do it and stay put.
It's the theatrical
Comeback in broad day
To the same place, the same face, the same brute
Amused shout:
'A miracle! '
That knocks me out.
There is a charge
For the eyeing of my scars, there is a charge
For the hearing of my heartIt really goes.
And there is a charge, a very large charge
For a word or a touch
Or a bit of blood
Or a piece of my hair or my clothes.
So, so, Herr Doktor.
So, Herr Enemy.
I am your opus,
I am your valuable,
The pure gold baby
That melts to a shriek.
I turn and burn.
Do not think I underestimate your great concern.
Ash, ash You poke and stir.
Flesh, bone, there is nothing thereA cake of soap,
A wedding ring,
A gold filling.
Herr God, Herr Lucifer
Beware
Beware.
Out of the ash
I rise with my red hair
And I eat men like air.
Out, Out ~ Robert Frost
The buzz-saw snarled and rattled in the yard
And made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood,
Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it.
And from there those that lifted eyes could count
Five mountain ranges one behind the other
Under the sunset far into Vermont.
And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled,
As it ran light, or had to bear a load.
And nothing happened: day was all but done.
Call it a day, I wish they might have said
To please the boy by giving him the half hour
That a boy counts so much when saved from work.
His sister stood beside them in her apron
To tell them "Supper." At the word, the saw,
As if to prove saws knew what supper meant,
Leaped out at the boy's hand, or seemed to leap—
He must have given the hand. However it was,
Neither refused the meeting. But the hand!
The boy's first outcry was a rueful laugh,
As he swung toward them holding up the hand
Half in appeal, but half as if to keep
The life from spilling. Then the boy saw all—
Since he was old enough to know, big boy
Doing a man's work, though a child at heart—
He saw all spoiled. "Don't let him cut my hand off—
The doctor, when he comes. Don't let him, sister!"
So. But the hand was gone already.
The doctor put him in the dark of ether.
He lay and puffed his lips out with his breath.
And then—the watcher at his pulse took fright.
No one believed. They listened at his heart.
Little—less—nothing!—and that ended it.
No more to build on there. And they, since they
Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.
The Minefield
~ Daniel Thiel
He was running with his friend from town to town.
They were somewhere between Prague and Dresden.
He was fourteen. His friend was faster
and knew a shortcut through the fields they could take.
He said there was lettuce growing in one of them,
and they hadn't eaten all day. His friend ran a few lengths ahead,
like a wild rabbit across the grass,
turned his head, looked back once,
and his body was scattered across the field.
My father told us this, one night,
and then continued eating dinner.
He brought them with him – the minefields.
He carried them underneath his good intentions.
He gave them to us – in the volume of his anger,
in the bruises we covered up with sleeves.
In the way he threw anything against the wall –
a radio, that wasn't even ours,
a melon, once, opened like a head.
In the way we still expect, years later and continents away,
that anything might explode at any time,
and we would have to run on alone
with a vision like that
only seconds behind.
The Road Not Taken
~ Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Comfort Eagle
~ Cake
We are widening the corridors
And adding more lanes
He's serving the food
He knows about your party
A limited edition
We are now accepting callers
for the pendant key chains
Now do you believe
In the one big sign
To resist it is useless
It is useless to resist it
His cigarette is burning
But he never seems to ash
Doesn't matter if you're skinny
Doesn't matter if you're fat
You can dress up like a sultan
In your onion-head hat
He is grooming his poodle
He is living comfort eagle
You can meet at his location
But you better come with cash
We are making a brand
We're the only ones to turn to
When your castles turn to sand
Now his hat is on backwards
He can show you his tattoos
He is in the music business
Take a bite of this apple
Mr. Corporate Events
Take a walk through the jungle
Of cardboard shanties and tents
Now today is tomorrow
And tomorrow today
And yesterday is weaving in and out
Some people drink Pepsi
Some people drink Coke
The wacky morning DJ
Says democracy's a joke
And the fluffy white lines
That the airplane leaves behind
Are drifting right in front
of the waning of the moon
He says, "Now do you believe
In the one big song?"
He's now accepting callers
Who would like to sing along?
She says, "Do you believe
In the one true edge,
By fastening your safety belts
And stepping towards the ledge?"
He is serving the food
He is now accepting callers
He is calling me "DUDE!"
Now do you believe
In the one big sign
There's no need to ask directions
If you ever lose your mind
We're behind you
We're behind you
And let us please remind you
We can send a car to find you
If you ever lose your way
We are building
A religion
A limited
Edition
We are now accepting callers...
For these beautiful...
Pendant keychains
Breakdown
~ Jack Johnson
I hope this old train breaks down
then I could take a walk around
and see what there is to see
and time is just a melody
with all the people in the street
walk as fast as their feet can take them
I just roam through town
and though my windows got a view
well the frame i'm looking through
seems to have no concern for me now
so for now
but this engine screams out loud
saying the beat gonna crawl westbound
so I don't even make a sound
cause it's gonna sting me
when I leave this town
and all the people in the street
that I'll never get to meet
these tracks don't bend somehow
and I got no time
that I got to get to
where I don't need to be
so I need this old train to breakdown
I want to break em down
but I can't stop now
let me break em down
but you can't stop nothing
if you got no control
of the thoughts in your mind
that you kept in, you know
you don't know nothing
but you don't need to know
the wisdoms in the trees
not the glass windows
you can't stop wishing
if you don't let go
the things that you find
and you lose and you know
you keep on rolling
the frame's too bright
but things that you find
and you lose, and you know
you keep on rolling
the frames too bright
The Crane Wife 3
~ The Decemberists
And under the boughs unbowed
All clothed in a snowy shroud
She had no heart so hardened
All under the boughs unbowed
Until threadbare, she grew thin
How were my eyes so blinded?
A rain cloud, a crane on the wing
All out beyond horizon
Lady Madonna
~ The Beatles
Wonder how you manage to make ends meet
Who finds the money when you pay the rent?
Did you think that money was heaven sent?
Friday night arrives without a suitcase
Sunday morning creeping like nun
Monday's child has learned to tie his bootlace
See how they run
Lady Madonna, baby at your breast
Wonders how you managed to feed the rest
See how they run
Lady Madonna, lying on the bed
Listen to the music playing in your head
Tuesday afternoon is never ending
Wednesday morning papers didn't come
Thursday night your stockings needed mending
See how they run
Wonders how you managed to make ends meet
My Lover’s Gone
~ Dido
My lover's gone, his boots no longer by my door
He left at dawn, as I slept I felt him go
Returns no more, I will not watch the ocean
My lover's gone, no earthly ship will ever bring him home again
My lover's gone, I know that kiss will be my last
No more his song, the tune upon his lips has passed
I sing alone, while I watch the ocean
My lover's gone, no earthly ships will ever bring him home again,
Bring him home again
Tin Man
~ Animal Kingdom
I got no arms
I got no legs
Got no shoulders
But I got a head
But I got heart
And I got hard
And it was slowly pulling me apart
Cause Ill never feel the same as you
Tell me if its love
Wanna be a real word (oh)
And is this love?
Is this pain?
Got a feeling I cannot mend
Slowly changing every part of me.
I know you think Im just a toy
But I wanna be a real boy
Only want to feel the same as you.
Tell me if its love
Wanna be a real word
Tell me if its love
Cause Baby Im a tin man
I’ve gotta missing part.
I’ve got a missing part!
I’ve got a missing part
I got no arms
I got no legs
Got no shoulders
But I got a head
I cannot eat
I cannot sleep
I’ve got a hole inside of me
Cause Ill never feel the same as you.
I wanna be a real word
(more more)
(more, I need more)
(more more)
Got a missing part
(more more)
(oh oh ooh)
Got a missing part!
Unit: Poetry
Topic: The Manipulation of Sentence Structure in Poetry
Lesson Number: 18
Standards:
2.Organizational writing patterns inform or persuade an audience
b. Select and apply the organizational pattern best suited to purpose and audience
3.Grammar, language usage, mechanics, and clarity are the basis of ongoing
c. Identify the various types of clauses and use this knowledge to write
varied, strong, correct, complete sentences
Students will understand how sentence structure relates to their natural language sense and how
sentence structure can be manipulated to affect meaning in poems.
Lewis Carroll - “Jabberwocky”, Emily Dickinson - “It Dropped So Low - in My Regard”, Fred
Chappell - “Narcissus and Echo”, T.S. Eliot - “Virginia”, George Herbert - “Easter Wings”, Walt
Whitman - “O Captain! My Captain!”, Gwendolyn Brooks - “We Real Cool” - all poems are
examples of the impact of unique sentence structure use in poetry. Overheads of the poems
listed. Handouts of the first stanza of “Jabberwocky” - one for each student in the class.
Time Duration:
90 minutes
Lesson Outline
Introduction:
1. Students are all given a copy of the first stanza of “Jabberwocky” and told to identify the parts
of speech listed on the board (i.e. noun, verb, adjective, adverb, etc.) within the poem, even
without knowing what the words mean - they can work in partners or small groups.
Instruction:
4. Reconvene as a class and discuss how they knew what each word stood for without knowing
the meaning of the word.
5. Read them “Humptey Dumptey’s Explicates “Jabberwocky”” with “Jabberwocky” up on the
overhead and confirm that they, indeed, did intuitively know what each nonsense word stood
for. (Adapted from Tom Oliva, Engaging Grammar)
6. Explain how sentence structure can be manipulated stylistically in order to create meaning in
poems.
7. Show students poetic examples of this.
8. Then have students write out a paragraph about about the reasons why they thought they
“couldn’t write a poem”.
9. Have students break that paragraph into a poem, being creative with the line breaks in the
sentence, but paying attention to low the break in lines influences meaning.
Assignments:
Students break down their paragraph into a poem, being creative with the way they break the
lines apart.
Jabberwocky
~ Lewis Carol
!
!
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
'Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!'
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought -So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood a while in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One two! One two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
'And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
It Dropped So Low - in My Regard
~ Emily Dickinson
It dropped so low -- in my Regard -I heard it hit the Ground -And go to pieces on the Stones
At bottom of my Mind -Yet blamed the Fate that flung it -- less
Than I denounced Myself,
For entertaining Plated Wares
Upon My Silver Shelf --
Narcissus and Echo
~ Fred Chappell
Shall the water not remember Ember
my hand’s slow gesture, tracing above of
its mirror my half-imaginary airy
portrait? My only belonging longing;
is my beauty, which I take ache
away and then return, as love of
teasing playfully the one being unbeing.
whose gratitude I treasure Is your
moves me. I live apart heart
from myself, yet cannot not
live apart. In the water’s tone, stone?
that brilliant silence, a flower Hour,
whispers my name with such slight light:
moment, it seems filament of air, fare
the world becomes cloudswell. well.
Virginia
~ T.S. Eliot
Red river, red river,
Slow flow heat is silence
No will is still as a river
Still. Will heat move
Only through the mocking-bird
Heard once? Still hills
Wait. Gates wait. Purple trees,
White trees, wait, wait,
Delay, decay. Living, living,
Never moving. Ever moving
Iron thoughts came with me
And go with me:
Red river, river, river.
Easter Wings
~ George Herbert
Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store,
Though foolishly he lost the same,
Decaying more and more,
Till he became
Most poore:
With thee
Oh let me rise
As larks, harmoniously,
And sing this day thy victories:
Then shall the fall further the flight in me.
My tender age in sorrow did beginne:
And still with sicknesses and shame
Thou didst so punish sinne,
That I became
Most thinne.
With thee
Let me combine
And feel this day thy victorie:
For, if I imp my wing on thine
Affliction shall advance the flight in me.
O Captain! My Captain!
~ Walt Whitman
O Captain my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up--for you the flag is flung for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
We Real Cool
~ Gwendolyn Brooks
THE POOL PLAYERS.
SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL.
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
Unit: Poetry
Topic: Poetry Review and Reflection
Lesson Number: 20
Standards:
1. Content that is gathered carefully and organized well successfully influences
audience
b. Reflect on the content and approach to a presentation
a. Generalize about universal themes, cultural or historical perspectives
from multiple texts
an
Students will reflect how their preconceptions of poetry have changed over the course of the unit and
what appreciations they have of poetry they have now that they didn’t have before.
Wolf - “Black Dirt”, Motion City Soundtrack - “Resolution”, The XX - “Basic Space” - all
poems and songs are strong examples of the poetic features discussed over the course of the
semester, but are examples that haven't been shown yet. Slideshow of songs and poems listed slideshow contains lyrics/words, as well as the music for those that apply. Students will use a
sheet of notebook paper (one/two per person) on which to write reflective letter.
Time Duration:
50 minutes
Lesson Outline
Introduction:
1. Tell students this is a day to review and cover poems/songs that we haven't had a chance to
look at yet.
Instruction:
3. Read the students the poems/have them listen to the songs listed above and tell students these
are some of my personal favorites.
4. Ask them to get out a sheet of paper and write a letter to me telling me what their favorite
poem/song we’ve looked at has been and why, and how their perception of poetry and
language has changed (or not changed) since the start of the unit.
5. Answer any questions about the upcoming presentations of music videos - tell them that
Monday and Tuesday of next week will be spent in the computer lab editing their music
videos, so they must have the footage ready for editing on Monday.
6. Tell the students that their last poem for the unit is their free choice. They may write their
poem about whatever they choose and in whatever format they like.
7. Inform students that they will be creating a poetry portfolio of the poetry they’ve written over
the course of the unit - it needs to be polished and typed. They will be picking their favorite
poem and reading it aloud to the class at a poetry coffee house on Friday, which is when they
will be turning in their portfolio.
Assignments:
Students will write a poem of any form or style they choose.
They must make their music video on their chosen song lyrics, paying attention to all of the
poetic elements they have already identified within it.
Not Waving, But Drowning
~ Stevie Smith
Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.
Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he's dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.
Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
~ T.S. Eliot
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse
A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma perciocche giammai di questo fondo
Non torno vivo alcun, s'i'odo il vero,
Senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question…
Oh, do not ask, "What is it?"
Let us go and make our visit.
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.
And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
And indeed there will be time
To wonder, "Do I dare?" and, "Do I dare?"
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair—
[They will say: "How his hair is growing thin!"]
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin—
[They will say: "But how his arms and legs are thin!"]
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
For I have known them all already, known them all—
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?
And I have known the eyes already, known them all—
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?
And how should I presume?
And I have known the arms already, known them all—
Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
[But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!]
Is it perfume from a dress
That makes me so digress?
Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
And should I then presume?
And how should I begin?
.....
Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows? …
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
.....
And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!
Smoothed by long fingers,
Asleep… tired… or it malingers,
Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
Though I have seen my head [grown slightly bald] brought in upon a
platter,
I am no prophet—and here's no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.
And would it have been worth it, after all,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it toward some overwhelming question,
To say: "I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all"—
If one, settling a pillow by her head,
Should say: "That is not what I meant at all.
That is not it, at all."
And would it have been worth it, after all,
Would it have been worth while,
After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the
floor—
And this, and so much more?—
It is impossible to say just what I mean!
But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:
Would it have been worth while
If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,
And turning toward the window, should say:
"That is not it at all,
That is not what I meant, at all."
.....
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous—
Almost, at times, the Fool.
I grow old… I grow old…
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.
Ulysses
~ Lord Alfred Tennyson
It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Matched with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
I cannot rest from travel; I will drink
Life to the lees. All times I have enjoyed
Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when
Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea. I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known--cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honored of them all,-And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough
Gleams that untraveled world whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!
As though to breathe were life! Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains; but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
To whom I leave the scepter and the isle,
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfill
This labor, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and through soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centered in the sphere
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.
There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail;
There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me,
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads--you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honor and his toil.
Death closes all; but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks;
The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs; the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Goodnight
~ Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Sparks
~ Coldplay
Did I drive you away?
I know what you'll say
You say, "Oh, sing one we know"
But I promise you this
I'll always look out for you
That's what I'll do
I say "oh"
I say "oh"
My heart is yours
It's you that I hold on to
That's what I do
And I know I was wrong
But I won't let you down
(Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah I will, yes I will)
I say "oh"
I cry "oh"
Yeah I saw sparks
Yeah I saw sparks
And I saw sparks
Yeah I saw sparks
Sing it out
Letters From the Sky
~ Civil Twilight
one of these days
the sky's gonna break
and everything will escape
and i'll know
one of these days the mountains are gonna fall into the sea
and they'll know
that you and i were made for this
i was made to taste your kiss
we were made to never fall away
never fall away
one of these days letters are gonna fall from the sky
telling us all
to go free
but until that day i'll find a way to let everybody know that you're coming back,
you're coming back for me
'cause even though you left me here
i have nothing left to fear
these are only walls that hold me here
hold me here, hold me here
one day soon i'll hold you like the sun
holds the moon
and we will hear those planes overhead
and we won't have to be scared
we won't have to be
scared,
we won't have to be
scared
you're coming back to me
Glory Box
~ Portishead
I'm so tired, of playing
Playing with this bow and arrow
Gonna give my heart away
Leave it to the other girls to play
For I've been a temptress too long
Just. .
Give me a reason to love you
Give me a reason to be ee, a woman
I just wanna be a woman
From this time, unchained
We're all looking at a different picture
Thru this new frame of mind
A thousand flowers could bloom
Move over, and give us some room
I just wanna be a woman
So don't you stop, being a man
Just take a little look from our side when you can
Sow a little tenderness
No matter if you cry
Its all I wanna be is all woman
For this is the beginning of forever and ever
Its time to move over
Black Dirt
~ Sea Wolf
here on the ground
I cannot hear a sound
just a strong and steady rain
getting louder as you sing
it may be true that I lied
I broke a promise that I tried
but my heart no longer beats
my blood makes black dirt under your feet
black dirt will stain your feet and when you walk you'll leave black dirt in the street
I could feel my face grow pale
sick with fear my senses fail
and as the light fades from my eyes
I smile but don't know why
legs are growing to the heat of the sun
and my heart no longer beats
here on the ground I lie
I cannot hear a sound as I die
it may be true that I lied
broke a promise that I tried
but my heart no longer beats
and when you kill you'll only leave
black dirt under your feet
Resolution
~ Motion City Soundtrack
I like the universe,
But she messes with my words.
Im not talking planets or galaxies,
And the distance just makes it worse.
I know what you’re thinking: this probably sounds rehearsed.
So let's give it up for the New Year.
Did this party of two have you slightly confused?
Now that our things are divided,
She refuses to speak and Im drifting asleep at the wheel.
Liquids, powders and pills,
Not quite taken against my will.
A taste test of girls from all over the world
Who refuse to accept my excuses.
She put up with so much,
All my madness and my self-abuse.
She would tend to my wounds,
And fill me with food when I stumble in drunk for breakfast.
She was right to take off before she was consumed.
I like the universe,
But she messes with my words.
Im not talking planets or galaxies,
And the distance just makes it worse.
You’re totally right every action was well rehearsed.
Basic Space
~ The XX
Neck, chest, waist to floor
Easy to take, you could take me in fours
Make me a deal, a day a piece
Take it all, just stay a week
I'll take you in pieces
We can take it all apart
I've suffered shipwrecks right from the start
I've been underwater, breathing out and in
I think I'm losing where you end and I begin
Basic space, open air
Don't look away, when there's nothing there
I'm setting us in stone
Piece by piece, before I'm alone
Air tight, before we break
Keep it in, keep us safe
It's a pool of boiling wax
I'm getting in
Let it set
Got to seal this in
Can't adjust, Can't relearn
Got to keep what I have, preserve
Basic space, open air
Don't look away, when there's nothing there
Hot wax has left me with a shine
Wouldn't know if I'd been left behind
Second skin, second skin
I can't let it out, I still let you in
I can't let it out, I still let you in
Unit: Poetry
Topic: Music Video Workshop
Lesson Number: 21
Standards:
1. Content that is gathered carefully and organized well successfully influences an
audience
a. Organize and deliver a presentation that influences a specific audience
d. Make decisions about how to establish credibility and enhance appeal to the
audience
e. Rehearse the presentation to gain fluency, to adjust tone and modulate
volume for emphasis, and to develop poise
Students will get a chance to edit their music videos in the computer lab.
Access to a computer lab. Computer software for editing pictures/creating advanced slideshows/
editing movies.
Time Duration:
50 minutes
Lesson Outline
Introduction:
1. Students are taken down to computer lab and given crash course in using the editing programs
available.
Instruction:
2. Students spend period editing their music video footage.
Assignments:
Students must work on polishing their portfolio.
Students must complete their music video footage, if they haven't already.
Unit: Poetry
Topic: Music Video Workshop
Lesson Number: 22
Standards:
audience
d. Make decisions about how to establish credibility and enhance appeal to the
audience
e. Rehearse the presentation to gain fluency, to adjust tone and modulate
volume for emphasis, and to develop poise
Students will get a chance to edit their music videos in the computer lab.
Access to a computer lab. Computer software for editing pictures/creating advanced slideshows/
editing movies.
Time Duration:
50 minutes
Lesson Outline
Introduction:
1. Students are taken down to computer lab.
Instruction:
2. Students spend period editing their music video footage.
Assignments:
Students must finish and polish their music video for presentations next day.
Unit: Poetry
Topic: Music Video Presentations (Culminating Assessment)
Lesson Number: 23
Standards:
1.Content that is gathered carefully and organized well successfully influences an
audience
listening
e. Support others in discussions, activities, and presentations through
active listening
Students present Music Video’s on their chosen song lyrics to demonstrate their understanding on
the elements of poetry and how they impact meaning.
T.V. Screen, DVD player, Computer, and Projector.
Time Duration:
90 minutes
Lesson Outline
Introduction:
1. I remind all students to be respectful of the presentations and ask the students to pass in their
rubrics so that I might grade their music video.
Instruction:
2. Students each present their music video for a grade.
Assignments:
Students polish poetry portfolios for tomorrow and rehearse their favorite poem to share with the
class.
Unit: Poetry
Topic: Poetry Coffee House/Read Aloud
Lesson Number: 25
Standards:
audience
listening
e. Support others in discussions, activities, and presentations through active
listening
2. Organizational writing patterns inform or persuade an audience
g. Present writing to an authentic audience and gauge effect on audience
for intended purpose
Students share with the class their favorite poem they have written over the course of the
semester to give them confidence in their own poetry writing skills and to give them recognition
for their own poetic skills. Students also turn in portfolio of all other poems written over the
course of the unit for a grade.
Coffee, tea, hot chocolate, cookies, etc.
Time Duration:
50 minutes
Lesson Outline
Introduction:
1. I remind all students that this requires a safe and open environment and to be respectful to
everyone while they share their poem - this, much more so than the Music Videos, requires
courage.
2. Students draw their number of order out of a hat so that they know when they will be
presenting.
Instruction:
1. Students each read their chosen poem aloud
2. Students in audience must clap for each student, or, if they prefer, snap.
3. Students hand in their poetry portfolios as they leave class.
Assignments:
No Homework!
Poetry Portfolio
for
The Poetry Coffeehouse
What is it?
Your final project for this unit will be to compile all of the poems you wrote over the
course of this unit (Quatrain poem, Haiku poem, Nested Poem, and Free-Choice poem)
into a portfolio. You must also include a one page reflection on your portfolio: how did
you decide what to write about, how do you feel it came out, and why did you choose the
poem you did to read aloud? This portfolio must be typed and edited so that it is a
polished piece of work.
You will turn in this portfolio on the last day of the poetry unit - Friday, Week 5.
You will also be choosing one poem from this portfolio to read aloud to the class
during our class Poetry Coffeehouse.
Focus on reading slowly, clearly, and bringing emphasis to line breaks. Remember - you
wrote it that way for a reason, so don’t cheat your writing just so you can be done
speaking sooner. I recommend practicing it a few times before the night before.
Why, you may ask, would I make you read a poem of your own aloud?
For many excellent reasons. The first is that you should take pride in your work - poetry
is a form of expression that taps into our greatest creativity and you should celebrate that
aspect of your writing. You are, after all, now a poet. (Whether or not you like it.)
The second is that I want to see how far you’ve come in utilizing the elements of poetry. I
will not be grading the poem itself, but I am interested in seeing how you as a writer have
developed over the course of the unit.
The third is that it is very empowering to read our own writing in front of others. It is a
skill that everyone needs to obtain because (while it may seem daunting now) it will
significantly build your confidence about your writing and speaking ability in the future.
The Poetry Coffeehouse will include coffee, of course, hot chocolate, and
tea beverages along with an array of cookies and pastries. Come prepared to
snap your appreciation of your colleagues poetic skill.
Poetry
Portfolio
4
3
2
1
Excellent
Good
Needs
Improvement
Unsatisfactory
Content
10 pts /50
Portfolio has all
aspects required
and is neatly
assembled.
Portfolio has all
aspects
required, but
appears hastily
assembled.
Portfolio has
most aspects
required, but
appears
unfinished and
incomplete.
Poetry does not
have all aspects
required.
Conventions
10 pts /50
Punctuation is
all intentional
and used for a
specific affect.
All spelling and
grammar is
correct unless
manipulated for
a specific
purpose.
Most
punctuation
marks are
intentional and
used for a
specific affect.
Spelling and
grammar
mistakes are
few and donʼt
detract from or
change
meaning.
Some
punctuation
marks may be
intentional, but
there are some
that appear to
be mistakes.
Likewise, there
are some
spelling and
grammar
mistakes that
detract from
meaning.
Little to no
attention was
paid to
punctuation,
spelling or
grammar, and all
deviations from
convention are
unintended.
Self-Reflection
10 pts /50
Self-reflection is
thorough and
honest,
providing
detailed
responses to the
questions of the
prompt.
Self-reflection
answers all
questions, but is
not very detailed
in its responses.
Self-reflection
answers only
some aspects
that it was asked
and does so in a
broad and
generic
treatment.
Self-reflection
fails to answer
most to all of its
prompt and
shows minimal
effort.
Poem Reading
10 pts /50
Poem was read
clearly and with
feeling that
assisted in
conveying the
poemʼs purpose
and meaning.
Poem was read
clearly, but
delivery was not
entirely
consistent with
poemʼs purpose
and meaning.
Poem was read
aloud, but
delivery made it
difficult to hear
the poem clearly
and did not pay
attention to the
poemʼs purpose
and meaning.
Poem was not
read aloud.
Points Earned:
____ /50

Poetry Unit - EnglishMethods

Transcription

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