Directions- Read over poem and go over rhyme scheme. Explain that poetry has a lot to do with musicality and figurative
language. Sometimes the words are less meaningful than the sequence and flow. (Not in this case but…sometimes)
1. Have students find the figurative language throughout the poem.
2. Have them paraphrase the poem.
3. Have them discuss the theme and meaning of the poem. (I had my kids memorize the poem and quizzed them on
it)
Harlem
Rhyme Scheme
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?
( )
Paraphrase poem (Word by Word)
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
______________________________________
Figurative Language- Find the figurative language in the poem and write it on the correct area.
Simile- (5)________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Alliteration-(1) ____________________________________________________________________________
Hyperbole- (2)_____________________________________________________________________________
Personification-(1)__________________________________________________________________________
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Cut here – Hand out separately-----------------
Directions- Use the same rhyme scheme and figurative language elements Langston Hughes used. Let’s
see what you can come up with. You may be surprised. Fill in the blanks.
 _______________________ (Title)
 What happens to a _________ __________ ?
 Does it ________ up (hyperbole)
 Like a ________ in the _______? (good simile)
 Or, does it _________ like a __________--- (bad simile)
 And ,then _____? (hyperbole or personification)
 Does it __________ like __________ _______? (bad simile)
 Or, _________ and _________ over--- (good simile)
 Like a ____________ ____________? (alliteration)

 Maybe, it _______
 Like a heavy _______? (Struggle simile)

 Or does it ______________? (hyperbole or personification)
Directions1. Give each student a copy of this poem without the title.
2. Read the poem as a class and have the students annotate it.
3. Give the students one minute to write down what they think the object is (the
narrator of the poem) and a sentence explaining why.
4. Discuss as a class
5. Reveal
6. Go over point of view and clues
7. Give students 10-15 minutes to write their own riddle poem. Note- Have your own
to model the process. (I have samples of both of these activities)
8. If extra time is allotted give students a chance to read poems aloud and have other
students guess the object.
Mirror
I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful ‚
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I think it is part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.
Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,
Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.
© by owner. provided at no charge for educational purposes