Literary Device: Rhythm
1.1. Poetry is literature that fits language into a rhythm or pattern. Often, a poem is arranged in
lines and the lines are arranged in stanzas. Usually, a poem has a definite, regular rhythm. The
pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in the lines of a poem is called its rhythm. There are
many possible patterns of rhythm.
The poem is written in iambic tetrameter, which means a line consisting of four
iambic feet. The word "tetrameter" simply means that there are four feet in the line;
iambic tetrameter is a line comprising four iambs, unstressed syllables followed by a
stressed syllable, which means that four words in each eight-syllable line are
stressed.Example: An iambic foot is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed
syllable. A line of iambic tetrameter is four of such feet in a row:
da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM
An example:
x
/
x
/
x
/
x
/
For- get | not yet | the tried | in- tent
Another:
x
/
x
/
x
/
x
/
Come live | with me | and be | my love
("The Passionate Shepherd to His Love", by Christopher Marlowe)
Literary Device: Rhyme
Marking rhyme: Mark the rhyme (mark the end of each line with a letter for the rhyme scheme)
Example: "Mary Had A Little Lamb" (Nursery Rhyme) Author: Sarah J. Hale - 1788-1879
(1830)
Mary had a little lamb,
A
Its fleece was white as snow;
B
And everywhere that Mary went,
C
The lamb was sure to go.
B
He followed her to school one day,
D
Which was against the rule;
E
It made the children laugh and play
D
To see a lamb at school.
E
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Pre Reading Activity
Restoring words in poetic lines: Task: In the poem, "Stopping By Woods on A Snowy
Evening", within the four lines of each stanza, the first, second and fourth lines rhyme - AABA
BBCB CCDC- the exception being the last stanza, in which the rhyme scheme is DDDD. Another
factor to consider is that it is written in the form of iambic tetrameter: In each poetic line the
words are scrambled. Find the correct order of the words and write your answers in space
provided.
Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening
Robert Frost
Stanza 1
I know woods I think whose are these.______________________________________
though village is in the house his; ________________________________________
stopping here me not will he see
________________________________________
his woods with snow fill to watch up. _______________________________________
Stanza 2
must it think queer horse my little _________________________________________
without near a farmhouse stop to __________________________________________
lake frozen and woods the between _________________________________________
of the evening the darkest year. ___________________________________________
Stanza 3
gives bells harness shake a he his __________________________________________
there is some ask to mistake if. ____________________________________________
the sweep the only other sound’s ___________________________________________
downy easy wind and of flake. ____________________________________________
Stanza 4
dark, lovely woods the and deep are ________________________________________
to keep but promises have I ______________________________________________
to sleep before go miles I and ____________________________________________
to sleep go miles I before and ____________________________________________
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Worksheet 2
Let’s read Robert Frost’s poem, “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening". As you
listen to and read the poem, underline the words you don’t understand. Try to guess their
meaning. Ask your peers or your teacher.
“Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep
Checking Comprehension through LOTS:
Read the poem again, and think about the following questions to make sure you
understand the main details of the poem:
1. Whose woods are these? Why does the speaker stop by them?
2. Why does the narrator think that his horse “must think it queer” to stop in this
particular place?
3. What time of the year is it? What time of day?
4. What picture of the woods do you form from the first three stanzas? Be specific.
5. Give a detailed description of what is happening in the poem.
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Worksheet 3 Explicit teaching of the HOTS of Compare and Contrast
Let us Compare and Contrast two pictures. We compare things when we find
similarities and we contrast things when we find differences. Which and how many
differences did you find? Why do you think it was important to spot differences?
Helpful vocabulary:
To compare: also, as, as well, at the same time, both, in the same manner, in the
same manner, in the same way, like, likewise, most important, in comparison,
same, similar, similarly, the same as, too
To contrast:Although, but, differ, even though, however, contrast, instead,
nevertheless, on the contrary, on the other hand, rather, unlike, while, whereas,
yet
We used the Higher Order Thinking Skill to compare
_______________ and _____________
We use the HOTS of Compare and Contrast in real life when we
*__________________________ *___________________________
*__________________________ *___________________________
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Worksheet 4
Application of HOTS to the Text
1. Whose attitudes towards life and responsibilities in life are compared in the poem?
What are they?
(Comparing the speaker’s and his horse’s; the owner of the woods with the speaker’s own
attitude, the speaker’s attitude in the first stanza compared to the last stanza)
Stanza One
Stanzas Two-Three
Stanza Four
Character
Attitude
a. Make use of ONE of the Thinking Skills we’ve studied. Write about 40-50 words.
The Thinking Skill I chose:_______________________________________
Answer:
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….…
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………….……………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Content__/16 points
Language:___/4 points
b. Explain why you chose that particular thinking skill to answer question 1
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Content=__/4 points
Language:__/1 point
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Literary Device: Personification
1. Why does the horse “think it queer to stop”? Why do you think the speaker
mentions what the horse “thinks”? (Personification to elicit the speaker’s conflict)
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Literary Device: Genre
This poem has aspects that are similar to a poem and a short story and so it is called a
narrative poem.
Poem: a composition in verse written in certain measures, whether in blank verse or in
rhyme, and characterized by imagination/imagery, and poetic diction.
A Short Story: provides the reader with a “slice of life”, which has been compressed into
the smallest amount of space possible, without excluding any essential elements of the
story: structure, such as point of view (mode of narration), setting, plot, characterization
and motivation; readers have to become aware of how these elements work together to
create a variety of narrative effects.
A Narrative Poem: A poem that tells a story. It may be short or long, and the story it
relates to may be simple or complex. It is usually non-dramatic, with objective verse and
regular rhyme scheme and meter.
Narrative Poetry of Robert Frost: What do the stories they tell reveal about the
character and motives of the poems' speakers? In a poem such as "Stopping By Woods
on a Snowy Evening," Frost's readers must fill in the gaps in the narrative, inventing
motives and explanations for a speaker's action or inaction when no motives or
explanations are given. The stories told by Frost's speakers work almost as rumors do:
they encourage the imagination of readers by dropping veiled and not-so-veiled hints
about unseen events and persons, and they reveal to us, by what they leave in or omit
from their narratives, as much about the character and motives of the speaker as they do
about the objects and events he is describing.
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List the characteristic features of this narrative poem
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
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Worksheet 5 Spiraling Literary Devices
Think of how the following literary devices enhance your understanding and appreciation
of the poem. Find an example of each of the following in the poem.
Imagery- words used in images in poetry that use our 5 senses: sight, smell,
hearing, taste, and touching
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Metaphor: describing one thing in terms of something else
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Theme- Usually we can find the theme of a literary work by answering the
question: “What is this work about?” Theme looks at the message or general
idea of the work.
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
.
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Worksheet 6 Bridging Text and Context
1. Can you see a connection between the author’s background and the poem you read? Explain.
(If you don’t have relevant information, revisit the sites with Frost’s biography.)
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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Worksheet 7 Post-Reading Activity
1. And now, rather than impose my interpretation of the poem, I want you to discover your
own interpretation. To find issues in the poem that concern you, to read the poem from the
standpoint of your own problems, values and beliefs. Connect your life experiences (HOTS
of Making Connections) to your interpretation of the poem by answering the questions.
a. How well do you know the man in the village who owns the woods? Why or Why
not?
b. Why are you traveling on the darkest evening of the year?
c. Why have you stopped?
d. Who or what is your “horse”?
e. What are the promises that you have to keep?
f. How would you re-title the poem?
2. It’s not enough, however, that you read literature from your own point of view, it’s
essential that you look at the poem through the eyes of the “other”-someone who is
different from you according to his/her social, ethnic, age, religion, gender group, or even
due to his/her spiritual or philosophical point of view. I want each of you to answer the
above questions but this time from perspective of the “other”:
e, g., the young, the old, a religious/ secular person, A Christian/a Jew/ A Hassid/A
Moslem, housewives, the rich/the poor, the unemployed/the homeless
2. Choose one of the following:
1. Compare the poem to the “Road Not Taken” (Use a table to present the
comparisons you are making graphically):*the speaker’s perspective on what is
happening in the poem *the narrative structure of the poem *the theme *literary
devices * message
2. Compare the way you identify with the messages in both poems.
Can you compare the situations in this poem to something that happened in YOUR life?
Explain in a paragraph of at least 100 words.
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Worksheet # 7
Reflection
Look though all of the work you have done in this unit and answer the following
questions:
1. Did you like the poem? Explain your answer in at least two sentences.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
2. As part of this unit of work you were taught the higher-order thinking skill of
Compare and Contrast and reviewed the HOTS of Making Connections
The HOTS of Compare and Contrast
The HOTS of Making
Connections
How did the teacher
teach it?
How could you use
it in your life?
How did the HOTS
help you better
understand the
poem?
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