Poetry Shuffle
Fifteen things to do with a poem
Take a poem, any poem
1. Reconstruction – bend it, break it and build it up again
Like sequencing activities, this is based on the idea that if you want to understand how
something works, there’s nothing quite like taking it apart and putting it back together
again. Reconstruction tasks get students thinking about the whole business of what makes
a poem a poem. Word processors are essential here, and Choptalk is another valuable
tool.
Variations
Give students the poem set out as prose and ask them to add line breaks.

‘Hands’, Ted Hughes, OHT 74, p. 233, or ICT Activity 1
Give students the poem without any line breaks, capital letters or punctuation.

‘The Listeners’, Walter de la Mare, ICT Activity 3
Chop up the words themselves, giving students the poem as a jigsaw puzzle.

‘Porphyria’s Lover’, Robert Browning, ICT Activity 1
Ask students to divide a poem into sections and write titles for each section.

‘A Case of Murder’, Vernon Scannell, p. 111
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Poetry Shuffle
Fifteen things to do with a poem
2. Word banks – take the words and make them your own
Before reading a poem, get students thinking about its subject matter, imagery and
themes by showing them some or all of its words. There are no anxieties about
‘misunderstanding’ the poem itself, so students feel free to make inferences, ask
questions and find patterns. Students can also plunder word banks to create new, related
texts of their own – these then inform and enhance their readings of the original poem.
Cruncher is the perfect tool for creating word banks and Magnet is ideal for exploring the
words themselves.
Variations
Reveal key words one by one, asking students for their theories as each word is displayed.

‘A Case of Murder’, Vernon Scannell, ICT Activity 1
Show students all the common nouns, then all the adjectives, then all the verbs and ask
them what they can infer.

‘The Raven’, Edgar Allan Poe, OHTs 19 and 20, pp 62-63, or ICT Activities 1-3
Ask students to sort key words or phrases into two or more categories.
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‘The Jaguar’, Ted Hughes, Worksheet 40, p 138, or ICT Activity 1
‘My Country’, Dorothea McKellar, Worksheet 85, p. 261
‘The London Breed’, Benjamin Zephaniah, ICT Activities 1-4
Before introducing the poem, give students a ‘collapsed’* version, with all the words in
lower case in alphabetical order, and ask them to pick out key words, or to create their
own lines or to write a poem of their own using just the words from the word bank.

‘Mirror’, Sylvia Plath, ICT Activity 1
Before introducing the poem, give students a ‘filleted’* version – just some of its key
words (all the verbs, for instance, or all the positive or negative words) in their original
order - and ask them to write a new text using all these words in exactly the same order,
adding in their own words as they go.

‘The Apple’s Song’, Edwin Morgan, Worksheet 90, p. 273
Show students some key words and ask them to invent a story containing these
‘ingredients’.

‘The Ballad of Charlotte Dymond’, Charles Causley, OHT 51, p. 168
*from an original idea by Chris Warren
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Poetry Shuffle
3.
Fifteen things to do with a poem
Highlighting and annotation – a scribble speaks a thousand words
Students get to work on a poem, colour-coding different groups of words or phrases, or
jotting down ideas and questions. For the most able this can be quite an open task, but
many students will respond well to being given particular techniques to look for and
patterns to find. There are many features that students can explore in this way: poetic
techniques, contrasts, use of the senses, words to do with particular themes, or different
viewpoints/time periods.
Examples

‘The Eve of St Agnes’, John Keats, OHT 27, p. 84

‘Funeral Blues’, W.H. Auden, p. 126

‘Cargoes’, John Masefield, p. 197

‘The London Breed’, Benjamin Zephaniah, p. 212

‘First Day at School’, Roger McGough, p. 244
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Poetry Shuffle
4.
Fifteen things to do with a poem
Revealing it gradually – slowing down, hiding the title, what comes next?
Revealing a poem stanza by stanza or even line by line supports close reading and
inference – the reading process is slowed down, bringing out contrasts, contradictions and
surprises. Withholding the title or the last line has a similar impact.
Examples

‘Prince Kano’, Edward Lowbury, pp. 226-30

‘Mid-Term Break’, Seamus Heaney, pp. 147-50

‘Rattlesnakes Hammered on the Wall’, Ray Gonzalez, pp. 281-5
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Poetry Shuffle
5.
Fifteen things to do with a poem
Cloze activities – classic fill-in-the-gap tasks and some with a twist
A classic way of engaging close attention to text: show students a poem with some of the
words missing and ask them to fill in the gaps. At their best, cloze activities make
students think carefully and creatively about word choices, and can also help develop
understanding of parts of speech, rhythm, rhyme, imagery and theme.
Variations
Ask students to come up with their own suggestions for the blanks.


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‘Sonnet 130, William Shakespeare, Worksheet 1, p. 5
‘About His Person’, Simon Armitage, Worksheet 61, p.193
‘Prince Kano’, Edward Lowbury, Worksheet 72, p. 228
‘Valentine’, Carol Ann Duffy, OHT 82, p. 250
Give them options for some but not all of the gaps.

‘The Listeners’, Walter de la Mare, Worksheet 4, p.11 or ICT Activity 1
Provide a choice of alternatives for the missing words and/or phrases.

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‘To Autumn’, John Keats, ICT Activity 1
‘The Lady of Shalott’, Alfred Tennyson, ICT Activity 1
‘The Ballad of Charlotte Dymond’, Charles Causley, ICT Activity 1
‘The Glass Hulled Boat’, Kathleen Jamie, Worksheet 102, p. 305 or ICT Activities 1 and 2
‘The Magic Box’, Kit Wright, Worksheet 105, p. 311
Ask students to replace highlighted words with an alternative.

‘Jabberwocky’, Lewis Carroll, Worksheet 15, p. 43 or ICT Activity 2.
Present the poem as a word wall*, with some of the words bricked out.


‘Cargoes’, John Masefield, ICT Activity 1
‘The Apple’s Song’, Edwin Morgan, ICT Activity 1
* from an original idea by Chris Warren and Trevor Millum
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Poetry Shuffle
6.
Fifteen things to do with a poem
Sequencing tasks - unjumbling, following form and finding the story
This is another kind of puzzle, encouraging students to look in detail at a poem’s lines and
consider form, structure and (sometimes) narrative. They assimilate threads of meaning
in a poem before trying to ‘make sense’ of the whole, so the activity develops close
reading and inference, as well as an understanding of how ideas are linked together and
contrasted.
Variations
Simply give students the jumbled lines, with or without the title.

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‘Metaphors’, Sylvia Plath, ICT Activity 1
‘Prince Kano’, Edward Lowbury, ICT Activity 1
‘The Skater of Ghost Lake’, William Rose Benet, ICT Activities 1 and 2
Add information about form (number of stanzas, lines per stanza, rhyme scheme).

‘Down Behind the Dustbin’, Michael Rosen, Worksheet 66, p. 204 or ICT Activity 1
Consider possible alternative sequences for the lines – which is the most effective?

‘Timothy Winters’, Charles Causley, ICT Activity 1
Paraphrase a narrative poem in prose and ask students to work out the story.

‘The Raven’, Edgar Allan Poe, Worksheets 28 (a)-(c), pp. 66-68
Jumble two poems together and ask students to sort them out.

‘The Tyger’ and ’The Lamb’, William Blake, ICT Activity 2
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Poetry Shuffle
7.
Fifteen things to do with a poem
Setting statements and questions – matching, true/false, ranking and more
Give students a set of statements or questions about a poem. This supports interpretation
and discussion, encouraging them to pinpoint details and discriminate between different
ideas. Alternatively, invite them to write their own statements and/or questions for
others in the class to respond to.
Variations
Provide summary statements for students to match against quotations.

‘The Eve of St Agnes’, John Keats, Worksheets 25-26 (A) and (B), pp. 80-83
Give students ‘true or false’ statements to discriminate between.

‘Poem for My Sister’, Liz Lochhead, ICT Activity 1
Ask students to rank statements about a poem’s purpose and/or effects.

‘The Jaguar’, Ted Hughes, Worksheet 42, p. 140, or ICT Activity 2
Students write down their ideas under three headings – ‘I know / I think I know / I want to
know’ or ‘KNOW / DEDUCE / INFER’.


‘The Listeners’, Walter de la Mare, Worksheet 6, p. 13
‘First Death in Novia Scotia’, Elizabeth Bishop, p. 297
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Poetry Shuffle
8.
Fifteen things to do with a poem
Bringing things in – making it real
Bring in ‘objects’ that are related to the poem – actual objects, or paintings /
photographs, music or other texts – or ask students to find related objects themselves.
This will encourage speculation, add another dimension to students’ understanding of the
poem and promote discussion. The ‘objects’ can be a great stimulus for students’ own
poems too, either before or after reading.
Examples:
‘The Lady of Shalott’, Alfred Tennyson, CD-ROM images
‘The Eve of St Agnes’, John Keats, CD-ROM images,
‘A Martian Sends a Postcard Home’, Craig Raine, p. 117 and CD-ROM images
‘Musee des Beaux Arts’, W.H. Auden, CD-ROM image
‘The Glass Hulled Boat’, Kathleen Jamie, CD-ROM images
‘The Magic Box’, Kit Wright, p. 307
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Poetry Shuffle
9.
Fifteen things to do with a poem
Drawing – a visual approach
Many poems are highly visual. Students can explore imagery, viewpoint and mood by
drawing poems, filming them or creating animated versions using ICT.
Variations
Give out cards with different examples of imagery from a poem, asking students to
illustrate their image on A4 paper.

‘Funeral Blues’, W.H. Auden, Worksheet 37, p. 128
Give students copies of a poem, or part of a poem, and ask them to illustrate around or
beside the text on the page.


‘My Country’, Dorothea McKellar, p. 259
‘Rattlesnakes Hammered on the Wall’, Ray Gonzalez, Worksheet 94, p. 283
Provide magazines, newspapers and/or access to internet images and ask students to
create a collage to illustrate a poem or section of a poem.

‘The London Breed’, Benjamin Zephaniah, p. 211
Ask students to make a storyboard for the poem.
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‘The Raven’, Edgar Allan Poe, Worksheets 24 (a)-(c), pp. 75-77
‘The Jaguar’, Ted Hughes, Worksheet 41, p. 139
‘Mid-Term Break’, Seamus Heaney, Worksheet 45, p. 149
Ask students to text-map or animate the poem using ICT.

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‘Funeral Blues’, W.H. Auden, ICT Activity 2
‘Poetry Jump-Up’, John Agard, ICT Activity 1
Let students choose from a range of presentation methods: a poster, a dramatic reading,
PowerPoint, Photo Story, MS Word, etc.

‘The Glass Hulled Boat, Kathleen Jamie, p. 303
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Poetry Shuffle
Fifteen things to do with a poem
10. Performance – liberating the words from the page
Some poems were written to be performed; most come alive when they are. Through
performing a poem (which needn’t involve an actual ‘public’ performance), students get
inside its language, exploring how sound and rhythm work.
Variations
Try clapping or tapping out the rhythm of a poem, with or without its words.
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‘Night Mail’, W.H. Auden, Worksheet 28, p. 105
‘Poetry Jump-Up’, John Agard, OHT 47, p.154
‘i wanna be yours’, John Cooper Clarke, p. 174
‘The Skater of Ghost Lake’, William Rose Benet, Worksheet 96, p. 288
Get students to walk the poem’s punctuation, turning 45 degrees at a comma and 90
degrees at a full stop.

‘Night Mail’, W.H. Auden, p. 104
Make them memorise a poem.

‘On the Ning Nang Nong’, Spike Milligan, p. 238
Invite them to add actions.

‘Poetry Jump-Up’, John Agard, OHT 46, p.153
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Poetry Shuffle
Fifteen things to do with a poem
11. Tableau and role play – empathy and visualisation
These two drama activities both encourage empathy and visualisation. For freeze frames,
students have to focus in on a precise moment, and a series of freeze frames can help
them gain an appreciation of a poem’s structure. Role-play, on the other hand, gives
students the chance to engage with a poem’s scenario or themes through imaginative
extension.
Variations
Ask students to explain their tableau – not just their pose but their expression and the
direction of their gaze.

‘The Eve of St Agnes’, John Keats, p.99
Get students to think of tableaux as ‘living illustrations’, sketching their ideas first.

‘Talking Turkeys’, Benjamin Zephaniah, Worksheet 36, p.124
Divide a poem into a number of ‘scenes’ and ask students to pose a series of tableaux.

‘Mid-Term Break’, Seamus Heaney, Worksheet 45, p. 149
Students start with freeze frame or analysis, then go on to explore the idea further in a
brief sketch or role play.


‘The People Upstairs’, Ogden Nash, p. 207
‘Poem for My Sister’, Liz Lochhead, p. 219
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Poetry Shuffle
Fifteen things to do with a poem
12. Writing additional material – the poem as unfinished business
Students write additional material for the original poem, necessitating close attention to
its style and form.
Variations
Ask students to come up with new images for a poem.

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‘A Martian Sends a Postcard Home’, Craig Raine, p. 118
‘i wanna be yours’, John Cooper Clarke, pp. 174-5
‘Valentine’, Carol Ann Duffy, pp. 248-9
Get them to continue a narrative poem, in either prose or verse – what happens next?

‘The Highwayman’, Alfred Noyes, p. 26
Students create new verses for insertion into the original poem, as alternatives or
additions.
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‘Macavity: The Mystery Cat’, T.S. Eliot, p. 130
‘The Ballad of Charlotte Dymond’, Charles Causley, p. 166
‘Down Behind the Dustbin’, Michael Rosen, p. 202
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Poetry Shuffle
Fifteen things to do with a poem
13. Borrowing the format – learning by doing
Students take the format of the original and write their own version. This enables careful
scaffolding, giving them a helpful frame for their own ideas. In the process, they learn
more about the form and/or structure of the original poem.
Variations
Give students a template that borrows the form of the original poem.

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‘Woman Work’, Maya Angelou, OHT 49, p. 160, or ICT Activity 1
‘Down Behind the Dustbin’, Worksheet 67, p. 205
‘The Magic Box’, Kit Wright, Worksheet 106, p. 312
Give students a writing frame that follows the structure of the original poem.


‘A Case of Murder’, Vernon Scannell, Worksheet 33, p. 114
‘Mid-Term Break’, Seamus Heaney, ICT Activity 2
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Poetry Shuffle
Fifteen things to do with a poem
14. Writing a new version – borrowing the original idea
Students generally gain confidence from having a model from which to work, especially if
it means they can experiment with a different voice. Writing a new version is essentially
an inventive and challenging activity, though, giving students the creative freedom to
depart from the original in really interesting ways. In writing their own version, students
find the essence of a poem and explore it. It’s one of the most popular poetry activities
of all time, with good reason.
Variations
As a way in, ask students
to jot down ideas and
images and/or memories
for their version, using the
five senses.

‘In Mrs Tilscher’s
Class’, Carol Ann
Duffy, Worksheet 83,
p. 254
Students take the original
idea and exaggerate or
parody it in their own
version.

‘Sonnet 130’, William
Shakespeare, p. 4
Probably the most
powerful writing stimulus
of all: students take the
original idea (or ‘trick’)
and transfer it to a new
context, introducing new
characters, objects, places
and/or situations.

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
‘Mirror’, Sylvia Plath, p. 143
‘About His Person’, Simon Armitage, p. 192
‘Cargoes’, John Masefield, Worksheets 64 and 65, pp. 199-200
‘Valentine’, Carol Ann Duffy, p. 249
‘On the Ning Nang Nong’, Spike Milligan, p. 239
15. Writing spin-offs – a favourite activity that works every time
A poem can lead to excellent writing in other forms. Narrative poems, particularly
ballads, can be a source of compelling newspaper articles (and vice versa). Poems about
characters can inspire terrific monologues or speeches, and those addressed to a silent
‘listener’ or ‘reader’ are just asking for a reply.
Examples



‘The Lady of Shalott’, Alfred Tennyson, p. 50
‘The Ballad of Charlotte Dymond’, Charles Causley, p. 167
‘To a Fish’ and ‘A Fish Answer’, James Leigh Hunt, p. 293
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