Lesson Plan
November 2004
LESSON PLAN
Bradstreet
List ten facts about Anne Bradstreet (1-10), page 68
*Have the students Prepare to read “Here Follow Some Verses Upon the Burning of Our House,” p. 43,
EOL, by making a list of the five items they would save if disaster struck their homes.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Then, ask them to discuss the rationale of their choices.
Open discussion
Struggling Readers
Help students determine the meanings of archaic words, such as oft {often}, e’er {ever}, ‘gin{begin}, and
high-level vocabulary, such as that in II. 18 and 19,i.e., repine {complain} and bereft {taken away}.
Advanced Learners
Discuss how different religious faiths approach the question of personal possessions and material things.
For instance, the Buddhist faith greatly values a detached attitude toward worldly possessions as a means to
inner tranquility.
Discuss the Puritan attitude toward possessions.
Have each student respond to “Here Follow Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House, July 10, 1666”
by writing down what Bradstreet says she loses to the fire in the first section. Then, explain how she
changes her tone in the last part of the poem. Next, have the students draw a three dimensional drawing
that shows what happened.
Then , have them complete a three- level study guide.
Three-Level Study Guide
From “Here Follow Some Verses Upon the Burning of Our House, July 10, 1666”
I.
Check the items that are stated in the background information about Anne Bradstreet and her
poems.
Be able to support your answers.
__________ 1. Bradstreet was the first accomplished poet on American soil.
__________ 2. Anne led a healthy life with her husband in Massachusetts.
__________ 3. The Puritans encouraged women to write.
II. Check the items that are inferred in the background information about Anne Bradstreet and her poems.
Be able to support your answers.
__________ 4. Anne left behind simplicity and wrote about children, husband, and home using, a difficult,
intricate style.
__________ 5. Anne Bradstreet loves the “house on high” more than the house in which she lives.
__________ 6. Anne shows how destruction of property leads to reconstruction.
II.
Check the universal statements that apply to the poem. Write a paragraph on the back of this
guide about one of the statements which you checked. How does the statement apply to
Bradstreet’s society and to modern life?
_________ 7. One must not become too attached to things of this world.
_________ 8. Waste not, want not.
Have students identify the inversion in 1.1 {“In silent night when rest I took”/I too rest}, Then, ask
student to identify the inversions in 1.2 _____________________________________
Why does the poet use inversion in this couplet? {“For sorrow near I did not look”/I did not look near for
sorrow. I did not expect a tragedy to strike me.
What elements of Allusion appear?
Visual Learners – create visual flash cards for the most important images of the poem. On one side
draw the image, and, on the other side write down the line.
What is an aphorism? _____________________________ Illustrate the aphorism found in this poem.
(See ancillary handouts)
A. Tests of Strength
B. Inversion
C. Grammar quiz
D. Reviewing Parts of Speed %: Prepositions, Conjunctions, Interjections