Poetry Wiki
You will work with a partner on this activity. Using all of the skills and techniques you have
learned this semester for dealing with unusual and difficult texts, take the poem you are
assigned and create a wiki-page for it. There are several items of information that must be
included on your page as noted below.
How do wikis work? The way Wikispaces works is that each member of a space has the ability to edit
pages on the space. As changes to a page are made, they are tracked to the individual user, so I will be
evaluating not only the contributions that you make but also that your contributions are balanced with
those of your partner. By the way, only one person may be editing any given page at a time.
What needs to be included on the wiki-page for your poem?
Required – part 1
1. Title, author and page number in your literature book listed at the top of the page.
2. Author: Who is the author of the poem? What led the poet to be a poet and write his material?
Use not only your literature book but other reputable resources to give a brief bio of your author
that addresses these issues.
3. Title: What is the poem’s title? Does the title suggest the poem’s subject or theme?
4. Genre: What type of poem is it? Is it lyric poem? a narrative poem? a dramatic poem? If it is
a lyric poem, what emotion(s) does it express? Who is the speaker? What is the situation? If it is
a narrative poem, what is the plot of the story that it tells? What is the setting? Who are the
characters? If it is a dramatic poem, what dramatic techniques--such as monologue or dialogue-does it use? What is the plot? What is the setting? Who are the characters?
5. Form: Is the poem divided into stanzas? if so, how many lines are there in each stanza?
Does each stanza express a complete thought, like a paragraph in prose writing.
What is the verse type used? free verse? regular verse? blank verse? How does the
poem’s form contribute to its meaning?
Optional…Do all or part, but keep the work balanced!
6. Imagery: What images of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell are used in the poem? What
do these images describe? What effect is created by these images?
7. Figurative language: Are there any examples of irony? of metaphor? of oxymoron? of
personification? of simile? What symbols, if any, does the poet use to represent other ideas or
things? Does the poet make use of allusion? Is the poem an allegory?
8. Devices of sound: What is the rhyme scheme of the poem, if any? What examples of
alliteration can you find in the poem? of assonance? of consonance? of onomatopoeia? Does
the poet use cacophony, parallelism, repetition, or a refrain?
9. Other elements: What is the overall mood of the poem? What literary devices create this
mood? What is the theme of the poem? How is this theme revealed?
Required – part 2
Write two analytical paragraphs* on the poem (one per person!). Each paragraph should
address one possible meaning of the poem. Include direct quotes (with citations…see below) to
help show your thinking and be sure to explain how your quote helps support that thinking.
Control your grammar, spelling and punctuation.
* Paragraph: A FORMAL piece at least five sentences in length with a TOPIC SENTENCE, appropriate
support, and a CONCLUDING SENTENCE.
Citation of poetry: Because of the nature of this project, no paraphrasing will be
acceptable. Thus, the following is the general format for quoting poetry in an essay.
Example: (from Longfellow's "Three Friends of Mine", American Poetry & Prose, edited
by Norman Foerster)
"When I remember them, those friends of mine, / Who are no longer here, the
noble three, / Who half my life were more than friends to me" (Longfellow
681).
Explanation: The above example shows three full lines of poetry. The / indicates
where a line of poetry ends and where another begins. Notice: it only appears when
running together all or part of consecutive lines of poetry. The notation neither appears
at the beginning of the first line nor at the end of the last line of borrowed poetry, where
the quotation ends.
Grading: For the bulk of this project, you will be graded individually.
The Poems
Chicago – p. 825
Richard Cory – p. 831
Sympathy – p. 837
The Weary Blues – p. 927
Any Human to Another – p. 942
Life for My Child is Simple – p. 968
Primer for Blacks – p. 969
Mending Wall – p. 1002
“Out, out—“ – p .1004
At the Justice Department – p. 1119
Mexicans Begin Jogging - 1195