9th Grade English I
“The Starry Night” Lesson
Melinda J. Hall
Objectives:
to read a poem critically
to write a personal response to a piece of artwork
Procedures:
Read “The Starry Night” by Anne Sexton.
Use TP-CASTT and SOAPSIS for analysis and discussion.
Read “Vincent” by Don McLean then listen to the audio recording of the song (from American Pie CD).
Use TP-CASTT and SOAPSIS for analysis and discussion.
Discuss the painting The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh and biographical information about the
painter.
Discuss how each poet/song writer used the artwork in his/her respective works.
Activity:
Students break into small groups to discuss and answer questions about the works in order to complete a
Venn Diagram (Open Comparison Contrast) comparing and contrasting the poems.
 Discuss WHY each of these poets chose to respond to this painting.
 What was the message/theme conveyed to each poet by the painting?
 How are the two responses similar to and different from each other?
Questions to Assist with Analysis/Discussion of
“The Starry Night” by Anne Sexton
1. Who is the speaker?
2. In the 2nd and 3rd stanza, Sexton uses “serpent,” “beast,” and “dragon.” What is the significance of
these images? What does each symbolize?
3. What is the contextual meaning of “irons” in line 8?
4. What does the “flag” in line 14 symbolize? “belly” in line 15?
5. Find the various similes and metaphors in the poem. Explain each one.
6. What is the theme of this poem?
7. What is the poet’s connection with the artwork? What does the painting represent to her?
“Vincent” by Don McLean
1. Who is the speaker?
2. Who is the “you” in the poem (line 10)? Who are “they” (line 13)?
3. What is the contextual meaning of “beautiful” as McLean uses it line 36? What are the different
types of beauty?
4. What are the major sections/divisions of the poem? What is the rhyme scheme of each section?
5. What device does the line “A silver thorn, a bloody rose” demonstrate? Explain the meaning of this
line.
6. What are the patterns you notice, both structural and figurative?
7. What is the theme of this poem/song?
8. What is the poet’s connection with the artwork? What does the painting represent to him?
Extension:
Go to Media Center to use art books and Internet resources.
Select a work of art (painting, sculpture—anything visual) and write a personal response to the work.
You may write a poem, song, story, or art critique. Be creative! Just as the painting “belonged” to the
artist, make your personal response to his/her work your own.
Evaluation:
Uses Appropriate Voice/Tone
0 1 2 3 4
Addresses Topic
0 1 2 3 4
Details
0 1 2 3 4
Organization
0 1 2 3 4
Vivid Word Choice
0 1 2 3 4
A=19-20
B=17-18
C=16
D=14-15
F=13 and under
Handouts and Materials:
“The Starry Night” Handout
TP-CASTT and SOAPSIS Charts
Venn Diagram (Open Comparison-Contrast)
Extension: Museum Field Trip: Ekphrasis (Handout/activity can be used for personal response to
art.)
The Starry Night
Anne Sexton
Vincent
Don McLean
That does not keep me from having a terrible need of –shall I
say the word—religion. Then I go out at night to paint the
stars.—Vincent van Gogh in a letter to his brother
Starry, starry night
Paint your palette blue and gray.
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul.
Shadows on the hills.
Sketch the trees and the daffodils;
Catch the breeze and the winter chills
In colors on the snowy linen land.
The town does not exist
except where one black-haired tree slips
up like a drowned woman into the hot sky.
The town is silent. The night boils with eleven stars
Oh starry starry night! This is how
I want to die.
It moves. They are all alive.
Even the moon bulges in its orange irons
to push children, like a god, from its eye.
The old unseen serpent swallows up the stars.
Oh starry starry night! This is how I want to die:
into that rushing beast of the night,
sucked up by that great dragon, to split
from my life with no flag,
no belly,
no cry.
Anne Sexton (1928-1975) was born in Newton,
Massachusetts. She attended Garland Junior College, married
at 20, and began a life as a housewife. After a mental
breakdown at the age of 28 she took up writing poetry on the
suggestion of a therapist. She published eight books of poetry,
the third of which won a Pulitzer Prize. Despite her literary
success, her life was deeply troubled, and she attempted
suicide on several occasions. At last she succeeded, by
carbon monoxide poisoning.
Now I understand
What you tried to say to me,
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free.
They would not listen; they did not know how.
Perhaps they'll listen now.
Starry, starry night
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze;
Swirling clouds in violet haze
Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue.
Colors changing hue
Morning fields of amber grain,
Weathered faces lined in pain
Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand.
Now I understand
What you tried to say to me,
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free.
They would not listen; they did not know how.
Perhaps they'll listen now.
For they could not love you
But still, your love was true.
And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night
You took your life as lovers often do.
But I could've told you, Vincent,
This world was never meant
For one as beautiful as you.
Starry, starry night
Portraits hung in empty halls
Frameless heads on nameless walls
With eyes that watch the world and can't forget;
Like the strangers that you've met
The ragged men in ragged clothes,
The silver thorn, a bloody rose
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow.
Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889, oil on canvas, 29
x 36 ¼ in. (The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Now I think I know
What you tried to say to me,
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free.
They would not listen; they're not listening still.
Perhaps, they never will.
Title: _____________________________________ Poet: _______________________
SOAPS(IS)
TP-CASTT
S: Speaker
identify and
describe
O: Occasion
identify and
describe
A: Audience
identify and
describe
P: Purpose
T: Title What does
the title lead you to
believe the poem will be
about?
P: Paraphrase
What happens in the
poem? Summarize
the poem.
C: Connotation
Meaning beyond the
literal--Figurative
meaning, imagery,
symbolism, etc.
A: Attitude How
explain WHY
does the speaker feel
about the subject or
events?
S: Style
S: Shifts
HOW it's
written(syntax,
structure, tone,
point of view)
I: Images:
identify and
describe; effect of
imagery
S: Sound
Devices: identify
and explain effect
Where
does the poem shift
in tone, language, or
plot?
T: Title Again Revisit the title. Does
the author seem to
be focusing your
attention on any one
aspect?
T: Theme What
message or universal
idea is conveyed
through this poem?