I Hear Poetry – Grade 11
Ohio Standards
Connection
Reading Application:
Literary Text
Benchmark E
Critique an author’s style
Indicator 8
Evaluate ways authors
develop point of view and
style to achieve specific
rhetorical and aesthetic
purposes (e.g., through use
of figurative language,
irony, tone, diction,
imagery, symbolism and
sounds of language), citing
specific examples from text
to support analysis.
Writing Applications
Standard
Benchmark B
Write responses to
literature that provide an
interpretation, recognize
ambiguities, nuances and
complexities and that
understand the author’s use
of stylistic devices and
effects created.
Indicators 2
Write responses to
literature that:
a. advance a judgment
that is interpretative,
analytical, evaluative
or reflective;
b. support key ideas and
viewpoints with
accurate and detailed
references to the text
or to other works and
authors;
Lesson Summary:
Students develop their ability to write responses to literature by
reviewing the poetry in song lyrics. Students focus on the effects
of the stylistic and literary devices the poet uses. Eventually,
students apply these skills to an in-depth analysis of a poem.
Estimated Duration: Three to five hours
Commentary:
One reviewer noted, “The song lyrics [draw] students into poetry
[where they can] apply what they can do with lyrics to poetry.”
Another admitted, “The music aspect always gets students
interested.”
Pre-Assessment:
Conduct a brief discussion about students’ familiarity with poetry
and their personal poetic preferences.
 Reproduce classroom sets of the lyrics of two to four songs of
poetic value. Format the lyrics to resemble traditional poems,
omitting their titles and authors.
Instructional Tip:
Do not identify the poems as songs.



Ask students to analyze one of the poems in writing, including
a discussion of messages found in the poem as well as literary
and stylistic devices used to develop the messages. Provide
Attachment A, Analysis Notes, as an organizer. At this point,
allow students to focus on the content rather than the written
form.
Now, share that these poems are actually songs and allow
students to listen to recordings of the songs. Lead a class
discussion to analyze the messages found in the poems and to
identify the literary and stylistic devices used.
Allow students work in groups of three or four, using Rubric
for Beginning Poetry Analysis & Peer Evaluation,
Attachment B, to evaluate group members’ written responses.
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I Hear Poetry – Grade 11
Ohio Standards
Connection
c.
d.
e.
f.
analyze the author’s
use of stylistic devices
and express an
appreciation of the
effects the devices
create;
identify and assess the
impact of possible
ambiguities, nuances
and complexities
within text;
anticipate and answer
a reader’s questions,
counterclaims or
divergent
interpretation
provide a sense of
closure to the writing.
Writing Process
Standard
Benchmark D
Apply editing strategies to
eliminate slang and
improve conventions.
Indicator 15
Apply tools (e.g., rubric,
checklist and feedback) to
judge the quality of
writing.
Scoring Guidelines:
Students whose responses to Rubric for Beginning Poetry
Analysis & Peer Evaluation, Attachment B, receive peer ratings
of 1 or 2 begin Part One of the instructional procedures. Students
whose responses receive peer ratings of 3 or 4 begin Part Two of
the instructional procedures.
Post-Assessment:
 Distribute Attachment F, Suggested Poets.
 Assign an essay that both analyzes a poem and assesses the
impact of its stylistic and literary devices.
 Assist students as they choose specific poems and obtain
copies for their use.
Instructional Tip:
To avoid duplication of poems, make copies of acceptable poems
ahead of time. As students select a poem, they take its copy,
making the poem unavailable to others.


Students use Rubric for Beginning Poetry Analysis & Peer
Evaluation, Attachment A, to edit their essays and to
complete final drafts.
Assess final draft using Rubric for Poetry Analysis,
Attachment C.
Scoring Guidelines:
See Rubric for Poetry Analysis, Attachment C.
Instructional Procedures:
Day One
1. Distribute copies of Big Ten Poetry Techniques, Attachment
D.
2. Assign individual students to complete the practice activities
for the literary terms on the attachment.
3. Ask students to share their responses and defend their
examples of the literary devices. Actively guide student
sharing.
Day Two
4. Distribute copies of Dunbar’s poem (See Attachment G,
“Sympathy” and “Sympathy” with Explication.)
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I Hear Poetry – Grade 11
5. Model analysis of poem on overhead, if possible. Follow these steps:
 Read the poem aloud, stopping to highlight or underline parts as necessary.
 Return to the highlighted or underlined sections, asking class leading questions to draw
students to make similar observations about the lines.
 Ask students to scan the ends of each line to determine its rhyme scheme.
 Fill in the rhyme scheme letters as students assign them to each line.
 Identify literary devices used within the poem, marking them.
 Ask students to consider why the particular devices were used, reminding them that
analysis which merely labels a poem is meaningless. To what end did the poet use each
device? What purpose did the device serve?
 Ask students to volunteer a paraphrase of the poem. Ask them to express the gist of the
poem.
6. Refer students back to Attachment A, Analysis Notes, to structure their written analysis.
Suggest they introduce the poem and its overall message in the first paragraph, then add
additional insights in subsequent paragraphs. Use additional paragraphs to explicate the poem
in terms of its literary devices. Remind students to mention only those devices for which they
offer explanations.
7. Assign completion of a rough draft analysis for homework. Remind students that a rough
draft is required for entry into the next class session.
Day Three
8. Pair students for peer evaluation of their rough drafts. Refer to Attachment D, Rubric for
Beginning Poetry Analysis and Peer Evaluation.
9. Introduce additional devices from Sweet Sixteen Poetry Techniques, Attachment E. Divide
the terms among the pairs, perhaps even combining pairs to create groups of four.
10. Have each group complete the handout for its assigned terms, providing an example and an
activity to reinforce their learning. Allow students to consult additional resources, including
literary term dictionaries, literature texts and the Internet.
11. Facilitate sharing of the answers among the class. Assign a certain number of the new terms
to be included in the final drafts of the poetry analyses.
12. Allow students to select poems for post-assessment.
13. Assign final draft due dates.
Differentiated Instructional Support:
Instruction is differentiated according to learner needs, to help all learners either meet the intent
of the specified indicator(s) or, if the indicator is already met, to advance beyond the specified
indicator(s).
 Students may work with a partner instead of individually to create final analysis.
 Encourage students to animate their post-assessment to share with others using presentation
software.
 Allow students to create a poster to accompany their written analysis.
 Challenge students to organize an event to share songs with others (i.e., coffee houses).
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I Hear Poetry – Grade 11
Extensions:
 Students create their own lyrics using the poetry devices and set them to music.
 Students find songs from different styles of music (jazz, hip-hop, country, alternative, etc.)
that have lyrics with similar themes. Students then discuss how the music affects the
communication of its theme.
Home Connections:
 Ask parents to share one of their favorite songs from their teen years and discuss the poetic
value of its lyrics.
 Take a famous poem and try to add music to add to the communication of its ideas.
 Choose a music video to listen to and watch. Write an expository essay discussing whether
the visual images match your interpretation of the lyrics.
Interdisciplinary Connections:
Social Studies
 Explore how poetry and music reflect the culture of different people around the world.
 Choose poets from different time periods and see how their poetry is reflective of the time
period in which they lived.
Materials and Resources:
The inclusion of a specific resource in any lesson formulated by the Ohio Department of
Education should not be interpreted as an endorsement of that particular resource, or any of its
contents, by the Ohio Department of Education. The Ohio Department of Education does not
endorse any particular resource. The Web addresses listed are for a given site’s main page,
therefore, it may be necessary to search within that site to find the specific information required
for a given lesson. Please note that information published on the Internet changes over time,
therefore the links provided may no longer contain the specific information related to a given
lesson. Teachers are advised to preview all sites before using them with students.
For the students:
Copies of all attachments, access to literary term guides, literature
texts and the Internet. Copies of several poems for post-assessment
analysis.
Vocabulary:
 See Attachment D, Big Ten Poetry Techniques
 See Attachment E, Sweet Sixteen Poetry Techniques
Technology Connections:
 Students record music to share with the class.
 Students search the Internet for resources to teach and learn “Sweet 16” techniques.
 Students record music videos (See Home Connections).
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I Hear Poetry – Grade 11
Research Connections:
Arter, Judith and Jay McTighe. Scoring Rubrics in the Classroom: Using Performance Criteria
for Assessing and Improving Student Performance. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2001.
An analytical trait rubric divides a product or performance into essential traits or dimensions so
they can be judged separately—one analyzes a product or performance for essential traits. A
separate score is provided for each trait.
Analytical rubrics address some of the limitations of the holistic rubric. These manage to
 Judge complex performances involving several significant dimensions
 Break performances into traits in order to more readily grasp the components of quality
 Provide more specific feedback to students, parents and teachers.
Stiggins, Richard J. Student-Involved Classroom Assessment. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill
Prentice Hall, 2001.
Guiding Principles:
1. Students are the key assessment users. They look to their teachers for evidence of their
success.
2. Clear and appropriate targets are essential. Without a sense of final destination reflected in
your standards and signposts along the way against which to check students’ progress, you
will have difficulty being an effective teacher.
3. Accurate assessment is a must. Sound assessments satisfy five specific standards:
1) Clear targets (content validity)
2) Focused purpose (provides information necessary to do the job)
3) Proper method
Selected response methods (multiple choice, true/false, matching and fill-in)
Essay assessments
Performance assessments
Personal communication
4) Sound sampling (gather enough information to form valid conclusions)
5) Accurate and free from bias and distortion (maximize the reliability of assessments)
4. Sound assessments must be accompanied by effective communication.
Zemelman, Steven, Harvey Daniels and Arthur Hyde. Best Practice: New Standards of Teaching
and Learning in America's Schools. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1998.
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Integrative units
Rather than allow students’ learning to be delivered in disconnected incoherent “chunks,”
material is identified by interest and importance. Extended units are then built around these
topics (James Beane 1997). Doing more than crossing subject areas, this method makes
students real, responsible partners in curriculum development.
Small group activities
Cooperative learning has been described by William Glasser (1990), David and Roger
Johnston (1991), Yael and Shlomo Sharan (1992) and Robert Slavin (1985) among others.
Representing-to-learn
Writing to learn developed in the 70s and 80s by Peter Elbow (1973) and Toby Fulwiler
(1987) was widely spread in National Writing Project in-service programs. However, this
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I Hear Poetry – Grade 11
needn’t be limited only to writing words: drawing, sketching, jotting, mapping and other
graphic representations are equally valuable and can be called representing to learn (Daniels
& Bizar 1998). A reading workshop of this variety, as developed by Nancie Atwell (1998)
yields a group of busily working students, engaged in their own reading tasks, responding
and enhancing their comprehension.
Attachments:
Attachment A, Analysis Notes
Attachment B, Rubric for Beginning Poetry Analysis & Peer Evaluation
Attachment C, Rubric for Poetry Analysis
Attachment D, Big Ten Poetry Techniques
Attachment E, Sweet Sixteen Poetry Techniques
Attachment F, Suggested Poets
Attachment G, “Sympathy”
Attachment G, “Sympathy” with Explication
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I Hear Poetry – Grade 11
Attachment A
Analysis Notes
Overall message of poem:
Other messages present:
Literary & stylistic devices used, with examples
Device
Example (Copy line or lines from poem
here)
Contribution (Why did the poet
include this device? What purpose
does it serve?)
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I Hear Poetry – Grade 11
Attachment B
Rubric for Beginning Poetry Analysis & Peer Evaluation
Aspect
Basic (1)
Developing (2)
Proficient (3)
Expert (4)
Literary & Stylistic
Devices
Shows limited to no
understanding of
devices
Shows limited
understanding of
devices; provides
limited examples
Demonstrates
understanding of
devices; provides
examples from the
text
Demonstrates solid
understanding of
devices; validates
each mention by
specific references
to its use within the
text
Development
Barely articulates
messages and ideas
of the text
Articulates a
limited
understanding of
the messages and
ideas of the text
Adequately
articulates messages
found within the
text
Clearly and
specifically
articulates
messages and ideas
within the text
Peer Evaluation:
Rank from 1 to 4
Peer comments:
Support score with concrete comments
1
Evaluator A
Evaluator B
Evaluator C
Evaluator D
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I Hear Poetry – Grade 11
Attachment C
Rubric for Poetry Analysis
Aspect
Basic (1)
Developing (2)
Proficient (3)
Expert (4)
Literary & Stylistic
Devices
Shows limited to no
understanding of
devices
Shows limited
understanding of
devices; provides
limited examples
Demonstrates
understanding of
devices; provides
examples from the
text
Demonstrates solid
understanding of
devices; validates
each mention by
specific references
to its use within the
text
Clarity &
Development
Barely articulates
messages and ideas
of the text
Adequately
articulates messages
found within the
text
Organization
Rambles
Articulates a
limited
understanding of
the messages and
ideas of the text
Includes some gaps
in organization
Grammar &
Mechanics
Several errors
interfere with
understanding
Commits some
errors which
interfere with
comprehension
Commits minor
errors that do not
interfere with
understanding
Clearly and
specifically
articulates
messages and ideas
within the text
Organizes thoughts
to allow for
maximum
understanding
No errors
Organizes
information
efficiently
Teacher comments:
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I Hear Poetry – Grade 11
Attachment D
Big Ten Poetry Devices
Alliteration: the repetition of initial consonant sounds.
Example: The Cute Cuddly Kitten hid in the pantry.
Activity: Describe two family members using their first name and alliteration. (Tiny Terrible Tina)
Allusion: reference to a well-known person, place, literary work or work of art.
Example: I compared myself to Toni Braxton, thought I would never catch my breath.
Activity: Describe your school using an allusion.
Figurative Language: Writing or speech not meant to be interpreted literally.
Example: Donny was so angry flames of fire came out of his mouth.
Activity: Write two sentences about your English class using figurative language.
Metaphor: Speaking of a person place or thing as if it is something or someone else.
Example: Life is a broken winged bird that can not fly.
Activity: Write a metaphor for love.
Extended Metaphor: continuing a metaphor over many lines or an entire poem or essay.
Example: See Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem “Sympathy,” attached.
Activity: Describe your personality using an extended metaphor
Onomatopoeia: Words that imitate sound.
Example: The bacon sizzled in the pan.
Activity: Write two sentences that use Onomatopoeia.
Personification: Giving human characteristics to non-human things.
Example: When I sat down, the chair wrapped its arms around me comfortingly.
Activity: Describe your house using personification.
Rhyme: Repetition of sounds at the end of words or the end of a line of poetry.
Example: now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
Activity: Write a 3 line rhyme about your favorite restaurant.
Repetition: Restating a word or phrase multiple times.
Example: Martin Luther King’s speech “I Have a Dream”
Activity: Use repetition to sell your favorite soft drink.
Simile: Comparing two items using “like” or “as.”
Example: Float like a butterfly sting like a bee.
Activity: Use a simile to describe one of your parents.
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I Hear Poetry – Grade 11
Attachment E
Sweet Sixteen Poetry Devices
Anaphora
a rhetorical figure of repetition in which the same word or phrase is repeated in (and usually at
the beginning of) successive lines, clauses or sentences
Example
Activity
Apostrophe
a rhetorical figure in which the speaker addresses a dead or absent person, or an abstraction or
inanimate object
Example
Activity
Archetype
a symbol, theme, setting or character-type that recurs in different times and places in myth,
literature, folklore, dreams and rituals so frequently or prominently to suggest that it embodies
some essential element of “universal” human experience
Example
Activity
Assonance
the repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in stresses syllables of neighboring words
Example
Activity
Caesura
a pause in a line of verse, often coinciding with a break between clauses or sentences
Example
Activity
Catharsis
the effect of “purgation” or “purification” achieved by tragic drama, according to Aristotle in
his Poetics
Example
Activity
Consonance
Example
the repetition of identical or similar consonants in neighboring words whose vowel sounds are
different
coming home, hot foot
Activity
Couplet
a pair of rhyming verse lines, usually of the same length; one of the most widely used verseforms in European poetry
Example
Activity
Enjambment
the running over of the sense and grammatical structure from one verse line or couplet to the
next without a punctuated pause
Example
Activity
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I Hear Poetry – Grade 11
Attachment E (Continued)
Sweet Sixteen Poetry Devices
Hyperbole
Example
exaggeration for the sake of emphasis in a figure of speech not meant literally
Activity
Internal rhyme
rhyme occurring with a line of poetry
Example
Activity
Irony
a mode of expression in which one conveys a reality opposite to the expectation
Example
Activity
Masculine
Feminine Rhyme
Example
similarity between terminally-stressed syllables
two-syllable rhyme consisting of a stressed followed by an unstressed syllable
Activity
Meter
Example
the pattern of measured sound-units recurring more or less regularly in lines of verse
Activity
Slant
Example
near or approximate rhyme
Activity
Synecdoche
Example
a type of metaphor in which the part stands for the whole, the whole for a part, the genus for
the species, the species for the genus, the material for the thing made, or in short, any portion,
section, or main quality for the whole or the thing itself (or vice versa).
Farmer Jones has two hundred head of cattle and three hired hands.
Activity
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I Hear Poetry – Grade 11
Attachment F
Suggested Poets
Aiken, Conrad
Auden, W.H.
Basho
Bly, Robert
Brodsky, Joseph
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett
Bukowski, Charles
Crane, Stephen
Cummings, E.E.
De la Mare, Walter
Dickinson, Emily
Donne, John
Eliot, T.S.
Ferlenghetti, Lawrence
Frost, Robert
Frost, Robert
Ginsberg, Allen
Giovanni, Nikki
Hall, Donald
Hughes, Langston
Kilmer, Joyce
Kumin, Maxine
Lawrence, D.H.
Longfellow, Henry W.
Masters, Edgar Lee
McLeish, Archibald
Miller, Joaquin
Momaday, N. Scott
Nash, Ogden
Parker, Dorothy
Plath, Sylvia
Poe, Edgar Allan
Pound, Ezra
Rich, Adrienne
Robinson, Edwin Arlington
Sandberg, Carl
Sexton, Anne
Shakespeare
Silverstein, Shel
Stevens, Wallace
Swenson, May
Teasdale, Sara
Tennyson, Alfred Lord
Thomas, Dylan
Warren, Robert Penn
Whitman, Walt
Whittier, John Greenleaf
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I Hear Poetry – Grade 11
Attachment G
“Sympathy”
Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)
I KNOW what the caged bird feels, alas!
When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
And the river flows like a stream of glass;
When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,
And the faint perfume from its chalice steals —
I know what the caged bird feels!
I know why the caged bird beats his wing
Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;
For he must fly back to his perch and cling
When he fain would be on the bough a-swing;
And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars
And they pulse again with a keener sting —
I know why he beats his wing!
I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,—
When he beats his bars and he would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core,
But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings —
I know why the caged bird sings!
This poem inspired the title of Maya Angelou's autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird
Sings.
DRAFT
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I Hear Poetry – Grade 11
Attachment G (with explication)
“Sympathy”
Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)
I know what the caged bird feels, alas! A
When the sun is bright on the upland slopes; B
alliteration When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass, A
simile And the river flows like a stream of glass; A
metaphors suggesting spring; antiquated diction When the first bird sings and the first bud opes, B
metaphor (the bud as chalice)
And the faint perfume from its chalice steals — C
I know what the caged bird feels!C
I know why the caged bird beats his wing D
imagery
Till its blood is red on the cruel bars; E
For he must fly back to his perch and cling F
antiquated diction When he fain would be on the bough a-swing; F
And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars E
personification And they pulse again with a keener sting — F
I know why he beats his wing! F
I know why the caged bird sings, ah me, G
alliteration
When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore, — H
When he beats his bars and he would be free; G
metaphor It is not a carol of joy or glee, H
But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core, H
imagery But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings — F
I know why the caged bird sings! F
This poem inspired the title to Maya Angelou's autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird
Sings.
Explication notes:
The bird realizes the unnatural cruelty of it captivity and rages against it.
The repetition suggests the beating of the bird’s wings.
Its regular rhyme scheme and periodic alliteration reinforces the
image of a cage with regularly spaced bars.
DRAFT
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