You’re a Poet, You Just Don’t Know It
Famous Poets
I.
Knowing the Past and Present
A. Amongst the First- Homer
a. Little is known about the life of Homer; the author credited with composing The Iliad and The
Odyssey, and arguably the greatest poet of the ancient world. Historians place his birth
sometime around 750 BC and conjecture that he was born and resided in or near Chios.
However, seven cities claimed to have been his birthplace. Due to the lack of information about
Homer the person, many scholars hold the poems themselves as the best windows into his life.
B. Going into Theatre- William Shakespeare
a. Having Fun with Your Poetry- In his poems and plays, Shakespeare invented thousands of words,
often combining or contorting Latin, French and native roots. His impressive expansion of the
English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, includes such words as: arch-villain,
birthplace, bloodsucking, courtship, dewdrop, downstairs, fanged, heartsore, hunchbacked,
leapfrog, misquote, pageantry, radiance, schoolboy, stillborn, watchdog, and zany.
b. Most Famous Works –Macbeth (1606)
-Romeo and Juliet –(1596)
-Hamlet- (1600)
-Henry (IV, V, VI, VIII)- (1597- 1612)
-Julius Caesar-(1599)
C. Venturing to the Dark Side- Edgar Allen Poe
a. Poe's work as an editor, a poet, and a critic had a profound impact on American and
international literature. His stories mark him as one of the originators of both horror and
detective fiction. Many anthologies credit him as the "architect" of the modern short
story. He was also one of the first critics to focus primarily on the effect of the style and
of the structure in a literary work; as such, he has been seen as a forerunner to the "art
for art's sake" movement. French Symbolists such as Mallarmé and Rimbaud claimed
him as a literary precursor. Baudelaire spent nearly fourteen years translating Poe into
French. Today, Poe is remembered as one of the first American writers to become a
major figure in world literature.
D. Breaking Through to Kids- Dr. Seuss
a. The Beginning of Whosits and Whatsits- In
1937, while Seuss was returning from an ocean voyage to Europe, the rhythm of the ship's engines
inspired the poem that became his first book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. Seuss wrote
three more children's books before World War II (see list of works below), two of which are, atypically for
him, in prose.
II. Meaurements
A. 1. One thing all these poets had in common was that most of their poems, epics, sonnets, etc. had a
certain ‘beat’ to them. Dr. Seuss utilized most every measurement there was as demonstrated below.
a. Anapestic tetrameter consists of four rhythmic units (anapests), each composed of two weak
beats followed by one strong, schematized: x x X x x X x x X x x X
b. Often, the first weak syllable is omitted, and/or an additional weak syllable is added at the end. A
typical line (the first line of If I Ran the Circus) is: In ALL the whole TOWN the most WONderful
SPOT
2. These are just a few of the countless forms of measurements there are in writing poetry. There is
iambic pentameter, meter, and many more. The only way to see more is go out and read.
III. Class Project-
"I Call First!" Poetry Theater
A poem in three vvoices
Adapted from the poem by Ted Scheu in If Kids Ruled the School, published by Meadowbrook
Press.
Summary: A student who wants to be the first in everything learns that first isn’t always best.
Presentation Suggestions: Have the students read or perform the poem in front of the class. Have the students act
out the different lines while they read them.
Props: This poem can be performed without props. However, students can use the pencil sharpener, stack chairs,
snack on an apple or cookie, and do other things described in the poem.
Delivery: The lines of the poem need to be read with poetic rhythm. For more information on poetic rhythm and how
to perform poetry in classroom, please read the Performing Poetry section under the Teacher’s Resources.
Characters:
Student 1
Student 2
Student 3
I Call First!
Student 1:
“I call first to get a drink! And first to eat my snack!
I call first to go to gym, and first when we come back!
Student 2:
“I call first to leave for lunch! And first to switch the light!
I call first to read out loud the poems that I write!
Student 3:
“I call first to sharpen up my pencil, loud and slow!
And when we get to sharing time, I call first to show!
Student 1:
“I call the computer! I call the special chair!
And I call first in line each time that we go anywhere!
Student 2:
“And on the hill at recess, I get to be the king!
I call first forever and for every little thing!”
Student 3:
I said those things in class today until my teacher heard.
She sat right down and made a list to keep me at my word.
Student 1:
So now I’m first to dump the trash and sweep the silly floors.
I’m first to be the last in line—’cause I hold all the doors.
Student 2:
I’m first to wipe the tables off and scrape off clods of clay.
I’m first to pass the paper out and put the paints away.
Student 3:
I’m first to stack the stupid chairs and first to scrub the sink.
I’m prob’ly not the first to see that being first can stink!
The End
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Poet and Poetry information Obtained from: poets.org