Poetry Unit
English I
2012-2013
“Poetry captures intense experiences or creative perceptions of the world in a
musical language. If prose is like talking, poetry is like singing.” (Wilhalm et. Al.).
OBJECTIVES:
1. Read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems.
2. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text,
including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of
specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language
evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
3. Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as
well as inferences drawn from the text.
4. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its
development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is
shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of
the text.
5. Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different
artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each
treatment.
HOW TO READ A POEM
(from The English Companion)

Look at the poem’s title: what might this poem be about?
•
Remember: the speaker and the poet are not necessarily the same
people
•
Read the poem straight through without stopping to analyze. This will
help you get a sense of how it sounds, how it works, what it might be
about.
•
Start with what you know: If the poem is difficult, distinguish between
what you do and do not understand. If possible, underline the parts you do
not immediately understand.
•
Check for understanding: Write a quick “first impression” of the poem by
answering the questions, “What do you notice about this poem so far?”
and “What is this poem about?
•
Look for patterns: Watch for repeated, interesting, or even unfamiliar use
of language, imagery, sound, color, or arrangement. Ask, “What is the poet
trying to show through this pattern?
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Look for changes in tone, focus, narrator, structure, voice, patterns. Ask:
“What has changed and what does the change mean?”
•
Identify the narrator: Ask: “Who is speaking in the poem?” “What do you
know about them?”
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Check for new understanding: Re-read the poem from start to finish,
underlining those portions you do not yet understand. Explain to the poem
to yourself or someone else.
•
Find the crucial moments: The pivotal moment might be as small as the
word but or yet. Such words often act as hinges within a poem to swing
the poem in a whole new direction. Also pay attention to breaks between
stanzas or between lines.
•
Consider form and function: Now is a good time to look at some of the
poet’s more critical choices. Did the poet use a specific form, such as the
sonnet? How did this particular form—e.g., a sonnet—allow them to
express their ideas? Did the poet use other specific poetic devices, which
you should learn so you can better understand the poem? Examples might
include: enjambment, diction, assonance, alliteration, symbols, metaphors,
or allusions. Other examples might include unusual use of capitalization,
punctuation, or typography. Ask “How is the poet using punctuation in the
poem?”
•
Check for improved understanding: Read the poem through again,
aloud if possible. Return to the title and ask yourself what the poem is
about and how the poem relates to the title.
POETRY TERMS TO RECOGNIZE and APPLY
Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds, generally at the beginnings of
words.
Allusion: A reference to a well-known character, place, or situation from history,
music, art, or another work of literature.
Assonance: The repetition of the same or similar vowel sounds within nonrhyming words.
Ballad: A musical song or narrative poem that in most cases recounts a single
exciting or dramatic episode.
Diction: A writer’s choice of words; an important element in a writer’s style.
Enjambment: The continuation of a sentence or phrase from one line of a poem
to the next, without a pause between the lines.
Foot: The basic unit in the measurement of rhythm in poetry.
Form: The external pattern of a poem. It often dictates rhythm, meter, and
rhyme.
Free Verse: Poetry that has no fixed pattern of meter, rhyme, line length, or
stanza arrangement
Hyperbole: A figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion,
make a point or evoke humor.
Iambic pentameter: A specific poetic meter in which each line has five metric
units, or feet, and each foot consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a
stressed syllable. The rhythm of a line of iambic pentameter would be indicated
as shown in this example:
Imagery: Descriptive language that appeals to one or more of the five senses:
sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell. It helps create an emotional response in the
reader.
Lines: rows of words that may or may not form sentences
Lyric Poetry: Poetry that expresses a speaker’s personal thoughts and feelings.
They are usually short and musical. The subject may be an object or a person,
the emphasis is on the experience of emotion.
Metaphor: A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two seemingly
unlike things. A metaphor implies a similarity and does not use the words like or
as.
Meter: A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that give a poem a
predictable rhythm. The unit of meter within a line is the foot.
Narrative Poetry: Narrative poetry tells a story, which is different from lyric
poetry with its emphasis on emotion.
Onomatopoeia: The use of a word or phrase that imitates or suggests the sound
of what it describes. (hiss, mew, crack, swish)
Parallel Structure: The use of a series of words, phrases, or sentences that
have similar grammatical form.
Personification: A figure of speech in which an animal, and object, a force of
nature, or an idea is given human characteristics.
Repetition: The recurrence of sounds, words, phrases, lines, or stanzas in a
speech or literary work.
Rhyme: The repetition of the same stressed vowel sounds and any succeeding
sounds in two or more words.
Rhyme Scheme: The pattern that end rhymes form in a stanza or poem.
Simile:
Sonnet: A lyric poem of fourteen lines, typically written in iambic pentameter and
usually following strict patterns of stanza division and rhyme.
Style: the expressive qualities that distinguish an author’s work, including word
choice, sentence length and arrangement, and the use of descriptive language
and imagery.
Structure: the organization of images, ideas, and words.
Tone: An author’s attitude toward his or her subject matter.
POEM SELECTIONS:
(1). “The Charge of the Light Brigade” (p. 444-445) Alfred Lord Tennyson
Identify the following in the poem:
 Repetition
 Allusion
 Metaphor:
 Imagery:
 What is the effect of the shortened concluding stanza?
(2). “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” (p. 452) -William Wordsworth
Vocabulary:
1. Host (noun): a multitude; a great number
2. Solitude (noun): isolated; the state of being alone
3. Etymology (noun): the origin and history of a word
4. Jocund (adjective): cheerful; carefree
5. Pensive (adjective): brooding; deeply thoughtful
Identify the following in the poem:
Simile:
End rhyme
Rhyme scheme:
Couplet:
Hyperbole:
Personification:
Questions to Answer
What does Wordsworth’s use of personification suggest about his feeling
toward nature?
(2). “who are you,little I” (p. 456) -E.E. Cummings.
Focus question:
How does the form of the poem relate to what it is about?
Style: From each of Cummings’ poems, list examples of the following:
Rhythm:
Repetition:
Images:
Unconventional capitalization, punctuation, and spelling:
Parentheses usually set off supplemental information (information that is
not absolutely essential); however, he includes important details here,
which challenge our understanding of how parentheses should be used.
What do you learn from the information in the parentheses?
(4). “l(a)” - E.E. Cummings
Questions to Answer
1. What element of nature is the poet describing?
2. What is the effect of leaving the letter l by itself on the line?
3. In groups answer the questions: 1-6 Page 459
Partner activity: list the theme for each poem, then the images and
details from the poem that are related to the theme.
(5)“The Black Snake” (p. 488) - Mary Oliver.
Vocabulary:
Oblivion (noun): the state of being entirely forgotten
Identify the following in the poem:
Parallelism:
Simile:
Mood:
Repetition
Alliteration
(6). “’Hope’ is the thing with feathers” (p. 521) - Emily Dickinson:
(7). “I’M Nobody! Who are you?” (P. 522)- Emily Dickinson
Vocabulary:
1. Gale (noun): a very strong wind
2. Abash (verb): To make ashamed or uneasy; to embarrass.
3. Dreary (adjective): Depressing; sad; dull; uninteresting
4. Livelong (adjective): complete; whole; used to emphasize the length of
a period of time
5. Bog (noun): a wetland ecosystem where shrubs and peat moss grow
and various animals live.
Identify the following in the poems:
Personification:
Metaphor:
Tone:
Simile:
(8). “The Road Not Taken” (p. 542) -Robert Frost
Vocabulary:
Diverge (verb): to lead in different directions away from a common starting
point.
Want (verb): to fail to possess; to lack
Hence (adverb): from this place
Identify the following in the poem:
Theme:
Lyric Poetry:
‘Questions to Answer
1. What is the theme of the poem? Answer the question for SAT skills p.
544
2. What clues tell you the season during which the poem takes place?
How is the season related to the theme?
3. Is he speaker happy or regretful? Explain
4. Parody: a humorous imitation of a literary work that often aims to point
out the work’s shortcomings. Read the cartoon on page 543.
Partner Activity: Rhythm--Mark the scansion for the first stanza
(9) Sonnet 18 (Handout): William Shakespeare
See handout for questions
FINAL ACTIVITIES
1. Students write extended metaphors (exercise on handout)
2. Students read their favorite poem; may be one of their own
3. Quiz over poetry terms: matching terms with definitions and identification
4. Reading comprehension quiz from textbook, page 606-609
Poetry Quiz
English I
Read the poem “Possum Crossing” by Nikki Giovanni, on page 606 and “The
Laborious Ant” by Mark Twain on page 607, and answer the following questions:
“Possum Crossing”
1. What literary device is used in line 2?
A. symbol
B. simile
C. imagery
D. end rhyme
2. What is the “condition” referred to in line 10?
A. danger
B. travel
C. pregnancy
D. raining
3. Which word best describes the overall mood?
A. fear
B. hope
C. sadness
D. compassion
4. What is the point of view of this poem?
A. first person
B. second person
C. third person limited
D. third person omniscient
“The Laborious Ant”
5. What do you think “drilled” in line 14 means?
A. burrowed
B. thrown
C. beaten
D. trained
6. What is the narrator’s attitude toward the “average” ant, as expressed in line
18?
A. disdainful
B. hopeful
C. respectful
D. sorrowful
7. According to Twain, why does the ant move as it does?
A. It cannot find its way
B. It follows the others
C. It protects its home
D. It always heads south
8. What is the overall tone of this passage?
A. comic
B. angry
C. sad
D. sarcastic
9. What is the main idea of the selection?
A. Ants are the most fascinating of all creatures
B. Ants appear to lack intelligence
C. People are really no more important than small creatures, such as ants
D. Life is a constant struggle between humankind and nature
The following questions apply to both reading selections:
10. Which of the following themes appears in both selections?
A. fascination with living things
B. love of all animals
C. protecting endangered species
D. the use of the environment
11. According to the selections, what belief about nature do Giovanni and Twain
share?
A. It should be tamed
B. It should be appreciated
C. It should be ignored
D. It should be defended
Short Answer:
What themes and purposes do these two selections have in common? How do
they differ? Be sure to present evidence from both selections to support your
arguments.