Unit 7: Poetry
Spring is like a perhaps hand
By E.E. Cummings
Online audio@
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZpdYB8
HQ7A
or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BPaXcjl
Gwk
Elegy for the Giant Tortoises
Poem by Margaret Atwood
Atwood reading another poem, Morning in
the Burned House @
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeKrB5i2
cH4
Today
Poem by Billy Collins
Billy Collins Poetry brought to animated
life@
http://www.openculture.com/2011/04/bil
ly_collins_poetry_brought_to_animated_l
ife.html
Essential Question: What is the benefit of thinking out of the box? Are you an innovative thinker?
Common Core Standards: RL.4 Analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone. RL.10 Read and comprehend poems.
Introduction: Some of the most incredible ideas that have changed the world forever were originally deemed insignificant or impossible. Take the
Apple Computer for example. When Steve Jobs created the Apple computer concept, some people told him it would never work and that he would
fail. Many out-of-the-box thinkers, or innovators, have been told the same thing about their ideas and inventions.
New ideas and creativity make the world a more interesting place. Creativity is a poet’s bread and butter. The best poets look at things through
new lenses to find a ways to share their ideas creatively. In this lesson, you will read three poems in which the poets demonstrate some out of the
box thinking.
Make the Connection: With a small group of your peers, design a new kitchen cooking utensil. Then share your invention with other groups.
Present a diagram or visual and provide an explanation of how it works.
Poetic Form: Elegy
An elegy is a specific type of lyric poem. In an elegy, the speaker reflects on death, typically in honor to one has recently died. Generally the tone is
serious and the diction is formal. The second poem you read in this lesson is an elegy.
Analyzing the Text: Diction
Poetry is recognized for its concise and exact use of language. When reading poetry, notice the diction (word choice) and syntax (the order in
which words appear). For instance, in “Today,” Billy Collins describes his reaction to a spring day:
…it made you want to throw
open all the windows in the house
This specific use of words creates a sense of joy, freedom, and movement – much more so than simply saying he felt like opening a window. Collin
has chosen his words very carefully to create an intended effect. As you read the poems in this lesson, pay attention to the diction and the effects it
creates for the reader.
Skills for Reading: Paraphrasing
Occasionally, poems cab be especially challenging because of an unusual sentence structure. When you paraphrase a line or stanza in a poem, you
rephrase the poet’s words with your own. Different from a summary, paraphrasing is not necessarily shorter than the original text; it’s simply a reforming of the same ideas. To successfully paraphrase you should:
 Rewrite sentences in standard, subject-verb order
 Find the main ideas and important details
 Think of simpler or more familiar ways of saying what the writer has written
While reading the poems in this lesson, create a graphic organizer / chart in which you analyze the challenging passages. Read an example of
paraphrasing in the chart below.
Example from “Elegy for the Giant Tortoises”
Original Wording
“on a road where I stand
they will materialize,/
plodding past me in a
straggling line/ awkward
without water
Paraphrasing
They [the tortoises] will appear on the road where I stand,
walking slowly by in a scattered line, looking clumsy because they
are not in the water.
About the Authors
E.E. Cummings (1894-1962)
Margaret Atwood (Born 1939)
Billy Collins (Born 1941)
Learn More about this poet @
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/e-ecummings
A popular poetic pioneer, the critics who praise
Cummings rank him among the most innovative
20th Century poets. Cummings believed in
individuality and free expression. He
experimented with language, shaping it to fit
his ideas. Though one of the most experimental
of poets, he was exceptionally well-liked by the
general public.
Learn More about this poet @
http://margaretatwood.ca/
Atwood is a much celebrated poet, novelist,
essayist, and short story writer. She has been
referred to as “a national heroine of the arts” in
her native country Canada, where she has
gained the status typically bestowed only to
movie stars and musicians. Her novels feature
female characters searching for their own
identity in a largely confusing and dangerous
world.
Learn More about this poet @
http://www.billy-collins.com/
Called the “most popular poet in America” by
one critic, Collins’s poetry appeals to a wide
and consistently growing audience of high
school students, other poets, literary critics,
and the general public. He is a graduate of U.C.
Riverside. As Poet Laureate from 2001-2003,
he developed “Poetry 180” a website
(http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/ ) presenting
one poem for each day of the school year. He
encourages students and teachers to read
aloud a poem a day.
Poem #1
Spring is like a perhaps hand
By E.E. Cummings
Directions: Read the poem below twice and read the poem once aloud. Complete the close reading activity.
Close Read
Analyze Visuals: What
springlike elements do you
find in this painting? State
your answer in terms of
subject matter, color,
shape, and texture.
Sounds of Spring (2010) ISABELLE DUPUY
Spring is like a perhaps hand
(which comes carefully out of Nowhere)arranging
a window, into which people look (while
people stare
arranging and changing placing
carefully there a strange
thing and a known thing here)and
changing everything carefully
spring is like a perhaps
Hand in a window
(carefully to
and fro moving New and
Old things, while
people stare carefully
Diction: Reread the
highlighted lines. What do
the words fraction and inch
moving a perhaps
fraction of flower here placing
an inch of air there)and
suggest about the concept
of spring presented in the
poem?
without breaking anything.
Poem #2
Elegy for the Giant Tortoises
By Margaret Atwood
Directions: Read the poem below twice and read the poem once aloud. Complete the close reading activity.
Let others pray for the passenger pigeon
the dodo, the whooping crane, the eskimo;
everyone must specialize
Close Read
I will confine myself to a meditation
upon the giant tortoises
withering finally on a remote island.
I concentrate in subway stations,
in parks, I can't quite see them,
they move to the peripheries of my eyes
Paraphrase: Paraphrase the
highlighted lines. What does
“the last day” refer to?
but on the last day they will be there;
already the event
like a wave travelling shapes vision:
on the road where I stand they will materialize
plodding past me in a straggling line
awkward without water
their small heads pondering
from side to side, their useless armour
sadder than tanks and history,
in their closed gaze ocean and sunlight paralysed
lumbering up the steps, under the archways
toward the square glass altars
Elegy: Reread the
highlighted lines. Notice the
religious language –alters,
where the brittle gods are kept,
the relics of what we have destroyed,
our holy and obsolete symbols.
gods, relics, and holy. Why
is such language suiting in
an elegy?
Poem #3
Today
By Billy Collins
Directions: Read the poem below twice and read the poem once aloud. Complete the close reading activity.
If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
Close Read
so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze
that it made you want to throw
open all the windows in the house
and unlatch the door to the canary's cage,
indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,
a day when the cool brick paths
and the garden bursting with peonies
Flowers (1964) by Andy Warhol
seemed so etched in sunlight
that you felt like taking
a hammer to the glass paperweight
on the living room end table,
releasing the inhabitants
from their snow-covered cottage
so they could walk out,
holding hands and squinting
Diction: Reread the
highlighted lines. What
words does the speaker
use to characterize the
inhabitants of the glass
paperweight? What
into this larger dome of blue and white,
well, today is just that kind of day.
sense or feeling is
evoked by this
language?
Reading for Information: Getting the Word Out
Magazine Article: Many poets in Unit 7 have served as U.S. Poet laureate. Read the article below from the Library of Congress to
learn more about this honorable and worthwhile position. The article can also be found @
http://www.loc.gov/poetry/about_laureate.html
About the Position of Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry
The Poetry and Literature Center at the Library of Congress
The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress serves as the nation's official lightning rod for the
poetic impulse of Americans. During his or her term, the Poet Laureate seeks to raise the national consciousness to a
greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry.
The Poet Laureate is appointed annually by the Librarian of Congress and serves from September to May. The
position has existed under two separate titles: from 1937 to 1986 as "Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress"
and from 1986 forward as "Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry." The name was changed by an act of Congress in
1985.
The Laureate receives a $35,000 annual stipend funded by a gift from Archer M. Huntington. The Library keeps to a
minimum the specific duties in order to afford incumbents maximum freedom to work on their own projects while at
the Library. The Laureate gives a reading to open the Library’s annual poetry series and a lecture to conclude the
series, the oldest in the Washington area and among the oldest in the United States. This annual series of public
poetry and fiction readings, lectures, symposia, and occasional dramatic performances began in the 1940s.
Collectively the Laureates have brought more than 2,000 literary writers to the Library to read for the Archive of
Recorded Poetry and Literature.
History of the Poetry Consultantship
Close Read
Paraphrase: How is the
Poet Laureate chosen?
What is their main task?
Paraphrase: What are
some of the unique
initiatives of former Poet
Laureates?
Robert Frost and Carl Sandburg in the Library's Whittall Pavilion, May 2, 1960
Those interested in reading a more detailed history of the poetry consultantship at the Library of Congress should
refer to William McGuire's Poetry's Catbird Seat: The Consultantship in Poetry in the English Language at the Library
of Congress, 1937-1987(Washington: Library of Congress, 1988. http://lccn.loc.gov/87033876).
Each Laureate brings a different emphasis to the position. Joseph Brodsky initiated the idea of providing poetry in
airports, supermarkets and hotel rooms. Maxine Kumin started a popular series of poetry workshops for women at the
Library of Congress. Gwendolyn Brooks met with elementary school students to encourage them to write poetry. Rita
Dove brought together writers to explore the African diaspora through the eyes of its artists. She also championed
children's poetry and jazz with poetry events. Robert Hass organized the "Watershed" conference that brought
together noted novelists, poets and storytellers to talk about writing, nature and community.
Conclude: Why is the
position of Poet Laureate
important? Explain your
answer.
After Reading Questions
Common Core Standards: RL. 4 Analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone. RL. 10 Read and comprehend poems. W. 1b
Develop claims fairly, citing evidence for each. W.9a (RL.10) Draw evidence from poems to support analysis and reflection.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Recall: When does the speaker of “Elegy for the Giant Tortoises” expect to actually see these reptiles?
Clarify: In “Today,” what does “this larger dome” refer to?
Clarify: What is the hand in “Spring is like a perhaps hand” doing?
Paraphrase: Examine your paraphrasing Charts. Then read aloud one of your paraphrases and the original passage. Which
version has the stronger impact?
Analyze Diction: What phrases or words in each poem stand out to you as especially vibrant or strange? What effect do they
have on your comprehension of the poem’s meaning?
Examine an Elegy: Revisit the definition of an elegy. What qualities of an elegy are present in “Elegy for Giant Tortoises”? Why
might Atwood have picked his form for a poem about an endangered animal?
Come to Conclusions: What characteristics of spring does the speaker stress in “Spring is like a perhaps hand”?
Compare and Contrast: Recall that tone is an expression of the writer’s attitude toward his or her subject. For each of the
three poems, choose an adjective that accurately describes the tone, such as hostile, gloomy, upbeat, or humorous. Next, list
the words and phrases in each poem that help communicate the tone. Which two poems are the most opposite in tone? Explain
your answer. Use the graphic organizer to help organize your ideas.
“Spring is like a perhaps hand”
Tone:
Words or Phrases:
1.
2.
3.
9.
Enduring Understanding: Reread the essential questions and think about the poems you’ve read in this lesson. Why is
innovative thinking so important? Explain your answer.
The Reading – Writing Connection
Writing Task
Extended Constructed Response: Opinion
Which of the poems demonstrates the most creativity or
innovation in its treatment of its subject? Write three to five
paragraphs. Cite evidence to support your perspective throughout
the bodies of your composition.
Revising Suggestion
Reread your response. Did you evaluate each poem in terms of its
creativity or innovation? Did you include supporting evidence such
as diction, imagery, and figurative language? If such evidence is
missing from your composition, revise your essay.