Emily Dickinson Video Poem Presentations
Your group will be assigned one of Emily Dickinson’s poems, and your group will have to
create a video that teaches it to the class. You must include the following in your video:
 Read the poem aloud to the class and discuss it using the following questions as your
guide.
 Include some visual representation or prop to help teach the poem to your
classmates.
 More than one person in your group must talk during the presentation. All work
must be divided evenly! Each person will be asked to give a detailed list of how you
contributed to the video.
 Your video must give thoughtful answers to the following questions:
1. After you read the poem aloud, paraphrase the poem. Describe what happens on the surface level of the
poem, and then explain the deeper meaning of the poem.
2. Choose TWO poetic devices and explain what the effect is on the meaning of the poem. How does this
device support the meaning or help the reader understand the meaning? Choose from the following list:
 Metaphor
 Onomatopoeia
 Simile
 Contrasts
 Diction
 Stanzas
 Imagery
 Free Verse
 Tone
 Dickinson’s use of
punctuation and
 Personification
capitalization
 Alliteration
 Any other poetic device
 Assonance
your group notices
 Repetition
3. What is the autobiographical connection to Dickinson? How does your group think this poem relates to
her life?
4. How is this poem timeless? Why is its meaning still valid today? Relate the meaning of the poem to an
example from your lives or something you know about. One suggestion is to relate the poem to a
modern day song. Think about how the poem and the song have similar ideas or themes.
5. What theme topic do you think this poem best relates to? You can pick another one not mentioned
below. Explain what you think this poem is trying to prove about this theme topic.
 Conflict with the church
 Death
 Lost love and unrequited love
 Nature
 Isolation and being the “other”
 Hope
Poem Choices:
1. “Because I could not stop for Death”
2. “Heart! We will forget him!”
3. “Hope is the thing with feathers”
4. “I died for Beauty—but was scarce”
5. “I’m Nobody! Who are you?”
6. “Much Madness is divinest Sense”
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
“My life closed twice before its close”
“Nobody knows this little rose”
“Some keep the Sabbath going to Church”
“Success is counted sweetest”
“Tell all the Truth but tell it slant”
“This is my letter to the World”