Poetry – English 10



Poetry – English 10 Honors

Mr. Dils

March 28-April 27, 2005

1. What makes a good poem?

2. What are the devices and strategies writers use to create their poems?

3. How do writers use devices and strategies to develop ideas and themes within their poems?

Part I – Understanding and Analyzing Poetry

page 3 Literary Terms Handout

page 4-5 Understanding Meter

page 6-7 Poetry Quotations

page 7 Starting Poems: “We Real Cool”/Brooks; “Punk”/Burt; “The Lady Knife-Thrower”/ Halpern; “Gretel in Darkness”/ Gluck

page 8. Analysis of “We Real Cool”

page 9 Tone: “Running on Empty”/Phillips; “A Study of Reading Habits”/Larkin

page 10 Narrative Poems: “Louis B. Russell”/ Guernsey; “First Practice”/ Gildner

page 11 Metaphor: “The White Man Pressed the Locks” “Metaphor”/ Plath; “When She Was Here Li Bo…”/ Williams; “The One Girl at the Boys Party”/ Olds

page 12 Poetry Forms: Villanelle, Pantoum, Sonnet, Double Dactyl

page 13-23 Writing About Poetry (tips, student sample, rubric)

Part II – Writing Poetry

page 2 description of POEM-A-NIGHT 2005

page 24 Poem—grading rubric

M 3/28 find contemporary poem for assignment #1; study poetry terms

T 3/29 find contemporary poem for assignment #1; study poetry terms

W 3/30 one page (typed) reaction to poem -- informal

Th 3/31 study for poetry terms quiz

F 4/1 read Metaphor Poems

M 4/4 no school for students; work on draft of assignment #1

T 4/5 read Poetry Forms poems; vocabulary #1

W 4/6 [MCAS testing] finish draft of assignment—bring to class for conferencing, peer review

Th 4/7 work on final draft of assignment #1; study for vocabulary quiz

F 4/8 finish assignment #1; optional dramatic readings will take place on Monday

M 4/11 POEM-a-NIGHT #1

T 4/12 POEM-a-NIGHT #2

W 4/13 POEM-a-NIGHT #3

Th 4/14 POEM-a-NIGHT #4

F 4/15 work on draft of final poem; read Outside Reading Book (A Separate Peace)

VACATION 4/18-22

M 4/25 work on draft of final poem; vocabulary list #2

T 4/26 finish final poem

W 4/27 finish reading A Separate Peace.

Th 4/28 study for vocabulary quiz #2

F 4/29 prepare for in-class essay on A Separate Peace

ASSIGNMENT #1 – DUE: Monday, April 11

Research a poet who has published new poetry within the last 35 years and choose a poem of your liking. Your poem should not pre-date 1970. The poem should have literary merit and be substantial enough to generate a four – five page paper. You will be writing an ANALYSIS of the poem, which means you will explain many aspects of the poem (LITERAL MEANING, SOUND (meter and devices), FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE, TONE) as they relate to the THEME or PURPOSE of the poem. The important question to answer in this analysis is: how do the devices of the poem (sound, figurative language) contribute to and develop the writer’s theme?

ASSIGNMENT #2 – DUE: Wednesday, April 27

You will write a new poem each night, spending at least 45 minutes on each poem. Each poem should be a completed draft. Here are a few ground rules:

All poems should be 12 lines or longer. Play with word combinations. Experiment with line breaks. Experiment with the visual presentation of your poem. Strive for originality. Keep it concrete. Take risks. ALWAYS read your poems out loud when writing and revising—poetry is rhythm and sound.

 

REMEMBER: Each day, one or more of your classmates will read your poem, and on one day all of your classmates will read your poem. Also, you may be asked to read your poem to your classmates. With this idea in mind, be sure the copy of the poem you bring to class is typed, or VERY NEATLY hand-written.

 

Topics for each poem are as follows:

NIGHT #1 -- ALTER EGO

Create an alter ego and put that person in action. Rely on strong verbs. PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO SOUND. Try to match the sound of your poem with the subject.

 

NIGHT #2 -- CHOICE NIGHT -- EMOTION

A. Capture an emotion (longing, pain, sorrow, elation, lust, etc.) in a situation or scene without mentioning the emotion in the poem or in its title.

OR…                                               

B. Write a poem to your real or imagined worst enemy.

 

NIGHT #3 – METAPHOR

Choose a subject and describe it in metaphors or similes. You may choose to use an extended metaphor (ex. “White Man Pressed the Locks”) or a series of metaphors (ex. Plath’s “Metaphors”).

 

NIGHT #4 – FIXED FORM

Write a pantoum, a villanelle, or a sonnet. Or, you may write a poem with a fixed meter and regular rhyme scheme. Remember, all poems should be twelve lines or longer! Avoid cheesy and predictable rhymes!

DRAFTS – Once you have completed all four drafts, you will decide which poem you are going to develop into your final poem. You will play with and work on three more versions of your poem in addition to the one you’ve already written. The final version of your poem will be the one that you will turn in and that I will grade. You will also turn in all of your other poems, for a grand total of 7 poems (4 originals, 2 drafts of one poem, 1 final product).

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