Prestwick House
Teaching Shakespeare: Sonnet 73
It's that time of year to consider how Shakespeare selects his images and structures his Sonnet 73 to develop the meaning of the poem. Class members examine the rhyme scheme, the indented lines, the conceit, and the images used in each...
E Reading Worksheets
Tone Worksheet 1
Discern the tone in four selected poems with a straightforward assignment. Junior high readers analyze the authors' word choice and text structure to define a tone for each poem, as well as each poem's meaning.
National Humanities Center
Teaching Emily Dickinson: A Common Core Close Reading Seminar
Three of Emily Dickinson's poems, "I like to see it," "Because I could not stop for Death," and "We grow accustomed to the Dark," provide instructors with an opportunity to model for class members how to use close reading strategies to...
EngageNY
Mid-Unit Assessment: Author’s Craft: Analyzing Shakespeare’s Craft: Part 2
Annoyed or bewitched—how does an author's word choice affect a text? Scholars begin the instructional activity by analyzing word choice in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Next, learners take a closer look at the narrative...
Curated OER
Poetry In Motion
Fourth graders read and analyze poetry and examine the process of writing poetry. They read and analyze the poem "From a Railway Carriage" by Robert Louis Stevenson, and answer comprehension questions. They identify the similes,...
Curated OER
Electronic Poetry Project
Students explore poetry. In this cross curriculum poetry and technology lesson plan, students choose a favorite poem and analyze its meaning. Students select several images and music to represent the poem, then create a...
Curated OER
Words Have Meaning
Learners interpret and analyze art for meaning and a Maya Angelou poem for meaning. In this art and literature analysis lesson plan, students analyze Alison Saar's "Lost and Found" and Maya Angelou's poem "Alone." Learners write creative...
Curated OER
Allegorical Meaning in Edgar Allen Poe's The Masque of the Red Death
Tenth graders recognize the allegorical meaning in The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe. In this poetry lesson, 10th graders analyze a poem for allegorical meaning.
Curated OER
The Catcher in the Rye: Chapters 21-23
After answering comprehension questions (good for a homework reading check), class members analyze "Comin' Thro the Rye," and using the included guidance questions, discuss Holden's misreading of Robert Burns' poem. The URL to text of...
Curated OER
Introducing Literary Elements in Fiction
Identify literary elements in fiction. In this reading comprehension instructional activity, learners read the book Pigsty and record literary elements onto a graphic organizer. They specifically discuss the main characters and events in...
Curated OER
HS 204: Introduction to Literature: Poetry Section
This outline introduction for a college course covers the idea of humanities and various language forms and literature genres. Beginning with the human species and our influence on the world around us, take a very thorough look at the...
Curated OER
Letters from Emily Dickinson: Letters and Poems
Students analyze how Emily Dickinson perceived herself as a poet. Students read correspondence between Dickinson and her preceptor, Mr. Higginson to determine the depths of their relationship. Students interpret several of her poems.
Santa Ana Unified School District
Getting to the Core: Early American Poets
How do poets convey emotion and represent their views of life? Pupils learn more about Whitman and Dickinson through the unit and analyze their bold reinvention of craft and style for poets to come. Looking at classic pieces such as...
National Endowment for the Humanities
A Raisin in the Sun: Whose "American Dream"?
How does Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun factor into a discussion of the American dream? High schoolers define the American dream and recognize the historical setting of the play. Additionally, they identify...
Curated OER
Making Connections between Robert Frost's Life and His Poetry
Become acquainted with Robert Frost's life in order to allow your class to fully appreciate how his background influenced his poetry. They analyze specified poems in relation to theme, setting and the use of imagery.
Curated OER
Louisiana's Tragic Hero - "Evangeline"
"Ye who believe...List to a Tale of Love in Acadie." Longfellow's epic poem, "Evangeline," launches a study of tragic heroines, epic poetry, the expulsion of the Acadians from Canada, and their subsequent migration to Louisiana. The...
Curated OER
Poetry Appreciation – "The Raven"
Introduce your class to "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe with this series of activities, exercises, and worksheets. Class members examine an image, analyze a movie trailer, read a prose version of the poem, look up vocabulary, and pick out...
Curated OER
Recasting Language through Found Poetry
Discover the concept of found poetry in this engaging instructional activity. Secondary students will explore the poem "Natural Selection" and compare it to the writings of Charles Darwin in Origin of the Species. Students chose a text...
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Impact of a Poem's Line Breaks: Enjambment and Gwendolyn Brooks' "We Real Cool"
Young scholars analyze the Gwendolyn Brooks use of enjambment in her poem "We Real Cool." For this poetry analysis activity, students define common poetic devices and the examples of enjambment in the poem. Young scholars discuss the...
Curated OER
Poetry Reading
Students express the ideas of a poem. In this poem dramatization lesson, students analyze poems for meaning studying their descriptive words. Students role play the descriptive language of the poem. Students draw a picture of the...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Robert Frost's "Mending Wall": A Marriage of Poetic Form and Content
High schoolers examine the relationship between a poem's form and its content in Robert Frost's poem, 'Mending Wall.' They read and analyze the poem, explore websites, listen to an audio clip of Frost reading the poem, and write an...
Curated OER
Poetry Explication and Analysis Using "In Her Shoes"
Young scholars explore language arts by viewing movie clips in class. In this poetry analysis lesson, students view scenes from the movie "In Her Shoes" and define what poetry is. Young scholars read the poem "One Art" and identify its...
Curated OER
Poetry language in "Mother to Son"
Sixth graders respond to poetry. In this poetry instructional activity, 6th graders read the "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes and they are split into 3 groups for below, at and above grade level. Each group has a different activity to...
Curated OER
Poetry As Oral Performance
Reciting poetry is a great way to build oral language skills and build classroom community. Pupils look at the text elements of poetry and choose a poem to read aloud. They focus on rhythm, fluency, and expression. This is a great way to...