Letters from Emily Dickinson: Letters and Poems

If you're introducing rhythm and meter into your poetry lesson, consider these activities based on the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Focusing on "Because I could not stop for Death," kids discuss accents, breves, and how they measure the...

Imagery is the focus of this lesson, featuring "The Moon is distant from the Sea" by Emily Dickinson. Readers discuss the lunar cycle and its connection to the speaker's desires, and then choose an image from the poem to compare to their...

Consider the biblical allusions in Emily Dickinson's poetry with the seventh of ten lessons in a language arts unit. Learners read "A little East of Jordan" and "Come slowly - Eden!" and discuss the allusions to the original Old...

Extend your instruction on similes and metaphors with a lesson on Emily Dickinson's "Hope is the thing with feathers" and "There is no Frigate like a Book." After a discussion on the images of each poem and their meanings, kids write an...

Explore the complex world of Emily Dickinson with this activity on "A Narrow Fellow in the Grass." The first page supplies the entire poem, and the last two pages prompt readers to summarize and analyze Dickinson's poetic devices. The...

Include this activity in your poetry unit to address paraphrasing and poetic devices (rhyme scheme, structure, etc). Based on Emily Dickinson's "There is no Frigate Like a Book," the worksheet prompts students to paraphrase the poem...

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...

Analyze the motivation, purpose, and value of letters to the editor by examining letters written in response to the violence at Columbine High School. For homework, middle and high schoolers write their own letters to the editor about an...

Enhance your learners' knowledge of Emily Dickinson and her poetry. Specific questions ask for lines and words from poems. Feedback for an online quiz is available immediately.

What strategies are most effective in changing an unjust law? Class members examine the tactics used in the Birmingham Campaign of 1963 (Project C) to achieve social justice and social transformation. After examining documents that...