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"Poetry: the best words in the best order." Samuel Taylor Coleridge
A Lesson on Poetry: It makes sense to me, to put this lesson (on the mechanics of poetry) here - at this place and time of the school year. We have just read the first poems in Modern English (Wyatt & Howard) and seen our first sonnets. We've been experiencing poetry for over a month - and I hope that the students have left much of their trepidation of the "What" and "Why" of Poetry behind - and now we can turn one day to the "How" of Poetry. This lesson will cover meter (including metrical feet), rhyme types, rhyme schemes, and basic forms of poetry. Students will also get a chance to practice these new scansion skills with a partner.
Lesson Overview
Lesson Overview
As I said above - now is the perfect time to get into the mechanics of poetry. It really didn't make a lot of sense to do so earlier - before we were even reading poetry in its near-original form. This lesson - with the practice and studying time given - usually takes an entire period I then usually give a day or two (or weekend) for the students to study the material (there is a lot of memorizing) before I give them the test (found below) on the material.
First - we go over the handout. The types of Sound likenesses and their names: Alliteration, Assonance, etc.
Second - we go over meter. This is tricky. Students are intimidated by meter. The handout is great - the examples they give are great, but students usually find Meter mysterious and subjective. It is neither. Go over stressed and unstressed. Show them the symbols - go over the examples in the handout.
Third - go over metrical feet and the names for them - see the handout. Start with the easy ones and move to the more complex (see handout). They will recognize "The Charge of the Light Brigade" from Grendel. Point out how the meter sounds like horses...
Fourth - see the Power Point but we go over some examples of Sound Likenesses and Metrical Feet
Fifth - give them metrical feet symbolically portrayed and see if they can tell you the name.
Sixth - Now show them how to figure out the meter of their names. Use your own name as an example. Ask students to volunteer their names - see if the students can figure out the meter of their full names.
Seventh - Go over what a Sonnet is and the different kinds of sonnets.
Eighth - Show them examples of what the test will look like (see the slide)
Ninth - Have the students find a partner AND - test each other on meter & sound likenesses, have them make written tests for each other, and have them do the meter of their respective names with each other.
An Intro to Poetics Presentation
An Intro to Poetics Presentation
See the lesson overview above for exactly what this Presentation contains - or even better, look at the presenation itself.
Poetics Handout
Poetics Handout
Poetics Handout
Poetics Handout
A Handout on Poetics PDF (taken directly from my college Poetry Textbook and I will give credit as soon as I find the book):
A Handout on Poetics PDF (taken directly from my college Poetry Textbook and I will give credit as soon as I find the book):
The handout goes of Sound Likenesses (Rhyme) and Meter (metrical feet and their names)
The handout also references an introduction to Sonnets found in the students' British Literature Text Book.
Quotes about Poetry Presentation
Quotes about Poetry Presentation
One year as we were doing this lesson - in the background I had these wonderful quotes from all over (time & place) about what poetry is....
Poetics Test (for after this Lesson)
Poetics Test (for after this Lesson)
This Test (200 points) is given AFTER this lesson. At least a day or two after to give students time to study what they learn in this lesson. There are no surprises on the test - it is exactly what I had said in class it would be on. This is a rare time that students have to actually memorize terms - like metrical feet and definitions of different kinds of sonnets. But they only have to know it by heart for the test - in the future, having memorized it will make it so much easier to recognize the forms and to look them up in an informed way.
I believe it's important to give the test - some students are so used to not having to memorize in the class - that they will blow off the studying - which - when they get their grade - is a valuable lesson in itself.
Poetics_2016.m4aClass Recordings
Class Recordings
Audio - A recording of the class from 2016
Audio - A recording of the class from 2016
Given the nature of this lesson - I felt a voice recording might be useful.
Remote Enhancements
Remote Enhancements
The handout and the Power Point Presentation make doing this lesson remotely very doable!
Now that students have mastered the mechanics of poetry (I sometimes gave the poetics test on the same day as this group work) it is time to use that skill. I love these poems by Raleigh and Elizabeth - they almost seem to be forming a dialogue - and it is fun for the students (or any reader) to imagine so. I am most concerned with students focusing on the text - what is the writer trying to say - how are they trying to say it. This is especially ironic - given the sentiment of Raleigh's poem to Elizabeth I, which states that they must leave the biggest part of their conversation (love?) unsaid.
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
Thoughts on the Lesson
Thoughts on the Lesson
This is VERY unusual lesson for me. I don't spend a lot of time having students memorize things - but I believe these mechanics of poetry - once learned - make seeing into how a poem works, even more accessible for our students. They memorize them once - for the test - and even then they just need to recognize them - and then they can look them up - but first you need to know them.
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