Poetry Analysis: Discuss, Analyze, and Write!

Sometimes poetry can be confusing and frustrating to students, but I want to equip students with the tools for understanding and enjoying poetry.  This class is relaxed and students are encouraged to share their thoughts and questions about the poems. The goal of this class is to make students feel more knowledgeable and confident when reading poetry and to familiarize them with the tools they need for understanding the deeper meaning of a poem. 

In this poetry analysis and discussion class, we will focus on a new poem and literary device each week.  I will start by explaining the literary device for the week and giving several examples. Then, we will read and discuss a poem together.  We will discuss how the literary device fits into the poem and helps stress the poem's meaning. I will model how I annotate a poem, and then I will guide students into analyzing the poem by asking leading questions. I will also provide a fill-in graphic organizer each week to help students focus and retain the information they learn.  At the end of class, students will practice modeling the poet's style by writing 2-3 lines of poetry using the literary device of the week.  **Students are not asked to write full poems in this class.  We only focus on emulating the poet's style each week.**

Although we will focus on one main literary device each week, we will also discuss the following topics throughout the class in order to analyze and understand the poems we read:
*Form and structure
*Diction and syntax
*Author's purpose and background 
*Theme
*Mood and tone
*Figurative language

**Class time may vary by a few minutes depending on discussion and writing time.

April 4: Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes (simile)
April 11:  I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud by William Wordsworth (personification)
April 18: A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns (hyperbole)
April 25: The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost (symbolism)
(No Class May 2)
May 9: There Will Come Soft Rains by Sara Teasdale (consonance and assonance) 
May 16: Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare (metaphor)
May 23: Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas (repetition)
(No Class May 30)
June 6: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost (imagery)
June 13: Success Is Counted Sweetest by Emily Dickinson (alliteration & irony)
June 20: Famous by Naomi Shihab Nye (anaphora)