All about Poe! Do you know what NFL team named its mascot in his honor? We'll discuss this and more in an overview that examines Poe's life and early death, including his famous marriage to his cousin and the poem he composed based on her death. Poe is a mastermind of musical literary devices, so our focus in this class will be on identifying his use of alliteration, consonance, assonance, and onomatopoeia. The homework will be to annotate a Poe poem and to compose their own poem. 

 We'll switch gears from Poe to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. What did the two men have in common (besides writing, of course)? We will look at how Longfellow writes with structure, and how perhaps this structure is reflected in his approach to life and the messages he presents in his poems. For homework, students will be asked to annotate a Longfellow poem and to compose their own using a rhyme scheme. 

 Time for Emily Dickinson, the Belle of Amherst! What is startling and different about her poetry? What "rules" does it break -- and what rules did Emily break? We will look at Dickinson's fascination with nature... and with death, and we'll read her odd, heartbreaking, and lovely poems with an eye on what she is trying to say. The homework will be to annotate a Dickinson poem and to create a poem that breaks all rules. 

 Robert Frost is often thought of as a simple New England writer, but his life shows a darkness that becomes evident in his poetry. We will read numerous poems that bring out this dark side, but that also tie in with nature, and we will examine just why Frost is so well-loved. The homework will be to annotate a Frost poem and to compose a simple poem inspired by nature.