Not only will students be introduced to wonderful classic poems by some of my favorite writers, but they will also be tasked with painting or drawing a scene from one of their favorite lines of the poem. 

Each week we will:
-Read the featured poem 
-Learn about the author's life and history
-Paint our favorite scene from the poem
-Perform literary analysis of the poem
-If time allows, attempt to write our own poem! 

Since I am a literary theory major, we will be diving into the poems a little deeper! What is the theme or tone of the poem? Why did the author use specific word choices to create a mental image? What are the examples of imagery, personification, metaphors, similes, or signifiers? Who is the intended audience for the poem, and what is the overall message? 

We'll also be identifying rhyme schemes such as ABAB and AABA and when to use each to be more effective as a writer. If students finish their painting early they are more than welcome to take a whack at writing their own poem and I'll illustrate it while they write!


Week of Nov 1: The Tell-Tale Heart - Edgar Allan Poe
Week of Nov 7: Alone - Maya Angelou 
Week of Nov 14: Morning - Mary Oliver
Week of Nov 21: On the Grasshopper and the Cricket - John Keats

Week of Dec 1: In Just - E.E. Cummings
Week of Dec 7: The Lake Isle of Innisfree - William Butler Yeats
Week of Dec 14: A Sea Sidewalk - Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Week of Dec 21: Sonnet On Approaching Italy - Oscar Wilde

Week of January 1: She Walks in Beauty - Lord Byron 
Week of January 7: Be Kind - Charles Bukowski

.... and more to come! ( Walt Whitman, Mary Oliver, Edgar Allan Poe, Shel Silverstein, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Sylvia Plath, Langston Hughes, TS Eliot.)