Dog-themed Poetry
The students will analyze poems about dogs and write a poem about a dog, real or fictional.
Subject: Language Arts
Topic: Analyzing and Writing Poetry
Grade Level: 7-12
Objective:
1. Read and analyze dog-themed poems by famous poets.
2. Write a poem about a dog, real or fictional.
National Standards: Common Core English Language Arts Standards
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Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and
shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and
audiences.
Grade 7-10:
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Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the
text; provide an objective summary of the text.
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and
connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g.,
alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama.
Grade 7:
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Analyze how a drama's or poem's form or structure (e.g., soliloquy, sonnet) contributes to its
meaning.
Grade 7-8:
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By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems,
in the grades 6-8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of
the range.
Grade 9-10:
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By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in
the grades 9-10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of
the range.
By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems,
at the high end of the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
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©American Kennel Club, 2016
Grade 11-12:
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Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over
the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a
complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative
and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone,
including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or
beautiful.
By the end of grade 11, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems,
in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high
end of the range.
By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems,
at the high end of the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
Materials:
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Poem(s)
Rubric
Paper
Pencils or pens
Assessment:
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Class participation
Poem
Poetry Rubric
Leaning Activities and Strategies:
1. Choose one or more dog-themed poems to read as a class and analyze. If two or more are
chosen, compare the poems. Below are a few choices:
a. “To Flush, My Dog” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
b. “The Dog Lovers” by Spike Milligan
c. “A Dog Has Died” by Pablo Neruda
d. “My Dog’s My Boss” by Robert William Service
e. “What the Dog Perhaps Hears” by Lisel Mueller
f. “If Feeling Isn’t In It” by John Brehm
g. “Roadside Attractions with the Dogs of America” by Ada Limón
h. “Jogging with Oscar” by Walt McDonald
i. “Mother Doesn’t Want a Dog” by Judith Viorst
j. “The Power of the Dog” by Rudyard Kipling
k. “A little Dog that wags his tail” by Emily Dickinson
l. “Two Dogs Have I” by Ogden Nash
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©American Kennel Club, 2016
2. Brainstorm a list of fictional dogs that can be used as the subject of a dog-themed poem (Lassie,
Scooby-Doo, Clifford, Toto, Shiloh, Snoopy, Marmaduke, Beethoven, Underdog).
3. Provide the students with requirements for their poems such as rhyme, meter, stanzas, similes,
metaphors, etc. Requirements will vary based on and skill level.
4. Create an example poem as a class.
5. Distribute the rubrics and ask the students to create their own poem in pairs or individually
about a dog they know or a dog from literature, film, television or pop culture.
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©American Kennel Club, 2016