Test Your Knowledge
1.
True False
Poetry has to rhyme.
2.
True False
Poetry and prose (story writing) are the same.
3.
True False
A poem must be serious, long, and have layers and layers of meaning.
4.
True
Poems have to follow rules of grammar.
5.
True False
Poems have things like rhyme because they were originally used to help people
remember things.
6.
True False
The first poem ever written was about a guy name Gilgamesh.
7.
True False
The longest poem in the world is over 1 million words.
8.
True False
People who read and write poetry have better vocabularies.
9.
Ture False
Metrophobia is the fear of poems.
False
10. True False
The word ‘unfriend’ was actually invented in 1275 by a poet.
11. True False
The best-selling poet of all time is Shel Silverstein.
12. True False
There’s a poem titled ‘Plakkopytrixophylisperambulantiobatrix’, written by G. K.
Chesterton.
1
HOW TO READ A POEM 101
Ogres and poems are like onions:
they have layers… many, many layers.
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Step 6
Step 7 ___________________________________________________________________________________________
S_____________________________________
I_____________________________________
F_____________________________________
T_____________________________________
2
Rate Your Comfort Level and Knowledge of Poetry
1= Definitely not good at this
2= Sort of
3= I am a pro at this
Learning Targets: I can…
Pre-unit
Post-Unit
I know how to read poetry
1 2 3
1 2 3
I understand the structure of poetry
1 2 3
1 2 3
I can analyze poetry with confidence
1 2 3
1 2 3
I can identify figurative language in poetry
1 2 3
1 2 3
I can confidently explain why a poet uses
figurative language
1 2 3
1 2 3
I can identify imagery appealing to all five
senses
1 2 3
1 2 3
I can explain the meaning of a poem
1 2 3
1 2 3
I can identify the tone of a poem
1 2 3
1 2 3
I can write poetry like a beast!
1 2 3
1 2 3
When you are done with your self-rating, complete this challenge!
Below is a poem that has been turned into a paragraph. Turn the paragraph back into a poem. Put slash marks
where you think the line breaks should go. Put a double slash mark
/
// if you think there should be a new stanza.
“This Is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams
I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox which you were probably saving for
breakfast. Forgive me. They were delicious- so sweet and so cold.
3
LT: I can…




Identify stanzas
Identify lines in a poem
Identify line breaks in a poem
Define and identify enjambment
This Is Just to Say
William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast.
Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold.
Subject
Tone
Mood
Main Idea
One thing I
liked/learned
4
Compare and Contrast the two forms of “This is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams
Mimic a Poet
My version of “This is just to say”
5
LT: I can …




define and identify stanzas in a poem
define and identify line breaks
define and identify rhyme scheme in a poem
SIFT a poem
Paraphrase!
SIFT Notes
Bracket idea groupings (look for
enjambment or stanzas)
Put it in your own words!
Point of View
(Shel Silverstein)
Thanksgiving dinner’s sad and thankless
Christmas dinner’s stark and blue
When you stop and try to see it
From the turkey’s point of view.
Sunday dinner isn’t sunny
Easter feasts are just bad luck
When you see it from the viewpoint
Of a chicken or a duck.
Oh how I once loved tuna salad
Pork and lobsters, lamb chops too
Till I stopped and looked at dinner
From the dinner’s point of view.
Subject
Tone
Mood
Main Idea
One thing I
liked/learned
6
LT: I can …





Read and paraphrase the poem
identify enjambment and use my knowledge to help me understand how to read this poem
define and identify rhyme scheme in a poem
identify and explain the use of figurative language
SIFT the poem
Paraphrase!
SIFT Notes
Bracket idea groupings (look for
enjambment or stanzas)
Put it in your own words!
The Eagle by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
Subject
Tone
Mood
Main Idea
One thing I
liked/learned
7
LT: I can …




determine a course of action for reading the poem
analyze form and author’s choices regarding form
determine meaning/theme of poem by analyzing words and technique
SIFT the poem
SIFT Notes
Paraphrase!
Bracket idea groupings (look for
enjambment or stanzas)
Put it in your own words!
Subject
Tone
Mood
Main Idea
One thing I
liked/learned
8
LT: I can …




identify enjambment and use my knowledge to help me understand how to read this poem
define and identify rhyme scheme in a poem
define and identify true rhyme and slant rhyme
SIFT the poem
Paraphrase!
Put it in your own words!
SIFT Notes
Look for where ideas begin and end
There is no frigate like a book
Emily Dickinson, 1830 - 1886
There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away,
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry –
This Traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of Toll –
How frugal is the Chariot
That bears a Human soul.
Subject
Tone
Mood
Main Idea
One thing I
liked/learned
9
1. What effect do the transportation-related images in this poem have on you as a reader? How do they ask you to
think about the act of reading?
2. How do books take us on these imaginary journeys? What happens to you when you read?
3. What is the significance of the phrase "the Human soul" in line 8? Why not say "the Human imagination," or
something like that?
4. The idea of reading being a kind of actual portal or a trip to another world is pretty common in literature and in
the movies (we're thinking of The Never-Ending Story – a totally Eighties-style blast from the past). Can you think
of any books or movies you've encountered that play with this idea?
5. Would this poem work if it were about movies? "There is no Frigate like a Film…" Why or why not?
10
LT: I can…

define and identify line breaks
Hmmm… This looks an awful lot like sentences, not a poem. But it is a poem! Yes, I am messing with you. I turned Carl
Sandburg’s poem into prose- it’s your job to make things right and turn it back into a poem.
Where should the line breaks go? Put a slash mark where you think a new line should start.
The Fog by Carl Sandburg
The fog comes in on little cat feet. It sits looking over the harbor and the city on silent haunches and then moves on.
11
LT: I can define and identify enjambment. I can explain how knowing about enjambment can seriously affect my
understanding of a poem.
I have eaten the plums that were in the
icebox which you were probably saving
for breakfast. Forgive me. They were
delicious- so sweet and so cold.
12