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Students will be exposed to poetry, learn the technical aspects of poetry, and write poetry of their own. The following unit plan shows what is expected of the students during their exposure to poetry.Students read and listen to poems by Robert Frost, Dorothy Parker, Langston Hughes, William Carlos Williams, Dylan Thomas and others. They also listen to song lyrics by 10,000 Maniacs, Bruce Springsteen, Living Colour, The BoDeans, and others. They discuss the meaning of the words that they read and listen to, trying to understand the author’s intent and what can be inferred from the words that the author may not have intended.
Students will go to the library where they will pour through hundreds of poetry collections, reading and discovering what poems and poets they like.

Students will put together an anthology of their favorite ten poems, typed one poem per page, with a paragraph about each poem either interpreting the poem or telling what they liked about it.

Students learn meter, rhyme, similes, metaphors, hyperbole, personification, onomatopoeia, alliteration, assonance, and other literary devices.  Click here for page of Literary Terms.

Students begin writing their own collection of poems. They are required to write five original poems each at least six lines in length. It is difficult to include any depth of ideas in fewer lines. Original means that they were created without lifting lines or phrases from other pieces of writing.

Grades on original poetry will be based on depth of thought and beautiful language. If the student uses beautiful, figurative language and develops an idea with some depth, then the assignment was done well. In class, we will have critiqued poems that introduced an entirely new dimension or idea using only one word or phrase ("eden" in "Nothing Gold Can Stay" or "an Orbison song" in "No One").

The poems can rhyme or not. They can have meter or be free verse.The title should be relevant to the poem. Go forth and create!The major grades for this unit are as follows:

Poetry Anthology 200 pts
Original Poetry Packet 200 pts
Total Points 400 pts