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K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Poetry: Sound and sense

http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=848

A lesson plan for grades 9–12 English Language Arts

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In this lesson, students read and evaluate language usage in poetry and write original poems based on the activity.

Students will:

  • Use the “question the author” strategy when reading poems to help understand the author’s meaning, language, and stylistic choices
  • Recognize that poetry requires a careful, deliberate use of language
  • Understand that poets play with language and choose words not only for their meaning, but also for their sounds and rhythm
  • Examine how rhythm and sound help a poet convey emotion and mood that support the meaning of a poem
  • Recognize that poetry can express universal truths in powerful or playful ways and that it often leads the reader to see the world in a different way
  • Identify sound devices (e.g., assonance, consonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia) in poetry and attempt to incorporate them into their own writing
  • Realize that they can create effective, meaningful poetry by writing original poems that mimic the patterns and conventions of the poetry they have been reading

Readwritethink provides several links to helpful websites that define and provide examples of literary terms as well as poetry databases from poets of various eras and cultural backgrounds.

North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

English Language Arts (2004)

Grade 9

  • Goal 4: The learner will create and use standards to critique communication.
    • Objective 4.02: Read and critique various genres by:
      • using preparation, engagement, and reflection strategies appropriate for the text.
      • identifying and using standards to evaluate aspects of the work or the work as a whole.
      • judging the impact of different stylistic and literary devices on the work.
  • Goal 5: The learner will demonstrate understanding of various literary genres, concepts, elements, and terms.
    • Objective 5.01: Read and analyze various literary works by:
      • using effective reading strategies for preparation, engagement, reflection.
      • recognizing and analyzing the characteristics of literary genres, including fiction (e.g., myths, legends, short stories, novels), non-fiction (e.g., essays, biographies, autobiographies, historical documents), poetry (e.g., epics, sonnets, lyric poetry, ballads) and drama (e.g., tragedy, comedy).
      • interpreting literary devices such as allusion, symbolism, figurative language, flashback, dramatic irony, dialogue, diction, and imagery.
      • understanding the importance of tone, mood, diction, and style.
      • explaining and interpreting archetypal characters, themes, settings.
      • explaining how point of view is developed and its effect on literary texts.
      • determining a character's traits from his/her actions, speech, appearance, or what others say about him or her.
      • explaining how the writer creates character, setting, motif, theme, and other elements.
      • making thematic connections among literary texts and media and contemporary issues.
      • understanding the importance of cultural and historical impact on literary texts.
      • producing creative responses that follow the conventions of a specific genre and using appropriate literary devices for that genre.

Grade 10

  • Goal 5: The learner will demonstrate understanding of selected world literature through interpretation and analysis.
    • Objective 5.01: Read and analyze selected works of world literature by:
      • using effective strategies for preparation, engagement, and reflection.
      • building on prior knowledge of the characteristics of literary genres, including fiction, non-fiction, drama, and poetry, and exploring how those characteristics apply to literature of world cultures.
      • analyzing literary devices such as allusion, symbolism, figurative language, flashback, dramatic irony, situational irony, and imagery and explaining their effect on the work of world literature.
      • analyzing the importance of tone and mood.
      • analyzing archetypal characters, themes, and settings in world literature.
      • making comparisons and connections between historical and contemporary issues.
      • understanding the importance of cultural and historical impact on literary texts.

Grade 11

  • Goal 4: The learner will critically analyze text to gain meaning, develop thematic connections, and synthesize ideas.
    • Objective 4.01: Interpret meaning for an audience by:
      - examining the functions and the effects of narrative strategies such as plot, conflict, suspense, point of view, characterization, and dialogue.
      - interpreting the effect of figures of speech (e.g., personification, oxymoron) and the effect of devices of sound (e.g., alliteration, onomatopoeia).
      - analyzing stylistic features such as word choice and links between sense and sound.
      - identifying ambiguity, contradiction, irony, parody, and satire.
      - demonstrating how literary works reflect the culture that shaped them.
  • Goal 5: The learner will interpret and evaluate representative texts to deepen understanding of literature of the United States.
    • Objective 5.01: Interpret the significance of literary movements as they have evolved through the literature of the United States by:
      - analyzing the characteristics of literary genres, including fiction, non-fiction, drama, and poetry, and how the selection of genre shapes meaning.
      - relating ideas, styles, and themes within literary movements of the United States.
      - understanding influences that progress through the literary movements of the United States.
      -evaluating the literary merit and/or historical significance of a work from Colonial Literature, the Romantic Era, Realism, the Modern Era, and Contemporary Literature.

Grade 12

  • Goal 5: The learner will deepen understanding of British literature through exploration and extended engagement.
    • Objective 5.02: Extend engagement with selected works of British literature by:
      - observing how the imaginative experience of literature broadens and enriches real life.
      - relating style, meaning, and genre (including fiction, non-fiction, drama, and poetry).
      - applying literary, grammatical, and rhetorical terms of literature.
      - demonstrating in various print and non-print media the significance of works.
      -discerning the effect of interpreting literature from various critical perspectives.