Listen to a poem

Use the poems "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" and "Sea Fever" to teach the poetic devices of rhythm, meter and scansion.

A lesson plan for grade 12 English Language Arts

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Related topics

• Learn more about British literature, language arts, literary devices, meter, poem analysis, poetry, and rhythm.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• discuss the poet’s use of words.
• explore language differences.
• determine rhythm and meter in a poem.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

1 hour

Materials/resources

• Copy of “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth and “Sea Fever” by John Masefield for each student
• Poetic devices vocabulary
• Dictionary

Technology resources

• Tape/CD player
• Various music selections

Pre-activities

Play several pieces of music and have students tap out the beat of each melody on their desks. Give students a list of words to look up in the dictionary for accented syllables. Compare accented syllables with beat of music. Compare some pieces of prose that read easily to some that are tongue-twisters for very good readers. This is because of the rhythm of the English language.

Activities

1. Introduce the poetic terms related to meter:
   • iamb
   • dactyl
   • trochee
   • spondee
   • anapest
   • pyrrhic
   • amphibrach
   • amphimacer

   These are designations for accented and unaccented syllables in a line. The designations for the number of these in a line are:

   • monometer
   • dimeter
   • trimeter
   • tetrameter
   • pentameter
   • hexameter
   • heptameter

   Explain that meter is the pattern of accented and unaccented syllables that form the basis of a poem’s rhythm. In the first line of Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” there are four accented syllables. The four accent line is called tetrameter.

   In the first line of Masefield’s “Sea Fever” there are seven accented syllables. This is called heptameter.

   Lines made up of one unaccented syllable followed by an accented one are called iambs. Example: “I must go down” and “I wandered lonely.” Those made up of two unaccented syllables followed by one accented syllable are called anapests — ex. “to the sea.” This kind of poetic analysis and identification is called scansion.

2. Read the poems “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” and “Sea Fever” aloud to the class. Have students mark accented and unaccented syllables in selected lines in the poem.
   

   “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”

   by William Wordsworth

   I wandered lonely as a cloud
   That floats on high o’er vales and hills
   When all at once I saw a crowd,
   A host, of golden daffodils:
   Beside the lake, beneath the trees
   Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
   Continuous as the stars that shine
   And twinkle on the milky way,
   They stretched in never-ending line
   Along the margin of a bay:
   Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
   Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
   The waves beside them danced; but they
   Outdid the sparkling waves in glee;
   A poet could not but be gay,
   In such a jocund company:
   I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
   What wealth the show to me had brought:
   For oft, when on my couch I lie
   In vacant or in pensive mood,
   They flash upon that inward eye
   Which is the bliss of solitude;
   And then my heart with pleasure fills,
   And dances with the daffodils.

   “Sea Fever”

   by John Masefield
   

   I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
   And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
   And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking.
   And a gray mist on the sea’s face and a gray dawn breaking.
   I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
   Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied:
   And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
   And the flung spray and the brown spume, and the seagulls crying.
   I must go down to the seas again to the vagrant gypsy life,
   To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
   And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow rover
   And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

   Listen for repetitions of the beat in the lines of the poem. Point out that the most predominant form of poetic meter used in English is iambic. In this poem the meter is iambic tetrameter.Reread the poems noting the pattern of accented and unaccented syllables in each line.Note whether or not the pattern of accented and unaccented syllables is the same for all lines or if it varies.

3. Describe the connection or relationship between meter or rhythm and the content of the poem. For example, in “Sea Fever” the rhythm is regular with small variations — the rhythm is also insistent which matches the call of the sea.
4. Have students read lines of the poem to each other and tap out the rhythm. Students should become aware that this poem reads easily because of the distinct rhythm. This also enables the students to understand the meaning of the poem more easily.

Assessment

Students will be able to mark the poetic scansion in various selected poems.