The Poetry Unit

INtroduction to poetry

Read and discuss poetry

Assessment

We will discuss "What is poetry?" and "Why do people write poetry?" We will do this with the help of Robin Williams in the Dead Poet's Society​ and the music of Bruce Springsteen.

We will read and discuss such poems as "Ex-Basketball Player," "The Whipping," "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening," and "All Watched of Over by Machines of Loving Grace."

Students will analyze a poem by identifying and explaining the poem's central idea. Students will also identify a literary element or rhetorical device from the poem, give examples of that literary element or rhetorical device and explain how that element or device makes the central idea clearer.

poetry

Questions
1. Describe the rating scale that the student reads about in video clip from Dead Poet's Society?
2. How does the teacher (Robin Williams) feel about the scale? Why does he feel this way?
3. What is poetry about?

Directions: Listen to Bruce Springsteen's first song "Devils and Dust" and then Springsteen's explanation (to 12:35).
1. How does the music drive the lyrics?
2. What does Springsteen mean when he asks, "Was I thinking all that when I wrote it? No."
3. What does he mean when he asks, "Was I feeling this? Yes."

Can you produce a barbaric yelp? Can you write a poem? Song lyrics?