Poetry 180

   My aim is to plug students into poem power. My middle schoolers and high schoolers read poetry in every class.  Poems can be silly, serious, enigmatic, moody, fantastic. or colorful.  You never know what the students will like; bring an eclectic mix to their attention, and see what happens.

I assign poems as homework the previous week. I ask students to read each poem twice. The first time, they often mumble, “Meh,” or “What?” But the second time, they might understand the gist or a line, or they might feel melancholy, or calm or uplifted. When we read aloud in class, that’s a third time a student is exposed to the same poem, making it familiar. We discuss the poem thoroughly, and I always ask a question or two when we are done with our analysis, a modern query from the poem that relates to the students’ lives. Have you ever been afraid or felt uncomfortable in a new situation? (First Day at School by McGough)  What is the message to today’s world leaders from this poem? (Ozymandias by Shelley) 

    To find poems for middle schoolers, there are plenty on the web. There’s a site for Middle School 180 poems. This mimics US Poet Laureate Billy Collins’ Poetry 180 project for high schoolers (a poem/school day/year). I also like another US Poet Laureate’s project, the Favorite Poem Project by Robert Pinsky. He asked US citizens to send him the name of their favorite poem with a letter explaining why it is their favorite. He also asked for information about the sender, including age, occupation, and town residence. He chose some entries and compiled them into a book, which is in every library. Some of the participants were even videotaped, and you can watch them on this site: http://www.favoritepoem.org

     I send this Favorite Poem Project video to my middle school and American Literature students:

http://www.favoritepoem.org/poem_ImNobodyWhoareyou288.html

    It was sent in by a teen in Georgia who could relate to this particular Emily Dickinson poem. The teen is candid, and the video is wonderful! I think she speaks for many teens in our busy world today.

    For high schoolers, there are poems in literature textbooks, and I often supplement these with others by the same poet. If there is a parent from another country we are studying, I ask the parent his/her favorite national poem or poet, adding the selection to our collection. Websites such as Cummings and Shmoop offer terrific analyses on the web for your discussion notes.  

    I have learned so much about poetry, poets, and writing by presenting poems to children. I believe this is key to passing them on. I am learning too, and because I love the poems, I am excited about them. Sometimes I don’t understand a poem, but this too is valuable for students to know. We don’t have to understand something to appreciate it or like it. Each poem affects the reader in a different way or provides a different message even.  Think of abstract art, a canvas of color by Rothko or paint smatter by Pollack. We like them; we might not know why.  

I use different handouts to examine poems. My favorite is a method with a ridiculous acronym, TPCASTT. I can never remember it, so I call it Tap Cat. It’s pretty simple if you go through each step in the acrostic. An easy poem to use it on is When Earth’s Last Picture is Painted by Rudyard Kipling. I did find this on the web about 10 years ago.  Here’s the handout:

ANALYZING POETRY

       Read the poem twice. The first time concentrate on understanding the words and what is going on in the poem. The second time you read the poem, begin piecing the information/story/speaker's words together.

      Focus on the SITUATION of the poem.

      -- Who is the Speaker?

      -- Who is the Speaker talking to?

      -- What is going on? What is the setting?

      -- Do you trust the Speaker?

      -- What is the Tone? (how the author feels)

      -- What is the Mood? (how the poem makes YOU feel)

      Focus on the STRUCTURE of the poem.

      --What is the Foot and Meter?

      -- Is there Rhyming? Is there a Rhyme Scheme?

      -- Is there a Shift or Movement in the Poem?

      -- What type of punctuation or grammar does the poem have?

      -- Go back to the title of the poem: Does this clarify the meaning for you?

   

      Focus on the LANGUAGE of the poem:

      --What types of Figurative Languages are there? (metaphor, simile, hyperbole...)

      -- Are there any allusions to mythology, religion, or history?

      -- What kind of Diction is there?

      Ask yourself: SO WHAT? Now that you've analyzed the Situation, Structure, and Language of the poem, what seems to be most important for finding out the poem’s meaning? By asking yourself this question you should come to one or two solid conclusions about the poem you have just read!

  TPCASTT    Method of  Analyzing Poetry:

T = Title:      What does the title mean?

P = Paraphrase:    Change poet’s words into ones you can understand.

C =  Connotation/Diction: What are the words the poet used in place of an idea, person, object?

A =  Attitude/Tone:  What is the poet’s or speaker’s attitude/mood?  How do you feel?

S = Shift:  How does the poem shift, or character shift into change, or where is there a contrast?

T=  Title Revisited:  After studying the poem, does the title take on a new meaning?

T= Theme:  What is the theme(s) in the poem?