National Endowment for the Humanities
A Story of Epic Proportions: What Makes a Poem an Epic?
Learners analyze the epic poem form and its roots in oral tradition. For this epic poetry lesson, young scholars research the epic hero cycle and recognize the pattern of events and elements. Learners analyze the patterns embedded in the...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Responding to Emily Dickinson: Poetic Analysis
Learners explore Emily Dickinson's poem "Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers." In this Dickinson poem instructional activity, high schoolers analyze the poem as proof of Dickinson' awareness of her reader. Learners analyze her style and...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Seeing Sense in Photographs & Poems
Learners analyze photographs and poetry as forms of each other. In this poetry and photography analysis lesson, high schoolers use the photographs of Alfred Stieglitz and poetry from William Carlos William to explore how poetry and...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Thirteen Ways of Reading a Modernist Poem
High schoolers analyze modernist poetry and the role of speaker in example poems. Learners study modernist poems from the Romanticism and Victorian periods as well as Wallace Stevens' "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird." Using a...
Curated OER
No Regrets: a Poetry Analysis
Young scholars read a poem and use the TPCASTT strategy for analysis. In this poetry analysis lesson, students journal about their future goals and read John Updike's "Ex-Basketball Player." Young scholars discuss the purpose of the poem...
Curated OER
A Center Approach to Poetry
Students experience the different types of poetry in order to classify them. In this poetry lesson, students discover the multiple types of poetry while reading in the library. Ultimately, the students create their own poetry and share...
Curated OER
Poetry in Motion
For this poetry analysis worksheet, students analyze "From a Railway Carriage" by Robert Louis Stevenson. Students answer 5 questions about the poem.
Curated OER
Reading: No Home on the Range
In this poetry analysis worksheet, students read a poem called "No Home on the Range" by LaVonne Houlton. Students answer 8 multiple choice questions about the poem.
Curated OER
I Have A Little Garden
In this poetry worksheet, students read the poem "I Have A Little Garden," color the picture, underline the rhyming words in the poem and then write the rhyming words on pages two through three.
Curated OER
Ladybug Poem
In this poetry worksheet, learners read the poem "Ladybug," color the picture, underline the rhyming words and then write the rhyming words on pages two through four.
Curated OER
The Caterpillar
For this poetry worksheet, students read the poem "The Caterpillar," color the picture, underline the rhyming words and then write the rhyming words on pages two through six.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Charles Baudelaire: Poète Maudit (The Cursed Poet)
After learning the main ideas of the Decadent movement, learners work in small groups to read and translate poems by the French poet Charles Baudelaire using basic etymology skills. They then read the accurate English translations to see...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Understanding the Context of Modernist Poetry
Students examine the historical, social, and cultural context of modernist poetry. They explore websites, complete a chart, compare/contrast rural and urban life, watch a video of early New York, and complete a writing assessment...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Robert Frost's "Mending Wall": A Marriage of Poetic Form and Content
High schoolers examine the relationship between a poem's form and its content in Robert Frost's poem, 'Mending Wall.' They read and analyze the poem, explore websites, listen to an audio clip of Frost reading the poem, and write an...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan to Accompany Psalm of Life
High schoolers read and analyze the poem, "Psalm of Life," by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. They create a Footsteps Quilt, developing quilt squares to represent each goal and gift they would leave as a gift to humanity.
Curated OER
Jabberwocky Questions
In this poetry analysis worksheet, students answer 5 short answer and essay questions based on the content and literary elements of Lewis Carroll's poem "Jabberwocky." Questions require students to compare good and evil forces in the...
Curated OER
The Lady of Shalott Questions
In this poetry discussion worksheet, students consider the concept of time conveyed in Tennyson's poem, "The Lady of Shalott," as they respond to and discuss 4 short answer questions. Students consider whether humans are isolated by the...
Curated OER
The Lady of Shalott: Theme of Man and the Natural World
Learners read about Alfred, Lord Tennyson's use of nature in the poem, "The Lady of Shallot." Students then respond to 4 short answer questions based on the theme of man in the natural world. Questions require learners to reflect...
Curated OER
The Lamb Theme of Religion
In this literary analysis instructional activity, students consider the comments made about religion in William Blake's poem, "The Lamb." Students read an overview of the poem's symbolic content, then respond to five questions in which...
Curated OER
Mutability Questions
In this poetry analysis worksheet, students read the poem "Mutability," by William Wordsworth and then respond to 6 discussion questions. The questions require students to consider the role of religion and the impact of sudden change as...
Curated OER
My Last Duchess Theme of Language and Communication
In this poetry analysis worksheet, 6th graders read a paragraph about the Duke's style of communication and lack of it in the poem, “My Last Duchess,” by Robert Browning. Student then answer 4 short answer questions that help them to...
Curated OER
My Last Duchess Theme of Madness
In this poetry analysis worksheet, students consider the motivation for the actions of the Duke in "My Last Duchess," by Robert Browning as they read a brief paragraph positing that the Duke is insane. Students then respond to 3...
Curated OER
My Last Duchess Theme of Jealousy
In this poetry analysis worksheet, students examine commentary about the jealousy of the Duke in Browning's "My Last Duchess." Students respond to discussion questions regarding the Duke’s suspicion that his wife is unfaithful, his...
Curated OER
My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun – Theme of Gender
In this poetry analysis worksheet, students read a reflection on the conflict between male and female identities in Dickinson's "My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun –." Students then respond to questions about male and female dominance as...