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Worksheet
Curated OER

Reading Comprehension- Understanding Poetry

For Students 4th - 6th
In this poetry reading comprehension worksheet, students examine a poem about charity. They discuss references from the poem, and determine what the narrator has done and how the narrator feels about charity.
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Unit Plan
Other

Gordon State College: Poetry Analysis

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This is a detailed course assignment where students are asked to choose a poem from those provided and prepare an analysis of it prior to presenting it to the instructor. Students are given guidelines for an essay up to 3 pages long, and...
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Unit Plan
Texas Education Agency

Texas Gateway: Understanding Poetry

For Students 7th - 9th Standards
A learning module that teaches students how to understand poetry in four mini lessons: Introduction, Finding Meaning from Figurative Devices, Making Inferences Based on Textual Evidence, and Making It Your Own.
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Graphic
Other

Owl Editing: Understanding the Meaning of Poetry

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
This OWL Editing page provides a chart that breaks down the factors to analyze when trying to understand poetry's deep meanings.
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Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: What Makes Poetry? Exploring Line Breaks

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
This lesson plan explains how analyzing poetry is a many-layered process. This lesson plan introduces the special characteristics of poetry and leads students through a look at how poems are structured and why. Includes links to poems...
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Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: A Close Reading of Seamus Heaney's "Blackberry Picking"

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
Contains plans for two lessons that explain an inductive method for analyzing poetry. Seamus Heaney's "Blackberry Picking" is analyzed using this model as an example, although the method can be used on a variety of poems. In addition to...
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Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Southern Renaissance: Robert Penn Warren

For Students 9th - 10th
A founding father of the New Criticism movement in literature, this is a brief biography of Robert Penn Warren featuring his poetic and fictitious contributions to the literary world. See "Robert Penn Warren Activities" for related...
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Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Read Write Think: Teaching Poetry Through Riddles

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Excellent teaching resource that attempts to teach poetic concepts to middle schoolers by using riddles. Discusses riddles' use of metaphor, simile, and imagery, and relates these concepts to the students' understanding of poetry....
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Activity
Texas Education Agency

Texas Gateway: Close Reading of Poetry: Practice 2 (English I Reading)

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] As you work through this lesson, you will learn how to interpret poetry. You will learn how to spot a metaphor, you will learn to identify imagery, and you will be introduced...
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Interactive
New York Times

New York Times: Crossword Puzzle: National Poetry Month

For Students 9th - 10th
The New York Times Learning Network has developed interactive and printable crossword puzzles. The theme of this puzzle is poetry.
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Activity
Tom Richey

Slide Share: Poetry Analysis Tpcastt

For Students 9th - 10th Standards
11 slides demonstrating poetry analysis using the TPCASTT format: Title, Paraphrase, Connotation, Attitude, Shift, Title, Theme.
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Handout
Shmoop University

Shmoop: How to Read a Poem

For Students 9th - 10th
This site not only offers ten tips on how to get the most out of reading a poem, but also helps you understand why you might want to spend the time and effort to do so. Perhaps the most important advice on the page is "Never be...