Poetry Class
Senior English Option


This class is designed for students who have an interest in poetry. The coursework will help students expand their understanding of poetry and improve their personal poetry writing. The class is primarily reading and writing activities at the senior level; be prepared to do high quality work.

Text to checkout from teacher:
Sound and Sense by Laurence Perrine and Thomas R. App, 8th edition

UNIT 1: Reading/Interpreting/Appreciating Poetry

Read each poem at least 2 or 3 times.
Thoughtfully answer the follow-up questions from the text. Write complete sentences that clearly communicate your best work.
Label each set of questions with the poem title and page #.
  1. S&S Chapter 7 (Understanding Paradox, Overstatement, Understatement and Irony)
  2. S&S Chapter 9 (Meaning and Idea)
  3. S&S Chapter 12 (Rhythm and Meter)

UNIT 2: Writing Original Poetry

  1. Warming up…Choose 10 topics from the provided list and compose at least one poem on each topic. (Include brainstorming, drafts and final copies.)
  2. Working on specific poetry devices…Write at least one poem demonstrating each of the poetry techniques from the list. (Include brainstorming, drafts and final copies.) LIST of topics....
  3. Professional writing…Select at least three poems from your portfolio (poems for this class, and for self) and submit them to one or more online poetry contests. You can search for contests, or use the list provided as a starting point. Be sure to read the requirements and submit within the guidelines. Show your teacher before you submit, or print the "Thanks for submitting" screen to turn in.
  4. Publishing writing…WVHS has a Literary Magazine! You must select at least one, more if you want, of your poems and submit them to the magazine for its next publication.

UNIT 3: Polishing Poetry Skills

Use S&S Part 2 starting on page 265 to read some of the best poets' selected works. Select 10 to work with. You must do each of the following assignments at least once, and can do your favorite assignment(s) multiple times. You CHOOSE which assignment to do with which poem.

Heading will look like this so I can tell you did each assignment:

Student Name
Poetry Class
Unit 3
Offspring pg 305 - Visualize

Assignment Choices:

  1. Paraphrase - Paraphrase your selected poem. You are essentially rewriting the poetry in paragraph form, in your own words. It will be longer than the original poem. Do your best to understand and then stay true to the original poet's meaning and intent.
  2. Visualize - Play the role of illustrator for your selected poem. You can get the images in many ways: sketch your own, cut out of magazines, find on the internet, or any combo of the above. You can decide how best to communicate the ideas of the poem using visuals. You might want to create a collage; arrange the images like a comic with a beginning, middle and end; organize the images like the stanzas in the poem, etc.
  3. Personalize - Select a poem that you can relate to your life or an event in your life. Type out the original poem and then discuss the theme or moral that the poem is dealing with. This will be in one or two paragraphs. Write an original poem using the same theme, but based on your experiences or ideas. In one or two paragraphs, explain how the original poem got you thinking along the lines that led to your original poem. Discuss the theme and how it applies to you.
  4. Connection - Select two poems and write a two-page paper that compares and contrasts (with quotes from the poems) those poems. You could discuss the poems' themes, imagery and the poets' poetic style and choices.
  5. Piggyback - You will be "adding" to an existing poem. This might take the form of adding additional stanzas that continue the poet's ideas and style. You might also choose to write a "sequel" or a "response" poem that is a new piece, but is obviously connected to the original.