We will focus our survey of largely American poets on their beliefs rather than trying to figure out what each poem “means.” The questions will we focus on are the following:
How do poets express self, identity and other themes in their work?
What do the poets believe about their topics? (This is theme)
Video using a Sharon Old’s poem for beliefs statement
How can I express myself and my beliefs through poetry?
Dictionary definition of poetry
Literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm; poems collectively or as a genre of literature.
Non- dictionary definition of poetry
“Poetry is a very unusual form of writing. It falls into little pigeon holes. (haiku, sonnets, and so on) It has rhythm, flow, meter and sometimes rhyme. It also is filled with emotion and comes from the heart.
It has often occurred to me that I do not exactly understand why people like John Donne who felt the need to pour his heart out put these tremendous artificial limits on himself by forcing himself to do so within the constraints of poetry. Why didn’t he just write it in prose? It would have been so much easier. But for many who are poets, there is only one way that they can allow that grief and emotion to come out and that is within poetic restraints. For that reason, poetry is a singular anomaly.”
LINKS
poetryunit_2-24final This is a very long document that includes resources for both students and teachers about poetry and links to poems. Some of our assignments are here as well as types of poems and literary devices used in poems. See the table of contents for locations.
Professor’s engaging analysis of “I Go Back to May 1937.”
I’m alive I Believe in Everything Lesley Choyce (Canada)
Maple Valley Branch Library, 1967 by Rita Dove at the White House Poetry Night, 2011
No Man is an Island
No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend’s
Or of thine own were:
Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
Audio reading Joan Baez (2nd half of audio): No Man is an Island
I am a Rock: Simon and Garfunkel
Dramatic reading and video creation by students of I Go Back to May 1937
introductiontopoetrybybillycollins
AMERICA POEM LESSONS
Ms. Stam's ELA Website for Students 