Kaitlin Driscoll
Eng 112 B-Warner
Unit Plan/ Poetry
Due November 28, 2007

The Power of Words and Poetry: Teaching the Ability to Use Them Well

Why I chose this genre/ centerpiece work:

To some young adults, poetry is something scary that has never made sense and probably never will. To others, poetry is simply Dr. Seuss and nothing more. These are reasons why I believe it is very important to teach kids in high school that poetry, and elevated language is important to them in not only their present situation, but also to their future. Some kids might retort with the excuse that they will never need poetry in their jobs or everyday life. But contrary to that popular belief, they will. I have heard before that many lawyers started out as English majors who studied poetry, and if anything, I think this makes them more articulate in the courtroom.

I chose to do a unit on poetry. I did this because there are so many things a teacher can do with poetry. You can take one poem and discuss the words. You can take the same poem and discuss the punctuation and whether or not the poem changes if certain punctuation is taken out or left in. Then, you can take even that same poem and begin to talk about meanings. Poetry has levels. There are poems that I read for the first time in my freshman year of high school that I can still gain things from now in my junior year of college. This is why poetry is important to today’s young adults. Learning how to break down a poem and really delve into its meanings gives students the opportunity to practice doing this so that they can apply it to all their readings therefore making them more proficient.

The centerpiece of my Poetry Unit will be Modern Poetry. Therefore I would like to begin with e.e. cumming’s poem, “i carry your heart, i carry it in my heart”. It’s a strange poem, and it might be a tough one to start out on but I feel like this poem is the very essence of modern poetry. He flirted with boundaries on all levels. He did what other poets only joked about. I want kids to be able to look at a poem by cummings and realize that they have the power to push boundaries as well.
Launching the Unit:

1. The first day of the new unit is a big day for technology in the class room. The students will spend the next couple weeks pouring over pieces of paper and analyzing them; so on the first day, give them something to look forward to. Pass around a handout with the lyrics to Bob Dylan’s “Tangled Up in Blue”. Play them the song. After listening to it one or possibly two times lead a discussion on what the students thought of song. Was it what they would call poetry? Why or Why not? There were lines where the song didn’t rhyme, is that okay in poetry? Again, why or why not? While doing this, you as the teacher are sparking interesting debate and at the same time testing their prior knowledge on the subject.

2. Next show them a clip from “Dead Poet’s Society”. Show them the part where Robin William’s character meets the boys in the classroom for the first time. He has them start to rip pages out of their books. This is an important scene to see because it is an adult figure telling kids that adults don’t always have the right answers. The author of the book wasn’t necessarily right in saying what he said. In this scene he gives kids the power to be the judges over the right words and this is an excellent way to kick off a poetry unit. Give the students power over the words right out of the gate.
Keeping it fresh and interesting:

I have gone through and picked six poems. If the unit is a two week unit then that comes to three poems a week. I think this gives the teacher a sufficient amount of time to work on the poetry with students without boring them.
Week One:
1. E.e. cummings: “I carry your heart, I carry it in my heart”.
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

- Have one student read the poem aloud. Watching carefully how they choose to punctuate the poem.
-Ask the students what they thought about cummings’ punctuation or lack there of throughout the poem. Did it add an element to it? Why or why not?
-Ask them who the speaker of the poem is speaking to. Is it a lover, a friend, a sibling? Or is the poem ambiguous in that sense?
-Ask if there is a student in the class who would read it differently then the first student. If so, have them read it their own way and then explain to the class the poem the way they see it.
-Have the students write a five line poem using any kind of punctuation they want. Below the poem, have them write a short explanation about what they did or didn’t use and why it was effective in conveying their point.

2. Maya Angelou: “Alone”.
Lying, thinking
Last night
How to find my soul a home
Where water is not thirsty
And bread loaf is not stone
I came up with one thing
And I don't believe I'm wrong
That nobody,
But nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.

There are some millionaires
With money they can't use
Their wives run round like banshees
Their children sing the blues
They've got expensive doctors
To cure their hearts of stone.
But nobody
No, nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Now if you listen closely
I'll tell you what I know
Storm clouds are gathering
The wind is gonna blow
The race of man is suffering
And I can hear the moan,
'Cause nobody,
But nobody
Can make it out here alone.

Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.

-Angelou uses some very haunting expressions. Have the students each give one line that stood out to them. Why did they choose this line? What images did it provoke for them?
-Segue into a discussion about “showing” vs. “telling”. If Angelou wanted to simply tell the reader what she was feeling what words might she use? What other words could she use to continue showing the reader her feelings?
-What is the overall theme of this poem? What is Angelou trying to say? Is it just a poem, a message, or is it a warning?
-Have the students write out a paragraph or two discussing whether they think Angelou is being dramatic here, or if her words have true relevance in the world today. Follow with discussion on their writings.

3. Maya Angelou: “Still I Rise”.

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

- Ask the students to identify the various ways the speaker puts themselves above everyone else in the poem (i.e. oil pumping in the living room, diamond at the meeting of her thighs)
-Have the students describe the speakers tone. Segue into discussion on tone and it’s importance within a poem. Words can only say so much but the tone in combination with certain words can really help to solidify the meaning behind the poem.
-Have the students write their own version of a Still I Rise poem (similar to our re-writing of the Where I’m From poem).
-In between the two Angelou poems have the students do a little research on the poet and present their findings. Lead a class discussion on how a poet’s life and background can affect their work personally.

Week Two:

1. Robert Frost: “The Road Not Taken”.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

- This poem is not as straight forward as the others. Discuss the use of metaphor with the students.
-Have the students write about a time when they could choose a different path. Which did they choose and why? Is the path literal or figurative? Have them write about their favorite metaphor in the poem.
- The last line says: “I took the one less traveled by, and that made all the difference.” Ask the students to expand on that line. What does the speaker mean by difference? Do you think it was a good idea for him to take the road less traveled or a bad idea? Explain.
- For younger students have them compile a list of the words Frost uses that they don’t understand, (I.e. diverge, trodden, hence).

2. Elizabeth Bishop: “One Art”.

The art of losing isn't hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster.
Lose something every day. Accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent. The art of losing isn't hard to master.
Then practice losing farther, losing faster: places, and names, and where it was you meant to travel. None of these will bring disaster.
I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or next-to-last, of three loved houses went. The art of losing isn't hard to master.
I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster, some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent. I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.
---Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident the art of losing's not too hard to master though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster

-The speaker’s tone in this poem sounds like they are determined to sound strong and not sad. Discuss with the students how Bishop pulls this off. Which words specifically give the determined tone to the poem?
-What is Bishop’s intent when she first has the speaker lose small things like keys or a watch, and then moves on to cities and continents? What is she trying to provoke in the reader?
-After the speaker moves from small menial things to cities and continents, she finishes with losing “you”. She ends the poem with the same words “the art of losing isn’t hard to master”. Have the students write about one experience of losing something- anything and have them equate it to something the speaker lost in the poem. Why did they choose this specific thing? Did they ever find it? After thinking about something they have lost, do they agree with the speaker’s distant and removed tone?
-On the last line what does “(Write it!)” mean?

3. Pablo Neruda: “Sonnet XVII No Te Amo”.

No te amo como si fueras rosa de sal, topacio
o flecha de claveles que propagan el fuego:
te amo como se aman ciertas cosas oscuras,
secretamente, entre la sombra y el alma.
Te amo como la planta que no florece y lleva
dentro de si, escondida, la luz de aquellas flores,
y gracias a tu amor vive oscuro en mi cuerpo
el apretado aroma que ascendio de la tierra.
Te amo sin saber como, ni cuando, ni de donde,
te amo directamente sin problemas ni orgullo:
asi te amo porque no se amar de otra manera,
sino asi de este modo en que no soy ni eres,
tan cerca que tu mano sobre mi pecho es mia,
tan cerca que se cierran tus ojos con mi sueno.
Translated by Stephen Mitchell
I don't love you as if you were the salt-rose, topaz
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as certain dark things are loved,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that doesn't bloom and carries
hidden within itself the light of those flowers,
and thanks to your love, darkly in my body
lives the dense fragrance that rises from the earth.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you simply, without problems or pride:
I love you in this way because I don't know any other way of loving

but this, in which there is no I or you,
so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.

-Give this poem to the students in Spanish, with the English translation side by side.
-The poem was originally written in Spanish, and thus was meant to be heard in Spanish. Ask if there is any student who feels comfortable reading the poem aloud in Spanish. If not, read it to them.
-Next read the poem in English. Ask the students which they preferred audibly. They may have understood the English better, but the words and sounds in Spanish are just as beautiful.
-This poem is chalk full of metaphor. Having already discussed the use of metaphor with the students, ask them to identify various metaphor use within the poem.
-What is the overall tone of this poem? Is it one of love, hate, confusion?

Extending the Unit:

Biographies are a great way to extend a poetry unit. It is a wonderful learning experience to view art (which essentially is what poetry is), and to know the background of the person who created it.

Have a poetry reading kind of like the Dead Poet’s Society. Have each student bring in their own favorite poem or song lyric. I remember doing this my junior year of high school and it not only exposed me to a lot of new poetry, but it was “cool” because it was through my peers, not my teacher.

Lastly, here is a list of some more modern poets that might be interesting to teach in a high school setting:

Brooks, Gwendolyn: “We Real Cool”
Du Bois, W.E.B.: “The Song of Smoke”
Ginsberg, Allen: “A Supermarket in California”
Guest Edgar: “It Couldn’t Be Done”
Gibran, Kahlil: “Pain”
Hughes, Langston: “Let America be America Again”
“ Life is Fine”
“Mother to Son”
Owen, Wilfred: “Dulcet Et Dicorum Est”
Parker, Dorothy: “A Dream Lies Dead”
Sandburg, Carl: “Fog”
St, Vincent Millay, Edna: “What Lips My Lips Have Kissed And Where And Why”
Sassoon, Siegfried: “They”
Thomas, Dylan: “The Times They Are a Changing”