Introducing Poems
This is a set of strategies to help students of all ages get to know and appreciate individual poems.
As well as assisting students to make meaning from poems, the strategies help to develop
an understanding of style. They also offer support for students' own poetry writing.
Many of the strategies originally appeared in Approaches to Poetry,
published by The Department of Education and TATE.
"These 34 animated films were created by students working with docUWM, a documentary media center at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and the University's creative writing program, in association with the Poetry Foundation"
"It was Monday again. It was Monday and the day was damp and cold. Rain splattered the cover of Algebra I as Laura heaved her books higher on her arm and sighed. School was such a bore.
School. It loomed before her now, massive and dark against the sky. In a few minutes, she would have to face them again---Diane Goddard with her sleek blond hair and Terri Pierce in her candy-pink sweater. And Carol and Steve and Bill and Nancy... There were so many of them, so exclusive as they stood in their tight little groups laughing and joking. Why were they so cold and unkind? Was it because her long stringy hair hung in her eyes instead of dipping in graceful curls? Was it because she wrote poetry in algebra class and got A's in Latin without really trying?
Shivering, Laura remembered how they would sit at the back of English class, passing notes and whispering. She thought of their identical brown loafers, their plastic purses, their hostile stares as they passed her in the corridors. She didn't care. They were clods, the whole lot of them. She shoved her way through the door and there they were. They thronged the hall,streamed in and out of doors, clustered under red and yellow posters advertising the latest dance. Mohair sweaters, madras shirts, pea-green raincoats. They were all alike, all the same. And in the center of the group, as usual, Diane Goddard was saying, "It'll be a riot! I just can't wait to see her face when she finds out."
Laura flushed painfully. Were they talking about her?
"What a scream! Can't wait to hear what she says!" Silently she hurried past and submerged herself in the stream of students heading for the lockers. It was then that she saw Rachel Horton---alone as always, her too-long skirt billowing over the white, heavy columns of her legs, her freckled face ringed withover the white, heavy columns of her legs, her freckled face ringed with shapeless black curls. She called herself Horton, but everyone knew her father was Jacob Hortensky, the
This is a page dedicated to William Carlos Williams, a poet who had an immense influence on the course of 20th century poetry. He wrote in varying style and technique and was often radically experimental. His work is fresh and clear, rejecting sentimentality and vagueness. It also reflects emotional restraint and heightens the sensory experience with articulated common speech. Williams's work inspired many poets and many generations to follow. His work is both easy and enjoyable to read.
Lyric Poetry Matrix
The following matrix lists information about the poems read. As you
view the matrix, look for common characteristics, relationships between characteristics, and
unique qualities that stand out.
| 1. What is Poetry? | 2. Reading the Poem | 3. Denotation and Connotation | 4. Imagery | 5. Figurative Language 1: Metaphor, Personification, and Metonymy | 6. Figurative Language 2: Symbol and Allegory | 7. Figurative Language 3: Paradox, Overstatement, understatement, Irony and Allusion | 8. Tone and Musical Devices | 9. Rhythm and Meter | 10. Patterns of Traditional Poems | MLA Style Citation of this Web Page |