Activator: February 23, 2009

In your own words explain what “poetry” is. What elements make a poem? Does a poem have a certain look, length, feel, purpose? Explain.

Picture Activity

Take a good look at this picture and all the details. Write ONE sentence of less than 20 words that describes the image you see here.

What makes a poem?1. Put your sentence aside until later.

2. Look at your activator in order to discuss and chart these questions.

What is a poem?

What makes a poem a poem?

Does a poem have a certain look, length,

feel, purpose?

Dictionary Definition of “Poetry.”

Webster’s:Writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience in language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm.

Literature Book:A type of literature in which ideas and feelings are expressed in compact, imaginative, and often musical language. Poets arrange words in ways designed to touch readers’ senses, emotions, and minds. Most poems are written in lines which may contain patterns of rhyme and rhythm. These lines may be grouped into stanzas.

So much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens.

1. What are the poem-like qualities in this piece?

2. Is it a poem?

3. What makes it/ does not make it a poem?

What makes a poem? What makes a sentence?

Poem Sentence

Poetic Terms

1. Review handout on Poetry Terms (keep handout for future quiz on terms)

2. In groups, read the poem “The Witch of Willowby Wood”

3. Complete the Poetry Terms Chart using this poem.

Homework

Handout: Using your sentence from earlier in today’s lesson, fill out the worksheet “A Sentence as a poem.” Make sure you use some of the terms we discussed in class today to help you.