Why Men Go To War
There are several ways to do the next activity. I often switch among these possibilities from one class to another depending on the time of day, size of the class, and how they interact with each other. I will do this poem in one of the following ways.
Sandburg's "And They Obey" is a simple poem. I will provide each student with one line of the poem on various colored strips and they will walk around the room repeating their one line to as many students as possible. Then matching their color to their peers', they will form groups. The groups will then attempt to compose the poem in the correct order. This activity allows for students to have fun and discuss where the poem begins and where it ends.
Another way to approach this poem is to hand a strip of paper with a different line from the poem on it to each child. Some students do not like to read aloud but will often read a line. This exposes students to ideas from the poem without the entire context. When you ask what the poem is about you will get lots of responses from the students. The line "You are workmen and citizens all" might make a student suggest that the poem is about capturing a city. "Knock the walls to pieces" could mean what soldiers do with explosives. The activity forces the students to think about what the poem is expressing. Once you have written their ideas on the board or overhead you place the students in groups and have them arrange the strips into lines of poetry. The activity forces students to examine what would go where. It is like figuring out a puzzle and if you want you can reward the first group that makes the poem complete. Moving around the room, you can have groups read their version to you or give them hints about how accurate their version is or isn't. Finally, you give each student a copy of the complete poem. This allows students to read the poem and talk about how the poet arranged the poem, how close their group was, and why the line, "You are the soldiers and we command you," fits so beautifully in the middle.
Carl Sandburg was rejected by West Point, served in the Spanish American War (1898), never saw combat, and was too old to serve in World War I. (Anon.Sandburg). Two other poems I recommend by him are "Iron" and "Grass." He has been compared to Walt Whitman for his use of everyday language and the listing technique.
Now that the first section is finished, this would be a good time to go back over the poetic elements you have seen in the three poems. Have students rate the effectiveness of the poem to them personally. In a student response log have students explain their ranking. First, they must create a rubric and decide what elements they find necessary to make a poem "good". They could get in groups to create their rubric. Have them attach their rubric to their student response and collect it for a grade or place it in their notebook. Keep in mind that as they move farther into the unit their rubric may change, as well as how they rank each element. Many students want to understand a poem on first reading or firmly believe poetry must rhyme, but hopefully as you move forward they may enjoy other approaches to poetry.
Comments: