Poetry 101
Although a poem is not as visually intimidating as a long novel or essay, it is challenging to be able to interpret the compressed meaning conveyed in its few lines. Somehow poets are able to pick minimal words and phrases that convey a richer range of meaning than prose normally does. Sometimes the meaning is hidden in such a way that you are unable to grasp it after one read. Czelaw Miloscz, a Nobel Prize winner, says "Poetry opens our life to invisible guests." Those guests are the gamut of emotions and unexpected thoughts that poetry is able to evoke. According to Georgia Heard, there are three levels at which we read poetry 1. For the first level teachers should use poems that spark the interest of the students. The second level should help students make personal connections to the poem. The third level involves analysis of the poem. Heard also says poetry is a way to hold hands with strangers that have more in common with you than you think. That makes students feel as though they are not alone. That statement is helpful because students find poets remote and inaccessible. With this unit, I want to give them background information about the poet, context clues about the poem to help them scaffold, and a photograph of the poet so they can see that the poet is a human being like them.
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