What is Poetry? Contrasting Poetry and Prose

1. Ask students to quick-write for five minutes in response to the prompt “What is poetry?” Instruct them to brainstorm any words, phrases, feelings, or associations that come to mind when thinking about poetry.
    
2. Provide time (15-20 minutes) for discussion, recording students’ responses on chart paper. After completing the lesson, students will have a chance to revisit and revise these responses.
   
   Note: Many students will have misconceptions about what poetry is. They often associate poetry only with feelings, believe poetry holds hidden meaning evident only to experts, and assume that poems always rhyme.
    
3. Remind students that different types of texts need to be approached with different expectations and strategies. Share an example they would be familiar with, such as reading a newspaper article versus reading a novel. Point out that the purposes for reading these texts are different, and therefore, we adjust our reading speed and strategies.
    
   • For example, when reading a newspaper, we scan the headlines for articles of interest and then skim for the main ideas. We may not read every word, but we are still able to get the gist of the article.
      
   • On the other hand, when reading a work of fiction for school, we read more critically—asking questions, looking for patterns, rereading for understanding, and marking the text.
4. Explain that poetry also requires a close reading. In addition, although we use many of the same strategies required when reading any text (i.e. previewing the text, visualizing, setting a purpose, asking questions), reading poetry requires new strategies and expectations. These will become apparent during this lesson and subsequent lessons.
    
5. Project the poem “Unfolding Bud” by Naoshi Koriyama. Ask students to consider the title of the poem and make predictions about its content. (Students will likely predict it is a poem about flowers.) Tell them to follow along as you read it aloud to model how to read a poem with attention to punctuation and line breaks.
    
6. Using your prepared questions, lead a discussion about the poem that helps students uncover the main idea. It is unlikely that students will “get” the poem upon first reading, but emphasize that this demonstrates the first crucial lesson about reading poetry: Most poetry requires several close, word-for-word readings and deep analysis to unlock meaning.
    
7. Tell students they will be spending the next couple sessions exploring the concept of poetry as they look closely at a poem and an informational text on the same subject. Explain that they will work in groups to compare the two texts and draw some conclusions about the genre of poetry.

1. Distribute copies of the poem “The Eagle” by Lord Alfred Tennyson. Activate students’ prior knowledge and prior experience by asking if anyone has ever seen an eagle in the wild. Some students may share stories of seeing eagles, but most probably have little or no experience with eagles in the wild.
    
2. Distribute copies of the TP-CASST Poetry Analysis handout and explain that it is one of many useful strategies for understanding poetry. Read the poem aloud, and work through the process with students, explaining each step. Ask students for their input, using the following questions to elicit deeper responses.
    
   • What is the situation? Who is the speaker?
      
   • Where is the eagle?
      
   • Where is the speaker in relation to the eagle?
      
   • How do you know the eagle is far away?
      
   • How does the poem shift in the second stanza?
3. Discuss why the poet may have written this poem. (I always share my own experiences living on a lake and observing eagles diving for fish. It is a most awe-inspiring sight, worthy of a poem.) This discussion of a specific poem should lead to a more general discussion of what poetry is about.
    
4. Introduce the informational article "Eagles" from PBS Nature. Remind students that informational texts demand a different stance from readers. Students will likely already understand the purpose and structure of informational texts, having had more experience with them in school.
    
5. Distribute copies of the text (or have students access it online) and preview the text. Distribute the Four-Column Chart and explain that you have chosen this organizer because there are four paragraphs in the article. Read the article aloud to the class. Using an LCD projector, overhead projector, or interactive whiteboard, assist the students in completing the organizer. Label each column (with the main idea in the paragraph), and add details below each heading.
    
6. Instruct students to bring all of the printouts from this session to class for the next session to begin group work.

Note: Set up the classroom for this session by preparing work areas for groups of three to four students with chart paper and copies of the handout What is Poetry? Contrasting Prose and Poetry. Each group should have access to a computer and the interactive Venn Diagram.

1. As a class, review the printout What is Poetry? Contrasting Prose and Poetry, which describes the process for group work for this assignment. Allow students to spend the rest of the session discussing the guiding questions and then completing and printing the Venn Diagram.
    
2. Move from group to group to offer clarification of questions and expectations, ask follow-up questions, and extend students’ thinking.
    
3. Remind students to bring their completed Venn diagrams to the next session.

1. Have students return to their groups and explain that they are going to work together to draw some conclusions about how poetry differs from prose. Encourage them to review both their Venn Diagrams and the guiding questions on the handout What is Poetry? Contrasting Prose and Poetry.
    
2. Instruct the groups to develop at least five statements about the characteristics of poetry based on their discussion. One student in each group will record the statements on chart paper, and each group will share with the whole class.
    
3. After all groups have reported, lead a whole-class discussion about their insights into the structure and purpose of poetry.