Mr.

Storrie
Central Islip H.S.
AP English Literature and Composition

Unit 1: Introduction to Poetry Analysis

Students of AP English Literature and Composition are required to take
the AP English Literature and Composition Exam given in May. This test
requires students to answer questions that involve the analysis and reflection
of texts, with specific attention to literary techniques such as structure, style
and themes. Within this unit, students will be introduced to the large and
smaller elements that poetry is comprised of, such as: figurative language,
imagery, connotation, denotation, symbolism, tone, rhythm, allusion, etc.
Knowledge of a texts style, references and context provide the reader with a
greater understanding of the authors intentions of writing a text and provide
more depth to the meaning one may interpret from reading a text. The
objective of this unit is for students to learn that reading poetry well means
the culmination of feeling, evaluating and responding to the words that
authors use to express ideas, emotions and the beauty of nature. Although
poets may write about things of which we have no experience, a poem offers
its readers the opportunity to connect to things we do know and order our
memories, thoughts and feelings in new and newly challenging ways. In
order for students to arrive at this understanding, they will be introduced to
the literary tools that poets use to beautifully and precisely construct a text
of descriptive writing.
Students will be reminded to read the words, a phrase that will be
repeated constantly in order to urge students to find meaning from the text
itself by using context clues found within the authors word choice and
structure of texts. Close analysis of word choice in poetry makes one
appreciate and understand the possibilities authors have when constructing
their descriptive texts. Poetry uses precise language in order to express
abstract ideas and feelings- this is a skill that Introduction to Poetry
Analysis will ultimately transfer to students. Critically reading poetry and
understanding the choices authors make within their writing is a skill that
students can transfer to the reading and revision of their own produced
texts.
During this unit students will be expected to analyze poems from many
literary periods in literary circles by annotating the texts as they read.
Different writing styles will be introduced to students gradually in order to
scaffold from more basic elements in poetry, such as couplets to
annotating works such as epic poems. While students analyze the use of
poetic devices within various texts we will cover, students will also explore
the history of Greek Gods in mythology in order to expand their knowledge of
intertextual references that are constantly used in many genres of literature.
Frameworks for language and literacy:
What will student learning look like?

To begin the unit students will be introduced to the basic anatomy of poems:
Rhythm, Rhyme scheme, Verse, Couplet, Stanza, End Rhyme, Sonnet
(English, Petrarchan), Ballad, Narrative poem, Elegy, Enjambment, Blank
Verse, Limerick, Ode and Dramatic poetry. After students have reviewed the
definitions of basic poetic elements, they will be given ample opportunities to
practice their comprehension of these definitions by annotating poems
(specifically citing examples of the words listed above). The annotations that
students produce while reading poetry will be used during in-class
discussions and Socratic seminars. These annotations will be used to uncover
the meanings of poems that resonate with the individual student (portrayed
in his or her annotations) and the meaning derived from analysis of the
poems intertextual references, time period, and techniques used by the
author/how they impact the purpose of the poem. The culmination of these
two different interpretations of the poem (the students interpretation and
the meaning derived from a critical analysis of the poem) will provide
students with the information needed for their summative assessment of an
analytical essay. Within the analytical essay, students will be required to
emphasize sonnet form, paraphrase, imagery, syntax and poetic language in
order to explain their interpretation of the poem and how the various poetic
elements impact the poems meaning.
With the use of students analytical essays, along with in-class
discussions of similarities/differences between poems, students will be asked
to construct a literary analysis comparing and contrasting two
poems/sonnets during a Timed Write. This activity will be practice for their
AP exam that students must take under a timed limit. There are several
other AP writing prompts that students will be required to respond to during
this unit.
Long Term Objectives:
Students will be able to analyze poems from various time periods.
Students will be able to identify and define different poetic elements
used within an authors construction of a poem.
Students will be able to identify the difference between various types
of poems (Ode, Ballad, Sonnet- English vs. Petrarchan, Narrative, Free
Verse).
Students will be able to interpret a poems rhythm by analysis of the
texts structure, rhyme scheme and evaluate the impact rhythm has on
a poems tone.
Students will be able to analyze how an authors choices concerning
how to structure a poem contribute to the texts meaning and
aesthetic impact.
Students will be able to annotate poems with specific attention to
poetic devices, structural choices and their impact on the text.
Students will be able to interpret a ballad.

 Students will be able to interpret a sonnet and apply their knowledge

of poetic devices to construct their own original sonnet.
Students will be able to model the writing techniques of authors such
as Walt Whitman and construct their own piece of descriptive writing.
Students will be able to analyze, evaluate and categorize the
similarities and differences between different poems in order to
construct a compare/contrast piece of writing.
Students will be able to interpret, support and explain the meaning of a
poem derived from the choices an author makes within his or her
writing through the construction of an analytical essay.
Essential Questions:
What can we learn about an author, ourselves and each other through
poetry?
How can learning about poetry help us become more articulate and
precise with our language?
How can an understanding of the different poetic devices and their
purposes be useful outside of reading poetry?
How can critically reading poetry improve ones reading skills for larger
texts?
How do shifts in literary movements mirror cultural shifts?
Why is learning about the author and his or her life important to
understanding the texts her or she produces?
Texts:
Author to her Book by Anne Bradstreet
An Ars Poetica by Archibald MacLeish
I Sit and Look Out by Walt Whitman
Grief by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
I Died for Beauty and Im Nobody, Who are You? by Emily Dickinson
The History Teacher by Billy Collins
A Barred Owl by Richard Wilbur
Leda and The Swan by William Butler Yeats
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus painting by Peter Bruegel and poem
by William Carlos Williams.
Language of texts:
1. Alliteration: The repetition of same or similar consonant sounds in
the beginning of words close together
2. Aside: A brief speech heard only by the audience or sometimes
addressed privately to another character on stage
3. Ballad: a song or poem that tells a story
4. Blank verse: Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter

5. Caesura: A pause or break within a line of poetry

6. Couplet: Two consecutive rhyming lines of poetry
7. Dramatic Monologue: A poem spoken by one person to a listener
who may influence the speaker with a look or an action, but says
nothing
8. Dramatic poetry: A poem in which the writer creates the voice of an
invented character
9. Elegy: A poem of mourning or meditation, usually about death or loss
10.
End Rhyme: The repetition of identical sounds at the end of
successive lines
11.
English Sonnet: A sonnet that is structured with 3 quatrains
and a couplet
12.
Enjambment: Indicated by the absence of punctuation and
eliminates the need to pause at the end of a line of poetry. Often called
a run on line.
13.
Feminine Rhyme: Rhymes that end in unstressed syllables
14.
Free verse: Poetry that does not conform to a regular meter or
rhyme scheme
15.
Iamb: a metrical foot in poetry that has an unstressed syllable
followed by a stressed syllable
16.
Iambic pentameter: a line of poetry that contains five iambs
17.
Italian sonnet: A sonnet that is structured with an octave and
sestet.
18.
Limerick poetry: 5 lines poem built on 2 rhymes with the third
and fourth lines shorter than the other often with a rhyme or pun in the
last line
19.
Masculine Rhyme: Rhymes that end with accented syllables
20.
Narrative poem: A poem that tells part or all of a story
21.
Ode: ancient form of poetry which is highly lyrical or
philosophical often paying homage whatever the poet may hold dear
22.
Rhyme Scheme: A pattern of rhyming words within a given
stanza or poem
23.
Romantic poetry: poems that tend to focus on inner experience
and feelings, including dreams and subconscious
24.
Slant Rhyme: Sounds that are close, but not exact duplicates
25.
Soliloquy: A monologue delivered by a character who is alone
on stage
26.
Speaker: The author of a piece of writing as he presents himself
in the writing
27.
Stanza: a paragraph of a poem
Frameworks for reading/interpreting your texts that you want
students to construct:

In order to start the unit, I will ask students to read Billy Collins poem
Introduction to Poetry. The meaning that is explicitly stated within the
poem is: those who read poetry try to interrogate texts beyond the point of
any recognition of the intended meaning of the text- leading to the death of
the author, or intended purpose of the poem. This is where I will introduce
the catchphrase of the unit, Read the words, in order to remind students to
not think about what the poet was trying to say instead of reading the
explicitly stated words and focus on experiencing a feeling from the text by
critically reading the words of the text (the ultimate goal for the unit in order
for students to actively read and be immersed in the texts). After students
have read the poem and given their responses to the text, I will begin a
lesson which dissects the anatomy of a poem focusing on the basic structure
of poems, different types, rhyme schemes, etc. These different styles will be
complemented with chapters from students summer reading assignment
How To Read Literature Like A Professor, which provides extra details and
ways to critically read different poetic devices and writing styles.
When students begin reading whole poems, sonnets and ballads, I will
ask them to begin deconstructing the text by constantly annotating
alongside the text in the margins. Within their annotations, students will be
expected to include: their interpreted meaning, any names that are present
within the poem (their historical/religious/mythological significance),
seasons, connotations, symbols, animals and violence. The reason I ask
students to pay such close attention to these details is because it provides
more material for our in class discussion that will help students uncover the
explicit and implicit meanings of the authors different rhetorical strategies,
which will directly translate to their comprehension of the text.
During our in class discussions, I will ask students to take detailed
notes and make any alterations to their annotations if other classmates show
other insightful perspectives. These detailed notes and annotations will all be
useful tools for students to use for their summative assessment (analytical
essays and compare/contrast essays discussing different poems).
Vocabulary/Concepts students will need to define:
How will you teach these?
In order to introduce the basic elements used throughout the school
year students will be asked to refer back to the index cards with definitions
that they constructed during their summer assignments. I will provide visual
ques in the form of multimedia/images from the literary period as well as
examples from texts that students have read to use as further education on
definitions of unfamiliar words.
What Kinds of Argumentative practice and research?:
Throughout this unit students will be annotating and researching the
poets of the texts we read in/out of class. During students research they will
be responsible for noting the differences in themes of the poems, similarities
of the poems whether they be in structure, meaning, perspective, etc. which

will come into use for their analytical essays. These essays will be shared in
class and during Think, Pair, Share activities so that students may
participate in peer revision activities in order to support the claims within
their produced text.
What kinds of stages of writing and writing help?:
During students construction of essays, there will be set time on
specific class dates for students to gather into groups for peer revision
circles. The main objective of peer revision circles is for students to provide
productive feedback to their peers in order to clearly explain what is unclear
about the produced text. Specific attention will be directed towards the texts
thesis statement, emphasis on poetic language, support drawn from the text
being discussed and how they can strengthen their argument in a clear and
concise way to an audience.
Assessments:
During this unit I will gauge students annotation skills with informal
assessments such as working alongside them in deconstructing sonnets and
ballads. Student participation during Think, Pair, Share activities and
discussions about interpretations of poems, their poetic devices and impact
will also be another form of informal assessment that I will take note of
throughout their analysis of different texts. In order for students to
synthesize their comprehension of poetic devices I will ask them to produce
their own original sonnets with a complementary paragraph which explains
the students purpose of writing and the poetic devices he or she
implemented within their text.
Formal assessments: After the foundation of this unit (various poetic devices
and structures) has been presented to students, they will be quizzed on the
poetic language. Students will also be exposed to different writing styles,
such as the descriptive writing that Walt Whitman uses, and be asked to
reproduce his writing style as an assessment.
The summative assessment students will be responsible for at the end
of this unit requires them to showcase their skills in analysis and
interpretation of poetic devices used by an author within a text. This formal
assessment will require students to annotate a text, write a paragraph that
analyzes and explains each poetic device used within the text, as well as
their interpretation of the authors purpose of including the poetic device
within the text.
The terms that will be used within this unit extend to all genres of
reading/writing and will be present within all forms of texts that students will
interact with throughout the semester and their reading lives. In order to
prepare for the AP test given in May, students will be required to practice
their knowledge of poetic language and analysis of poetry through several AP
writing prompts that will be assigned throughout the unit.