READING WALT

WHITMAN
Learning How to Actively Read Poetry
9 th-10 th Grade English
Jaymee Fuller
 Content Standards
◦ This lecture is meant to expose students to a new author of poetry for this unit.
◦ This lecture will teach students how to actively read poetry for a specific author.
◦ Content Standards:
CCSS for ELA - Content Standards (CA Dept of Education)

5. Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and

nuances in word meanings. Interpret figures of speech (e.g., euphemism,
oxymoron) in context and analyze their role in the text.
Analyze nuances in the meaning of words with similar denotations.

9. Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection,

and research.
 Who is Walt Whitman?

◦ Have you heard of Walt Whitman before?

◦ Do do you know any of his poems?

Educational Hook - Interpersonal

 Walt Whitman
◦ Walt Whitman was an American poet, essayist,
and journalist

◦ Born May 31, 1819

◦ Died March 26, 1892

◦ Whitman is regarded as one of America’s most

significant 19th-century poets and influenced
many later poets

Visual Aid
 Literary Devices to Look For
Rhyme Scheme Alliteration Symbolism

• The ordered • The occurrence • Symbolic

pattern of of the same meaning
rhymes at the letter or sound at attributed to
ends of the lines the beginning of natural objects
of a poem or adjacent or or facts
verse closely
connected
words

SmartArt
 O Captain! My Captain!
◦ One of Whitman’s most famous poems is, “O Captain! My Captain!”
◦ Here is an excerpt:
 Analyzing – You Try!
◦ Find the rhyme scheme of this stanza

◦ Identify one example of alliteration

◦ What do you think Whitman is implying when he says,

“For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths” in line 3?

Culminating Activity
 “O Captain! My Captain!” - Dead Poet’s Society

Visual Aid
Dual-Coding Technique
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udJzzvMbq60
 Literary Devices to Look For
Alliteration Repetition

• The occurrence of • Repeating the same

the same letter or words or phrases a
sound at the few times to make an
beginning of idea clearer and
adjacent or closely more memorable
connected words

SmartArt
 Beat! Beat! Drums!
◦ Another one of Whitman’s famous poems is “Beat! Beat! Drums!
◦ Here is an excerpt: