Poetry Unit Bundle, Poem Lessons, Analysis & Comprehension Questions, Activities

SAVE 30% WITH THIS POETRY BUNDLE! This poetry unit bundle contains all you need for a fully comprehensive poetry unit. This bundle of poems, with lesson plans for 16 poems (6 are CCSS EXEMPLAR texts) is comprehensive and engaging. This poetry unit will help students overcome the intimidation and distaste that can often come with poetry analyzation.

The unit begins with an EDITABLE introductory PowerPoint with guided notes, and then I recommend my quick and free analysis of Billy Collins' "Introduction to Poetry." After that, depending on your time frame, you can easily use this bundle for an entire quarter.

Everything you need to teach these poems with confidence and ease is right here. Each lesson contains an activating activity, high order analysis questions, post-reading activity and rubric for students to write a related poem!

Additionally, there are two bundle bonus file included! A bonus quiz for the six CCSS exemplar poems (that is the only quiz in the bundle, all other summative assessments are activities), and a handout for students to fill out at the very start of the unit, along with a similar handout to guide their reflection process at the end of the unit.

This POETRY MEGA-BUNDLE includes the following 17 lessons:

1. Poetry Introduction PPT with Guided Notes Fully EDITABLE (PDFs included, too)

-49 slide EDITABLE PowerPoint

-Detailed teacher notes to help explain poetry terms to students

-7 pages of EDITABLE guided notes

-Guided notes ANSWER KEY (helpful for when students are absent)

-PDFs of the PPT and notes for formatting or just print and go purposes

This introduction covers the following devices: Alliteration, allusion (biblical, historical, literary), Author’s Purpose (persuade, inform, entertain), Comparisons (simile and metaphor), Diction, Hyperbole, Idiom, Imagery, Irony (dramatic, situational and verbal), Main idea, Meter, Mood and Tone, Motif, Onomatopoeia, Personification, Point of View (first, second and third, limited and omniscient), Repetition (anaphora, assonance, consonance, epistrophe), Rhyme, Rhyme Scheme, Rhythm, Structure (acrostic, blank verse, free verse, haiku, limerick, sonnet), Synecdoche, Symbolism, Theme.

2. Haiku Poetry with EDITABLE Introductory PPT and Creative Writing Activity (PDF of the PPT is also included)

-15 slide EDITABLE PowerPoint

-3 pages of EDITABLE graphic organizers for students to create their own haiku and give each other feedback

3. “I, Too” by Langston Hughes

-A prereading activity with a brief background on Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing.” The prereading handout also introduces/refreshes students on the topics: Allusion, metaphor, extended metaphor and allegory.
-The full text of the poem with a guided annotation chart
-Three pages of guided analysis questions
-A post-reading activity that requires students to go deeper with the poem by reviewing a Civil Rights timeline (link included)
-A second post-reading activity that guides students to create their own allegorical poem

4. “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll

-Activating activity that refreshes on context clues and linguistics
-Poem and chart for guided annotation
-Graphic organizer for students to classify nonsense words (adjective, adverb, etc)
-Glossary of the nonsense words Carroll used (teacher file only)
-Handout with high level analysis questions
-Post reading activity where students create their own nonsense poem

5. “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe

-Full text of the poem with space for annotations

-Introductory activity with the five stages of grief

-Over 50 stanza by stanza, high-level, analysis questions

-Two video links for students to compare interpretations

-Post-reading activity poem rubric

- Post-reading plot diagram

- Post-reading motif collage

- Post-reading grief treatment plan

-Handout with summaries of common ailments for students to diagnosis the speaker

6. “Dreams” by Langston Hughes

-Mini author biography
-Text of the poem
-Analysis questions
-A micro poem writing activity
-Micro rubric

7. “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes

-Pre-reading vocabulary in context (nine words)

-Original article about famous highwaymen

-Questions to go with the article

-18 high order analysis questions for the poem

-Two video links with comparison questions

-Post-reading wordle activity

-Post-reading alternate ending activity

8. “A Man Said to the Universe” by Stephen Crane

-Mini author biography

-Text of the poem

-One page of analysis questions

-Link to draw connections with an animated clip

-Micro rubric for creating a micro poem

9. “Oranges” by Gary Soto

-Pre-reading activating activity (leads into one of the post-reading activities)

- 4 pages of high-level analysis questions

- 3 pages of post-reading comparing mediums activity with two shorts

-Post-reading writing activity

10. “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks

-Activating activity
-Critical thinking analysis questions with connotation chart
-Comparison clip with The Outsiders
-Post reading RAFT activity
-Post reading poetry rubric

11. “Paul Revere’s Ride” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

-Modified KWL activating activity
-Nine pages of guided stanza by stanza analysis (48 questions!)
-Handout for whole poem analysis reflection with theme, author’s purpose, etc.
-Plot diagram handout
-“History vs. Poetry” article
-One page of discussion facilitation questions
-Venn diagram handout with short answer prompt
-Link with guided instructions on creating their own historical narrative
-Peer review sheet

12. “Sonnet 116” by Shakespeare

-Comprehensive introductory web quest (no link, students research the prompts)
**The web quest in not specific to “Sonnet 116,” it can be used with ANY Shakespeare text!**
Full text of the poem
-Annotation guide
-Vocabulary
-High level analysis questions
-Figurative language (metaphor, personification)
-Post reading movie trailer activity (four trailers to draw parallels with)
-Rubric to write their own sonnet

13. “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou

-A web quest to introduce students to Angelou with a web quest. Please note: Angelou was raped when she was seven years old and the web quest addresses this. However, in the event you are not comfortable covering that with your students, an EDITABLE file is included for the web quest and the web quest answer key so you can tailor it as you see fit. The web quest and jey are the only editable files in this lesson plan. PDF files are also included, but please be aware, depending upon your computer’s fonts, editable files may need font/formatting corrections.**
-Two pages of graphic organizers to aid analysis
-Post reading comparative analysis with “Blackbird” by The Beatles
-A rubric for students to write their own hope filled poem

14. “Ode to a Large Tuna in the Market” by Pablo Neruda

-Pre-reading activating activity with video clip (end American Beauty with the dancing plastic bag)
-Text of the poem
-Graphic organizer with high level analysis questions
-Post-reading poetry activity

15. “O Captain! My Captain!” by Walt Whitman

-A mini web quest activating activity to build background knowledge
-Poem and chart for guided annotation
-Graphic organizers for stanza by stanza analysis
-Handout for whole poem, reflective analysis
-Post reading poetry activity writing an elegy

16. “I Like to See it Lap the Miles” (Railway Train) by Emily Dickinson

-A pre-reading prompt (leads into post-reading activity)

- 2 guiding graphic organizers for stanza by stanza analysis

- 1 handout of whole poem reflection analysis

-Post-reading writing activity

-Answer key and rubric

17. “Risk” by Anais Nin

-Mini author biography
-Text of the poem
-Analysis questions
-A micro poem writing activity
-Micro rubric

ANSWER KEYS AND RUBRICS INCLUDED FOR EVERYTHING! Poetry lessons made simple!

This bundle covers a myriad of Common Core State Standards!

**Please note: This bundle contains several ZIP files with PDFs that are not editable. This is to help protect my work. If you are looking for something fully editable, this product does not give that capability. The only files that are editable in this bundle are the web quest for “Caged Bird,” the Haiku PPT lesson and the entirety of the Introductory PPT and Guided Notes. However, all PDFs can be used with distance learning by the using the mark up tools within the PDF.**

Thank you so much for checking out my poetry bundle! Happy Teaching!

Keywords: Poetry unit, poem analysis, lesson, activity, comprehension questions