Introduction To Poetry

1
Unit I Introduction to Poetry by Bill Collins

5 point Literature Program UPP Option One
September/October 2012
Make sure the following activities are in your Work file for the poem
Introduction to Poetry.
KEY COMPONENT
WORK TO BE INCLUDED IN THE WORKFILE
1.Pre Reading
Activity
2.Teaching the HOTS

of
Comparing/Contrasti
ng
Distinguishing
Different
Perspectives and
Explaining Patterns
3.Basic
Understanding
(LOTS)
3. Analysis and
Interpretation.
Literary Terms:
personification,
simile, image,
metaphor,
repetition and
alliteration.
5.Bridging Text and
Context
6.Post Reading
Activity
7.Reflection
1. Choose any song in English that you like.

a. Write out the lyrics to this song.
b. Explain why you chose this song.
c. Explain what you think the composer's
message in this song is.
Comparing and Contrasting yourself
with a classmate (done in class)
See page 12 and do questions 5-8
See page 12 and do questions 9-10
1. Vocabulary Practice on page 11. Numbers 1-5

2. Questions on page 11 .Numbers 1-4
3. See Worksheet # 1 below. LOTS
1. Worksheet #2 on Personification
2. Worksheet #3 - Questions on poem.
Comparing and Contrasting
3. See page 12 and do questions 1-4
4. See page 13 and do question 11
1. See page 13 and do questions 1 and 2.

2. Worksheet # 4
:
Go to http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/p180list.html and bring in one example of the 180
poems that are part of the Poetry 180 program.
Write out the poem and explain why you chose
this poem. How does the poem you have chosen
express Billy Collins' perspective on poetry?
Answer any THREE of the following questions:
a. Did you enjoy reading this poem? Why or why
not?
b. What did you find interesting or surprising
about the poem?

c. Do you think you will be able to use any of the
suggestions given in this poem to help you
understand other poems? Why or why not?
d. Was the HOTS of Comparing/Contrasting at all
helpful to you in understanding this poem?
e. Did learning a bit about the poet himself help
you understand the poem better? How?
Worksheet 1
LOTS (Lower Order Thinking Skills)
I.
Define the following words. Highlight them in the poem.

English
II.
Hebre
w
English
a slide
the shore
a hive
a rope
to probe
to torture
a light switch
a confession
the surface
to beat
to wave
a hose
Hebrew
Read the poem. Then answer the following questions:
1. What does the poet want you to do with a poem? (Choose

five of steps/measures and copy the words out of the poem)
a. _____________________________________________
b. _____________________________________________
c. _____________________________________________
d. _____________________________________________
e. _____________________________________________
2. For each of the phrases used in the poem, write next to it the
sense you use to do the action:
(hearing, touch, smell, taste, sight)
a. hold it up to the light: __________________________
b. press an ear to its hive: _______________________________
c. feel the walls: ________________________________
d. watch him probe his way out:____________________
3. What is the author saying here about how you should read a
poem?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
4. What do people usually do to poems? (copy out of poem)
a. _____________________________________________
b. _____________________________________________
c. _____________________________________________
Analysis and Interpretation Worksheet 2

Literary term: Personification
Definition:
A description of an inanimate object as being a living person or
animal
I.
Put a check next to the sentences which use

personification:
1. Her silky hair moved with the breeze. ___
2. My shower is jealous because it thinks I like my bed better
in the morning. ___
3. My computer growled at me when I hit the wrong button.
___
4. Carrying my book bag was like dragging around a 10 pound
sack of flour. ___
5. Michael was the alpha dog of his group. ___
6. The fiery red vase screamed to be recognized in the all
white room.___
II.
In order to see how the poet uses personification, copy

three examples of personification from the poem:
1.___________________________________________________________________
2.
_____________________________________________________________________
3.___________________________________________________________________
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analysis and Interpretation

Worksheet #3
HOTS: Comparing and Contrasting

We have just learned about comparing and contrasting. Lets
use that skill to help us analyze the poem.
Answer the following questions:
1. In your opinion, who is "I" and who are "they"/"them" in
the poem?
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
2. What do the I and the they have in common?
__________________________________________________________
3. What is the difference between the way "I" looks at the
study of poetry and the way "they" do? Complete the
sentence in your own words:
Whereas the "I" in the poem wants
____________________________
__________________________________________________________
"they" want
_______________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
4. Do you, as the reader, identify more with the I or the
they? Explain your answer.
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
5. What is the poets message? What do you think was Billy
Collins reason for writing the poem?
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
6. How can you use the HOTS of Comparing and Contrasting
in school? In your daily life?
__________________________________________________________
.Worksheet #4
Bridging Text and Context
Quote from an interview with Billy Collins:
COLLINS: Often people, when they're confronted with a poem, it's like someone who
keeps saying "what is the meaning of this? What is the meaning of this?" And that
dulls us to the other pleasures poetry offers.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Is it... Would you say it's something of a cause with
you or has been to (sound less fancy)? ..You use the word "hospitable." (friendly)
You're very hospitable to your reader.
BILLY COLLINS: Well, I think I'm making up for things I did in the past, because
when I was in university, I was taught that difficulty was part of the value of poetry,
and I committed the sin of difficulty over and over again in my earlier writing. It took
quite a while for me just to try to speak more clearly. I'm very aware of the presence
of a reader, and that probably is a reaction against a lot of poems that I do read which
seem oblivious (ignorant) of my presence as a reader.
Adapted from: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/julydec01/collins_12-10.html
1. What do you understand from these quotes? What is Collins saying

about how he thinks poetry should be and how it is sometimes written?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
2. How does this information help you understand the poem better?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

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1

Unit I Introduction to Poetry by Bill Collins

WORK TO BE INCLUDED IN THE WORKFILE

2.Teaching the HOTS

1. Choose any song in English that you like.

1. Vocabulary Practice on page 11. Numbers 1-5

1. See page 13 and do questions 1 and 2.

about the poem?

Define the following words. Highlight them in the poem.

Read the poem. Then answer the following questions:

1. What does the poet want you to do with a poem? (Choose

Analysis and Interpretation Worksheet 2

Put a check next to the sentences which use

In order to see how the poet uses personification, copy

Analysis and Interpretation

HOTS: Comparing and Contrasting

1. What do you understand from these quotes? What is Collins saying

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