Poetry for 5th Graders

One of the hallmarks of classical methodology is the use of songs, chants and sound-offs to cement important factual information in the minds of young students (2 to 12 years old). Last year, I gave my students a "break" between literature books and we studied poetry for 1-2 weeks before taking up the next book. Initially, I read a wide variety of poetry to them so they could begin to enjoy the sound and feel of it. Next, the students were required to memorize a number of poems, mostly of my choosing. Then we spent time studying some of the terminology and "rules" of poetry.

The sound-off below was written for a public performance, so the first half is designed to entertain and inform the audience, while the second incorporates the foundational information which I wanted the students to retain and on which future teachers can build.

Poetry Sound-Off

By: Lori Shaffer

TEACHER: Poetry, like prose, is designed to move, inspire, teach and delight. Give a child - especially a boy of 10 years and older - sappy, sentimental, feminized love poetry, and instead of inspiration and delight, he will probably harbor a distaste for poetry. He won't call it distaste (that might be too poetic), he will call it hatred.

GIRL STUDENT: (with all the sweetness she can muster!)

Her heart is like her garden

Old-fashioned, quaint and sweet

With here a wealth of blossoms

And there a still retreat.

Sweet violets are hiding

We know as we pass by

And lilies pure as angel thoughts

Are opening somewhere nigh.

BOYS: (looking distressed and ill) Yuck!!

TEACHER: However, if we give our boys (and girls) the right poetry...well....judge for yourself...

2 STUDENTS: (taking the roles of father and son)

Father William

by Lewis Carroll

"You are old, Father William," the young man said

"And your hair has become very white;

And yet you incessantly stand on your head,

Do you think, at your age, it is right?"

"In my youth," Father William replied to his son,

"I feared it might injure the brain;

But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,

Why, I do it again and again."

"You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak

For anything other than suet;

Yet you finished the bird with the bones and the beak;

Pray how did you manage to do it?"

"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law

And argued each case with my wife.

And the muscular strength it gave to my jaw

Has lasted the rest of my life!"

TEACHER: Now, this kind of poetry definitely appeals to 5th graders, but if we want them to move beyond the nonsense, we must introduce poems like this:

BOY STUDENT: (in low, mysterious voice)

The Cremation of Sam McGee

by Robert Service

There are strange things done in the midnight sun

By the men who moil for gold.

The Artic trails have their secret tales

That would make your blood run cold.

The Northern Lights have seen strange sights

But the strangest they ever did see,

Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge

I cremated Sam McGee.

TEACHER: That was just the first verse of a gruesome, yet comical tale about two men's adventure during the Gold-rush. Most young men find tales of heros and battles irresistible...especially this classic:

STUDENT: (nobly and majestically)

So. The Spear-Danes in days gone by

and the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness.

We have heard of those princes' heroic campaigns.

There was Shield Sheafson, scourge of many tribes,

a wrecker of mead-benches, rampaging among foes.

This terror of the hall troops had come far.

A foundling to start with, he would flourish later on

as his powers waxed and his worth was proved.

In the end, each clan on the outlying coasts

beyond the whale-road had to yeild to him

and begin to pay tribute. That was one good king.

TEACHER: In case you didn't recognize it, that was from a contemporary translation of Beowulf by an Irish poet named Seamus Heaney.

Good poetry can also make profound theological statements, such as this Holy Sonnet # 10 by John Donne, in which he rebukes Death for overestimating his own power:

ALL STUDENTS:

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so!

For, those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,

Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest of their bones and soul's delivery.

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war and sickness dwell,

And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well,

And better than thy stroke! Why swell'st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally,

And death shall be no more. Death, thou shalt die!

TEACHER: So...the right poetry can make all the difference! This year we have read some good poetry and we have learned some of the grammar of poetry - that is, its terminology and the rules that govern it. We will share those with you now.

(For this second half, all questions are asked by the teacher, while students take turns answering or illustrating the answer)

What is poetry?

Poetry is the language of pictures and music.

What are the pictures in poetry called?

The pictures in poetry are called "tropes" or "figures of speech." They utilize descriptive language to create an image in the mind.

Name, define, and illustrate some figures of speech:

A SIMILE is a figure of speech which compares two dissimilar objects, events, or ideas, using "like" "as" or "than."

Her hands were as cold as ice.

He was madder than an old wet hen.

His hair stood up like a corncob tassel.

A METAPHOR is a figure of speech which compares two object, events or ideas by stating that one IS the other.

Her hands were ice cubes.

My mother is a bear in the mornings.

PERSONIFICATION is a figure of speech which assigns human qualities to a non-human entity.

The wind crept through the open window.

The waves pounded the shore.

A RHETORICAL QUESTION is a figure of speech which asks a question whose answer is obvious, in order to remind someone of a truth.

Who do you think you are, young man?

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Who determined its measurements?

If figures of speech are the word-pictures of poetry, what are its musical elements?

The musical elements of poetry are rhyme and meter.

What is rhyme?

Rhyme is an echo of sound.

Name, define and illustrate two types of rhyme:

Full Rhyme occurs when the final sound of two or more words precisely echo one another - such as "shed, bread, fed, lead & dead"

Slant Rhyme occurs wehn the final sound of two or more words closely approximate one another - such as "stood, look, hoof, & soot"

Does all poetry rhyme?

No, some poetry does not rhyme and is referred to as Blank Verse.

What is meter?

Meter is the rhythm of poetry...the beat, if you will.

How is meter measured?

Meter is measured by identifying syllables as either stressed or unstressed.

What is a syllable?

A syllable is a unit of pronunciation consisting of a single sound.

What is meant by stressed and unstressed syllables?

A stressed syllable is pronounced with emphasis - it is a hard beat.

An unstressed syllable is pronounced withless emphasis - it is a soft beat.

What is scansion?

Scansion is thename for the process of identifying and marking the meter of a poem.

First, identify stressed syllables and mark them with an accent mark.

Next, mark all unstressed syllables with a breve.

Then, divide each line into feet.

What are feet in poetry?

Patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables create "feet" in poetry adn are equivalent to the "measure" in music.

Name, define and illustrate some common poetic feet:

Iambic Foot is comprised of 1 unstressed, then 1 stressed syllable (-'-'-'-')

Whose woods these are I think I know, His house is in the village though... (students should illustrate the meter by overemphasizing the stressed and unstressed syllables with their voices and with handclaps)

Trochaic Foot is comprised of 1 stressed, then 1 unstressed ('-'-'-'-)

Chip the glasses, crack the plates, That's what Bilbo Baggins hates...

Anapestic Foot uses 2 unstressed, then 1 stressed (--'--'--'--')

In my youth said his father I took to the law and argued each case with my wife...

Dactylic Foot uses 1 stressed, then 2 unstressed ('--'--'--'--)

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

This is the Grammar of Poetry as we know it in 5th Grade!

Real men love poetry! We do! Do YOU?!