Lesson Plan 3

UTL 640E
Kaitlyn Holcomb
Aaron Holman/Hendrickson High School
AP English IV/12th Grade
Date: 3/30/15
Teaches #5-6
Class Period/Time: Block 2 (11:05-12:35) and Block 3 (1:10-2:40)
Enduring Understandings & Essential Questions
Since writing is often personal and stems from an authors beliefs about life and about writing,
critical readers investigate an author not only by determining how a particular text reflects the
authors beliefs but also by examining whether a collection of texts by that author reflects a
consistent set of beliefs or one that changes over time.
What are the conventions/criteria outlined in The Poetic Principle? [f]
What are the definitions of these conventions? [f]
How do figurative language and imagery create meaning in poetry? [c]
How do Poes conventions create meaning in his poetry? [c]
Lesson Objective:
After reviewing the poetic criteria outlined by Edgar Allan Poe in The Poetic Principle and
after reading and annotating his poem Song, students will identify and list 3 aptly-chosen
details from the poem that display poetic conventions and relate to the poems meaningone
example each for imagery, figurative language, and Poes criteriain order to demonstrate their
understanding regarding the role of figurative language, imagery, tone, and theme in creating
meaning in poetry.
Resources/Materials:
To do before the lesson:
o Review The Poetic Principle and select excerpts; make copies and distribute to students
one class period prior to lesson; assign students to read excerpts before lesson
o Review and analyze the poems (Alone, A Dream within a Dream, Eldorado,
Evening Star, Song, and The Lake To )
o Create PowerPoint presentation reviewing key points from The Poetic Principle
o Make copies of The Poetic Principle and the poems
For the lesson itself:
o Place copies of The Poetic Principle and Song by the door for students to grab as
they enter the classroom
o Bring sticky notes (two colors)
o Whiteboard and markers
o Set up and test PowerPoint before the lesson begins

TEKS/SEs Addressed in the Lesson:

(3) Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Poetry. Students understand, make inferences and
draw conclusions about the structure and elements of poetry and provide evidence from text to
support their understanding. Students are expected to evaluate the changes in sound, form,
figurative language, graphics, and dramatic structure in poetry across literary time periods.
(7) Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Sensory Language. Students understand, make
inferences and draw conclusions about how an authors sensory language creates imagery in
literary text and provide evidence from text to support their understanding. Students are expected
to analyze how the authors patterns of imagery, literary allusions, and conceits reveal theme, set
tone, and create meaning in metaphors, passages, and literary works.
Steps in Lesson:
ENGAGEMENT 3 minutes

In pairs, students will respond to the following (projected on the screen):

With a partner, please discuss the following:
o What do you remember about Edgar Allan Poes poetry from having read some of his
poems (e.g., Annabel Lee and The Raven) previously?
o What do you like/dislike about his writing?
o What are some aspects of his style? What are some common themes that emerge in his
poems?
STATED OBJECTIVE

Were going to start today by reading excerpts from an essay entitled The Poetic
Principle by Edgar Allan Poe that details his criteria for poetry. Then well review his main
points as a class and practice looking for his conventions/criteria in a stanza from Annabel
Lee. Finally, youll read and annotate another poem by him called Song and have a chance to
practice identifying traditional poetic conventions, such as imagery and figurative language, in
addition to Poes conventions and to connect these conventions to the meaning of the poem.
Then, on Thursday, well have a chance to use what we learn today for a more in-depth
investigation into Poes poetry.
ACTIVE LEARNING

Introduce: 15 minutes
Ask students to read The Poetic Principle.
If some students finish early, have them return to the text and make note of Poes main
points.
Explain: 13 minutes
Review the concepts found in The Poetic Principle with students. (8 minutes)
o Tell students that The Poetic Principle was published posthumously (1850). We do not
know when Poe actually wrote it.

o Use the PowerPoint presentation to outline the key concepts. Ask student volunteers to
define the concepts for the class, and extend and clarify their definitions as needed. The
key points and definitions include:
Poetry is art:
It should be art for the sake of art.
It should not be responsible for conveying truth (i.e., there should not be a
moral), though Poe clarifies that poetry may include truth as long as it is
subordinated to beauty.
Beauty
This is not a mere pleasant experience, though this can lead us to experience what
Poe calls the Poetic Sentiment, defined as that pleasurable elevation, or
excitement, of the soul. In other words, the Poetic Sentiment is a sense that
ones heart is full and everything in the world will be okay.
True beauty is [a]n immortal instinct, deep within the spirit of man and is no
mere appreciation of the Beauty before us, but a wild effort to reach the Beauty
above. In this manner, it is both eternal and, in many cases, unreachable in its
entirety, though we may attain tobrief and indeterminate glimpses.
Melancholic tone
Poe believes poems should have a feeling of pleasurable sadness. It is sadness
in that one can never fully reach the beauty one longs for, yet the sadness is
simultaneously pleasurable in that it is connected to beauty.
o Because of the conventions that Poe outlines, many of his poems include the follow
themes, topics, and/or tones:
Love, since it leads to a type of beauty.
Melancholy, since it is inseparably connected with all the higher manifestations of
true Beauty.
Women, since this topic implies a love that thus leads to beauty.
Dead women, since this topic implies love (and, more importantly, an unquenchable
longing for a love that cannot be requited) and thus beauty.
Compare The Philosophy of Composition, in which Poe discussing the writing
of The Raven:
I asked myselfOf all melancholy topics what, according to the universal
understanding of mankind, is the most melancholy? Death, was the obvious
reply. And when, I said, is this most melancholy of topics most poetical? []
When it most closely allies itself to Beauty: the death then of a beautiful woman
is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world, and equally it is beyond
doubt that the lips best suited for such topic are those of a bereaved lover.
o Tell students that we should thus analyze Poes inclusion or omission of these
conventions (art vs. truth, beauty, and melancholy) in addition to his use of figurative
language in order to identify and understand the meaning of his poems.
Guide students through identifying Poes conventions in the final stanza of Annabel Lee.
Discussion points include: (5 minutes)
o This poem does not contain a moral and thus functions as art for the sake of art.

o The narrators love for a dead woman portrays the highest form of beauty in that it is
eternal (seen in that the moon never beams and the stars never risea continuing
patternalways remind him of his beloved).
o This poem is melancholic in tone in that it depicts the death of a beautiful woman as told
by a bereaved lover.
Apply: 11 minutes
Have students begin an initial analysis of Song.
o Ask students to read the poem independently, annotating as they read (i.e., marking
imagery, figurative language, and Poes conventions). Students annotations should align
with the following meaning of the poem, which will be projected on the screen. (5
minutes)
The narrator describes his reaction to seeing his beloved marry another man. He hints at
a previous relationship between himself and this woman and indicates his grief that his
love for her must remain unrequited.
o Have students work in pairs to identify conventions of poetry and Poes self-defined
conventions according to the following directions: (6 minutes)
In pairs, create a bullet-pointed list in which you identify poetic conventions and
Poes self-defined conventions in Song.
Your list should contain at least one specific textual example of each of the following
categories of conventions:
Imagery: briefly describe the image
Figurative language: list the specific type (e.g., metaphor, simile, personification)
Poes conventions: list the specific type (e.g., art for arts sake, beauty,
melancholic tone)
Furthermore, the examples you provide should directly connect to the meaning of the
poem.
Please include the number of the line in which your example is found.
Tell students that we will further discuss this poem in the subsequent class period.
CLOSURE 3 minutes

Have a student volunteer briefly review the main points of the lesson.
Distribute two sticky notes (one of each color) to students who did not grab them. On the
blue sticky note, students will write something from the lesson they fully understand. On the
green sticky note, students will write something that still confuses them. Students will attach
their sticky notes to their bulleted lists and place in the basket as they leave.
Remind students before leaving to bring their copies of Song for further discussion.

Modifications/Differentiation Strategies:
Students will engage in individual, paired, and whole-class work/discussions.
I will provide directions aurally and visually to aid various types of learners.

Evaluation Strategies:
I will moderate whole-class discussion, checking to ensure that students understand the
concepts (specifically, Poes conventions).
I will collect the bullet-pointed lists, evaluating them for completion and understanding
(students should have listed three important details from the poem, both naming the
conventionimagery, figurative language, or one of Poes self-defined conventionsand
listing the line number in which it appears).
I will also collect the sticky notes and read them to evaluate which concepts may need
additional focus in the future.
Note/Recommendations for next time:
Overall, this lesson works well and prepares the students for the subsequent lesson. It does
leave off feeling slightly unfinished, but it does leave them hanging and ready to come
back.
Depending on class discussion, this lesson will take closer to an hour.
Work more with the definitions, making sure students understand more fullymake sure to
define melancholy and explain its role in relation to beauty. Also, tell students that poems
pass the art for arts sake test if we do not find a moral in it.