You will also sign up for your presentation date and time. The choices of dates will be May 25, 26, 27, 31 and June 1, 3. There will be five presentations per date.
You can access the poems by clicking on this link.
NOTE: Some of the poems have a (2) or a (3) beside the title. ONLY these poem projects can be done together in a group of 2 or 3 people. Group participants will be marked together, as a group (no individual marks).
Assignment Details
There are four parts to this assignment: research, analysis, memorization and presentation.
Research:
- a brief biography of the poet
- the year the poem was written, plus two world/local events that may have influenced the poet
- the response to the poem by critics and/or the literary community
Analysis:
- Physical analysis of the poem: # of words, # of lines, # of stanzas
- Brief summary of the poem
- Theme: State a major theme presented in the poem and state what you think the author is saying about that theme.
- Mood: in one or two words, state the overall mood of the poem.
- Personal reflections: Why did you select this poem? What is your favorite line. Why?
- Literary devices – give examples and explanations of each of the following from your poem. If your poem does not contain one of the devices, just state “none.”
- A. irony?
- B. simile and/or metaphor? If yes, what is being compared?
- C. alliteration?
- D. repetition?
- E. imagery? If yes, what sense is being appealed to?
- F. personification?
- G. symbolism?
- H. hyperbole?
- I. allusions? If yes, to what?
- J. cliche?
- K. assonance?
- L. consonance?
Presentation:
You will be presenting this poem to the class. I will have a copy of the poem to show on the projector. Your presentation should be 5-7 minutes in length per person and include the following:
- your memorized reciting of the poem (no notes, no cue cards)
- your research as listed above (you may use cue cards for this part)
- your complete analysis of the poem as listed above (you may use cue cards for this part)
Please note that you will not hand in anything for this project; you will be marked for the items presented in your presentation, and marked on the presentation itself.
How to Memorize a Poem
- Be old school. Copy the poem out a couple of times — on actual paper.
- Be hermetic. Turn off your cell phone and close your laptop screen — you need quiet.
- Be relentless. Say the poem over and over — and over and over.
- Be patient. Take it one line at a time, and don’t get frustrated if you forget lines.
- Be weird. Don’t be afraid to practice on family, friends, mirrors, and walls.
- Beware! Memorizing poems is habit-forming — you’ll want to learn more.
Click here for more tips: http://www.wikihow.com/Memorize-a-Poem-Quickly
