1. But It Doesn’t Rhyme: From Reading to Analyzing Poetry
Aliyyah Salam
But It Doesn’t Rhyme: From Reading to Analyzing Poetry

2. So we’ve all had these moments…

3. So this session is inspired by…

4. Essential Question: How can I engage students in reading poetry?
What strategies can be given to students to not only help students read and comprehend grade level poetry, but also analyze mood, tone, and theme?

5. Session Goals:
To identify strategies to engage students in reading poetry
To increase students’ comprehension of poetry
To help struggling students bridge from understanding the poem to analyzing theme, mood, and tone

6. 1. Engaging Students in Poetry….

7. Found Poetry 1
Search newspaper or magazine ads for nonliterary sources with hidden poetic potential
Lift and isolate 3 consecutive lines from the text and arrange to expose new meaning
Keep the words in the same order
Do not add words
You may add a title and space and break lines and words any way to create new meaning
Share with others and keep the original source

8. Found Poetry 2 Find any prose sentence of passage
Copy it into lines of poetry, placing what you consider the most interesting words at the ends of lines to give them greater emphasis
Strip out unnecessary, prosaic words
Rearrange syntax, compress phrases, & repeat key words
Do not add words
Repeat key words. Gather words to create a refrain

9. Portraits from Poetry Find a descriptive poem
Read to the audience while their eyes are closed
Reread the poem, but allow students to begin creating their pictures during the second reading
Have students create pictures of images that they find important or
Discuss why students chose the images they chose

10. 2. Increasing Poetry Comprehension in Four Steps…

11. 1. Read the entire poem including the title and identify what you think the poem is about
Guiding Questions:
After reading the poem, what do you think this poem is about?
If students give one words answers such as life, ask what the poem is saying about that subject.

12. 2. Read the poem a second time
2. Read the poem a second time. This time break each line down into your own words. Do not interpret! Do not get help! Write down what you now think the poem is about
Guiding Words:
Where is the punctuation for this poem? If it has semicolons and periods I want to stop there. If it doesn’t I want to stop at each stanza.
How would we say this in our words?
If there’s a big word and we know a smaller word for it put it down
Is the syntax inverted or funky? How would we normally say this.
What do you think the poem is about now?

13. 3. Read the poem again and identify any figurative language or (imagery, loaded words, simile, metaphor, symbolism, personification etc.)
Guiding Questions:
Go back to the original poem and look for figurative language, which may include words that seem loaded or important for some reason g

14. 4. Think about what the figurative language might mean
4. Think about what the figurative language might mean. What is the author trying to say by using figurative language?
Guiding Questions:
Figurative language means that the person is saying one thing but meaning something else, something more. What are they trying to say?
Are there words that have a meaningful connotation? How do they change the meaning of the poem for me?
What do I think the poem is about after analyzing the language and diction?

15. Let’s Practice:

16. Yes! Yes! They Can Read…

17. But wait…there’s more….

18. 3. Bridging From Understanding to Analyzing
3 steps and 3 questions

19. Theme:
There is a big message about _________ in this poem. **This is your subject
What is the specific message about this subject?

20. Mood:
How does the author most likely want you to feel about this subject?

21. Tone:
How does the author of the poem most likely feel about this subject?

22. Music:

23. Aliyyah Salam Aliyyah.salam@cobbk12.org
Thank You!
Aliyyah Salam