1. Questions of the Times (pg. 492)
Group 1: What divides a nation?
Brainstorm a list of issues, and rank their importance.
Group 2: Is anything worth dying for?
Identify a cause for which you would risk your life. Create a list of characteristics that make a sacrifice worthwhile.
Group 3:Why do people break rules?
When are rules broken for constructive/destructive purposes? Is it always wrong to break rules?
Group 4: Is it important to face reality?
Should art deal with life’s realities, or take us away from them??

2. Walt Whitman
Whitman is considered the American Father of ____________.
What information do we learn about Leaves of Grass from the article?
What is egalitarianism?
What makes Whitman an iconic American poet?

3. Parallelism Example
“Silly Seasons” “Snap out of it-- your dirty, silly seasons! They come and go with no regard for me!” She said to me. But I could barely hear With the raging thunder in my ears, With the blinding raindrops in my eyes, With the hamm’ring hail caught in my head, With the empty lightning in my soul. All I said: “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t!” And she left me alone in the storm.

4. Emily Dickinson Does Dickinson seem concerned with society?
Why was Whitman’s verse rumored to be disgraceful?
What are the two poets considered founders of?
Which poet received fame during his/her lifetime and which poet received his/her fame posthumously?

5. Quatrains Type of poem consisting of four lines
“Quad”
Usually has an alternating rhyme scheme:
A B A B, C D C D, etc….

6. Quatrain Example
“Irish Eyebright” As she sat there, strong and fragile, Looking onto Irish shore, There was a boy, wrought with damage, Looking on for much, much more. Many hours he sought flowers, But he could not before, Find the right Irish Eyebright That he could not ignore.

7. Game time! Let’s play 2 Truths and a Lie!
First: Think of three facts about you (school appropriate). If they are personal, make sure you’re okay with sharing them. Two must be true, and one must be false.
When your group is ready, take turns sharing these facts with one another, and try to identify the falsehood.

8. Life’s Essential Truths
Love
Loss
Happiness
Death ….

9. In-class Work In groups, read each poem three times–
1st time: Reader-Response / Overall impression
2nd time: Note imagery / figurative language / structure
Wait for everyone in the group to catch up….
3rd time: Read the poem aloud. Discuss the essential truth examined in the poem. What is the truth that Dickinson is contemplating?

10. Poems to complete:
Pg. 526
Pg. 528
“My Life Closed…”
530
531
532