1. Dead Poets Society Group Project
Spring 2019

2. Monday, March 11th Project Introduction
Students begin finding their DPS groups
Society rosters, along with a list of member roles, are due to Ms. Turner on Wednesday
EVERY student must be in a group
Any “lone wolves” will be assigned a group on Wednesday

3. Wednesday, March 13th Groups finalized/assigned
Group roles finalized/assigned
Neil will prepare an agenda for the first meeting
Group will select their magnet theme (class, race, gender, mental health, access to education, sustainability)
Groups will receive their starter poems after they select their magnet theme
Students will begin drafting their first original poem – a sonnet.

4. Starter Poems
Class -“Evolution of my Block” by Jacob Saenz, “Childhood” by Margaret Walker, “There Are Birds Here” by Jamaal May
Race - “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks, “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes, “Aunties” by Kevin Young, “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou
Gender - “Moon for Our Daughters” by Annie Finch, “Diving Into the Wreck” by Adrienne Rich, “Her Kind” by Anne Sexton
Access to Education - “To David, About His Education” by Howard Nemerov, “The School Where I Studied” by Yehuda Amichai, “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins, “Sick” by Shel Silverstein
Mental Health - “Fear” by Ciaran Carson, “The Soul has Bandaged moments” - Emily Dickinson, “To One Coming North” - Claude McKay
Sustainability - “The Bear at the Dump” by William Matthews, “The Pond” by Gregory Orr, “The Greenhouse Effect” by Carl Dennis

5. Sonnets
There are two different types of sonnets: The Italian/Petrachan sonnet and the English/Shakespearean sonnet.
Characteristics of the English sonnet
14 line poem
Consists of 3 four-line quatrains and 1 couplet
Written in iambic pentameter
The most common rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg
Traditionally, English sonnets are focused on the topic of love and on celebrating the timelessness of writing.

6. Poem #1 - The English Sonnet
The first original poem you compose will be your sonnet. Remember, when writing poetry you WILL write multiple drafts of your poem before settling on a final product. First, select your topic. Begin a brainstorm on your paper. Write down every topic that comes to your mind. Remember, the more specific your initial idea is, the easier your sonnet will be to write. Your topic must be connected to your groups magnet theme! For example, if you chose sustainability, you might write a sonnet about the impact of global warming on a specific population (ex: polar bears) or about the pollution that saturates our oceans. If you chose class, you might write a poem about a homeless family. After you have your topic, decide who you want the speaker to be and what point of view you want to write in. Next, come up with your “shift” – the couplet, the final twist that makes your sonnet unique and lends to your theme. Our sonnets will have 14 lines (each in iambic pentameter) following an abab cdcd efef gg rhyme scheme.

7. Thursday, March 16th Sonnet writing workshop DPS Meeting #1
Group will meet and begin working on their project
Neil will give the agenda to Todd; Neil leads the meeting while Todd records the minutes.
DPS Meeting Goals
Become familiar with the organization/procedures associated with meetings
Read, discuss, analyze starter poems
Read, share, edit original poems
Establish action items (suggestion – consider assigning poem research duty to Nuwandas, Meeks can start building the group website, etc)

8. Ballads
Ballads are narrative poems that tell a story. Ballads often have sudden openings and abrupt endings. The subjects of ballads are often tragic in nature, but can be comedic. Ballads are known for their simple structure, style, and diction. They use dialogue, repetition, and usually have regular rhythm and rhyme schemes which makes them easier to memorize. Ballads are written in ballad stanzas (4 lines with an abcb rhyme scheme).

9. “Ballad of Birmingham” Video Discussion
What were “The Children’s Marches” and what was their impact on the Civil Rights Movement? Why do you think their impact was so great?
2. What happened at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama in September 1963?

10. “Ballad of Birmingham” Analysis Questions
What is the meter of this poem? Rhyme scheme? Which words are emphasized in each stanza?
How does the poem use irony to highlight the tragedy?
What does the imagery in the 5th stanza show us?
“For the dogs are fierce and wild” (Line 6) may be a metaphor for what?
How is dialogue used in the poem?
What is the theme of “Ballad of Birmingham”?

11. Poem #2 - The Ballad
Like “Ballad of Birmingham”, your ballad must tell a story. Pick a topic connected to your magnet theme. Be specific! Consider picking a topic connected to history.
Your poem must contain at least 5 quatrains (20 lines total). Each stanza should have exactly four lines.
Use a rhyme scheme that works with ballads (ABCB, ABAB, or AABB,…)
Use either repetition or dialogue
Implement one example of figurative language (simile, metaphor, hyperbole, personification, allusion, etc)
Implement one sound device (alliteration, onomatopoeia, internal rhyme, etc)
Implement one image in your poem (describe something the reader can see, smell, touch, taste, or hear).

12. Extended Metaphors
An extended metaphor is a metaphor that is developed over several lines, over an entire poem, or throughout an entire text. Extended metaphors can be direct or implied. Sometimes in an extended metaphor, the writer comes out and says that one thing is the other, and then develops the metaphor further by comparing characteristics of the two things. On the other hand, some extended metaphors are implied metaphors- meaning the writer does not come right out and directly compare the two things; rather, the comparison is developed over several lines by comparing characteristics of two things until the reader begins to understand the comparison.