Unit 2 - Lesson 2: How To Read Poetry
An Introduction
Craft:
For this first part of the lesson, we'll be learning about how you can learn to read poetry! The best way to learn how to write poetry is to read others' work, but reading poetry can be trickier than reading more common writing, mostly because poems aren't as widely seen. We'll be watching a video put out by the YouTube channel WarnerJordanEducation. Don't worry so much as vocab, and instead focus on what they're trying to make you understand!
The video is linked to the right of this text.
Connect:
Now we'll be talking about what you just watched and adding on some new knowledge!
An important part about reading poetry is to figure out what you find from it. Reading a poem is an experience. You can choose whether you want to read for what you think, or if you want to discover what the poet thinks.
It's also important to read each poem at least twice. Read it once to understand what the poem is saying, and then read it again to try and find the nuance within the piece. Don't worry if you don't know what you're reading or how to read it at first! You'll improve with time; reading poetry is like any other skill—it takes practice to become better!
More lessons here
Create:
This is the final step in this lesson. Now you get to put what you learned into practice!
Go online, either individually or as a class! Go to the website Poetry Foundation and find an interesting poem. Read through it and try to decode how the poem makes you feel and how it achieves that.
If you have extra time, try to write a poem that uses similar devices as to the poem you read!