Sequence of activities:
- Read “What is Poetry?” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
- Paste the poem into rewordify.com to help decode some of the more challenging language choices if you are having a hard time reading words in the poem.
- Choose your favorite lines.
- Sketch a pencil drawing to illustrate the image in the line.
- Take a clean sheet of paper and begin your poem with the phrase “Poetry is…” and then write your own image, metaphor, simile, or personification to describe something that you think represents what poetry is to you. (Here’s a pdf of a glossary to help define these literary devices.)
- Here’s another example of a poem in this style to give you inspiration.
- Try to write at least 10 lines starting with “Poetry is.”
- Revise your poem for word choice, clarity, punctuation, and other details to make it how you like it. Share it with a friend and get some feedback.
- Ask a friend to choose their favorite line of your poem and illustrate it. Illustrate the same line yourself. Compare illustrations. How similar or different were your friend’s depictions to your own? What additional details might you add to your line to help another reader visualize the image / metaphor / simile / personification you intended?
Objectives:
To write a poem modeled after Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s poem, “What is Poetry?”
Education Level:
Junior High
High School
Genre:
Poetry
Format:
Lesson Plan
Time Frame:
Self-paced
Prior Knowledge/Skills:
Some vocabulary words from the poem might need to be looked up. Students will also need to know what literary devices such as image, metaphor, simile, and personification are.
Required Materials:
Copy of the poem “What is Poetry?” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and a sheet of paper or computer.
Literary model:
“What is Poetry?” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
