How to Create a Poetry Evaluation Lesson
Learning to evaluate poetry is an essential element of a poetry unit, whether students are engaging in reading or writing. Students sometimes complain about not understanding the meaning of poetry and are often stymied when their own attempts at writing poetry fall short. Providing them with a system of critiquing poetry gives students a useful tool. Model the poetry evaluation techniques in the following lesson by providing students with a poem printed on a sheet of paper with large margins all around (for note-taking) and then going through the exercise together.
Instructions
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Ask students to decide if the poem is concise. To do so, they should look for unnecessary words. Explain that it’s important to determine whether or not every word is present for a specific reason. Have students draw a thin line--leading to a question mark in the right margin--through every word whose purpose in the poem they question.
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Tell students to determine if a poem has clarity of thought by the following process. Under the poem, write what the poet is basically trying to say in one sentence. Then, using a highlighter, students should mark any phrases or lines that are unclear to the reader. Explain that this process does not include vocabulary with which they are not familiar and can simply define by using the dictionary.
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Challenge students to find examples of imagery in the poem. Remind students of the admonition that good writers show and don’t just tell the reader. The poet paints a picture by using such devices as metaphors, similes, personification and various kinds of exaggeration to make a point. Poets also use sensory description, pointing out to the reader how things look, taste, feel and sound. Ask students to use a second color of highlighter to indicate examples of imagery.
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Read the poem aloud as a method for evaluating the overall sound of the poem. Ask students to comment (in the margin on the left side of the poem) about any rhyme, assonance, alliteration or onomatopoetic or other melodic devices. These should be highlighted with the third color marker. They should also comment on how well the poem flows and whether the breaks in lines help or hinder the sound.
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Finish the activity by asking students to write two sentences--one commenting on what they consider the greatest strength of the poem and another on a weakness (if they feel there is one). Assign students the task of writing a poetry evaluation by using the notes and the highlighted items on the sheet.
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Tips & Warnings
Carefully choose a poem that will give students many opportunities to make marks and comments. Some ideas for poetry to use can be found by checking the sites at the end of this article.
Refrain from using a student-written poem (by a member of the class) as an example for this activity.
