The student will use the poetry of Phillis Wheatley, Jacqueline Woodson, Countee Cullen, and Amanda Gorman to draw conclusions about the historic eras in which they wrote.
This resource provides lecture notes and writing assignments for the study of poetry. While specific poems are presented here, these notes and assignments can be adapted and applied to practically any thematic group of poems. The unit contains several modules. The first posits the work of African American poet Langston Hughes as poems that establish a legacy of oratorical poems addressing social issues faced not only by African Americans, but by any and all Americans, especially the historically disenfranchised. The unit explores poems in Hughes' legacy, focusing on three poems by African American poets Maya Angelou, Elizabeth Alexander, and Amanda Gorman, who composed U.S. presidential inaugural poems. The second module explores nature poetry. Students read and analyze poems that explore, ponder and sometimes celebrate the relationship between human beings and nature. Ultimately, students compose poetry explication essays. The third module explores the book-length prose poem "I Remember" (Joe Brainard), teaching students to locate and make use of peer-reviewed articles. Additionally, students write their own "I Remember" poems. Included are introductory lecture, discussion , short writing, explication , and several other assignments. Unless otherwise noted, the materials in this unit are licensed under CC BY-NC-SA.