Poetry Skills for Eleventh-Twelfth Grades

Welcome to the challenging and exciting world of poetry for high school upper grades.

In this series of eight lessons, your student will begin by focusing on the multi-dimensional effectiveness of metaphors, while utilizing details from the five senses.  Next, the student will hone in on specific details of sight and sound required to write vibrant and fresh images.  One of the characteristics of increasing poetic skills is an appreciation of rhythm and meter.  The sonic skills developed in targeting rhythm and meter will next be increased by aural skills in listening to poetry while improving the use of assonance, consonance, and alliteration.  Next, the student will delve into the theme and meaning of a poem as expressed in the choice of details in a poem.  These skills will be further honed by a close look at effective line breaks.  The final challenge of writing a Petrarchan sonnet will highlight rhetorical structure with concrete details, sonic elements, figurative language, and rhythm and meter.