#945. Modern American Poetry

Literature, level: Senior
Posted Mon Apr 5 13:34:55 PDT 1999 by William C. Moran (morank@worldnet.att.net).
Lincoln High School, Ypsilanti, Michigan USA
Activity Time: 10 days

Modern American Poetry
American Literature/Moran

Roses are red, violets are blue
Poetry isn't so bad after all.

Hmm. What's wrong with this picture? These lines don't...rhyme. See, you knew more about poetry than you thought. In this next unit, we'll be studying American poetry from the 20th century. We'll also study poetic terms, definitions, and give everyone the opportunity for a little creativity.

This will be a relatively independent project, which you will have to do on your own. Some class time will be given, but much of the work will be completed on your time. Be prepared.

A. You will be responsible for being able to identify the following terms in a poem:
alliteration simile
assonance metaphor
rhyme personification
rhythm hyperbole
onomatopoeia free verse
rhyme scheme

B. At the end of the project, you will be required to turn in a packet, typed in 12-point font, preferably Times New Roman, which will include:

1. A summary or paraphrasing of the assigned poems
2. A biography, in your own words, of one poet with your resources listed
3. 5 poems that you have collected from other sources than our book by legitimate poets
4. A poem of your own that you have written
5. A poem a friend of yours has written
6. A copy of the poem you are going to read aloud
7. Examples of how you applied the terms you were given above

C. Read the poems by the poets listed below: (from Adv. in American Lit./HBJ)

Robert Frost p. 629 "The Road Not Taken"
"Fire and Ice"
p. 630 "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"
p. 632 "After Apple-Picking"
p. 633 "Mending Wall"
pp. 635-639 "The Death of the Hired Man"
Carl Sandburg p. 641 "Chicago"
p. 642 "Grass"
Ezra Pound p. 652 "The River-Merchant's Wife: a Letter"
T. S. Eliot p. 655 "The Love Song of J. Alfred
Prufrock"

Langston Hughes p. 679 "The Negro Speaks of Rivers"
A copy supplied "Harlem"

Countee Cullen p. 680 "Any Human to Another"

Archibald MacLeish p. 692 "The End of the World"

Theodore Roethke p. 702 "Elegy for Jane"

Randall Jarrell p. 709 "The Death of the Ball Turret
Gunner"

Gwendolyn Brooks p. 713 "The Explorer"