PoetryHow to Read, Analyze, and Understand

Poems (and other texts)

Students will learn to identify the poetic elements used by poets to help create

meaning in poetry.

Students will learn to identify the structural elements of poems that help “shape” meaning and convey feelings.

Students will use biographical information to make connections between the poet

and the poems (and other texts).

• ANALYZE each poem even if you aren’t positive of the meaning, literary elements, or significance of the words.

• Use the blank spaces on each page to ANNOTATE the texts by making comments, asking questions, drawing illustrations, and showing your thoughts and ideas as you read each poem.

• Identify any problems or important questions with a “?” symbol.

• Identify any significant insights or elements with a “!” symbol.

• Use the dictionary and other resources to define unknown words.

Annotate and Analyze

“Mother to Son”by Langston Hughes (page 136)

Read the poem and make annotations.

Listen to the poem and make additional annotations.

Highlight in one color the words/phrases that the speaker uses to describe her life.

Highlight in a second color the advice the speaker gives to her son or the things she wants him to do.

The speaker is using a dramatic monologue (where the speaker addresses a silent listener) to respond to a question.

A. What question might her son have asked her to prompt such an answer?

B. What message (theme) is Langston Hughes trying to share with the reader?

“Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Haden (page 192)

Read the poem and make annotations.

Listen to the poem and make additional annotations.

Highlight in one color the words/phrases that the speaker uses to describe his father.

Highlight in a second color the words/phrases the speaker uses to describe the setting.

Highlight in a third color the words/phrases the speaker uses to describe himself.

C. How would you characterize the relationship between the speaker and his father?

D. What message is Robert Hayden trying to share with the reader?

*IMAGERY – create an illustration for the three most vivid images the poet created through his words.

“Papa Who Wakes Up Tired in the Dark”

by Sandra Cisneros (page 192)

Read the short story and make annotations.

Listen to the short story and make additional annotations.

Highlight in one color the words/phrases that the narrator uses to describe her father.

Highlight in a second color the words/phrases the author uses to provide details about the narrator.

E. How does the death of the family member affect both the narrator and her father?

F. What message (theme) is Sandra Cisneros trying to share with the reader?

Based on your analysis and interpretation of the texts, which best represents the relationship you have with your parent, guardian, or family?

Defend your claim/thesis with text details and text support.

Elaborate on your ideas and provide examples to clearly convey your

connections.

Cite specific words, phrases, or lines that connect to your ideas and thoughts.

Literary Response

The Structure of a ParagraphSample Structure of a Basic Paragraph

1. Topic SENTENCE

2. Supporting Detail SENTENCES

3. Concluding SENTENCE

INDENT

Highlight the PERIODS at then end of each of the sentences with a LARGE PURPLE DOT.

How many sentences did you compose for your paragraph?

How many sentences do you think would be required for a QUALITY PARAGRAPH

RESPONSE?

10+ independent clauses

*compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences count as multiple sentences

Highlight all specific Text Details in YELLOW.

Highlight your Topic/Introductory SENTENCE

in RED.

Highlight your Supporting Detail/Body SENTENCES in

BLUE.

Highlight your Conclusion SENTENCE in GREEN.

Author’s Purpose

What Does The Poem Actually Mean?

Analyzing a poem gives you a better understanding of how the poet used words,

language, poetic/literary elements, and structure to give meaning to the poem.

The next step is to explain how effectively the poet used these elements to convey his

or her thoughts and feelings.

Be prepared to make strong and clear connections between and among the poems

and other texts you have read.

Meet the Writer page 136Langston Hughes (1902–1967)

A Lonely ChildLangston Hughes was a lonely child who moved often and felt distant from his parents, who eventually divorced. His father tried to discourage his son’s “impractical” dream of being a writer by sending him to study engineering at Columbia University in New York City. Unhappy at college, Hughes left school and joined a ship’s crew, sailing to Europe and Africa. He later graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and held a variety of jobs to support his writing: He was a cook, sailor, launderer, doorman, and busboy.

A Place in the CityHughes is chiefly associated with Harlem, in New York City. In the 1920s, Hughes was a key figure in the movement of African American art and writing known as the Harlem Renaissance. His most creative work was done at his typewriter, near a third-floor rear-apartment window overlooking a Harlem backyard. There he wrote both stories and poetry, often using dialect and slang to capture the everyday voices of ordinary people.

" I have discovered in life that there are ways of getting almost anywhere you want to go, if you really want to go."

Meet the Writers page 192Robert Hayden (1913-1980)

Originally named Asa Bundy Sheffey, Robert Hayden was passed between his parents and foster parents, who eventually changed Sheffey's name to their own. Hayden's bad eyesight kept him from participating in sports, and he turned to books instead. As a young adult, Hayden joined the Federal Writers' Project, a government program supplying jobs to out-of-work writers during the Great Depression. In the years he worked for the project, Hayden researched the historical roots of the Underground Railroad in Michigan and other aspects of African American history.

Meet the Writers page 192Sandra Cisneros (1954– )

Sandra Cisneros grew up as the only daughter in a family with seven children. Her father believed that daughters should worry only about getting husbands. Cisneros struggled in school, but a teacher encouraged her to write; and after graduating from college and earning her master’s degree, Cisneros wrote The House on Mango Street, the book for which she is best known. Cisneros eventually showed her father one of her stories that had been translated into Spanish. He was so thrilled that he asked, “Where can we get more copies of this for the relatives?”

What obstacles did each writer need to overcome in

the effort to be accepted and successful?

How are these details conveyed through each

writer’s text?

Biographical Approach