Creating Characters in Poetry:
A Study of Two Poets - Grade 7
The work in this unit grows from the following ideas: that poems are things people make; that people make poems to think about ideas and issues; and that poems themselves can be usefully understood as enactments of this thinking—language events in which a poet works on an idea, makes an argument, and creates a world or a character. According to this view, poems are not merely elegant, clever, or civilizing outpourings of language; they are not rhyming exhibitions or little texts from which to extract the “real meaning” in two sentences or less. They are things that people make to think and to think with.
Table of Contents
Text Audio
Writing Tasks
Title: S-6: “Thieves of Light” The Most Significant Line
Session 6
Title: S-10: Writing About “Offerings to an Ulcerated God”
Session 10
Title: S-17: “Mothers” The Most Significant Line
Session 17
Title: S-22: Studying Character in Poetry A Retrospective Task
Session 22
Charts for Discussion
Title: S-1: “Thieves of Light”: A Retelling
Session 1
Title: S-2: “Four Sandwiches”: A Retelling
Session 2
Title: S-2: “Offerings…”: A Retelling
Session 2
Title: S-5: Characters in ‘Thieves of Light
Session 5
Title: S-5: Characters in “Four Sandwiches”
Session 5
Title: S-5: Characters in “Offerings to an Ulcerated God”
Session 5
Title: S-5: How Espada Creates Characters
Session 5
Title: S-6: The Most Significant Line in “Thieves of Light”
Session 6
Title: S-8: “Four Sandwiches”: Write Like Comparison
Session 8
Title: S-10: Espada’s Arguments in “Offerings to an Ulcerated God”
Session 10
Title:S-12: “Introspection”: A Retelling
Session 12
Title: S-13: “Introspection”: A Retelling
Session 13
Title: S-14: Giovanni’s Line Breaks, Spacing, and Punctuation
Session 14
Title: S-15: Giovanni’s Use of Parallelism and Listing
Session 15
Title: S-16: Characters in Giovanni’s Poems
Session 16
Title: S-16: How Giovanni Creates Characters
Session 16
Title: S-17: The Most Significant Line in “Mothers”
Session 17
Title: S-19: “Introspection”: Write Like Comparison
Session 19
Title: S-21: Giovanni’s Arguments in “Gus’”
Session 21
Title: S-22: Character Description: A Model
Session 22
Title: S-23: Purpose of Characters: (Poem Title)
Session 23
Title: S-26: Work Done By Students in This Unit
Session 26
Title: S-26: Work Done By Teacher in This Unit
Session 26