Focus Question: How does a poet create meaning in a poem?
Have students take out the notebook they use for reading/language arts. Ask them to jot down a couple of words that tell how they feel when they see the first snow of the year. Let students share their words. Accept the responses of every student. Many responses will be positive, but some may be negative, such as having to shovel snow. Then tell students that they are about to read a poem called “First Snow.” Ask them to write a few details of what they think they might find in the poem.
List the following questions on the board/interactive whiteboard to guide the reading of the poem:
- What makes a poem a poem?
- Why do poets use figurative language?
- How does a poet’s word choice influence emotions?
- How does the understanding of figurative language amplify the appreciation of poetry?
Give each student a copy of the poem or display it on the board/interactive whiteboard. Read it to students. Then, before reading it to them again, point out that you aren’t pausing at the end of each line (unless there is a reason because of punctuation or meaning to do so), but that you are pausing at the commas, semicolons, and periods, even though some fall midline. (This is important because many students have trouble understanding a poem simply because of breaking at the end of every line.) Then read the poem aloud once more. After reading the poem a second time, say: “Take a moment and write a word that you think describes the way the speaker feels about the first snow.” Give students a minute to do so; then say, “Find at least two examples in the poem that show how the speaker feels. This is your evidence. I’ll give you a moment to find your examples, and then we’ll talk it over.” Walk around the room, observing and making notes about students. Offer support to students who may be having difficulties finding evidence in the poem to support their word choice.
Have students sit in a circle for discussion so that they can see one another. Ask several students to share their ideas. Examples:
- happy/pleased/excited—because the speaker actually refers to “our excitement.”
- Everyone is telling stories in the kitchen. People in the poem feel young because “The kitchen is a kindergarten/steamy with stories.”
- People in the house are noisy as they react to the snow because the dog has to seek “a quiet spot.”
- The winter night is described as having “diamonds in his fur,” a pleasant image.
Say: “What we have been discussing is called the tone of the poem, the way the speaker feels about the subject. The tone is developed through the language the poet has chosen to use.” Explain the difference between connotation and denotation of words. (Denotation is the dictionary meaning, and connotation is the ideas or emotions associated with a word.) Ask, “What is the denotation of the word kindergarten?” (a class of beginning elementary school students or the room in a school for these students). “What are the connotations of the word?” (being childlike, youthfulness, enthusiasm, learning) Guide students to see how the use of this word supports the poem’s tone.
“Take another look at ‘First Snow.’ This time look for an example of a picture in words—an example that you like because you can see it in your mind.” Give students a moment and then have them offer examples. (“The dog gets stiffly up/and limps away” and “the winter night curls round the legs of the trees”) Move around the circle and occasionally call on students who don’t have their hands up—but make it sound like an invitation to share. Say, “A vivid word picture is called an image, and more than one image is called imagery. Like tone, these are words that you need to know when you are talking about the way writers use language. Imagery appeals to our physical senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste) so that the scene the writer is creating seems real to us. Also, writers often use what is called figurative language. The lines ‘The kitchen is a kindergarten/steamy with stories’ is an example of figurative language. The writer says something that is not literally true, but the comparison between a kitchen and a kindergarten creates a picture with emotional connotations.” Remind students of the definition of metaphor (the implied comparison of two very different things) and allow students to discuss what the kitchen/kindergarten metaphor means and how it supports the tone. (The metaphor suggests that people are childlike in their anticipation of snow, which supports the tone of excitement.)
Ask students to find other examples of figurative language in the poem and to explain the difference between literal and figurative interpretations. The winter night is not literally an animal that can have “diamonds in his fur” or curl “round the legs of the trees” or blink “snowflakes from his lashes.” Explain that the figurative meaning supports the tone of the poem.
After students have discussed examples of figurative language, point out that the final three lines present a metaphor. Ask, “Why did the poet choose this metaphor? How does it support the poem’s tone?” Help students see how the imagery and figurative language in the poem work together to create meaning.
Say, “I’m going to give you another poem to read in groups. Read it through aloud at least twice, remembering what I said about not stopping at the end of a line unless there is a reason to do so. Go through the same process that we just did together as a class.” Write the following steps on the board:
- Decide what tone the poet conveys in the poem.
- Identify examples of imagery that support the tone of the poem.
- Identify one metaphor and explain the difference between its literal and figurative meaning.
- Explain how these things work together to create meaning.
Have students write their responses in their notebooks.
Ask students to read together in groups of three or four (or you can have them turn to the people closest to them in the large circle). Have them read the poem “Eating Alone” by Li-Young Lee. Allow students 10 to 15 minutes and then ask them to turn back to the large circle for a discussion of tone, evidence, metaphor, and imagery.
Examples of tone: solitary, lonely, reminiscent, melancholy, reflective, and peaceful.
Examples of imagery: “The garden is bare now,” “The ground is cold,/brown and old,” “the day flames/in the maples,” “flickering, deep green shade,” “glazed in slow, glistening juice,” “White rice steaming.”
Examples of metaphor: “What is left of the day flames/in the maples.” (This metaphor compares the sunset to flames/fire.)
Guide students to see how the above elements work together to create tone and meaning.
Give students index cards. Say, “Think of a scene you would like to describe just as the writers did in the two poems you read today. Write or draw three images that accurately describe your scene.” Walk around the room, making anecdotal notes of students. Provide support and encouragement as needed. Collect the index cards to evaluate students’ understanding and for class discussion in Lesson 2.
At the end of the lesson, collect students’ notebooks to help evaluate each student’s understanding of tone and how figurative language and imagery contribute to tone and meaning. This information will let you see which students may need reteaching, additional practice, or further instruction.
Extension:
Use the following activities for students who need additional practice or instruction:
- To practice imagery, give students a sentence such as “The room was a mess.” Point out that this sentence creates no particular picture. Tell them to come up with specific images that will help the reader see (and perhaps even smell) the scene (e.g., a mountain of dirty clothes blocked the doorway, a black banana peel lay limply across a pillow, dust bunnies lurked under the bed).
- If metaphor is a difficulty, remind students that a metaphor implies a comparison between two very different things. Its purpose is to help a reader see or feel something more clearly (e.g., My sister was an iceberg of disapproval as she stared at the hot chocolate I had just spilled on her new dress.) Ask the student to identify the two things being compared (sister/iceberg) and what he/she knows about the situation because of the connotations of iceberg. (The sister is very unhappy. The connotations of the word suggest that she is cold, forbidding, and frightening.) Ask all students to collect or write metaphors and put them on a bulletin board for everyone to see.
- If students struggle with the concept of connotation, have them list words with similar meanings, such as pretty, lovely, beautiful, and gorgeous. Ask students to write what image or idea each word suggests. Explain that these are the connotations of the word.
- If students have difficulty understanding tone, give them a concrete example. Say a sentence such as “Thank you so much for your help.” Demonstrate how tone can change the meaning of the sentence. First say it as you would to someone who has just helped you win a thousand dollars. Then say it as you would if you walked into the kitchen you had just spent two hours cleaning and found your little brother and his friends making peanut-butter-and-honey sandwiches and spilling the honey everywhere. Explain that since writers can’t use the tone of their actual voice, they convey their feelings about their subject through language––especially imagery and the connotations of words.
Use the following activity for students who are ready to move beyond the standard:
- Use the lyrics of popular music to activate students’ prior knowledge of figurative language, imagery, and tone.
