Description
Poetry, in many ways, defies definition. Any restrictions would disqualify some works that are, nevertheless, poetry.
The only statement about poetry that we can make with absolute certainty is that good poetry uses what is known as "compressed language." That means that it says a lot but uses few words to do so. Every word is very valuable; the poets make their choices only after much deliberation, and we must understand each word to grasp the meanings of the poems. This word compression is the primary reason that most students claim not to understand poetry. Students who are accustomed to skimming over their lessons once and dashing off correct answers in record time will find that poetry asks much more of us than this. It invites us to calm down, sit still, and think.
Using three short poetry anthologies, this study guide examines more than 40 well-known English-language poems, introducing the student to techniques such as rhyme and meter and various poetic forms such as the sonnet, the villanelle, the ballad, and more.
Progeny Press' Introduction to Poetry English/Language Arts curriculum will provide your High School grade student with:
English/Language Arts credit: This is a one-quarter credit high school level Literature curriculum.
Historical Timeline
Types of Poetry: Narrative poems, lyric poems, dramatic poems.
Elements of Poetry: Lines, stanzas, words, impressions, sounds, rhyme, slant rhyme, sibilant, common meter, poetic foot, iambic tetrameter, iambic trimeter, imagery, analogy, tone.
Forms of Poetry: Petrarchan or Italian sonnet, Shakespearean or English sonnet, octave, sestet, couplet, villanelle, blank verse, haiku, ballad, limerick, terza rima, tercet, parody, Petrarchan conceits, free verse.
Literary Techniques: Enjambment, denotation, connotation, diction, alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia, theme, poetic license, simile, metaphor, personification, paraphrasing, allusion, explication, narrative, quatrains.
Moral Lessons and Character Values: Decision making and prayer, loving God means we must love our neighbor, inner beauty, materialism, use our time wisely, the Trinity, hypocrisy, grace in weakness, death, peace, serve one another, contentment, authority, and hope.
Activities and Writing Assignments: Research Elihu Burritt. Writing activities include connotations, couplets, senses, feelings, haiku, limerick, parody, sonnet, villanelle, ballad, terza rima, free verse. Paraphrase a poem and then write an explication of the same poem.
Suggestions for Further Reading: We include an in-depth reading list of more poetry by the same author(s) and other books that tie in with, or are similar.
All of Progeny Press' Language Arts unit lessons are written from a Christian worldview!
Features and Benefits of a Progeny Press ELA study guide
Printed Workbook Format
- Large 8.5x11 format is convenient to read and easy on tired teenage high school student's eyes
- Every question in our novel unit study has plenty of whitespace for high school level student’s answers
- Encourages neat and clean handwriting practice
- Easily transports without the need for a laptop or other expensive equipment
- Provides a permanent record of the student’s work
- Complete, removable answer key included for the teacher to make grading simple!
CD Format
- Provides the study guide in universally compatible PDF format (works on Mac AND Windows)
- No costly software purchases necessary
- Our PDF Study Guide should be opened with the FREE Adobe Reader program. With the interactive feature, students have the capability of entering their answers directly on the computer and saving their work in progress.
Note: Mobile Devices/Tablets may require alternative app that supports and saves fillable form fields. - Or choose to conveniently print what you need, when you need it:
- Print the whole ELA PDF guide at once
- Print single literature lessons or pages as the student completes them
- Print multiple copies of the entire curriculum study guide for classroom sets
- PDF format makes it easy to use with multiple students
- Complete answer key PDF file included for the teacher!
Formatted with your High School grade student in mind, Progeny Press language arts study guides divide the book into writing assignments and lessons that strengthen their reading comprehension, vocabulary, and refines their critical analysis and writing skills. Each Progeny Press novel study accomplishes all of this without busy work that can drain the fun out of reading and literature! Kids have loved using Progeny Press ELA curriculum in homeschool, co-ops, and private schools around the world for over 30 years!
