Poetry through the ages teaching pack
Explore a selection of classic poetry by seminal poets.
This KS3 teaching pack includes practical, student-facing activities and poetry extracts. The pack is divided into: Early and Middle English poetry, The Elizabethans, The Metaphysical poets, The Romantic poets, 20th century poetry (including WW1 and Modernism) and contemporary poetry (with a focus on Duffy and Zephaniah).
Dip in and out or use as a six-week unit – whatever works for you!
What's included?
- an assessment objective map
- lesson plans and ideas along wih tailor-made resources
- poetry extracts and examples for students to analyse.
What's inside?
Introduction (page 1)
Route through – week one: Early and Middle English poetry (pages 2-4)
- Some introductory work on riddles
- An introduction to Beowulf
- An introduction to Chaucer
Route through – week two: 16th century: The Elizabethans (pages 5-6)
- An introduction to Shakespeare’s sonnets
- An introduction to Ben Jonson and Sir Walter Raleigh
Route through – week three: 17th and 18th centuries: The Metaphysical poets (pages 7-9)
- An introduction to John Donne’s poems
- An introduction to George Herbert’s ‘Easter Wings’
- A lesson on Anne Bradstreet and the role of women in the 17th century
Route through – week four: 19th century – The Romantic poets (pages 10-12)
- An introduction to William Blake
- Comparing autumnal poems by John Keats and John Clare
Route through – week five: 20th century – WW1 poetry, Modernism (pages 13-15)
- An introduction to WW1 poetry
- An introduction to Modernism and T.S. Eliot
Route through – week six: Contemporary poetry (pages 16-18)
- An introduction to Carol Ann Duffy
- An introduction to Benjamin Zephaniah
- An introduction to slam poetry
Resources
- Can you solve the riddles?
- Beowulf
- Narrative arc
- The Middle Ages – useful context
- Chaucer – the wife of Bath translation activity
- Chaucer: the opening
- Two pen portraits – the Miller and the Prioress
- Facebooking the Squire
- Dating profile sheet
- Elizabethan England – useful context
- Shakespeare’s sonnet XVIII
- Iambic pentameter? Easy!
- Write your own sonnet
- Sonnet 116 revision guide
- Which poetic term am I?
- ‘On My First Sonne’ PowerPoint presentation
- SPLLATT! Attacking a poem
- ‘The Passionate Man’s Pilgrimage’ by Sir Walter Raleigh
This sample shows a student activity from the Poetry through the ages pack:
SPLLATT! Attacking a poem
Analyse is a word that strikes fear into the hearts of many a student … You may have analysed a project or person, but in English, what does it mean? How do you analyse something made of words? It means exactly the same thing. You need to look at a text from lots of different angles. One you’ve read the tips below, you will know what those angles are.
Step one: the reading bit
Do you understand what the poem is about? If not, take it one line or even a couple of words at a time, and just translate tiny bits to see if it makes it any clearer.
Step two: the analysis bit
SPLLATT stands for: Statement, Purpose, Language, Layout, Audience, Tone and Technique. If you use these as prompts, explaining how and why each of these things matters in the poem, you’re onto a winner. Use the table below to organise some of your thoughts.
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