Reviving a Fallen Empire: A Defense for Using a Genre Approach in Dramatic Poetry by Adam Brechner The Problem As the American educational system moves into the 21st century, one of the biggest concerns of educators is the decreased proficiency in student writing. For many reasons cited in numerous studies, American children are reading and writing less frequently than previous generations. The ELA section of New York States’ standardized tests assesses the reading and writing skills of students. They are expected to comprehend and analyze themes, controlling ideas, and language devices in numerous forms of texts. Students are also expected to write in a manner that displays the following: the ability to create a properly structured essay, which follows the instructed prompts; the ability to create grammatically correct sentences; and a mastery of the English language exhibited by a diverse and an advanced vocabulary. Due to the increased importance placed on these standardized tests, teachers use a larger part of the curriculum in preparation for them. An important aspect of a modern educator’s expectations for the school year is a high pass rate on these tests. With this new emphasis within the ELA pedagogical community, attention has been taken away from the literature and writing aspects of the field. Guessing that the right answer to question 34 is “B” seems to be of much more importance than discussing the theme of disillusionment in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. Teachers need to incorporate contextual methods to aid students’ performance on standardized tests. The Solution The answer to this perplexing problem is found in the whole-class genre study. This approach will not only improve the quality of student writing, but it will foster an appreciation of literature in more students. The genre study will improve the ELA curriculum in a few key ways. First, teachers will avoid the common mistake of assigning nondescript “pieces,” which tend to bore students (Bomer). Writing in a specific genre creates a direct focus for the student in an inspired setting. Second, students learn the craft of writing by reading models and detailing the step-by-step process of creating a text in that genre. The focus of teaching writing has stressed the importance of topic and thesis to such a large extent, that style and creativity have suffered. As Lucy Calkins suggests, “If the focus is always on the topic…when will children inquire about line breaks, meter, and repetition in poetry, or about developing a character and staging a story in fiction” (357). Third, by researching a number of genres in-depth, students are exposed to a more diverse vocabulary. The language use in a feature article is radically different from the word choices found in a lyrical poem. Students discover radically different vocabularies in short stories compared to plays. Fourth, students are acculturated into their society through the extensive study of a genre. Cooper states that genres have a social and communal function, which benefit the community (1999). Many professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, and policemen rely on specific genres as an important aspect of their jobs. Newspaper articles, advertisements, and novels are only a few of the genres that people use everyday for information or entertainment. The whole-class genre study, however, does have some limitations. First, this approach demands a great deal of time from the curriculum. Bomer offers three examples or curricula which exhibit that he is only able to teach three to four different genres in a year. Using this method, many vitally important genres would be ignored. Teachers from all grade levels would need to coordinate their curricula for this approach to succeed. Also, it is inevitable, no matter how creative and inspiring the teacher may be, that certain students are going to be apathetic towards a specific genre. A six to eight week lesson plan could become tortuous for these students, if not guided properly. This study will focus on genre from the perspective of the literary theorists, who study the features of a text and how the reader recognizes a particular type of discourse. Literary theorists are also interested in new genres and how they change over time, which will be discussed in this paper. Rhetorical theorists are interested in a genre’s role as a socially active text, which affects the way it is interpreted in a society and the manner in which a discourse can change in a particular society in the future (Jolliffe). Genre-Dramatic Poetry ELA teacher reluctance to include poetry in the classroom has been adroitly reported by researchers (Brechner). Antiquated teaching styles that create a passive and disinterested class are largely to blame. Whether this phenomenon is due to teachers’ dislikes of the genre or their belief that their students possess a distain for poetry, this venerable form of writing is largely ignored in the school system. Many teachers are formulating new methods to create student interest in poetry. The whole-class genre study is one such method which would not only foster the love of poetry in students, but also improve their writing and test-taking skills. This study will focus on the genre of dramatic poetry, which is perhaps the oldest form of literature. Before written language came into existence, early man relied on oral communication. The earliest religious songs, stories, and chants were all in poetic form. Verses of rhymed poetry were easier to remember and recite. Once the ability to write was attained, literature was mostly poetic in form because it derived from a much older spoken tradition (Preminger 200). The genre of dramatic poetry has experienced a plethora of changes over its extensive history. An exhaustive report regarding this topic would be unnecessary. In brief, dramatic poetry is one of the two genres, including narrative poetry that was posited by Aristotle. This style of verse incorporates mimesis, or an imitation of reality, which the actors carry out on the stage (Drake 229). Many of the Greek tragedies and comedies, written in dramatic verse that entertained an empire for centuries, have survived. Many repertory companies throughout the world continue to stage these classics today. The Elizabethan period spawned a legend in Shakespeare and numerous other poets attempted to match his greatness. This period witnessed the most prolific number of great plays written in poetic verse than any other time in history. By the latter stages of the 19th century, the majority of plays were written in dramatic verse. Very few plays written in poetic verse since the beginning of the 20th century have succeeded commercially or critically. As a result of the post-modern era in literature, realism has been the dominant trend regarding play writing. Simply stated, modern society does not have enough people who discourse in dramatic verse. A modern sub-genre of dramatic poetry is the dramatic monologue. Brought to popularity in the mid 19th century by Robert Browning, this genre has been a popular form with many modern poets. A dramatic monologue is a poem in which a single speaker takes on the identity of some other person who is not the poet and delivers the piece at a critical moment in time. The speaker has a listener within the poem, but the reader is also a listener, and we learn about the speaker's character from what the speaker says. Rationale for Using the Dramatic Monologue in a Whole-Class Genre Approach For many centuries, poetry was the dominant form of literature in the world. Throughout Europe, dramatic plays remained one of the most popular forms of entertainment. From the early 18th century to the early 20th century, poetry books were a great commercial success. People waited for hours outside bookstores to purchase new releases of Rudyard Kipling poetry books, which would sell out in less than an hour. Poets were the rock stars of their generations. The wild romantic exploits of poets, such as Lord George Gordon Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, were the inspiration for many articles in the bawdy British newspapers. In a more simplistic viewpoint, poetry is the original genre. All other genres in some way are descendents of the dramatic poem. At the beginning of World History classes, the teacher informs the students about the earliest known civilizations. English teachers need to explain the origins of literature to their students. Poetry continues to be a thriving genre in the modern world. Thousands of collections of poetry are published and sold each year. Poetry slams-live performances featuring poets who dramatically perform their work- have become a popular form of entertainment for poetry enthusiasts. Many poets specialize in slam poetry, which places a modern edge on an ancient genre. A genre study on dramatic poetry can yield a number of positive effects for secondary school students, which will help them to improve their writing in all genres. First, students will learn how to properly use language devices and poetic conventions. By looking through a powerful lens at the craft of writing poetry, students will learn to write with a distinct voice and a creative flair. Students have been writing with a mechanical style for too long. Second, students will be exposed to a much different vocabulary when immersed in the world of poets. Young writers will learn how to choose synonyms for complexity, sound, and tone. They will learn the importance of word choice in their writing and develop a curiosity for undiscovered language. Third, students will learn how to develop a theme in their writing. Poets often focus on a very specific theme in a short amount of space. Student writing has a tendency to wander and lose focus of the thesis. Poetry often demands that the reader focus on a very specific theme in a condensed piece. Defining the Dramatic Monologue Due to the large number of literary forms that resemble the dramatic monologue, it is important to establish a specific definition. The narrative, ode, meditation, soliloquy, lament, and clownish harangue all slightly resemble and have characteristics of a dramatic monologue. Key aspects of the genre that distinguish it from the other forms of poetry include the following: 1. The poet uses a single speaker who is not the poet. The poet can use a famous historical or literary figure as in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Ulysses,” or the poet can choose an anonymous figure as in Christina Rosetti’s “After Death.” The poet may reveal certain personal, social, or political beliefs through the dialogue of the speaker. Tennsyon’s piece focuses on the wandering hero, who seeks his former life of adventure: It little profits that an idle king, 2. The poem contains a specific or implied listener in the poem whom the speaker is addressing. In Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess,” the duke of Ferrara addresses an agent of the count of Tyrol to negotiate a marriage. In T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” the speaker addresses an ambiguous “you” who Eliot later explained represented a male associate of the speaker. The listener rarely plays an important role in the poem. She is merely a vessel for the speaker to reveal or confess some important piece of information. At the beginning of Eliot’s poem, J. Alfred states, Let us go then, you and I,
3. The reader takes the part of the silent listener. Along with the person in the poem, the poet writes the piece with the reader as an important listener. The poet attempts to create an intimate connection to the reader to bring her into the world of the poem. Through this personal connection, the reader feels that the speaker is directing the speech to her. The piece leaves the reader with many questions and ideas to contemplate. At the end of Browning’s “Porphyria’s Lover,” the speaker leaves the reader with a moral and spiritual dilemma to contemplate: Her head, which droops upon it still:
4. Through the dramatic monologue’s dialogue, the speaker may unintentionally reveal certain aspects of her character. Through specific vague or ambiguous phrases or more overt suggestions, the speaker discloses certain features of her personality or past that may not have been so apparent on the surface. In “My Last Duchess,” the duke is trying to convince the agent that he is a suitable husband for his master’s daughter. Through his horrific story of greed, jealousy, and obsession, the duke reveals that he would be an awful choice as a suitor as seen in this passage: She had 5. Through the dialogue of the speaker, the poet addresses a social, moral, or political issue or problem. This feature of the dramatic monologue is an extension of the purpose of the dramatic play, which was directed at the public. The purpose of poetry was to have a public impact, to affect events, and to change people's minds. Poets were thought of as philosophers and the keepers of knowledge. The dramatic monologue continues this tradition as a moral guidepost and informs the reader about a negative aspect of society. Icarus’ lover laments the fact that she devoted her entire life to the foolish man instead of seeking her own experiences in Muriel Rukeyser’s “Waiting for Icarus”: I remember she added: Women who love such are the worst of all It is important to examine a few of the more popular genres that are similar to the dramatic monologue, but differ in a few key ways. 1. Soliloquy- This poetic form focuses on a single speaker, like the monologue, but in a soliloquy, the speaker “talks to himself as though thinking aloud, yet unable to be heard by an audience” (Starky 86). The speaker’s speech is his own thoughts, heard by his ears only. In Hamlet’s famous speech, he contemplates life and depth, without any intended listener. In this soliloquy from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the tortured husband enters the dining room in his castle and starts: If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well The speech represents his thoughts to himself. He has no audience or listener. 2. Ode- a poem expressing the poet’s thoughts and feelings about a particular person or subject, usually addressed to that person or subject. An ode does not have an assigned speaker or listener. Here is an excerpt from John Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn”: Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Keats’ addresses the art located on the urn, as opposed to a specific speaker. 3. Lament- a type of poem that is not a narrative, which focuses on a speaker’s regret, sorrow, or concern for a personal loss. A lament does not have a specific listener and the speaker’s grief is the central focus of the poem. The following is the first stanza from Walt Whitman’s “Oh Captain! My Captain!”: O Captain! My Captain! our fearful trip is done; Whitman initially addresses President Lincoln who died and later mentions that his captain is dead. He does not address a single listener. The poem focuses on his mourning of the dead President, like an elegy. 4. Narrative- a poem told in a chronological story in the poet’s voice. The dramatic monologue usually does not contain a lengthy story like the narrative poem. There may be a story within the dialogue, but it is much shorter than a narrative poem and the action is less important than the major issue or problem. Here is a passage from an example of a narrative poem from Raymond Carver titled “Your Dog Dies”: it gets run over by a van. Carver tells the story in a chronological fashion without a specific listener. The action in the poem is more important than the speaker’s voice. Student understanding of these vital differences in genre will help them to create an effective dramatic monologue. Not only will students be exposed to a greater variety of poetic forms, but they will also learn how to follow specific guidelines to accomplish their writing tasks. Pursuing a Genre Study on Dramatic Poetry Using the genre approach for teaching the writing of poetry is not a task completed in haste. In describing her use of the genre study in poetry, Atwell states that each poem the students wrote “evolved in a setting where kids went inside poetry every day-read it, talked about it, learned how it works…Each poem grew from a moment, a need, an itch, and a sense that only this genre could scratch it. And each poem went through multiple drafts and revisions before the poet said yes” (454). As a genre that many students may not be familiar with due to the lack of previous training, the dramatic monologue necessitates a higher level of detail and preparation. The following is a series of steps for teaching a genre study on dramatic poetry for an eleventh grade class. A synthesis of ideas from a few teachers and researchers aided in the creation of this lesson. This study assumes that students already have a base knowledge of how fictional conventions and literary techniques work in fiction. First, an overview of the order of events for the genre study is listed. 1. Introduction. The first class serves as a refresher for the students to access their prior knowledge. The teacher briefly lists many of the terms that they should have a firm understanding of such as meter, rhyme, setting, tone, stanza, and imagery. If a large majority of the class does not know these terms well, it is necessary to provide a longer introduction. Next, one class is devoted to an introduction to the history of dramatic poetry and the dramatic monologue. A handout with definitions and genres of poetry that are similar is passed out to the class. 2. Literature Circle Task. This activity will allow students to actively read a few dramatic monologues to record the characteristics of the genre. This process will help to foster a sense of community in the class and reinforce the specific elements of a dramatic monologue. 3. Read Keystone Texts. The class will read ten dramatic monologues which are some of the most highly acclaimed examples of this genre. Students will take notes on every text in their journals to help them write their pieces. 4. Students Find Models. Using the list of provided sources students will bring their own choices of dramatic monologues that the class will analyze. Students will add these texts to their journals for future reference. The class will determine as a group whether the poems can be classified as a dramatic monologue. 5. Journaling for Ideas. As stated in number 2 of this full list, Developing Speakers and Problems/Issues for Poems, students will use any method they choose for developing a speaker and an issue for their pieces. They can consult with teachers from other disciplines, use the Internet to find inspiration, or read more poetry for ideas. Students will be prompted to record as many ideas as possible. In this stage, quantity is more important than quality. The most outrageous or mundane ideas can turn into great works over time. 6. Imagery Mini-lesson. This is an ideal time to offer a mini-lesson on imagery. As the most important literary device used in poetry, it is essential that students understand how to incorporate this into their work. 7. First Draft. Students are now ready to write the first draft of their poem. They have the requisite knowledge of the genre and imagery to create a rough draft. Students will be given at least three days to write this first piece. This will allow them to finish any research that they needed for their piece. The teacher will hand out the Dramatic Monologue Assignment sheet which details the necessary requirements. Students will also receive the rubric so that they are aware of the grading policy. 8. Peer Review. Students will have an entire period and homework time to complete their peer reviews. The teacher will carefully explain the questions on the sheet so that the students completely understand the assignment. They will understand that it is essential that they handle this task with maturity, honesty, and clarity. The peer review grade will comprise a large part of their overall assessment. 10. Second Draft. With peer review and detail instructions in hand, students are ready to write their second drafts. The teacher will look for a large number of changes in this draft which exhibit a willingness to edit their papers, an acknowledgement of their peers’ suggestions, and an adequate level of knowledge of the information provided in the mini-lessons. The teacher will only offer minor suggestions for their last draft including any awkward or wrong word choices. 11. Teacher-Student Conferences. This activity will give the student an opportunity to discuss their poems in a private setting. Major thematic concerns or small word choice issues could be discusses if necessary. If the class possesses many shy students who do not prefer to discuss their work in the class setting, this could be a very beneficial activity. 12. Title Mini-lesson. With a nearly completed poem, the last step is creating an effective and engaging title. This aspect of the genre is one of the most difficult for students to understand. This mini-lesson will show students the numerous functions of a title. 13. Final Draft. The students have created their masterpieces. The teacher will grade their works based on the rubric. The teacher will also examine the difference between the first and last drafts and examine the progress that the student made. 14. Publishing. Number six of this list, Publishing, details the number of ways that students can publish their work. Publishing is an effective motivation tool because it “influences the class’s attitude toward the writing process at all stages but especially during the prewriting and revising stages” (Soven 52). Students will work harder when they know that their finished product will be viewed by others. 15. Regents review. Perhaps the least enjoyable part of the genre study for teacher and students, the Regents review is an essential part of the curriculum. Students have to know how to apply their newly gained knowledge to the questions that they will be asked on the standardized tests. This section is covered in greater detail in number eight of this list, Lesson on Regents Poem Comprehension. 16. Reflection. Students need to be made aware of the significant work that they have accomplished. They are now members of an elite group of literary craftsmen. The sheet provided for them, provided in number seven of this list, offers them the opportunity to reflect on their accomplishments and place their knowledge in a larger context.
A Word on the Teacher as Learner Students will thrive off a teacher’s energy when a class is studying a particular topic. If the teacher is passionate about a particular lesson plan, then the students will be more enthusiastic as well. Likewise, if a teacher abhors the subject matter, then the students will sense her apathy and the study will suffer. If a teacher truly deplores the genre, it is probably advisable that the genre be avoided. The constructionist approach states that students need to explore a topic to build knowledge of their own. Using this technique, it is crucial to understand that the teacher does not have to possess all of the correct “answers” regarding poetry. Every interpretation of a poem is valid, provided that the interpreter can offer a logical rationale. Allow students to bring poems to class that they have discovered and enjoyed. Bomer states that “having students search for model texts not only ensures that our choice of genre will indeed be authentic, but it also demonstrates that authenticity , in effect saying to the students, This isn’t just a school thing; this is the real thing. You can find this in your world” (124). A list of places where students can find dramatic poems can be found is provided in a handout. Project their poems for the entire class to view and analyze. This technique is especially helpful if the teacher has never seen the poem. In this manner, the whole class is analyzing a poem for the first time. The students will know that the teacher is not the expert of this poem and may feel freer to offer their opinions. Finally, the teacher should experience the genre study in the same manner as the students. The teacher should complete all of the assignments and explain the writing process that she uses to write her poems. This technique is especially helpful in the editing and revision stages. This process will exhibit that the writing process is not an unattainable goal for them. Students will witness the physical process of writing and rewriting and understand that improvements are made over a length of time. 1. Introducing the Genre An important aspect of this study is to acquaint students with the genre in a non-threatening setting where they do not feel pressured to unlock the meaning of a poem. Students need to be eased into the genre by reading models to which they can relate. Many educators such as Atwell believe that students should be exposed to fun poets in the initial stages, like Shel Silverstein. For this age level, the subject matter in the dramatic monologues, and the amount of time needed for this unit, however, this approach would not work. An important introductory task is to have the students read a few examples of the genre before they are given definitions and characteristics to record in their notebooks. Calkins’ goal at the beginning of her lesson is to “find an example of [the genre] that ‘knocks my socks off.’ I’d read that example aloud and hope that it would make a powerful response in students’ lives…and draw [them] under the genre’s spell” (364). The first poem that the teacher reads aloud is Ai’s “Riot Act, April 29, 1992,” due to its accessibility in theme and vocabulary. Students can relate to the text’s modern language and use of allusion. The teacher reads the text so that the students can hear the proper inflections and pronunciations, which greatly aid students’ understanding of the poem. This poem is included in the packet of touchstone texts that the class will receive. A list of these texts is provided in a later section. After the reading, the students are asked to take out their journals and respond to the following prompts: How did the poem make you feel? What did this situation remind you of in your own life? The second part of the introductory phase focuses on a collaborative group project where the students are asked to analyze the characteristics of a dramatic monologue. The students will work in four groups to analyze one of the following dramatic monologues: “Porphyria’s Lover,” “After Death,” “Waiting for Icarus,” and “”My Last Duchess.” After the teacher reads the poems aloud, students record their personal responses in their journals. Then, the teacher assigns one poem to each of the four groups to analyze. Finally, each group will report their findings, which will be recorded by the entire class. This activity helps build a literary community as they learn the genre through their own collaborative effort. This activity is the antithesis of the teacher-centered behaviorist approach where the educator performs all the work and the students simply observe. Active learning is one of the tenets of the constructivist approach to teaching. The literature circle task sheet is provided below. After this task, the teacher will give the students a brief definition of dramatic poetry, the dramatic monologue, and a brief list of the ways in which dramatic poetry differs from other forms of poetry. The students will record this information in their notebooks for reference throughout the unit. This brief lecture will fill in any gaps in the students’ notes that were missed after the completion of the group work.
Literature Circle Task Step 1. In groups of three, analyze your assigned dramatic monologue. Refer to your notes that were taken in the first poetry introductory class for specific terms, if needed. Specifically, note the following aspects: Step 2. Select a stenographer and a presenter to report the group’s work to the class. Step 3. Identify the main social, personal, or political issue or problem that the speaker is relaying in the poem. What is the tone of the speaker’s voice? What is the poet trying to express through the speaker? What conclusion(s) can you as readers make after reading the poem? Step 4. Each group will report its findings to the rest of the class. The class will complete two lists based on the groups’ work. One list will contain similarities found in the poems and the other list will contain important differences. While dramatic monologues do have many elements in common, each poet incorporates a different style into their work.
An Introduction to Dramatic Poetry What is Dramatic Poetry? What is the Dramatic Monologue? Easy Reference List of Characteristics 1. Single speaker who is not the poet. How Does Dramatic Poetry Differ From other forms of Poetry and Drama? How can you tell the difference between a soliloquy and a dramatic monologue? This is the beginning of the most famous soliloquy in the history of literature: To be, or not to be: that is the question: From Shakespeare’s Hamlet Now compare this soliloquy to the beginning of a dramatic monologue: Let us go then, you and I, From T.S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock How do these two poetic forms differ? How are they alike? Exploring the Genre: Find your own example of a dramatic monologue that you enjoy and share the piece with the class. Be sure that the poem contains all of the necessary characteristics of a dramatic monologue. Examples of Dramatic Poetry Here’s where to look for examples of dramatic poetry. Websites:
2. Establishing Touchstone Texts The following collection of poems will be used as models for the class to serve as quintessential models of the genre. All four were picked for very specific reasons. Eliot’s piece is considered by literary scholars to be the impetus for the modern poetry movement. This poem is an extensive text which contains many thematic and stylistic innovations. The inclusion of Browning is a necessity, due to his mastery and creation of the genre. Rosetti’s piece was chosen for comparison to the Browning piece in that the poem offers two opposing views of death. Ai’s piece presents a modern perspective on the dramatic monologue. The poem uses contemporary language and a socially relevant theme for modern America. Obviously, these poems offer two male and two female perspectives, as well as a minority viewpoint. Six other texts that can be used as touchstone texts are Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” and “The Bishop Orders his Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church,” Muriel Rukeyser’s “Waiting for Icarus,” Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Ulysses,” Charlotte Mew’s “The Farmer’s Bride,” and Thomas Hardy’s “The Man He Killed.” Let us go then, you and I, In the room the women come and go The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes, And indeed there will be time In the room the women come and go And indeed there will be time For I have known them all already, known them all-- And I have known the eyes already, known them all-- And I have known the arms already, known them all-- I should have been a pair of ragged claws _ _ _ _ _ And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully! And would it have been worth it, after all, And would it have been worth it, after all, _ _ _ _ _ No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be; I grow old...I grow old... Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? I do not think that they will sing for me. I have seen them riding seaward on the waves We have lingered in the chambers of the sea Porphyria's Lover by Robert Browning The rain set early in tonight, After Death by Christina Rossetti I'm going out and get something.
3. Developing Speakers and Problems/Issues for Poems One of the most difficult problems that students in the dramatic poetry genre study will face is their choice of speaker and issue for their poems. Students need creative forums where they can muse about possible choices. The most appropriate method for students to develop ideas is the use of a creative writing journal. First, the teacher models his journaling technique on the projector. He records a specific person’s name, that person’s physical, psychological, and social descriptions, and a possible problem or issue for that person to discuss. 20In the first two weeks of the genre study, students are asked to write down specific people that they find interesting. Students can consult with their history teachers to discuss a historical figure that interests them. Finding someone who wrote journal, memoirs, or speeches, such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would be ideal due to the personal writing that offers the poet specific insight into the person’s character. Students can also use their history class to choose a specific problem or issue for their poem. They can choose another country or time that their poem will focus on. All of their ideas will be entered into their journals. This information will be detailed in number three, the dramatic monologue assignment. For inspiration, Calkins states that her class will “reread lots of old notebook entries looking for seed ideas, and we’ll live with our notebooks, collecting new entries, new seed ideas…If we’re living toward writing poems, we’ll gather images, wonderful words, lines for poems, responses to poetry, and notes on poetry” (365). The journals will be a source for referencing concepts, ideas, and models. Journals are also an effective tool throughout the writing process. Bomer states that his students use their journals to “plan out how the poem might go-making several outlines, trying out different leads, experimenting with the perspective from which they will tell their material” (129).
4. Dramatic Monologue Assignment A full dramatic monologue writing assignment and an attached rubric are provided that students will receive which details the requirements needed to complete the project and the specific grading formula.
Dramatic Monologue Assignment This is your opportunity to become a poet. Your assignment is to write a dramatic monologue of your own, using the newfound knowledge about the genre that we have discussed in class. You must carefully choose your speaker for the poem. You can pick a famous historical figure that you feel particularly emotionally charged about. Your speaker can be an anonymous person whom has experienced some event that dramatically affected on him or her. The speaker can also be someone that you know. Most importantly, your poem needs to focus on a specific moral, social, or political problem in society, such as racism, pollution, or war. Be sure to use some of the poetic devices, such as alliteration, personification, and metaphor that we listed in the first poetry class. Do not panic! You are not expected to compose a piece worthy of a laureate. You do, however, need to be creative and thoughtful. Pick a topic that is important to you and give your speaker an interesting and intriguing voice. Your dramatic poem should: _ Have a single speaker with a unique creative voice, who is not the poet. Due dates:
Rubric for the Dramatic Poem The following rubric will be used to grade your piece. As you meander through the processes of creating your masterpiece, use the rubric to determine how you are progressing. Find as many reviewers as possible to allow for numerous revisions. Advise and opinions from others are priceless. 6= Complete Understanding, Clear focus, Fully Developed Form: 1. Poem has a strong and creative title that offers some 2. Poet uses a particular rhyme scheme or set 3. Poet includes at least two (ideally more) different poetic 1. Poem has a clear speaker whose identity is established. The 2. A specific issue or problem is reveled by the character and 3. Poet accounts for the reader as a listener. The poem engages Out of a total of 36 Points=____ 1. Poet uses a wide variety of vocabulary words. Their word 2. Poem exhibits a unique and creative flair. The poet attempted Out of a total of 12 Points=____ Note: Poems under the requisite 20 lines or not exhibiting the characteristics of a dramatic monologue will not be graded!
5. Mini-lessons on Improving Poetic Writing Skills No poet is ever born a great poet. This delicate craft often takes years to acquire a high level of competency. Teachers will certainly face a difficult task to create a class full of laureates in a six to eight week session. While the goal is not to create a perfectly rounded poet in such a short period of time, students can learn a number of essential skills that will help them to write a better poem. A series of specific mini-lessons focusing on specific writing techniques can vastly improve student writing. Undoubtedly, imagery is the most important poetic tool that is available to the poet. Imagery creates a visual scene of the poem’s actions and setting. Without imagery, a poem is a series of words that cannot connect with a reader. Therefore, two mini-lessons on imagery, which present two different pedagogical techniques for teaching this convention, are provided. One lesson directs the students to document and analyze imagery in a dramatic monologue. This lesson is so vital to the poem writing process, that it is advised that the class take as much time learning this concept as is necessary. A good poem cannot be written without memorable images. The second lesson focuses on hypertext imagery to allow students to visualize a poem’s imagery on a computer screen. Depending on how much time the teacher allots for this genre study, a seemingly infinite number of mini-lessons could be conducted which focus on other poetic devices and elements. The following devices could form the basis for a mini-lesson: alliteration, allusion, anachronism, assonance, apostrophe, dialect, exaggeration, irony, metaphor, onomatopoeia, personification, refrain, and symbolism. Students may know some of these concepts, but not in great detail, while other devices, such as the apostrophe, would be foreign to them. Poetic elements such as diction, meter, rhyme, stanzas, tone, style, and narrator could also form a mini-lesson. This background information, while helpful, would take a lengthy amount of time to teach. The teacher must choose which devices and elements she feels are most pertinent. Writing in any genre is dependent on the details. Some genres are concerned with providing “just the facts”, but those facts cannot be effectively disseminated without details. Readers of any text want to be absorbed into the piece so that they can relate and envision the scene that the writer is creating. Therefore, a mini-lesson on detail creation is offered in this study. Students need to learn how to “show” and not “tell”. No great writer creates an adequate amount of detail in the first draft. This mini-lesson will show the students how to create a more vivid description for the reader. Students will improve their writing in other genres through this mini-lesson. One of the most difficult concepts to teach students is the multiple uses for a poem’s title. Students predominantly use titles in any genre of writing that directly inform the reader about the topic of the text. While this usage might be adequate, if not a bit boring, for other genres, students need to understand that the title of a poem can be just as crucial, if not more important, than the text itself. Starkey states that Beginning poets often shy away from titling their poems. Some feel that no title Students need to learn the factors that make a specific title effective. Innocuous titles such as “My Friend” and “Sad” lower the reader’s expectations, while “Untitled” exhibits a lack of commitment. Students will examine titles for all of the keystone texts and record what they interpret as the poets’ rationale for their titles. They will observe that writers use titles for different effects on the reader. Students will be able to give their poems a title worthy of their creation.
Mini-Lesson #1 Mini-lesson topic Analyzing imagery in a dramatic monologue. Short-Range Objectives Students will use listening, reading, speaking, and writing to reinforce their knowledge of imagery. Context The eleventh grade class is continuing their genre study, focusing on the use of imagery in poems for a second day. As the most important poetic device, it is essential that students become comfortable in recognizing imagery, which will allow them to create images in their own poems. A second lesson on imagery also gives the students an opportunity to closely analyze how a different poet uses imagery in a text. Today, students will actively read T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” to identify his use of imagery. Pedagogy First, the teacher asks a few questions to ensure that the class clearly remembers the definition and purpose of imagery. Second, the teacher reads the poem aloud, while the students follow along with the blown up passage. Third, the students record a personal response to the poem in their journals. Fourth, they should record the lines where Eliot effectively uses imagery to create a visual scene in their heads. Then, the teacher conducts a Socratic seminar where the students present the passages which contain striking images in order within the poem. The teacher reads his notes to ensure that the students identified the most important images. Here is a brief list of some examples that should be stressed: - Like a patient etherised upon a table; - And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells - The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes, - And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin, - I should have been a pair of ragged claws - After the cups, the marmalade, the tea, - We have lingered in the chambers of the sea Assessment Students are graded based on their participation in the Socratic seminar. They each need to identify at least two examples of imagery and be able to offer some insight as to the poet’s intentions. Student responses must exhibit insight and reflection. They also have to complete a homework assignment where they incorporate two new images into their works in progress, using descriptive language.
Mini-Lesson #2 Mini-Lesson Topic Using a poem written in hypertext to analyze a poet’s use of imagery. Short-Range Objectives Students will use listening, reading, speaking, and writing to understand how poets create mental images for the reader. Context The eleventh grade class is currently working on a genre study in dramatic poetry. They are learning the essential elements of the genre in order to write a dramatic monologue of their own. Today, the class will partake in a mini-lesson focusing on imagery using Robert Browning’s “Porphyria's Lover,” one of the touchstone texts. This particular poem was chosen do to its difficult theme and language, which are easier to understand with the visual representation of the poem. Browning created striking visual images to compliment his themes. The hypertext imagery exhibits the visual qualities of poems and will help students create images of their own. Pedagogy First, the teacher offers a personal anecdote focusing on why people rarely enjoy movies based upon books that they read. Most people complain about those movies because they had a previous “mental picture” in their minds regarding to how different characters and settings in the book are supposed to look. The teacher then brings up “The Lord of the Rings” as a movie example as well as the upcoming “Chronicles of Narnia.” Second, the teacher presents the definition of imagery, which the students copy in their notebooks. Imagery is a technique a writer uses to create a visual picture in a reader’s mind. Descriptive and figurative language is used to create imagery. Imagery involves two parties, the writer and the reader. In this manner, a text is different for each reader, allowing for many interpretations. Third, the teacher discusses the definition of hypertext. Hypertext is a computer-based text retrieval system that enables a user to access particular locations in a web page or other electronic documents by clicking on a link within a specific web page or documents. Fourth, the teacher prompts students to access the hypertext poem on the Internet. The teacher reads the poem as the students read along. For the previous night, the students read the poem and wrote their initial response to the poem in the first section of the graphic organizer. As the class moves through the different examples of hypertext, students write their reaction to each image, as prompted by the organizer. Afterwards, the students will write a small summary stating how the mini-lesson helped them to enjoy and understand the poem better. Assessment First, students must exhibit in their initial analysis of the poem that they provided sufficient thought towards difficult poem, or offered probing questions regarding passages that they did not understand. Second, students must participate in the discussion of the poem and complete their graphic organizers. They do not need to respond to all of the images, but students do need to make connections with some of the images and the poet’s intentions. Third, the students need to respond to how the project helped them to understand how the dramatic poem is created.
Graphic Organizer- Imagery in a Dramatic Monologue. “Porphyria’s Lover” by Robert Browning Write a brief paragraph about your reaction to the poem. Did you like it? Was it confusing or easy to understand? 2. 6. 3. 7. 4. 8. Record your reaction to the poem after seeing these images. Did they effect your understanding or enjoyment of the poem? Mini-Lesson Topic Adding detail to create a more vibrant poem. Short-Range Objective Students will use listening, speaking, active reading, and writing to discover methods of adding detail to their writing. They will learn how to use more descriptive language to create a more detailed experience for the reader. This knowledge will allow students to become better writers in all genres. Context Students have already written a draft of their poem and are ready to start editing their pieces. One of the most important aspects of a poem is the ability to create rich and vibrant scenes for the reader by using descriptive language. This mini-lesson will give students the tools to evaluate their own work and add detail. Pedagogy The teacher writes a small poem with a few nondescript lines about a setting. He asks the class what they think about this piece, hoping that they express their disappointment. The teacher then asks the class how they could improve the writing and ask for assistance in improving the piece. Each line will be read to the class, followed by suggestions for improvement. The teacher explains afterwards that by giving prominent details, composed of creative adjectives, a greater number of specific nouns, and unique verbs, a poet can create a unique and memorable piece for the reader. Memorable passages are created by sentence structures and word choices that are unfamiliar, yet understandable for the reader. Then, the teacher gives the class a version of “Porphyria’s Lover” with all of the figurative language taken out, and asks the class to circle the differences in the two pieces. The students will observe how Browning creates a tension-filled scene through the use of figurative language. Assessment For homework, students must work on their poems and add more detail where appropriate. Their work will be graded for creativity and understanding of the concept. They will be advised to consult a thesaurus, but warned to use words that sound appropriate in their pieces. The sound of a word is almost as important as the meaning in a poem.
Mini-Lesson #4 Mini-Lesson Topic Creating an Effective Title for a Dramatic Poem Short-Range Objective Context Students have nearly completed their dramatic monologues for their final task in the genre study. This mini-lesson allows them to complete the final process, which is furnishing their piece with a title. This is a process that many students do not understand well. Pedagogy The teacher asks the students to take out their copies of the class’ touchstone texts of dramatic monologues. By this point, the class has already analyzed all of the poems and understands the themes, speaker, and issue of the poem. The class takes a few minutes for each poem to record the reason why the poet gave the text that particular title. The teacher only offers his opinion if the class loses its focus. Hopefully, they will be able to ascertain the following: “Porphyria’s Lover”- ironic title due to the fact that her lover becomes her murderer. The title leads the reader to believe that the piece will be a love poem. “Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”- ironic title because the speaker is unable to feel or express love. The modern world has desensitized him, disabling his ability to connect with women who are a part of the society that he distains. “My Last Duchess”- title hints at speaker’s materialization of his wife, implying that she is one in a long line of duchesses. He devalues human life and relationships. This title gives the reader a subtle hint towards the issue and the speaker. “Ulysses”- he is such an imposing figure that his name is as important as the piece. The title also offers a hint towards the reader and the issue. Ulysses values his own life and adventures over the lives of his family and community. He is a man that cannot offer himself to others. He is only able to take from the world. “Riot Act, April 29, 1992”- the title reads like a headline from a newspaper that the white culture would read. The speaker places a personal perspective on a minority issue which the dominant culture cannot relate. An event that is a headline to some is a bleak reality to others. The class would examine many other titles during the class period, following the same patterns. For homework, they need to create at least three different titles for their piece, using the models as inspiration. Assessment The student’s titles are graded for creativity. They must exhibit a clear understanding of the role of titles in a poem.
6. Use of Peer Review An essential aspect of the writing process is receiving the advice of others. The teacher should not be the only pair of eyes that sees the first editions in the drafting stages of a text. Students can receive wonderful benefits from a peer review session as readers and writers. By reading the texts of their peers, students are exposed to other styles and techniques of writing other than their own. The more students can review and make suggestions to another’s work, the better equipped that they will be to revise their own work. Students, however, need explicit instructions on how to review their peers’ work. They need to be guided through the revision process, which can be intimidating for a number of reasons. Soven states that “I would agree that students are afraid to hurt their classmates’ feelings, [but] I believe that students’ lack of confidence in their ability to judge another student’s work is probably more often the reason for their vague comments rather than embarrassment” (48). With the use of a peer review question sheet, however, students are guided towards the appropriate answers and the awkwardness is lifted. Both Soven and Atwell are staunch supporters of the peer revision process.
Peer Review and Revision Exchange your draft poem with a fellow student. Remember that this exercise is an important step in the writing process. The poet needs your feedback as to how to create a more effective poem. This review is also an important part of your grade. Read the poem and carefully address the following questions: 1. Record your initial response to the poem. 2. What was your initial reaction to the title? 3. Does the speaker have a strong, distinct voice throughout the poem or does the poet need to add more information? What suggestions could you make to strengthen the speaker’s voice? Does the speaker intentionally or unintentionally reveal something important in the monologue? 4. Does the poet account for the reader as listener? Did you feel like the speaker was addressing you in the piece? 5. What was the specific moral problem or issue? Is it clearly defined in the piece? How is it presented? 6. Does the poet make effective use of poetic devices and fictional conventions? Cite these examples and comment on their connection to the overall piece. How could they be improved? 7. Does the poet use descriptive language, which creates a vivid mental picture in your mind or does the poet “tell” too much? Where are there opportunities in the poem to add more detail? What left you curious and wanting to know more? 8. Is the poem organized well? Is it choppy or does it contain grammatical errors? Does it flow as you read the lines? What, if anything, interferes with your reading of the piece? 9. Name one aspect of the poem that you really enjoyed. What did the poet do well? How could this aspect be repeated throughout the piece?
7. Publishing Many students are motivated by the idea that their work will be presented to an outside audience. Every classroom has reluctant writers, who for some reason, do not like to share their work with others. Calkins states that “The characteristics of any particular genre relate to the purposes of the audiences for whom that writing is destined” (366). Writers need to know that the teacher is not the only “listener” who is going to interpret their work. Publishing offers students an extra motivating force to push them to the limits of their capabilities. The revising process will have a special meaning when students understand that their pieces will have a large audience. Our current age offers many different opportunities to publish and perform. Many schools at various levels print literary magazines at least once per year. Depending upon how much space the publication is afforded, a schoolwide contest could be held to determine which pieces would be published. Many schools, in the face of budget crises, have adopted online publications to save on the ever-rising publishing costs. In this case, all poets would be able to publish their works. Poets would be advised to attempt to publish their pieces in one of the many online poetry websites, such as poetry.com, poetrypoem.com, and thinker.net. On these websites, people who log on to the site can voice their opinions on each piece, which could offer some valuable advice to student writers. Many of these sites also hold monthly contests where the winners receive a cash prize. Many schools have implemented reading nights where writers of all genres can read their works. Poets are encouraged to read their poetry to the audience to give their poems a personal edge. The audio and visual representation of a poem can have a very different effect on an intended audience. Some school systems have taken their best poets to the masses and performed in public locales such as libraries, restaurants, and clubs. In towns and cities that have a thriving intellectual community, this type of opportunity can be a great benefit to the poets and the residents. Whether or not all of the aforementioned ideas are possible for a particular school system, the opportunity for classroom publishing should not be neglected. After an exhaustive genre study that takes a month or more to complete, classroom publishing is an experience that reaffirms the communal bonds that have been developed in that time period. Students will respect their peers for the tasks that they have accomplished and their ability to improve as writers. In-class presentations, as well as a printed collection of works, are two possibilities which would leave indelible impressions on the minds of the students. 8. Reflective Lesson Writing poetry can become a life-altering event. A special connection can be formed between a poem and the poet, which does not necessarily occur in every genre. Whether a poem’s topic is personal or not, a part of every poet is invested in her work. Due to this personal connection to the genre, an opportunity for student reflection is advised. Students should always have time at the end of a long unit to record their opinions and a list of acquired knowledge in a journal. This activity will reinforce the new concepts that the students have learned and allow them to understand the magnitude of their work. After the final versions of their poems are handed in, the teacher will give the provided handout to the class.
Congratulations. You are a poet. Do not forget what you have learned. Use your knowledge in the future when the moment strikes. A poem can be found in the smallest living cell or in the grandeur of the universe. Read the following quotes and digest them. Write a few notes regarding their significance and offer your interpretation. “A man, to be greatly good, must imagine intensely and comprehensively; he must put himself in the place of another and of many others; the pains and pleasures of his species must become his own. The great instrument of moral good is the imagination; and poetry administers to the effect by acting upon the cause” (40). “But poets, or those who imagine and express this indestructible order, are not only the authors of language and of music, of the dance and architecture, and statuary, and painting; they are the institutors of laws, and the founders of civil society, and the inventors of the arts of life, and the teachers who draw into a certain propinquity with the beautiful and the true, that partial apprehension of the agencies of the invisible world which is called religion” (31). “Poetry compels us to feel that which we perceive, and to imagine that which we know. It creates anew the universe, after it has been annihilated in our minds by the recurrence of impressions blunted by reiteration. It justifies that bold and true word of Tasso: ‘None deserves the name of creator except God and the Poet’” (75). “Poetry turns all things to loveliness; it exalts the beauty of that which is most beautiful, and it adds beauty to that which is most deformed; it marries exultation and horror, grief and pleasure, eternity and change”(74). “Poetry is not like reasoning, a power to be exerted according to the determination of the will. A man cannot say, ‘I will compose poetry.’ The greatest poet even cannot say it: for the mind in creation is as a fading coal which some invisible influence, like an inconsistent wind, awakens to transitory brightness” (71). From Shelly’s A Defence of Poetry Different groups can be assigned to comment on a specific quote or the class can participate in a Socratic seminar to discuss all of the quotes together. The teacher will provide definition for difficult words or references such as “propinquity”, “Tasso”, and “statuary”.
9. Lesson On Regents Poem Comprehension Over time, standardized testing has changed the teacher’s role in the secondary classroom. Each year, students will be subjected to some type of testing to assure that they have achieved a sufficient level of aptitude in a specific field of study. Teachers are responsible for their students test scores and this has radically changed the curriculum. A great deal of class time is now spent in preparation for these tests. For teachers in New York schools that are labeled as “high risk”, achieving a high passing rate on these tests is a crucial aspect of the job. Students need to be comfortable with the process of test taking. Therefore, it is important that they receive a sufficient amount of practice by taking sample tests. This process will allow them to understand the types of questions that they will be asked for the test. The genre study provided them with a sufficient level of background knowledge to successfully complete these tests. Students will be familiar with the requisite number of poetic devices and literary techniques, which were discussed and recorded in the introductory lesson, to write the essay.
Preparing for the Regents Essay Lesson Topic Preparing students for the controlling idea, compare and contrast essay of the ELA Regents Exam. Short-Range Objective After this exercise, students will be more comfortable with the process of analyzing poems and writing about them on standardized tests. Context The eleventh grade class completed a whole-class genre study on dramatic poetry. After this five to seven week unit, the students are knowledgeable about poetic devices and literary techniques. These students understand how a poet creates a text and its intended impact on the reader. Now, these students need to analyze to the types of questions that the Regents will ask them in regards to a specific poem. This lesson will help to improve their overall scores. Pedagogy Students will receive the following sheet. Essay 1-Compare and Contrast-Regents Choose any two poems and compose an essay of no less than two full pages, double-spaced, 12 size font, Times New Roman, on the following: Compose your essay based on the following quote: Loss is an inevitable part of the human experience. It is how one deals with loss which shows his or her mettle. - Anonymous philosopher ÿ Find two poems that deal with loss and analyze this quote’s value to the pieces.
Assessment The students will be graded on their homework answers. Extra participation points could be added for those students who frequently offered their analysis during the class period. The class will spend two to three days discussing the papers and formulating improved strategies for writing the assignment.
Building Ties to Other Genres Teaching dramatic poetry to secondary students can greatly benefit their writing in other genres. With the knowledge that students have gained regarding this sub-genre, they can apply many of the same rules to the other sub-genres, such as lyrical and narrative poetry. The frequent use of fictional conventions can only aid student writing in fictional genres such as the short story, memoir, or science fiction. Students will write with a new creative flair and an advanced vocabulary that they did not posses before. With the strict attention to a specific theme that poets focus on in a dramatic monologue, students’ ability to defend a thesis in an academic paper can only improve. For these numerous reasons, the use of a genre study in dramatic poetry in the high school ELA classroom is highly recommended. Literature Suggestions for Teachers for Further Research Adams, Priscilla. Windows and Mirrors: A Sketchbook Approach to Writing and Ciardi, John, and Miller Willliams. How does a Poem Mean? Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Apol, Laura. “_What do we do if we don't do haiku?’ Seven suggestions for writers |