Civil Disobedience Lesson Plan

Thoreau's Poetry

Kind of Activity:

Group Work

Objective:

Students will read and analyze Thoreau's poetry, comparing it to "Civil Disobedience"

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4; CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.5

Structure:

In addition to writing philosophical and political essays, Thoreau was a prolific poet. This is evident in the lyricism of "Civil Disobedience" and many of his other prose works. Like his essays, Thoreau's poems deal with similar themes of nature, higher law, and the role of the individual.

Split students into small groups, and assign each group one of the following poems:

"Within the Circuit of this Plodding Life"

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