John Donne: Poems Lesson Plan

Donne's Afterlife

Kind of Activity:

Group Work

Objective:

To examine Donne's influence on 19th and 20th century poets.

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.7, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.9

Structure:

Have students research one of the poets below and give group presentations on their findings. Student research should be done outside of class time, in their groups or individually. Students should address the questions:

1. Looking at 1-2 poems, how is their idea structure similar to Donne's? Are there any poems that seem to be responding specifically to a poem of Donne's we read? For example, "Love Lies Sleeping" (Bishop 1937) is a direct reversal of "The Sun...