Lord Byron's Poems Lesson Plan

Close Reading

Kind of Activity:

Group Discussion

Objective:

To improve close-reading skills

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.4

Structure:

Begin by leading a class discussion in which students collaboratively close read and analyze a poem ("Sun of the Sleepless" may be a good choice given its brevity). You can walk the students through the following elements, among others:

• Scansion and meter. If students are unfamiliar with scanning verse, they might take turns scanning lines for the class.
• Places where the rhythm is ambiguous or the spoken stress could be rendered several ways.
• Interesting line breaks
• Common poetic and...