Pale Fire Lesson Plan

Commentary Corner

Kind of Activity:

Collaborative Writing

Objective:

As groups, students will write a brief commentary on a famous poem.

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1

Structure:

Because the massively flawed nature of Kinbote's commentary is such an integral part of Pale Fire, it is important for students to understand what the process of such an analysis looks like. As such, this activity will have them, as groups, creating their own analysis of a famous poem that is relatively easy to interpret. Provide students with a list of works to choose from. Options include:

1. William Carlos Williams, "This Is Just To Say"
2. Robert Frost, "The Road Not...