General Poetry Resources

This page features lesson plans and activities for teaching specific types of poetry or poetry in general. Sites and Activities for Specific Poets and Collections of Poetry are also available.

30 Days of Poetry from The English Room
A chart of 30 types of poetry, each linked to class activities and examples.

African American Poets Lesson
An excellent, five-day series of lessons using a variety of media. The lessons are very well structured and based upon standards.

Alliteration in Headline Poems
Designed for grades 6-8, this lesson asks students to create a headline poem using words that they have cut out from magazines and/or newspapers. Includes support materials and assessment criteria. Adobe Reader is required to access the assignment handout.

Appreciating the Bard's Art: Rewriting Shakespeare's Epitaph Using Iambic Pentameter
After reading Shakespeare's epitaph, students compose a more suitable one.

Arabic Poetry: Guzzle a Ghazal
Students experience the intricacies of the ghazal and work together to compose one. Includes examples.

Calling on the Muse: Exercises to Unlock the Poet Within
Exercises to help students access their creative powers and produce well-crafted poems.

The Chain Poem, a Way of Breaking the Ice
This lesson by Ingrid Wendt includes plans and samples of student writing. It is part of the National Writing Project.

Children's Poetry in The Poetry Zone
Ideas and printables for the elementary classroom.

Clerihew: How to Write a Clerihew
Web English Teacher
adds this feature:
a simple form all kids can write,
both the experienced and the neophyte.

Committed to Memory
More than 100 titles that would be good for a unit asking students to memorize and recite a poem.

Composing Cinquain Poems: A Quick-Writing Activity
Students in grades K-2 write cinquains in response to something they've been studying. Includes Web resources, assessment, and standards addressed.

Creative Communication presents A Celebration of Young Poets
A great poetry contest for students in grades 4-12, open to any student in the US or Canada; grants for schools; a free newsletter with tips from teachers for teaching poetry.

Craft of Poetry
Definitions and examples of a variety of terms related to poetry: blank verse, line and meter, tercet, imagery, sestina, style, and more.

Creating Found Poetry From Picture Books
Students in grades 6-8 identify poetic elements and strong word choice in a picture book to create "found poetry" based on the picture book.

A Dedication in Verse
Students collect, illustrate, and interpret poems; prepare a booklet; and present it to the recipient for whom they have selected the poems.

Diamonte Poems
In this lesson students use images found online to inspire their poetry. Includes links to images, format for the poem, and a model.

Dissed in Verse: The art of the poetic insult
This article by poet Robert Pinsky elaborates on the ancient craft of put-downs in verse.

Epic Poems
Lesson plans for epics often taught in school, including Beowulf, the Aeneid, the Iliad, the Odyssey, Gilgamesh, and Paradise Lost.

Exploring Poets and Poetry
Students construct a personal anthology of poetry (not their own). This 6-week unit is designed for 9th graders. It includes vocabulary, assessments, pacing guide, models, a graphic organizer for analyzing poetry, and a couple of activities. Access requires Adobe Reader or compatible application.

Figurative Language
This lesson focuses on identifying and creating similes, metaphors, and personification in literature and in students' own writing.

Figurative Language
This collection of links includes definitions, lessons for teaching simile and metaphor, idioms, analogies, and more. It is designed for elementary level but middle and high school teachers may also find it useful.

Figurative Language: Simile and Metaphor and Figurative Language: Reviewing the Simile
The first page has an explanation, examples using "Willow and Ginkgo" by Eve Merriam, and practice worksheets. The second page is designed as a followup to the first.

Fooling with Words with Bill Moyers
A Web companion to the PBS series, complete with lesson plans.

Found Poems
A simple, useful definition.

Found Poetry Assignment
Definition, assignment, rubric, and online resources.

Fruit Poetry
Students use a piece of fruit as inspiration for a poem.

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