1. Poet-A-Day
(Bellwork)

2. Day 1: Poetry Presumptions
New bellwork!
Day 1: Poetry Presumptions
Answer these 2 questions by restating.
1.What do you think of or how do you feel when someone mentions poetry?
2.What are some poems that you know already?

3. Poet #1: Edgar Allan Poe Birth and death: Style: Famous poems:
1809 – 1849
Where’s he from?
Born in Boston, MA
Style:
Mysterious, morbid, horrifying poems and short stories
Famous poems:
“The Raven”, “Annabel Lee”
First Impression?

5. Poet #2: Phillis Wheatley
Birth and death:
Where’s she from?
Kidnapped from West Africa and enslaved in Boston
Style:
Narrative poems about life in the colonies
Famous publication: Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral
First Impression?

6. Youtube reading of poem

7. Poet #3: Henry David Thoreau
Birth and death:
Where’s he from?
Concord, MA
Style:
Nature poems and political essays
Famous publications:
Walden and “Civil Disobedience”
First Impression?

8. O Nature! I do not aspire To be the highest in thy choir, - To be a meteor in thy sky, Or comet that may range on high; Only a zephyr that may blow Among the reeds by the river low; Give me thy most privy place Where to run my airy race. In some withdrawn, unpublic mead Let me sigh upon a reed, Or in the woods, with leafy din, Whisper the still evening in: Some still work give me to do, - Only - be it near to you! For I'd rather be thy child And pupil, in the forest wild, Than be the king of men elsewhere, And most sovereign slave of care; To have one moment of thy dawn, Than share the city's year forlorn.
Nature

9. Poet #4: Langston Hughes
Birth and death:
Where’s he from?
Joplin, Missouri
Style:
Wrote poems, plays, and newspaper articles
Invented “jazz poetry”
Famous publications:
The Weary Blues
First impression?
“An artist must be free to choose what he does, certainly, but he must also never be afraid to do what he might choose.”
—Langston Hughes

10. “The Weary Blues” video
“Dreams” read by Langston Hughes

11. Poet #5: Maya Angelou Birth and death: 1928 - 2014 Where’s she from?
St. Louis, Missouri
Style:
Won many awards. Lots of personality in her poems
Famous publications:
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (autobio.)
“Just Give Me A Cool Drink of Water ‘Fore I Die”
First Impression?

12. “Still I Rise” recording

13. Poet #6: William Shakespeare
Birth and death:
Where’s he from?
Style:
Famous poems:

15. Poet #7: Robert Frost Birth and death: Where’s he from? Style:
Famous poems:

17. Poet #8: Shel Silverstein
Birth and death:
Where’s he from?
Style:
Famous poems:

19. Poet #9:
Birth and death:
Where’s he from?
Style:
Famous poems: