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In this guide to a quinmester course in which the student examines and analyzes the themes and techniques of the rock poet in the lyrics of modern rock music, performance objectives, course content, teaching strategies, learning activities, and lists of student and teacher resources are provided. (DB)

A course putting emphasis on the enjoyment of poetry is presented. It includes an introduction to poetic language and a study of various types of poetry, such as the lyric and the narrative. Performance objectives include: (1) The student will write an original, personal definition of the form of poetry; (2) The student will define a list of terms germane to poetry; (3) The student will identify figures of speech as to type; and (4) The student will write one or more original examples of the figures of speech studied in class. Course content covers authors and poems representing major American and British writers from the romantic period, the transitional period, and the modern era. Black poets are included. (CK)

Personal observations concerning the teaching of Pushkin at the university level focus on the disparity between modern poetry and classical Russian poetry. Urging lyrical authenticity in oral presentation, the author decries the inadequate standards of English of his students which deny Pushkin full justice in the reading. (RL)

This article shows how to make poetry relevant to high school students. The technique involved is one in which the student is shown just those meanings which he can spontaneously relate to his emotions and interests. This synthesis can be made by using the lyrics of popular songs. The student can see the images, mood and dramatic situation of the speaker-singer, sense the ironies and tensions in the statements, watch how the ending of the song grew out of beginning--become aware in other words, of all those poetic elements and functions which the beginning student might one day see brought to perfection in the great poetry of our heritage. In addition to foreshadowing in song lyrics this kind of formal significance in poetry, the teacher might ask his students to express and bring into awareness their feelings about what the lyrics say. At the right point in the course of study, the teacher may make the transition from popular lyrics to the poetry of a poet such as E.E. Cummings or Dylan Thomas. (CK)

The lyric poem is the most concentrated form of literary communication. The formulation of an approach to interpretation can be a useful tool for the instructor. The poem to be interpreted should be examined in six aspects: (1) information provided in the title, (2) the sound of the poem as read aloud, (3) the clear understanding of the meaning of the words themselves, (4) the content or event of the poem, (5) the manner in which the event is related, and (6) the total impression as received through examining the poem in all the above aspects. Thus, on analysis, the poems "Erlkonig,""Der Fischer," and "Der Konig in Thole" express, among other things, man's equivocal place in the balance of nature. "Willkommen und Abschied" and "Gefunden" express the differing perspectives on love of youth with its release of creative energy and of old age with its wisdom of resignation. A bibliography of additional reference works on Goethe and lyric poetry is appended. (RS)

A university English professor discusses a class effort to develop concepts concerning lyric poetry and to apply them to specific poems. Problems arising from the different manners in which authors present their poems are described. Poetic order and emphasis are examined. (CK)

Good German lyric poetry is a union in a higher reality of the inner life with the world of objects. Its use of musical effect, metaphor, and the mysterious and imponderable creates for the trained reader a sense of permanent beauty. The German-speaking, adolescent, secondary-school student is ripe for such an experience, having reached a point in life when his inner discovery needs outward expression. Consequently, he will often find deep beauty and meaning in the lyric poem. Lyric ballads provide an engaging means for beginning instruction, and further study of the poetical treatment of everyday phenomena will enhance the student's appreciation of the world around him. Lyric poetry might even be used to teach historical, geographical, and biological material, as long as its intrinsic, artistic value is not ignored. Caution must be exercised, however, in the choice of poems. In considering their difficulty, one must remember the abilities of the students, sex differences (girls are generally more sensitive to lyric poetry), and individual capacity. Each student must be permitted to make poetic discovery at his own level. A list of references is included. (RS)

Most of this 10th-grade teaching unit on Robinson's "Richard Cory" is made up of sample teacher questions and student answers which lead students to think about values. Other sections include definitions of tools for poetry and analysis, notes on Robinson's life, and a list of poems on "successful living." A five-page bibliography on teaching and values is provided. (LH)

The problems of teaching poetry in the elementary classroom are (1) the choice of poems and (2) the way in which the teacher presents the poems. Becuase good poetry can encourage the child's imagination, a teacher should avoid the mediocre "children's poems" generally found in textbooks and should present students with worthwhile poems from other sources that meet the standards of adult poetry. Having students examine two haiku poems, one by Pound and one by a student, can help to create a working definition of poetry and to indicate three possible levels of meaning in a poem--surface, symbolic, and personal. Students who consider these three levels in studying Blake's "Tyger" and Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" frequently have less difficulty with the obscurities of the poems (ignoring those they cannot deal with) than do professional scholars. To teach poetry, the teacher must utilize his interpretive ability to discover the metaphorical level and the deeper significance of the work. As a result, the questions he asks in a discussion will be guided by the sense of the metaphorical significances of the poem, known by the teacher but held open for the discoveries of the students. (LH)

Commentary on the need to establish priorities in instructional objectives in the teaching of poetry includes a discussion of the implications of teaching for appreciation and for knowledge. Observations on teaching techniques lead to a review of various types of questions judged helpful in developing appreciation. The potential use of technological media is explored with special emphasis placed on the use of cassettes for student recitation. (RL)

This curriculum guide, developed as part of a total English curriculum for pre-kindergarten through grade 10, suggests that students can best understand literature by understanding its recurring external forms or genres, and includes (1) an overview describing the four literary genres of drama, narrative poetry, narrative fiction, and lyric poetry in terms of the ways in which works are presented, (2) 35 items of selected knowledge to be taught sequentially, from the simplest roles that characters perform in a dramatic action to the more complex aspects of the historical development of a culture's lyric poetry, and (3) proposed sequential learning experiences, which at the elementary level include such activities as children hearing, studying, and dramatizing a narrative poem; at the junior high level, students composing lyric poems after hearing patterns of sound in the poems of Robert Frost, James Joyce, and Carl Sandburg; and at the senior high level, students learning to perceive relationships between author, characters' actions, and the audience in Sophocles'"Antigone" or in Cervantes'"Don Quixote." (See also TE 001 638.) (JB)

An analysis of a poem by San Juan de la Cruz (St. John of the Cross), the sixteenth century Spanish mystic, identifies symbols and images, explains themes, and offers a synthesis of his structural patterns. The poem, "Tras de amoroso lance", deals with the theme of the search of the beloved (i.e., the soul) for the lover, and incorporates the mystical concept which differentiates between erotic and divine love. Although the poems are love poems and as such are passionate and delicate, they are allegories of the mystical ascent of the soul to the state of union with God. Falconry ("caza cetrera") symbolizes this search and a finding of divine love. The poet employs reiteration, alliteration, and hendecasyllables frequently in his refrains. The imagery for the verse is drawn from the Spanish poet, Garcilaso de la Vega, and from the "Song of Songs". Through his sense of allusive eroticism and his aesthetic mysticism, the poet, furthermore, eliminates all ambiguity from his work. (DS)

Describes an approach to the study of literary texts, using French examples. Three phases are: elementary semantics, text synthesis, and presentation of a poetic text. This approach is found to yield insights not only into the text but into language in general. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

A model is described for teaching German lyric poetry based on landscape and the analysis of oppositions, such as closed and open environments. The method works well with German Expressionism and is suited to instruction by the Socratic method. Use of the model with three poems is illustrated. (SW)

A German lyric poetry course is described which is designed to convey to the student what it means to confront a poem. A poem is viewed as a design whose elements are based on general linguistic phenomena either directly or indirectly, and poetic language is linked with everyday verbal communication. (SW)

Three poems, by W. Whitman, A. MacLeish and R. Frost, are seen to have a common constant "pattern" -- the experience of the frontier, as a fundamental social and historic experience of Americans. The position of J. V. Hagopian, that poetry is not suited for transmitting such information, is rejected. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Considers the attitudes of adolescents in terms of four subjects: relationships, feelings, growing up and concerns. The four subjects were determined from a detailed analysis of 109 new songs recorded by Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon from 1968 to 1975. (Author/RK)

Describes use of the pop song "Suzanne" in a Secondary Grade 2 class of girls. This song by Leonard Cohen is regarded as superior to most pop songs, appropriate for the group because of its themes (love, religion), and as a good example of lyric poetry. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Twenty-six selections by 15 contemporary American Indian authors are given in this book. The selections--legends, ceremonial chants and prayers, poems, and stories--are accompanied by topics for discussion. Some of the selections deal with the supernatural, and some tell an actual story about the author. Pictures and short biographies of each author are included. A list of the major tribes in each state is also included. (NQ)

The inductive-method teacher sees himself as part of a process of learning rather than as dispenser of knowledge. He structures classroom situations in which students discover answers and concepts for themselves. He selects material and guides class work, but concentrates on how a student learns, developing a carefully-guided sequence of questions and situations to achieve the desired "cumulative process" that is the inductive method. Valuable by-products include student experience in speaking and listening and provocative class discussion. The lesson plans developed by the Curriculum Study Center in English at Carnegie Institute of Technology employ inductive principles in teaching literature, language, and composition. (Included are sample units on lyric poetry, "Julius Caesar," Faulkner's "Wash," parts of speech, semantics, and composition. Typical homework assignments are noted.) (RH)

This annotated bibliography of over 120 books was compiled to call attention to poetry for children that is both pleasing and rewarding. Omitted are traditional materials such as Mother Goose rhymes, textbooks, and collections designed especially for the classroom. Sample illustrations from the books noted and lines from poems are reproduced throughout. The entries are grouped under the following headings: (1) Rhymes, (2) Poetry of the Past, (3) 20th-Century Poetry, (4) Anthologies, and (5) World Poetry. An index of titles and authors is provided. (LH)

This unit on lyric poetry is organized around two themes which consistently appear in the works of contemporary black writers. The theme of "Negritude," the assertion of the black man's personal and historic identity, is conveyed by such poets as Waring Cuney, Mari Evans, and the two African poets, Leopold Senghor and David Diop. The other theme--an attempt to project through lyric expression a human experience beyond race--is represented by the works of such black poets as Countee Cullen, Gwendolyn Brooks, and LeRoi Jones. Teaching procedures, questions, activities, and poems are provided. (JB)

To determine what characteristics of poetry are preferred by high school students, researchers asked 16 sophomores to use a semantic differential rating scale to evaluate 120 poems selected from high school textbooks and current publications. Seven sophisticated poetry readers numerically assessed 10 technical characteristics of the poems to establish a means of comparison between professional and student evaluations and to clarify the relationship between the students' descriptive and evaluative scales. Analysis of the data revealed that students preferred (1) narrative poetry of topical interest, particularly poems about unusual people, moments of crisis, humor, war, history, and social problems to the exclusion of poems dealing with lyric expression of mood, emotion, and sensory impression, (2) poetry which is easy to comprehend, (3) poems dealing with realistic, masculine, unusual, and youthful subject matters, (4) competent but controversial modern poems rated high by the sophisticated readers, (5) poems that vary considerably from those judged high in poetic merit by sophisticated readers, and (6) no particular rhyme scheme. (Author/MP)

Designed to help the beginning or experienced poet, this book describes the progressive stages and possible difficulties in writing poetry--planning, the actual work with language and form, appraisal, and revision. "Journal Projects," or assignments, presenting increasingly difficult material are appended to each section of the book to encourage practice with the elements of poetic craftsmanship. Also included are works by well-known poets that illustrate the goal of most poems--making the link between the shaping imagination of the poet and the receptive consciousness of the reader. A glossary of poetic terms is provided. (Editor/JMC)