Poetry Project #1

Let me start off by saying this semester is going wonderfully! Our students are working hard and are learning how literature is not a stand-alone subject: it connects with history, politics, economics, so many facets of our lives. There is a lot of information and material to read and work through. Everyone is doing a fabulous job.

Parents: Please review our poetry project for this unit. Students will work in groups to complete this assignment. Here is one of the featured poets in our unit entitled, "Literature and World: The Harlem Renaissance Project."

Poet: Langston Hughes
Birth and Death: 1902-1967
Poem: "The Weary Blues"
Read by: Langston Hughes


Students listened to this poem in class. Before hearing the poem, the class and instructor discussed the music style called "blues" as well as jazz music and how important music was to the Harlem Renaissance. Students selected words from the poem that sounded musical. Students also selected words from the poem that made them think of images. Each word was discussed with the instructor to illustrate how literature (poetry) is related to the world (music, nature).

Students selected the following words that reminded them of music and the world:
Tune (musical notes, birds singing)
Blues (music style, color, emotion)
Melancholy (melodic sound, emotion)
Sway (movement, dance, moving notes)
Syncopated (musical beat, music notes)
Mellow (musical sound, emotion)