Making Walt and Emily Pop!
I teach in a high poverty, rural school and I am getting ready to teach Dickinson and Whitman to my 11th grade classes. Any ideas for making these two fabulous poets POP! I thought about focusing on Dickinson's obsession with death and Whitman's sexuality because these are always interesting to teens, but I fear homophobia would become a focus for my students.
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Permalink Reply by Ryan Goble on
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Nicole (my poetry loving wife) reminded me that the Poetry Comics book is loaded with Walt & Emily comics...
Poetry Comics: An Animated Anthology
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Permalink Reply by Melinda J. Hall on
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When teaching "I Hear America Singing," I've paired Alabama's song "40-Hour Week." It's a bit dated and is country music, but it appealed to my students here in the rural South. I also used "I, Too" by Langston Hughes to analyze author's tone. I've never focused on sexuality with Whitman, just his celebration of the commonplace and his contemporary progeny in art and literature. With Emily, I've compared her to contemporary artists by asking, "What's his/her trademark? signature?" of whoever covers the tabloids of late. Then I highlight Emily's trademark characteristics. Several years back, students compared her to Michael Jackson--a genius, a life of isolation and seclusion, not in the mainstream, etc.
Not sure that helps -- but good luck! -
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