GACW Fall 2025 - Day 4: Poetry Introduction
GACW Week 4
Theme: Poetry & Edna St. Vincent Millay
1. Welcome: “Tell Me Something Good”
2. Warm-Up Game: Word Weave
Each student says a single word.
The next person adds a word that builds toward a poetic image.
Keep going until you have a quirky, surprising “poem” (just a few lines).
Reflect briefly: Did any rhythm or imagery naturally emerge?
3. Mini-Lesson: Millay’s Voice & Poetic Style
A. Read & Listen
Read & Listen to Millay’s work aloud (example: from “Recuerdo”):
We were very tired, we were very merry—
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
(https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/14404/recuerdo)
https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/06/13/edna-st-vincent-millays-poems-selected-for-young-people/
Ask:
What mood do you feel here?
How does the rhyme help the lines stick in your head?
B. Discuss
Musicality: Millay often used rhyme and rhythm to give her poetry a song-like quality.
Emotion + Image: She grounds big feelings (love, longing, freedom) in everyday images (ferries, evenings, apples).
Form & Structure: She often used sonnets (ABBA ABBA CDE CDE) but also played with simpler couplets and quatrains.
C. Rhyme Brainstorm & Practice
On the board (or in notebooks), pick a simple word like time.
Students generate:
Perfect rhymes: rhyme, climb, sublime, prime
Slant/near rhymes: done, stone, mine, dim
Unexpected connections: thyme (herb), mime (surprising image)
Repeat with another word from Millay’s poem (like merry).
Then introduce rhyme schemes:
Couplet (AA BB): two lines rhyming together.
Alternate rhyme (ABAB): 1st & 3rd lines rhyme, 2nd & 4th rhyme.
Enclosed rhyme (ABBA): common in sonnets.
Students try a quick 4-line group practice poem, choosing a rhyme scheme and filling in rhymes together.
4. Guided Practice: Write Some Poetry
Prompt: Play with rhyme schemes and write some poems
Ideas: Use concrete imagery (object, place, moment) + a big feeling (love, longing, freedom, joy).
Challenge: Choose a more challenging (sonnet) rhyme scheme to guide your draft.
5. Sharing & Feedback
Students read their poems aloud.
