Mini-Lesson
Poetic Terms and Types
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Key Concept

Students must be able to understand and identify poetic terms. While these terms have been studied in years past, it is important to review the terms and ensure that students can apply their knowledge.

Teaching-Learning Strategies

Task One: The Race is On

To begin, give students a reference sheet of poetic terms(.doc) or (.rtf). After the students have had a chance to review the poetic terms, have them get into partners and give them a poem, such as Ode to the West Wind by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

In partners, students must read through the poem. Using their reference sheet, they must find and label as many poetic devices as they can.

If you want to make this activity a contest to motivate students, set a time limit of 10-15 minutes. The group that correctly labels the most poetic devices could win a prize.

This activity will give students the chance to review terms they should already be familiar with by applying the information they have been given to a poem.

Task Two: Testing Knowledge

Once students have had a chance to review the poetic terms and practice labeling the devices with a partner, they can test their individual abilities by taking this on-line quiz.

This quiz will give students lines of text; their job is to identify the poetic device used in each line.