Portrait of the Countess of Lameth, Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, ca. 1790.
This turn of the year can be as hard for students as for teachers as the year continues on, seemingly endlessly. I have found that it can be very fruitful to just pause and do something joyful with the students. Sometimes, this would take the form of a three-legged race outside on a nice day. Other times, it would be dwelling in a poem that is simply lovely, something that is not on the curriculum, “for school”. So I thought I would share a poem with you that we just read as a faculty here at the ICLE, and that you might enjoy with your students.
Poem: “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by William Butler Yeats
Ways to enjoy the poem:
- Listen to Recording of Yeats a couple of times without looking at the text (please note! Do not show the webpage to your students-this should be a purely auditory experience,-and be sure to set it up in advance to avoid any potential advertisements.) What did you hear? What did you notice?
- Now read the poem for yourself quietly. Ask:
a. Do you notice any patterns?
b. Did anything surprise you?
c. This is a lyric poem, a descriptive poem. Let’s count all the things in this poem. Are there any patterns we notice? Any discrepancies?
d. The last stanza begins the same way the first stanza does. How are the first and last stanzas similar? Different? Has there been any development?
e. What does the poet hear in his deep heart’s core? Are there any clues? - Close with listening to the recording again.