Poetry Madness: Let the Games Begin!

During March, the best college basketball teams compete for the National Title. In order to be the best, each team must state their case by playing the best, scoring the most, and ultimately advancing to the next round.

To create a sense of poetry madness in our room and celebrate poetry, we will read two poems each evening and advance a class winner the following day. However, like the basketball tournament, we must use specific criteria to judge a poem: meaning, poet's craft (rhyme, line breaks, punctuation, simile/metaphor, word choice, repetition), ability to visualize, and your personal connection.

You will answer the following 3 questions about the poems you have read.

1. What is the meaning of the first poem? (Summarize in one-two sentences)
2. What is the meaning of the second poem? (Summarize in one-two sentences)
3. Based on the criteria, which poem did you choose and WHY? ***Please tell me everything you think, but use your best writing.

You will complete Game 1 in class.  Please read Game 1 (Dust of Snow and Mother to Son), choose your favorite, and leave your comment below.  I left an example in the comment section.

Here is an example of an advanced/proficient post:

The first poem, “Being Brave at Night,” is about a child whose imagination runs away from then at night and is scared.  

The second poem, “Wind on the Hill,” is about a child thinking about the wind and where it comes from.  You cannot see it but see the results of it. 

I chose “Wind on the Hill” as the winner because I like the imagery of the poem.  I like the picture of the kite in the wind and knowing using that as a measure for knowing where the wind has been.  I also enjoyed the way the 2nd and 4th lines of each stanza rhymed. It made the poem fun to read.