Understanding Poetry

Understanding Poetry

Understanding Poetry

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Pre-reading Steps

• Read the title, skim through the poem, and predict what it will be about.

• Notice the structure of the poem.

• Underline and look up ALL unfamiliar words.

Pre-read

hue: color

subside: die away

Eden: the garden where Adam and Eve first lived; a place of pristine or abundant natural beauty

Multiple Choice

What will the poem most likely be about?

• discovering gold

• what is gold in nature

• striping the earth of gold

Out Loud Read x1

First Read: General understanding. What do you picture in your mind.

Open Ended

What are some images you pictured in your mind?

Out Loud Read x2

Second Read: Paraphrase each line.

Nature's first green is gold.

Multiple Choice

What is this line saying?

Nature's first green is gold.

• The first blooms of spring are beautiful and fresh.

• The green color in nature starts out as gold.

Her hardest hue to hold.

Multiple Choice

What is this line saying?

Its hardest hue to hold.

• It's hard for nature to sustain this color.

• It's hard for nature to produce this color.

Her early leaf's a flower,

Multiple Choice

What is this line saying?

Her early leaf's a flower.

• Trees produce flowers before leaves.

• The leaf bud looks like a little flower.

But only so an hour.

Multiple Choice

What is this line saying?

But only so an hour.

• It only looks like a flower for a short time.

• It only takes an hour for a leaf to mature.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

Multiple Choice

What is this line saying?

Then leaf subsides to leaf

• Then the leaves all die.

• Then the old leaves die and new ones grow.

So Eden sank to grief.

Multiple Choice

What is this line saying?

So Eden sank to grief

• Eden was sad when Adam and Eve had to leave.

• Eden (or a pristine place) changed in a sad way.

So dawn goes down to day.

Multiple Choice

What is this line saying?

So dawn goes down to day.

• The sunrise turns into full day sun.

• Day

Nothing gold can stay.

Multiple Choice

What is this line saying?

Nothing gold can stay.

• Everyone buys up anything gold.

• Nothing stays young and fresh.

Multiple Choice

Who/What is the poem about?

• spring

• leaves

• flowers

Multiple Choice

What is the most likely comparison being made?

• nature and human life

• nature and precious metals

• leaves and sunrises

Out Loud Read x3

• Determine the message of the poem

• Elements of Literature: Look for imagery, similes, metaphors, personification, etc.

Nature's first green is gold.

Metaphor: first green = gold

Its hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower.

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf

So Eden sank to grief.

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.