Poets "S"
Lesson plans and teaching resources
Modern Literature and the Arts, Seen through the Experience of American Immigrants
This unit plan uses "The Other Pioneers" by Roberto Felix Salazar and 4 short stories to help students further develop their knowledge of the connections between literature and the arts and be able to connect their personal experiences with people who have immigrated to the United States. All of the works can be found in McDougal Littel's The Language of Literature. Designed for 8th grade.
Carl Sandburg
Lesson plans and teaching resources.
Siegfried Sassoon Study Questions
Discussion questions for these poems: "They," "The Rear-Guard," "The General," "The Glory of Women," "Everyone Sang," "On Passing the New Menin Gate."
Using Poetry to Teach the Importance of Word Choice, Part I and Part 2
Students analyze the ways that deliberate word choice affects meaning and effect. The first lesson asks students to compare translations of Beowulf. The second lesson uses Walt Whitman's "Trickle Drops" and Siegfried Sassoon's "Base Details."
"The Blind Men and the Elephant" by John Godfrey Saxe
Lesson plans for this traditional story, including versions in both poem and narrative form.
The Academy of American Poets — Anne Sexton
Biography, e-texts, related links.
"War Stories" by Harvey Shapiro
Introduction and text of the poem (WWII).
"Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Lesson plans and teaching resources.
"Astrophil and Stella" 63: O Grammar rules, O now your virtues show
Text of this passage, discussion questions, writing prompts, and analysis.
"Stone" by Charles Simic
The poet reads his poem in this short downloadable video. Scroll down for discussion questions, analysis, and a link to the text of the poem.
Stevie Smith: "Not Waving but Drowning"
Annotated text, teaching tips, discussion questions, and writing ideas.
Koip Peak, Sierra Nevada Mountains in Gary Snyder's "Strategic Air Command"
Photo of the peak, additional information, and critical commentary.
Gary Soto
Ideas for teaching poetry and prose.
Sonnet 75 ("One day I wrote her name upon the strand")by Edmund Spenser
Access to this audio file requires an MP3 player such as QuickTime.
William Stafford
Links to biography, poetry, and lessons.
"The house was just twinkling in the moon light" by Gertrude Stein
Text of the poem, writing ideas, discussion questions, and teaching tips.
"The Dancing" by Gerald Stern
In this short captioned video, the poet reads his poem. Scroll down to find background information and discussion questions.
Wallace Stevens
Lesson plans and teaching resources for "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" and other poems.
Mark Strand
Biography, links to poems and interviews.
May Swenson: "Bleeding"
Critical commentary, links to other poems.
Poetry Pairing: "Identification" by Wislawa Szymborska
Text of the translated poem paired with a newspaper article on a related topic, the death of a polar bear at the New York Central Park Zoo.