Course info

Dear Student,

This course is scheduled to be retired on May 30, 2024. You may continue to work on this course until then. We are not replacing this course at this time.  Please browse this subject to find other comparable courses.  Sally Thomas does teach Poetry courses listed in Literature.

 

NOTICE: This is an older course recorded with Adobe Connect and/or Vimeo recordings.

We are currently working to replace the recordings with new Zoom recordings. 
Please don't hesitate to email us at homeschoolconnections@gmail.com with any questions.

How to Get the Most Out of Introduction to Poetry:

• First, read the course details below.

• Prepare a notebook for note taking and homework.

• Students begin the course by clicking on the "Recording" and watching Mrs. Thomas’s lecture for Class One.

• Review supplemental materials (videos or readings).

• Assignments 1 and 2 for each week are basically narration or reader-response assignments. The student is telling, in a short essay/notebook entry, what he or she knows about the assigned reading. These I have graded as either “done” (100%) or “not done” (0%). Parents may wish to have their students give an oral response or narration as well, perhaps in the form of a casual conversation.

• Assignment 3 is a weekly poetry-writing assignment. These assignments are intended as exercises or experiments in using elements of poetry.

• Repeat this process for each of the 14 classes.

• Students will choose five of their poetry exercises over the course of the term to revise and include in a final portfolio.

• If you need review at any stage, please re-watch the class recording and/or go over the PowerPoint presentation, which often contains more material than the class time limit permits us to cover.

• Make sure to record all grades. HSC does not provide record keeping.

• Once the course is completed to the parent's satisfaction, there is a Certificate of Completion at the end to be filled in for your records.

Total classes: 14

Prerequisite: None

Suggested grade level: 9th to 12th grade

Suggested credit: 1 full semester Poetry or Literature/ Creative Writing. For a full year of poetry, see Poetry Writing I in the spring.

Instructor: Sally Thomas

Course Description: An introduction to reading and writing poetry, covering such literary devices as rhyme, meter, and figurative language, and the relationship of those elements to the overall meaning of a poem. Students will practice the art of close, critical reading, as well as experimenting with elements of poetry in their own writing. Introduction to Poetry plays a crucial function in the whole scheme of high-school literature, providing the student with a heightened understanding of this most mysterious literary form, as well as sharpening overall writing and critical-reading skills. Introduction to Poetry serves as pre-requisite for more advanced and specialized poetry-writing courses, including Creative Writing: Poetry and Introduction to Poetic Forms.

Course materials: Sound and Sense, 8th Edition, Lawrence Perrine. Out of print, but readily available used for as little as $0.99 plus s/h. Click on the book title for ordering information. Note: Structure, Sound, and Sense includes the complete text of the poetry book Sound and Sense. 

Homework: One chapter per week in Perrine, with assigned poems. One poetry-writing exercise each week. (Approximately 4 hours total homework per week.)