Emily Dickinson Creative Visual Response

 One day each March, my Advanced Placement Literature and Composition kids read several Emily Dickinson poems. I love her, and I was pretentious enough to have one of her poems read at our wedding (not "I Felt a Funeral in my Brain"). After the students read and discuss the poetry, I assign a creative response. I love the products!

LESSON PLAN: Dickinson Creative Response (2o min. class time--offer extensions to those who want longer)

    First, I give them printed copies of six of the poems, and a few notes about the Belle of Amherst and her remarkable style; then we read them aloud and have at it. I like to show off with a couple short ones from memory (I am also close on "Because I Could not Stop for Death," though.) But mostly, they read them, and I make them pause at every Dickinsonian dash. We discuss the pauses, the seemingly random capitalization, the content, and central ideas. We compare this particular poem to that prior poem. Then I give an EASY assignment that works well: the last few years I have made them draw a creative response to one of the poems. They are to capture the concept and "the vibe" and hopefully convey the emotional impact of the poem.

    The first year I gave them a pice of typing paper and about twenty minutes to draw something--they could also include a few phrases from their chosen poem. A few wanted to take it home to finish it. "Whatever," I said, but I was very open about it being only 10 points. Some of them came back to the next class session with something much more interesting than I had expected. 

    Those, like me, who admit they can't draw, usually still have a great concept: a single fly buzzing across the page over a coffin or stick figure children dancing in a ring while death's carriage drives by. On this post, I have included some lovely products--likely the ones that took the most effort. (I got permission.) No surprise, they got 12/12 (I bumped up the value by 2 points). Most of the others got an "A," too--even though I did take off a few points for those done on lined notebook paper or on the back of another class's worksheet.  It's not "busy work, but still admittedly just "extra"; it's not going to help on the AP exam, and it's sure awkward to grade someone artistic response to a Dickinson poem. If the 12 point carrot gets them to engage with one specific lyrical 19th century poem on a more complex level, it's a win.

    This year, I offered two other choices: they could memorize one of her poems that was 4 stanzas or more OR write a poem inspired by Dickinson's style using the slanted a/b/c/b rhyme scheme, the unusual capitalization, the reflective and intimate tone, etc. Alyse did a smooth recitation of "Because I Could Not Stop for Death," and Sam wrote a moving five stanza poem. Almost everyone else drew, but Natasha did a water color. 

    I'm actually not much of a "projects" teacher, and sometimes I feel bad because giving some of these products the max of only 12 points seems ridiculous. But I do feel good that someone got close enough to a piece of literature to create a painting.

The poems in the packet (easily downloaded from the internet) are "Because I Could Not Stop for Death," "Hope is the Thing with Feathers," "I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died," "I Felt a Funeral in my Brain," "Much Madness Is Divinest Sense," and "The Heart Asks Pleasure First." 

Eventually, I will include my amazing notes on Dickinson.

Artwork by Rachel, Audrey, Clare, Dani, Brooke, and Natasha (a feminist collection, I guess!)

*"Of All the Souls that Stand Elect" was the poem read at our wedding. :)