National Poetry Month: Poem-a-Day

National Poetry Month is April and we can thank Poets.org for wonderful materials to help us celebrate. Visit their extraordinary website as a place to begin. Listen to a favorite poet, download lesson plans, find out whether there are any special events scheduled locally, and examine the National Poetry Map.

Day	Focus	Poem	Poet
1	Definition of Poetry	"Introduction to Poetry"	Billy Collins
2	Metapoetry	"I Am Offering This Poem"	Jimmy Santiago Baca
3	AP Prompts	"Blackberry Picking"	Seamus Heaney
4	Ekphrastic Poetry	"Musée des Beaux Arts"	W. H. Auden
5	Regular Verse	"Sympathy"	Paul Laurence Dunbar
6	Specificity	"Where I'm From"	George Ella Lyons
7	Modern Verse	"We Real Cool"	Gwendolyn Brooks
8	Theme	"We grow accustomed to the night--" "Acquainted with the Night"	Emily Dickinson Robert Frost
9	Extended Metaphor	"Cliché"	Billy Collins
10	Concrete Poetry (Calligrams)	"Easter Wings" and Others	George Herbert and Others
11	Dramatic Monologue	"My Last Duchess"	Robert Browning
12	Imagery	"Those Winter Sundays"	Robert Hayden
13	Sonnet	"Sonnet"	Billy Collins
14	Allusion	"Barbie Doll"	Marge Piercy
15	Metonymy and Synecdoche	"Part and Whole"	Rachel Hadas
16	Shakespearean (or English) Sonnet	"Love Is Not All"	Edna St. Vincent Millay
17	Petrarchan (or Italian) Sonnet	"The Illiterate"	William Meredith
18	Villanelle	"One Art"	Elizabeth Bishop
19	Flash Poetry	"Miss Charlotte Brown, Librarian, Goes Mad"	Felix Jung
20	In Memoriam	"Facing It"	Yusef Komunyakaa
21	Undressing a Poet	"Undressing Emily Dickinson"	Billy Collins
22	Heritage	"You Bring Out the Mexican in Me"	Sandra Cisneros
23	Personification	"Talking Myself to Sleep at One More Hilton"	John Ciardi
24	Connotation	"Traveling Through the Dark"	William Stafford
25	Symbolism	"Persimmons"	Li-Young Lee
26	Juxtaposition	"Advice to My Son"	Peter Meinke
27	Music	"Strange Fruit"	Abel Meeropol
28	Irony	"Who Burns for the Perfection of Paper"	Martin Espada
29	Local Color	"Driving in Oklahoma"	Carter Revard
30	Oddities	"The Disappearing Alphabet"	Richard Wilbur

I apologize if the line numbers on many of the selected poems don't quite line up correctly. Please just use them for reference in discussing the poems as I do not have the technical savvy to figure out how to make them align accurately. If you find any other errors -- from misspelled words to broken links, please notify me. Sandra Effinger mseffie@mac.com

	General Poetry Resources	Annotation
	Poetry Foundation	Site includes an online magazine, podcasts, blog, audiovisuals, recordings, reading guides, and pages dedicated to individual poets. Especially useful is Ed Hirsch's "How to Read a Poem."
	Poets.org	The Academy of American Poets sponsors National Poetry Month and offers extensive resources on individual poets, poems, and terms for study. Includes weekly spotlighted poets and poems, audio resources, extensive links, contests, and current events.
	Poetry Out Loud	Site for the national contest offers resources on popular poems and recordings of familiar favorites.
	Poetry 180	Poet laureate Billy Collins website with a poem a day, selected specifically for American high school students. Contemporary, exciting, accessible to all.
	Specific Poets	Annotation
	Borderlands Web Audio Project	Texas Poetry Review's audio project showcases nine contemporary poets introducing, discussing, and reading their poetry.
	Internet Poetry Archive	Focusing on only seven modern poets, this sites collects extensive audio resources, including interviews and recitations.
	Voices and Visions	This PBS website that accompanies the series includes annotated links and a short poetry video for thirteen of America's greatest poets. With a broadband connection, you can even view the programs online for free.
	Specialized Resources	Annotation
	American Life in Poetry	Under the guidance of Ted Kooser, former poet laureate, this site provides newspapers and online publications with a free weekly column featuring contemporary American poems. The poem in each column is brief, enjoyable and accessible. Each column can be downloaded in .pdf format.
	Artists for Literacy	The Sibl Project, sponsored by Artists for Literacy, offers innovative learning tools that foster literary and artistic appreciation, critical thinking, increased confidence, curiosity, and life-long learning. Annual contest honors songs inspired by literature.
	Atlantic Online: Audible Anthology	Not only does the Atlantic Monthly provide free access to all their wonderful contemporary poems, but they also have hundreds of audios -- poets reading their own poems aloud and soundings (multiple interpretations of famous poems).
	BBC Showcase of Visual Poetry	Wonderful resource for flash poetry, poetic interpretations, and other unusual video poetry resources. Also check out the Poetry Out Loud resources of poets reading their own poetry.
	Favorite Poem Project	Started by former US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, the Favorite Poem Project allows people to submit their favorite poems along with a personal story about why they chose the poem. Includes 50 videos.
	Poems That Go	The ultimate resource for Flash poetry. Also includes extensive links to other sites.
	Poetry Daily	A new poem every day -- online and/or by email.
	Poetry Society of America	Worth a visit, even if only for Poetry in Motion, its selection of Poetry Postcards and Posters. Includes resources for contests, chapbooks and more.
	Poetry Video Projects	Six years of student poetry videos from Communication Arts High School in San Antonio, Texas. Wow.
	Rock and Roll Hall of Fame	Great resource for anyone wanting o study musical lyrics as poetry. Includes more than 50 lessons.
	United States of Poetry	Thematically organized poems with links to some visual resources. Inspired by the PBS series.
	Wired for Books	Poetry Online from Wired includes recitations and interviews with contemporary poets.
	Just for Teachers	Annotation
	Dr. L. Kip Wheeler's Website	The best online resource for literary terms.
	Fooling with Words	Bill Moyers' PBS website based on the 20 poets who performed at the 1999 Dodge festival. Includes handouts, audio and video files.
	Poetry Project	Though not perfect, this fan site focuses on the connection between knowledge of poetry and writing poetry. Tips for students who want to write their own poetry.
	Poetry Teachers.com	Resource devoted mainly to ideas for teaching students to write poetry, but also includes some discussion of terms, major poets, etc.
	Ten for National Poetry Month	Ten National Poetry Month activities from Traci Gardner, founder of tengrrl and currently working with N.C.T.E. to revamp the Read/Write/Think website.

You may want to download the following handouts about poetry in general.

Quotes about Poetry -- Two pages of quotes about poetry to promote discussion
Poetry Terminology -- Seven pages covering poetry terms and forms
TP-CASTT for AP Analysis -- Usual format to guide poem analysis
TSP-FASTT and Terms -- Slightly adapted format with shortened term list
AP Poetry Prompts -- Literature and Composition Poetry Prompts from 1970 to 2009.
Also AP Poetry Prompts with the Poems (large file).
Quoting from a Poem -- Guidelines for quoting from a poem, with exercises
Poetry Scanning Worksheet -- Directions and exercises to help teach poetry scansion
Poetry Response Journals -- Fourteen literary response journal topics focused on poetry
Poetry Baker's Dozen Assignments -- thirteen assignments for thirteen student-selected poems
Poetry Is Contagious by Betsey Coleman -- Ideas for Student Poetry, Teacher Tips, and Bibliography
Poetry Essay Rubric -- Generic rubric for grading AP Style essays.
Poetry Explication -- Explication assignment and sample explication.
Poetry Is Dead -- My Turn essay from Newweek on poetry in everyday life.

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Updated 15 June 2009.