This is a suggested teaching schedule for a 10 day class study of the poetry of Emily Dickinson. Lesson plans and handouts can be downloaded individually by clicking on the name of the file in the schedule below. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view these files.
Audio Guide CDs are available only for the communities participating in The Big Read. If your community is participating, contact the lead community organization to receive a free Audio Guide CD. Non-participating communities can listen to the full audio online.
Day One
FOCUS: Word Choice and the Value of a Dictionary
Day One Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Discuss Emily Dickinson’s poem “A Route of Evanescence.” Have students create their own four-line poetic riddles.
Homework: Read “Emily Dickinson, 1830–1886” (pp. 4–6) and “The Publication of Dickinson’s Poetry” (p. 10) in the Reader’s Guide. Read three poems by Dickinson: “Fame is the one that does not stay–,” “Fame is a fickle food,” and “Success is counted sweetest.”*
Day Two
FOCUS: Biographical Criticism
Day Two Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Examine Dickinson’s life. Discuss her poems on fame and success.
Homework: Read Handout One: Emily Dickinson and the Victorian “Woman Question.” Read three poems: “They shut me up in Prose –,” “I dwell in Possibility –,” and “Crumbling is not an instant’s Act.”
Day Three
FOCUS: The Speaker of a Poem
Day Three Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Discuss Dickinson’s use of persona in contrast to her autobiographical poems.
Homework: Read “Dickinson’s Poetry” (pp. 8–9) in the Reader’s Guide, and her poems “The Moon is distant from the Sea–” and “After great pain a formal feeling comes–.”
Day Four
FOCUS: Imagery and Personification
Day Four Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Discuss Dickinson’s use of nature imagery and personification to help readers visualize sensory experiences.
Homework: Read “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers–,” “There is no Frigate like a Book,” and “Tell all the truth but tell it slant–.”
Day Five
FOCUS: Figurative Language
Day Five Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Discuss Dickinson’s use of seemingly unrelated objects and feelings, and the contrast between light and darkness in “Tell all the truth but tell it slant–.”
Homework: Read “Before I got my eye put out –” and “Because I could not stop for Death –.”
Day Six
FOCUS: Rhythm and Meter
Day Six Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Discuss the way some of Dickinson’s poems employ the patterns of nineteenth-century hymns. Listen to a CD of hymns and “sing” two of her poems. Consider contemporary songs that follow fixed forms.
Homework: Read “A little East of Jordan,” “Come slowly – Eden!,” and “All overgrown by cunning moss.” Look up at least three words from the poems. Read “From The Gardens of Emily Dickinson” (pp. 12–13) in the Reader’s Guide.
Day Seven
FOCUS: Allusion
Day Seven Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Discuss Dickinson’s biblical references in “A little East of Jordan.”
Homework: Read “Now I knew I lost her –,” “Wild nights – Wild nights!,” and “You left me – Sire – two Legacies.” Then read Handout Two: Wild Legacies, and the short essay “The Homestead and The Evergreens” (p. 7) in the Reader’s Guide.
Day Eight
FOCUS: Analyzing a Poem’s Context
Day Eight Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Discuss two of Dickinson’s poem cycles: the “Sue cycle” and the “Master cycle,” both of which passionately articulate—in both obvious and subtle ways—her experience with love and loss.
Homework: Read “This World is not conclusion,” “I know that He exists,” and “Forever – is composed of Nows –.” Then read Handout Three: Dickinson’s Final Sorrows.
Day Nine
FOCUS: Poetry and Ideas
Day Nine Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Discuss Dickinson’s “flood subject,” immortality, and the way in which her faith sustained her through suffering and sorrow.
Homework: Students will begin working on their essays. Drafts are due next class period.
Day Ten
FOCUS: What Makes a Poet Great?
Day Ten Lesson Plan [PDF]
Activities: Explore the qualities of a great poet. Write a short essay that explains how Dickinson directs our attention to the beauty of nature, the depth of emotions, and the possibility of immortality.
Homework: Students should complete their essays.
* Most poems cited in this guide are on the Poetry Foundation’s Poetry Tool. A biography and bibliography are also available there.
