Lesson 44: Literary Analysis and Original Poem: Draft Poem

Place students with an elbow partner and remind them to keep their journals open for a quick jot before sharing.

Think-Pair-Share

• Say: In the previous lesson, we polished our analysis so we could explain how LaRocca’s images and symbols do meaningful “work” in her poems. Today, we are flipping that analysis work around and applying the same craft moves we identified to our own poetry. The performance task asks you not only to analyze how a poem works, but also to compose one of your own poems using images or symbols to convey personal meaning.

Say these Directions: Take a moment to read the question below, and jot down one idea. Then, share your idea with a partner. Partner A shares first for 30 seconds, Partner B builds on that idea for 30 seconds, and then we will share strong examples as a class.

• Ask: Which image or symbol from this unit has stayed with you, and what makes it uniquely suited for the message(s) it conveys?

  • The image that stays with me is blood as a river because it carries more than one idea at the same time. It shows life moving through the body, but it also starts to feel dangerous when Reha’s blood is personified as a “betrayer.” If LaRocca just said illness, the poem would lose that feeling of something powerful inside you turning against you.

Connection to Today's Learning:

• Say: Previously, you analyzed how LaRocca uses a single image or symbol to express meaning in a powerful way. Now you'll do the same thing as a writer: choose one image or symbol to represent an aspect of your own life or experience. This image will act as the anchor for your own poem.

Language Study

Say these Directions: Today we are studying how to tell whether an image or symbol is earning its place in a poem. A strong image is specific, connects to the poem’s deeper meaning, and is hard to replace without losing something important. Read the following lines from “Search for my Tongue:”

Display these lines from “Search for my Tongue:”

Target Lines:

“ It grows back, a stump of a shoot,

grows longer, grows moist, grows strong veins, it ties the other tongue in knots.”

Teach: Testing Whether a Symbol Earns Its Place

• Say: In Bhatt’s poem, the symbol of the tongue represents not only speech and language; it also represents previously suppressed identity.

• Say: Now I test the image by swapping it out in my head. If I replace tongue with language, the meaning stays, but the effect weakens. That tells me the symbolic image is earning its place. When you choose an image or a symbol for your own poem, you want it to pass that same “test,” where the poem would lose something important if the image or symbol were to be replaced.

Display the table below.

• Say: Here are a list of questions you can use to evaluate a symbol:

• Ask: What does the symbol tongue let Bhatt show that a more general word like language would not?

  • Tongue lets Bhatt connect language to the body, so losing one’s original language feels physical and painful instead of only emotional. In the part where the tongue grows back like a shoot, the poem shows one’s original language and identity returning as something alive. If she only said “language,” the poem would lose that strong feeling of identity growing back.

Connection to Today's Learning:

• Say: Now you’re going to use this same test (what the image shows and what would be lost if replaced) to choose the strongest image for your own poem.

Part A: Pick the Image That Does the Work (W.7.3.d) (12 minutes)

Think-Pair-Share

Teach: Testing a Mentor Image Before You Write

• Say: In LaRocca’s poems, an image like blood or river matters because it holds several meanings at once, including life, fear, family, and loss. In “Search for My Tongue,” the tongue also carries multiple layers because it is body, language, and identity all together. So my test is simple: if I remove this image, does the whole poem lose something important? If the answer is yes, I know the image is doing real work. That is the same test you will use for your own poem today.

Say these Directions: Complete steps 1 and 2 with partner and Step 3 independently:

1. Choose one LaRocca poem we have studied closely. First, decide which one image or symbol carries the most weight in that poem.

2. Next, compare it to the symbol of the tongue in Bhatt’s poem by explaining what each image or symbol lets the poet do, what would be lost if another image replaced it, and whether each image earns its place. As you listen to your partner, be ready to name one idea they shared that explains what the image or symbol accomplishes.

3. Work independently in your journal and think about your own life: name one connection from your own life that matters to you, list five possible images or symbols for that connection, circle the one that is most specific to you, and then freewrite for three minutes about what that image or symbol can show or represent. Choose an image that can carry more than one meaning and can anchor your poem.

• Ask: In your chosen LaRocca poem, which image or symbol carries the most weight, and what makes it meaningful?

  • In “The River,” the image of blood as a river carries the most weight because it shows motion, danger, and life all at once. It is the right image because a river can carry you, but it can also overwhelm you, which matches Reha’s fear and loss of control.

• Ask: Which of your possible images or symbols feels most specific to you, and what job could it do in your poem? What meaning could it carry beyond the object itself?

  • The most specific image for me is my grandfather’s old key ring because it jingles before he even comes into the room. It could do the job of showing safety and routine without me having to say I feel safe around him, and it also shows how I recognize him before I see him.

Part B: Draft and Refine the Poem (W.7.3.d, W.7.3.e, W.7.4) (18 minutes)

Rehearse & Refine

• Say: When I draft a poem, I stay close to the symbolic image and let details gather around it, almost like the image is pulling the poem forward. If my image is clear and strong enough, I can show the reader a sound, shape, smell, or movement instead of simply naming the feeling.

• Say: Then I read each line aloud to check whether my phrases and clauses are attached clearly to the right idea. In free verse, the lines may be short, but the thinking still has to be clear. A strong poem sounds intentional, not random.

Display the following writing model if needed for support and guidance

Model poetic verse:

The pressure cooker whistle

cuts through math homework

from the kitchen,

sharp as the text tone on my phone.

Before I smell cumin,

I know my grandmother is here.

The whistle means rice, yes,

but also her bracelets tapping the stove,

her voice calling my name twice,

the second time softer.

If dinner came in silence,

the house would just be a house.

With that small silver cry,

it becomes ours.

• Ask: Where is the image most effective in the writing model, and what does it help the reader understand?

  • The image is most effective at the end when the whistle changes the house from just a building into something shared and personal. That moment shows that the whistle means belonging, not only cooking.

• Ask: Where does the writing model tell something instead of showing it, and how could the writer revise that line?

  • The line “I know my grandmother is here” tells the idea directly. The writer could replace it with another sensory detail, like a sound or movement, to show it instead.

• Say: Because this is a narrative poem, your reader needs to understand who is speaking and what moment the poem begins inside.

  • Step 1: Decide who the speaker of your narrative poem is. Will the poem be told by you, a version of yourself, a persona, or an outside observer?

  • Step 2: decide what the speaker already understands and what they are still discovering by the end of the poem.

  • Step 3: In the first one-2 lines, orient the reader to the moment. Where is the speaker? What experience, relationship, memory, or moment is beginning to unfold?

Teach: Drafting Around One Anchor Image

Say: You will have about 10 minutes to draft and 5-8 minutes for peer feedback. Follow this checklist:

• Draft your poem in your journal.

• Your chosen image or symbol must appear at least once and do real work, which means it should help the reader understand or feel the meaning instead of just “decorating” the poem.

• Use precise words, descriptive details, and sensory language to capture the experience and action clearly for the reader.

• As you draft, replace at least one general word with a more precise one and add at least one sensory detail that grounds the image in a real experience.

After you draft, read your poem aloud quietly to yourself. Check:

• Did I use one anchor image?

• Did I show the connection instead of just naming it?

• Did I return to the image to deepen its meaning?

Teach: Rereading Your Poem for Pace

• Say: In a narrative poem, pacing changes how a moment feels to the reader. Sometimes writers slow down to let an image, sound, or action land. Sometimes they move more quickly between moments using shorter lines or stanza breaks. Narrative poems also guide readers through shifts in time, place, memory, or emotional focus.

• Say: As you reread your poem:

  • mark one place where description slows the moment down,

  • mark one place where the poem moves more quickly,

  • check whether your details show the experience instead of only explaining it.

• Say: Then reread the ending:

  • Does the final image carry a deeper meaning by the end?

  • Does the speaker realize, understand, or feel something differently?

  • Does the conclusion follow naturally from the experiences earlier in the poem?

  • Are my phrases and clauses clear?

• If needed, revise the final 2–3 lines so the poem reflects on the experience, not just describes it.

Teach: Giving Feedback

Say these Directions: Share your poem in a group of three. Listeners will use the Peer Feedback Form to name where the image is most effective and where the poem could show more and tell less. Be ready to share one line from your partner’s poem and explain what the image accomplishes.

When giving feedback, also identify:

• one place where the poem slows down effectively,

• one place where the poem shifts in time, setting, or focus,

• and whether the ending reflects on the speaker’s experience.

When giving feedback, use language from the Literacy Lab, such as:

“This image earns its place because . . .”

“If you replaced this image with . . ., the poem would lose . . .”

Have students reflect on how specific lines or images strengthen their poem.

Quick Write

Say these Directions: Look back at your poem draft and choose two specific lines or symbolic image details. Explain how those two places help your image or symbol earn its place in the poem, and name one line you still want to revise so it shows more and tells less.

• One place my image earns its place is when I describe the key ring hitting the door because that sound shows my grandfather arriving without me having to explain it. Another place is the line about the keys smelling like cold air and engine oil because that detail makes the connection feel real and personal. I still want to revise the line “he makes me feel safe” so I can show that feeling through another action or sound instead.

Scoring Rubric

The Performance Task Rubric is located on the second page of the Performance Task Handout

Instruct students to revise their poem in their Journal. Students should complete the following:

• Add at least one line where your image or symbol returns or evolves.