Framing Poetry

This is an elective, semester-long creative writing class. In developing a poetry unit, I wanted to provide examples of highly structured forms of poetry and have the students practice using those forms. Through the focus on the essential questions and discussions about the use of structure, I want the students to come to an understanding that structure serves purpose, and that the meaning of a poem is derived from structure, as well as content. In a well-written poem, structure and content work together as a cohesive whole to effectively communicate meaning and emotion