When teaching poetry, it is often helpful to refresh or introduce students with technical words. Terms like “metaphor", "stanza", "alliteration", "personification", "imagery", "rhyme scheme", "apostrophe", and "assonance" are a few important terms.
After you have read the poem, ask your students to do a scavenger hunt using the Storyboard Creator. Give them the list again and have them create a storyboard that depicts and explains the use of each literary element in the poem! They will have an absolute blast and gain mastery of the words.
| DESCRIPTION | EXAMPLE | |
|---|---|---|
| Heroic Couplet | A set of two rhyming lines typically found at the end of the poem | "Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain/ May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train." |
| End Rhyme | Words at the end of a line that rhyme with words at the end of other lines. | "land” & “understand”; “too” & “knew”; and “eye” & “die" |
| Personification | Giving human-like characteristics to non-human objects or abstract ideas | In the poem Wheatley personifies “mercy” by saying it brought her to America. Mercy did not physically carry her across an ocean, but it was metaphorically responsible for her journey. |
(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)
Student Instructions
Create a storyboard that shows four examples of literary elements in "On Being Brought from Africa to America".