Inspiring Aids for Teaching Poetry: Poetry Memorization Videos

Here are some inspiring aids for teaching Poetry: Poetry Memorization Videos!

Inspiring Aids for Teaching Poetry: Poetry Memorization Videos

In the old days, children (from elementary through high school) would memorize poetry at school. There were several reasons for this:

• Poetry memorization helps young people strengthen their mental stamina
• Poetry memorization helps build vocabulary and word usage skills
• Poetry memorization helps pass on cultural values and ideas
• Poetry memorization helps build knowledge and understanding of literature

So many people grew up memorizing poetry back in the old days, that they could drop poetry lines in conversation to add meaning and depth to what they were trying to say. Have you ever read any of the delightfully fun Jeeves and Wooster novels by P.G. Wodehouse? The main character, Bertie Wooster, was a truly airheaded 1920s British gentleman but was so steeped in poetry memorization that famous lines were sprinkled throughout his conversation. He wasn’t capable of being *snooty*, poetry memorization was simply a way of life. (If you and your teens haven’t ever had the fun of reading Jeeves and Wooster novel, try Right Ho, Jeeves and do our literature study guide to accompany the book. You will both LOVE it!)

One of my homeschool high schoolers’ favorite memories is our field trip (with our co-op) to the Statue of Liberty.

They had worked together to memorize The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus (the poem etched on the Statue of Liberty). There is something intensely profound for our teens about capturing in their own voices, the essence of our nation’s character while they were standing at the foot of one of the most important symbols for our nation.

This memory helped guide homeschool graduate and now a middle school teacher, Ezra Tillman, to create poetry memorization tools for his students. Ezra created illustrated videos with selected poems set to music. (Music is an excellent memorization tool.) His students love these videos!

Ezra has shared these poetry videos on YouTube so your homeschoolers can memorize classic poetry as well. Currently there are 5 illustrated poems set to music with more on the way. You can watch them by clicking the links here or download our freebie pdf with all the links embedded.

Inspiring Aids for Teaching Poetry: Links to YouTube videos and aids that help students memorize or learn about favorite poems.

Poem Memorization Songs

• 1. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost (Memorization Song)
• 2. O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman (Memorization Song)
• 3. No Man Is an Island by John Donne (Memorization Song)
• 4. New Colossus by Emma Lazarus (Statue of Liberty Poem Memorization Song)
• 5. The Wind by Robert Louis Stevenson (Memorization Song)
• 6. New Colossus – Statue of Liberty Poem (Memorization Song)
• 7. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth (Memorization Song)
• 8. Ozymandias by Percy Shelley (Poem Memorization Song)
• 9. “Hope” is the thing with feathers – by Emily Dickinson (Memorization Song)
• 10. Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare (Memorization Song)
• 11. A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Memorization Song)
• 12. An Hymn to the Evening by Phillis Wheatley
• 13. If by Rudyard Kipling
• 14. On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer – by John Keats
• 15.Pippa’s Song by Robert Browning
• 16. Destruction of Sennacherib – by Lord Byron
• 17. The Ecchoing Green by William Blake
• 18. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening – Robert Frost
• 19. Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson

Are your homeschool high schoolers unfamiliar with or intimidated by poetry?

You will be a blessing to them when you help expand their world with poetry. 7Sisters can help! We noticed years ago that many young people enter high school with no poetry experience, so we developed poetry guides that ease them into the fun and richness of poetry without boring, insulting or intimidating them.

Here is a suggested way to ease them into poetry:

Start with Introduction to Poetry Writing.

Introductory Guide to High School Poetry Writing is a 5-week e-workbook that assumes a teen has had little or no experience with poetry writing. With brief, friendly-toned lessons (and NO busywork included), this e-text is designed for independent learning or for use in a co-op. 

Topics covered include:

• Poetic language
• Diamontes
• Idioms
• Alliteration and form
• More poetic language

Explore poetry and give your homeschooling teen an opportunity for fun and growth in word power!

Click here to view an excerpt from Introductory Guide to High School Poetry Writing.

The next year follow with Intermediate Poetry Writing.

Intermediate Guide to High School Poetry Writing is a 6-week, 45-page downloadable pdf workbook. It is easy to use so a student could follow the process even if he or she does not have a teacher who is experienced in writing poetry. This e-text is written in a friendly manner, conversational in tone, and can be used independently or with a co-op.

Topics covered include:

• Introduction to poetry
• Idioms and Tom Swifties
• Shape poems
• Haiku
• Stanzas
• Basic rhyme patterns
• Basic meters
• Free verse

The third year, add to your homeschool high schooler’s poetry skills and fun with Advanced Poetry Writing.

Advanced Guide to High School Poetry Writing is a 5-week, 50-page downloadable PDF. Teens enjoy learning to capture the poetic ideas of:

• Theme
• Tone
• Symbolism
• Sound
• Rhythm

Explore poetry and give your homeschooling teen an opportunity for fun and growth in word power!

Also, sparkle-up your homeschool high schoolers’ Literature and/or History courses with the addition of these poetry units. These can also be used when leveling-up the credit in these courses. Click these links to learn about how to create rigorous levels, such as Honors level, for the homeschool transcript.

Inspire your teens to enjoy their American Literature and History with American Poetry Reading and Writing.

American Poetry: Reading and Writing captures the essence of American culture through our history BUT not in a stuffy, boring format.

During this five-week tour of American poetry, homeschool high schoolers will get a taste of:

• fun poetry
• serious poetry
• poetry from Americans of various ethnic backgrounds

“Don’t kill the topic by busywork” is the motto of this course. In this 26 page, 5-week course, young people will complete one quick lesson each day, 4 days per week. Here are the topics (with reading and writing in each area) they will cover:

• Week 1: Fun Poetry
• Week 2: Native American Poetry
• Week 3: Early American Poetry
• Week 4: Poetry That Tells a Story
• Week 5: African-American Poetry

Teens will read short selections of poetry and try their hands at writing some fun and some inspirational poetry and gain an understanding of our poetic roots. Click here for a free excerpt of American Poetry: Reading and Writing.

I say! Have some fun with British Poetry Study Guide.

British poetry is the roots of American poetry. Some British poetry is way too stuffy or complex for teens to enjoy (or benefit from). This guide in 7Sisters’ no-busywork format, helps homeschool high schoolers to get a sampling of great British poets (religious and secular) without snooty poems. Some of the poets included in this 22-page poetry guide are:

• George Herbert
• William Cowper
• William Blake
• Gerard Manley Hopkins
• Rudyard Kipling
• Percy Bysshe Shelley
• Robert Browning
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning
• Christina Rosetti
• Alfred, Lord Tennyson
• Sir Walter Scott
• William Butler Yeats
• Lewis Carroll
• Robert Burns

This guide introduces poetic vocabulary and guides students with questions that will help them to experience and appreciate each poem without feeling overwhelmed or confused.

Click here to view an excerpt from British Poetry Study Guide.

Enhance your homeschool high schoolers’ World History and/or World Literature courses with World History: Reading and Writing.

One powerful way to truly learn about another culture is to read a little of its literature. Through World Poetry: Reading and Writing, teens’ eyes open to different perspectives and get a glimpse into some cultures around the world.

Homeschoolers will read famous examples of each type of poetry, then write their own poems in each style.

• Poetry of Korea: Sijo
• Poetry of Japan: Haiku, Senryu, and Tanka
• Poetry of Persia, Middle East, and Northern Africa: Ghazal
• Fun Poetry of Europe: Limericks
• Poetry of Israel: Psalms

In this 32-page, 5-week course, young people will complete one quick lesson each day, 4 days per week.

Bless your homeschool high schoolers with the gift of poetry!