Subject Areas |
Literature and Language Arts
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Poetry |
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Time Required |
| Two 45-minute classes |
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Skills |
| Reading and analyzing poetry
Identifying and analyzing rhythm and meter
Developing listening skills
Illustrating a concept or idea
Comparing poetic forms
Recognizing poetic devices
Distinguishing between poetic techniques and devices
Writing poetry |
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Additional Data |
| Date Created: 06/28/02 |
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Date Posted |
| 6/28/2002 |
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Edward Lear, Limericks, and Nonsense: There Once Was…
IntroductionBritish poet Edward Lear
(1812-1888) is most widely recognized as the father of the limerick form of poetry
and is well known for his nonsense poems. In this lesson, students will learn
the form of the limerick poem, practice finding the meter and rhyme schemes in
various Lear limericks, and write their own limericks. In
a related lesson,
Edward Lear, Limericks, and Nonsense: A Little Nonsense, which focuses on
Lear's nonsense poem "The Owl and the Pussy Cat," students learn about nonsense
poetry as well as the various poetic techniques and devices that poets use to
help their readers create a mental picture while reading or hearing poems. Guiding
Questions:Who was Edward Lear and what types of
poems did he write? What are the characteristics of a limerick? Learning
ObjectivesAfter completing the lessons in this unit,
students will be able to: - Recognize poetic devices including
rhyme, syllabification, and meter
- Identify the characteristics of a nonsense
poem and of a limerick
- Write their own limericks
Preparing
to Teach this Lesson- Review the lesson plan. Locate and bookmark suggested
materials and other useful websites. Download and print out selected documents
and duplicate copies as necessary for student viewing.
- Review the following
background information about Edward Lear, his work, and the limerick poem:
Edward
Lear (1812-1888) was an English landscape painter who became widely known for
writing nonsense verse and popularizing limericks. He remained, however, primarily
an artist and earned his living by drawing. Between 1832 and 1837, Lear came under
the patronage of the Earl of Derby while creating illustrations of the Earl's
private menagerie. He subsequently produced A Book of Nonsense, which is full
of limericks and illustrations, for the Earl's grandchildren in 1846. (Sources:
Drabble, Margaret and Stringer, Jenny. The Concise Oxford Companion to English
Literature. Oxford, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 1990. Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia
of Literature. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 1995.)
For more
information about Lear's life, see the Edward
Lear Chronology, available via a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website
Internet Public Library.
The 1861 version
of A Book of Nonsense
is available on the Edward Lear Home Page,
another link from Internet Public Library. (NOTE:
Lear's work is in the public domain.) Select a few limericks and illustrations
to print out and make copies for the students. Alternately, you can use a projection
device to display poems for the class. Recommended poems include: - Review the definition
of a limerick as a five-line poem with one couplet (a two-line, rhymed poem) contained
inside one triplet (a three-line, rhymed poem). The rhyme pattern is A, A, B,
B, A, with lines 1, 2 and 5 forming the triplet, and lines 3 and 4 forming the
couplet. Each line of the triplet has three beats, while each line of the couplet
has two.
Suggested Activities Download,
copy, and distribute to students the Edward Lear limericks that you have selected
from A Book of Nonsense
on the Edward Lear Home Page, a link
from the EDSITEment-reviewed website Internet Public
Library. Or, post the first limerick that you have selected on a projection
device for student viewing. You might want to start with "Old Man with a Beard,"
the first limerick on Edward
Lear, Book of Nonsense 1-10: There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, 'It is just as I feared! Two Owls and a Hen, Four Larks and
a Wren, Have all built their nests in my beard!' Ask the
class to comment on the illustration(s). If you are using "Old Man with a Beard,"
ask students to explain why the picture is unrealistic and absurd. Explain
to the class that this type of poem is called nonsense verse, which is humorous
or whimsical verse that contains absurd characters and actions. It is meant to
be fun. Have a student volunteer read the poem aloud. Tell the students
that this kind of nonsense poem is called a limerick. Ask the students which lines
rhyme (1,2 and 5; 3 and 4). Now display another poem of your choosing, or have
students turn to the next poem in their handout. Read it aloud, or have a volunteer
read it aloud. Again, ask the students which lines rhyme (1,2 and 5; 3 and 4).
Continue in this way until students see that all limericks have the same rhyme
scheme. Select another limerick. Divide the class into pairs. Have students
clap their hands to count out the meter. Assign one student the task of clapping
to your voice as you read the poem aloud and the other student the task of counting
the claps. Students should clap when you emphasize a word. Ask the students
how many claps were in each line (lines 1, 2 and 5: 3 claps; lines 3 and 4: 2
claps). The student pairs can switch jobs and try this exercise with a
few poems. They can read them to each other or follow along as you read. After
you have worked through a number of poems, ask students what they noticed about
the lines of the limericks. They should have found that all of the limericks had
the same number of claps. Explain that these claps are the meter of the
poem. Define meter as the pattern of poetry. Have students complete the
same exercise to find the syllables in the limericks. Lines 1, 2, and 5 each have
eight or nine syllables, and lines 3 and 4 each have five syllables. Have students
write limericks of their own. Review the features of a limerick: - Limericks
are nonsense verse.
- They have five lines.
- They have a rhyme
scheme of A, A, B, B, A (lines 1,2, and 5 rhyme; lines 3 and 4 rhyme).
- The
meter is 3, 3, 2, 2, 3.
- The syllabification is 8, 8, 5, 5, 8.
As
a class, complete the following limerick: There was a young lady
named Sue, Who could not locate her left ______; On one foot she ______.
She had to be _______. Her right foot became black and ____________. Have
students fill in the blanks (shoe, hopped, stopped, blue). For more practice,
you can create a limerick as a class, or use a Lear limerick and leave some empty
spaces for students to fill in, as above. Now have students write their
own limericks starting with the line, "There once was..." Remind them of the rhyme
scheme, meter, and syllabification requirements for a limerick. Students can illustrate
their limericks when they are finished. The students' work can be bound into a
"Class Book of Nonsense" and distributed to all students, or you can hang up all
of the limericks and illustrations on the bulletin board. Selected EDSITEment
Websites
Standards Alignment
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