Six Poems By Robert Frost: Teaching ActivitiesWith Links, Lessons, and Analysis

Six Poems By Robert Frost: Teaching ActivitiesWith Links, Lessons, and Analysis
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Frost Bitten

I felt great. I had just taught an amazing lesson on annotating poems. Students gave me high-fives as they walked out the door. Finally, they would be writing intelligent analysis in their poetry essays

My joy turned to horror as I read “This poem was awesome” 4,789 times. I cried, as stunned students snickered at my suffering. Seconds before peppering the class with heavy duty 24-gauge staples, I had an idea: maybe I should come up with a list of poems by Robert Frost with Robert Frost teaching activities instead. I put the stapler away, called my psychic, and canceled my free consultation.

I had work to do. I had to create a list of poems by Robert Frost along with a list of activities. Here’s what I came up with:

Teaching Poems by Robert Frost

Robert Frost Poems and Teaching Activities

  • “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”: Something tells me this poem is more than just stopping by woods on a snowy evening. Symbols abound. It makes an excellent poem for teaching mood: (1) Write “mood” on the board; (2) Write down several moods that may apply–lonely, creepy, dark, ominous, silent; (3) list key words that contribute to the mood. Focus on the rhyme scheme. Each stanza is connected to the next. Why? Is it the futility of trying to escape the past or the futility of trying to escape death? Have your students annotate this poem. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

  • “Nothing Gold Can Stay”: Students familiar with The Outsiders will recognize Frost’s pessimistic poem on the destiny of mankind, claiming that the world was created in its perfect form and has since deteriorated.

  • “The Road Not Taken”: Easily Frost’s most famous poems, it holds many meanings to many people. The poem is about choices. Here’s a good “The Road Not Taken” lesson plan.

This post is part of the series: Teaching Famous Poets

These famous poems by famous poets are excellent for high school and middle school. Each list comes with lesson ideas and links to the actual poem.

  1. A Teacher’s Guide to Poems by Langston Hughes
  2. A Teacher’s Guide to Poems by Robert Frost
  3. A Teacher’s Guide to Poems by Carl Sandburg
  4. Teaching Shel Silverstein Poems
  5. A Teacher’s Guide to Poems by Emily Dickinson