Poe, Edgar Allan. "Annabel Lee." PoemHunter.com. N.p. n.p. Web. 11 January 2011.
Summary: Whether Poe is speaking about a personal encounter or depicting one about another man, this poem is a heartfelt goodbye to true love with reassurance of being together in the future. In the poem, readers are taken back in time to a memory that the speaker is constantly reviewing in his head- a memory about youth and innocent love. As the speaker remembers his relationship with this girl called Annabel Lee, readers soon learn that she was taken ill, died, and was buried in a tomb by the sea. Through it all, the speaker endures pain and loneliness, but is able to find comfort, even at night, for love's light shines through the darkest sky.
Lastly, a piece wouldn't be considered Poe's if it didn't include some strange occurrence. At the end, readers are troubled by the last couple of lines when the speaker talks of sleeping by his maiden's corpse in her tomb. Whether this is realistic or hypothetical, the reader can determine his fate.
In Classroom Techniques: I first read this poem during my middle school years and fell in love with it. I had always been fond of Edgar Allen Poe and read a lot of his books, but I never really understood his poems until studying poetry in 6th grade. It was then that I was able to grasp what poetry really was and even gain a better perspective of who Poe was as a man.
I would like to use this piece when teaching English and helping my students understand the concept of analyzing poetry. When using this poem, I will have my students read the poem individually and try to interpret the meaning, as well as point out other important aspects. Because there is so much meaning behind the piece, my students who are on different reading levels would be able to interpret the lines differently, which would give the entire class more input and different understandings.
After the individual interpretations, students would meet up in groups and compare their meanings to other classmates. In my opinion, group work is a great way for students to gain different understandings from peers and may be open to a whole new realm of thinking. Each group can take in new information and write down additional notes as I walk around and try to push the groups in different directions with the strategy of scaffolding.
At the end, the entire class will have a discussion about the piece and will work together to pick it apart and analyze Poe's meaning behind it all. For homework, I will have my students take home another piece by Poe and try to take what they learned in class to analyze the new poem. Along with analyzing, they will write a summary about the piece and explain what they think the speaker was trying to get across.
Annabel Lee
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
7. Gifted Hands (When Teaching English)
Carson, Ben. Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story. Zondervan, 1996. Print.
Summary: This is the powerful tale of a young inner city boy who struggled in school and life, but managed to become the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins. Though life in the ghetto was hard to face, especially living with a mother who was uneducated, Dr. Carson was able to overcome all obstacles and become a renown surgeon who used his faith and miraculous abilities to perform one of the most challenging surgeries to date: the separation of conjoined twins.
In Classroom Techniques: When reading this story, I still manage to get goose bumps all over my arms. This powerful recollection of struggle, love, and success in important for all to read, especially my students who may come from similar backgrounds. While using this book, I would love to have a class discussion that simply allows my students to open up about the problems that Dr. Carson faced as a child and adult. To me, it's important for my students to be able to speak out and express their thoughts on something that we may read. As part of the lesson, my students will reflect on how the book might have influenced them and what similarities exist between Dr. Carson's life and their own. In this assignment, I want my students to be honest and expressive. This is a powerful book, so I want a powerful response. This can be written in essay form, or my students can some up with something creative, such as drawing or designing a video presentation.
Student usually enjoy Poe and you could challenge them to write their own spooky poem with rhythm. I've never heard of the above story, but it sounds like a powerful one. Students could also interview family members who have worked hard to succeed in their careers and then share them with the class.
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