How to Read Poetry Like a Professor: A Quippy and Sonorous Guide to Verse

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Revisit ‘Crossing’”

In this activity, students will demonstrate their understanding of the strategies Foster advocates by creating an annotation of Jericho Brown’s poem “Crossing.”

Before reading Foster’s book, you offered your initial impressions of Jericho Brown’s poem “Crossing.” Now that you have studied Foster’s ideas, you should have more tools for understanding this work. In this activity, you will annotate Brown’s poem, using specific ideas from Foster’s book to draw meaning from this text.

Before You Begin

• Briefly review the key strategies Foster suggests for understanding poetry.
• Reread “Crossing” at least twice.

Annotate Brown’s Poem

Annotation means writing directly on the text: underline, circle, draw arrows, ask questions, define terms, write marginal comments, and so on. Really mark the text up as you “converse” with the poem and try to draw out its meaning.

• Your annotations should demonstrate your understanding of Foster’s ideas about how to read a poem. Use any consistent system that makes sense to you: You might circle interesting diction, underline key images, draw brackets around rhythmic patterns and arrows connecting repetitions, etc.
• Don’t skimp on the marginal notes: Your annotation should include keywords and brief phrases that share your observations and questions as you interact with the poem.
• Remember that your annotations are recording your own observations; do not consult outside sources as you work on this activity.

Reflect: Look back at the paragraph you wrote about this poem at the beginning of this unit. Write a new paragraph explaining how your understanding of the poem has shifted now that you have annotated using strategies from Foster’s book.

Teaching Suggestion: Although this activity can be completed with a partner or small group, you will obtain more accurate data about student growth by having students complete the activity individually, so that you can compare their work against their initial impressions of Brown’s poem. Students will either need printed copies of Brown’s poem or an understanding of how to create an annotation using a word processing program.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students who struggle with attention or reading fluency may be unreasonably burdened by the need to review Foster’s text; these students may benefit from a whole-class or small-group review of Foster’s key ideas before beginning work on this assignment. If you have students who will struggle to organize a system of annotations to use during this activity, you may wish to create a handout suggesting specific markings to use for various elements of the poem.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Several times in this text, Foster insists that poetry should be read aloud.

• What benefits does Foster believe the reader gets from reading poetry aloud? (topic sentence)
• Give at least three examples from different places in the text that support your interpretation of Foster’s argument.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on the relationship between reading poetry aloud and the historical origins of poetry.

2. Foster focuses his attention primarily on the context of canonical literature written in English.

• What is Foster’s reasoning for this focus? (topic sentence)
• Give at least three examples from different places in the text that support your interpretation of Foster’s reasoning.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on possible limitations of this approach.

3. One of Foster’s purposes as a writer is to increase the reader’s appreciation for poetry.

• Does Foster’s book accomplish this purpose for you personally? (topic sentence)
• Give at least three reasons for your answer, supporting each with a specific reference to Foster’s text.
• In your concluding sentence or sentences, comment on what you found most and least enjoyable about the experience of reading Foster’s book.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by textual details, and a conclusion.

1. Foster claims that most people are better served by reading poetry than by writing poetry themselves. Why does Foster believe there is a universal impulse toward poetry? What kind of poetry does he specifically think people should be reading? What qualifies as “reading” poetry, as far as Foster is concerned? What benefits does he believe derive from the reading of poetry? Why does he see this as more valuable than writing poetry, at least for most people? Do you see any flaws in this argument? Write an essay explaining and evaluating Foster’s argument for reading rather than writing poetry. Support your explanation and evaluation with evidence drawn from Foster’s text, making sure to cite any quoted material.

2. One of Foster’s key arguments is that the constraints that govern poetry are important. What does he say these constraints make possible for the writer? For the reader? What is his reasoning? Does he provide convincing examples to support his contentions? Write an essay explaining and evaluating Foster’s arguments about the significance of the rules around poetry. Support your explanation and evaluation with evidence drawn from Foster’s text, making sure to cite any quoted material.

3. Foster makes the argument that poetry requires a set of reading skills that are not required to the same extent in other forms of reading. What are these skills? What is his reasoning for making these claims, and does he provide convincing evidence to support his reasoning? Write an essay explaining and evaluating Foster’s arguments about the reading skills required by poetry. Support your explanation and evaluation with evidence drawn from Foster’s text, making sure to cite any quoted material.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which most accurately describes the structure of Foster’s text?

A) Syllogistic

B) Problem-solution

C) Chronological

D) Thematic

2. Which aspect of poetry does Foster spend the most time discussing?

A) Its construction

B) Its definition

C) Its history

D) Its purpose

3. Which poet does Foster use as an example of how dialect can form a part of a poem’s musicality?

A) Robert Frost

B) Geoffrey Chaucer

C) Marianne Moore

D) Langston Hughes

4. Which poet does Foster credit with the “iambic foundation” of English closed-form poetry?

A) Robert Frost

B) Geoffrey Chaucer

C) Marianne Moore

D) Langston Hughes

5. Which is not a claim that Foster makes about great poetry?

A) It focuses on simple but powerful imagery.

B) It conveys truths about heightened moments of human experience.

C) It requires more creativity from the reader than do other forms of literature.

D) It can change who we are as human beings.

6. Which of the following statements best supports the theme of English Poetry in Particular? 

A) English is the most beautiful language in the world.

B) Only English has different dialects in poetry.

C) English has a unique linguistic heritage.

D) Only English poets use syllabic verse.

7. Which of the following statements best supports the theme of Creativity Within Constraints?

A) Only free verse poetry can use certain constraints to amplify meaning.

B) Even free verse poetry can use certain constraints to amplify meaning.

C) Only free verse poetry can dispense with historical context.

D) Even free verse poetry can use highly rigid structures.

8. Which poet does Foster repeatedly cite as an example of playful and creative uses of language?

A) E. E. Cummings

B) Seamus Heaney

C) Dante

D) Robert Browning

9. Which is not an aspect of poetry that Foster discusses in detail?

A) Rhythm and meter

B) Rhyme

C) Associative movement

D) Diction

10. Which is the most accurate summary of Foster’s ideas about historical context?

A) It is irrelevant, because the “speaker” of a poem is an ahistorical creation, not a real person.

B) It creates expectations the author is trying to respond to but need not impact a reader’s interpretation.

C) It is part of an ongoing dialectic in which authors push back against earlier ideas before partially accepting them.

D) It shapes a poem’s composition and should also inform a reader’s approach to a poem.

11. Which is the most accurate summary of Foster’s ideas about the sources of good poetry?

A) Good poetry continues to be written today, but it should not be confused with popular forms like songs and performance poetry.

B) Good poetry largely originates within the academy and tends to be written in closed forms.

C) Good poetry comes in a wide range of forms and is written by poets from a wide range of backgrounds.

D) Good poetry is any poetry that stirs emotions and expresses universal truths about the human experience.

12. Which form of poetry does Foster focus most of his attention on?

A) Lyric

B) Narrative

C) Epic

D) Free verse

13. Which of the following statements would Foster be most likely to agree with?

A) Poetry written in English is superior to poetry written in other languages.

B) Poetry is best understood within the historical context of the language it is written in.

C) English speakers are unable to appreciate poetry written in other languages.

D) Poetry is a universal form that transcends the boundaries of specific languages.

14. Which of the following statements would Foster be most likely to agree with?

A) Writing poetry, however amateurish, is a necessary precursor to understanding others’ poetry.

B) Writing poetry is part of a universal impulse toward self-expression and benefits mental health more than does reading others’ poetry.

C) Most people benefit more from reading great poems than from trying to write poetry themselves.

D) Most people find literary poetry too intimidating and benefit more from reading and writing popular forms of poetry.

15. Which of the following statements would Foster be most likely to agree with?

A) Poetry written in free verse is generally more playful and creative than poetry written in more traditional closed forms.

B) The artificial rules of poetic forms often interfere with the reader’s creative interpretation of poetry.

C) Because of the constraints of the form, creativity in poetry happens more in the reader’s interpretive process than in the writing.

D) Poetic creativity sometimes flourishes most in the presence of the artificial constraints of the form.

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating textual details to support your response.

1. How is Foster’s definition of poetry related to his beliefs about what “good” poetry is?

2. How does Foster’s discussion of poetry acknowledge diversity in both the sources of English and its modern dialects?