Used with permission: www.freefoto.comModule 4 Poetry Break: Spring Poem
Diana Stephens
Poetry 5663
“Bud” by Kristine O’Connell George
from Old Elm Speaks: Tree Poems, illustrated by Kate Kiesler
Introduction: Welcome back from Spring Break! Did you do any ‘Spring’ things? (Allow students to share.)
Before we can understand the poem I have for you today, we need to know some synonyms for “suitcase.” Can anyone think of a synonym for suitcase? Let’s look it up in the Thesaurus. Some synonyms are: traveling bag, valise, satchel, backpack, duffel bag. Some of these will be used in our poem.
Now please remember what we have been saying about figurative language. What is the name of the comparison that does not use ‘like’ or ‘as’? (Wait for the response: metaphor.) In this poem, the whole poem is a metaphor, so we call it an ‘extended metaphor.’ What two items are being compared in this poem? Listen while I read it the first time.
“Bud”
by Kristine O’Connell George, from Old Elm Speaks: Tree Poems
(Reader 1) A tiny velveteen satchel,
the color of pale cream,
(Reader 2) is perched on the tip
of this bare branch.
(Reader 1) Snap open the clasp—
and you will find,
inside this tiny valise,
(Reader 2) one rolled and folded
neatly packed
(All) leaf.
Extension: Let’s read it again, I need volunteers to be Readers 1 and 2.
What was the metaphor? (A tree bud is being compared to a valise/satchel/suitcase).
What else did you notice or like? Alliteration? (Yes: c, p, and l sounds.)
What quality do the satchel and the bud have in common? (They both open.) Because of that quality, a suitcase opens, and a tree bud opens, the poem’s author was able to make this beautiful poetic comparison.
Let’s brainstorm other items, or things that happen in spring. Make a bubble map with the word ‘spring’ in the center bubble. We can actually make our map look like a flower with petals all around it. Next, fill in the petals with words describing spring things.
Now for each spring thing word or phrase, think of several qualities: a color, or action that that thing has, and draw bubble extensions from it, and write the description or name of the quality inside those bubbles. Do that for several spring thing words.
Now think while looking at those qualities--if there is something else, something really different, some thing that has the same quality as you are looking at in one of your bubbles. If you can think of that differing quality or thing, you can now make an extended metaphor poem.
Look at the first line of our “Bud” poem. See how the author describes the bud, “A tiny velveteen satchel.” Can you use descriptive word to describe your thing? See if you can continue your description to make a poem that is an extended metaphor, ending it with the words that describe your original spring thing. When you are finished, go back and play with the spacing.
Good job! I’ll bet you didn’t think you could write an extended metaphor poem!
George, Kristine O’Connell. (1998) Old Elm Speaks. Illus. by Kate Kiesler. New York: Clarion Books.
Diana Stephens
Poetry 5663
“Bud” by Kristine O’Connell George
from Old Elm Speaks: Tree Poems, illustrated by Kate Kiesler
Introduction: Welcome back from Spring Break! Did you do any ‘Spring’ things? (Allow students to share.)
Before we can understand the poem I have for you today, we need to know some synonyms for “suitcase.” Can anyone think of a synonym for suitcase? Let’s look it up in the Thesaurus. Some synonyms are: traveling bag, valise, satchel, backpack, duffel bag. Some of these will be used in our poem.
Now please remember what we have been saying about figurative language. What is the name of the comparison that does not use ‘like’ or ‘as’? (Wait for the response: metaphor.) In this poem, the whole poem is a metaphor, so we call it an ‘extended metaphor.’ What two items are being compared in this poem? Listen while I read it the first time.
“Bud”
by Kristine O’Connell George, from Old Elm Speaks: Tree Poems
(Reader 1) A tiny velveteen satchel,
the color of pale cream,
(Reader 2) is perched on the tip
of this bare branch.
(Reader 1) Snap open the clasp—
and you will find,
inside this tiny valise,
(Reader 2) one rolled and folded
neatly packed
(All) leaf.
Extension: Let’s read it again, I need volunteers to be Readers 1 and 2.
What was the metaphor? (A tree bud is being compared to a valise/satchel/suitcase).
What else did you notice or like? Alliteration? (Yes: c, p, and l sounds.)
What quality do the satchel and the bud have in common? (They both open.) Because of that quality, a suitcase opens, and a tree bud opens, the poem’s author was able to make this beautiful poetic comparison.
Let’s brainstorm other items, or things that happen in spring. Make a bubble map with the word ‘spring’ in the center bubble. We can actually make our map look like a flower with petals all around it. Next, fill in the petals with words describing spring things.
Now for each spring thing word or phrase, think of several qualities: a color, or action that that thing has, and draw bubble extensions from it, and write the description or name of the quality inside those bubbles. Do that for several spring thing words.
Now think while looking at those qualities--if there is something else, something really different, some thing that has the same quality as you are looking at in one of your bubbles. If you can think of that differing quality or thing, you can now make an extended metaphor poem.
Look at the first line of our “Bud” poem. See how the author describes the bud, “A tiny velveteen satchel.” Can you use descriptive word to describe your thing? See if you can continue your description to make a poem that is an extended metaphor, ending it with the words that describe your original spring thing. When you are finished, go back and play with the spacing.
Good job! I’ll bet you didn’t think you could write an extended metaphor poem!
George, Kristine O’Connell. (1998) Old Elm Speaks. Illus. by Kate Kiesler. New York: Clarion Books.
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