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Lesson 7

We will closely read and analyze “The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I read a poem with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension?

  • Can I express an accurate understanding of the central ideas of texts?

  • Can I analyze how an author’s perspective influences the position, purpose, and ideas of a text?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe, Penguin Random House, 1994
  • Unit Reader
    • “The Second Coming,” William Butler Yeats, Public Domain, 1919

Materials

There are no materials for this Lesson.

Activity 1: Discuss

We will read a poem by William Butler Yeats.

Individually, read the poem “The Second Coming.” Note any initial thoughts, questions, or points of confusion in the margin.

Activity 2: Read

We will listen to the poem “The Second Coming.”

Listen as your teacher or one of your peers read "The Second Coming." As you listen, underline five or six lines that you think are important.

Listen to the poem again. This time, read the lines you underlined aloud as your teacher reads.

Discuss the following question:

  1. What do you notice about the lines that students read aloud? Did any of you choose the same lines?

Debrief with a partner or in a small group by answering the following questions:

  1. Why did you choose your lines?

  2. If you chose the same lines as a peer, why do you think that was the case?

Activity 3: Write

We will write about “The Second Coming.”

Select one line from the poem and do a 5-minute quick-write in response to some or all of the following questions:

  1. What stood out to you in the line you chose? Why did you choose that line?

  2. Based on the line you chose, what connections can you make and what questions do you have about the poem?

Activity 4:

We will connect “The Second Coming” to Things Fall Apart.

Discuss the following questions in your small group:

  1. How do the lines each of you chose connect to Things Fall Apart or other material from this unit?

  2. Where does the poem diverge from the other materials we have discussed in this unit?

  3. What new questions do you have after reading “The Second Coming”?