Introduction
Hello and welcome to our exciting exploration of Sylvia Plath!
Sylvia Plath was an influential female poet of the 1950's whose work is still enjoyed today. She challenged a lot of what was considered social norms for women and is regarded as one of the earliest feminists. She struggled with social roles and depression, and her work tends to have many many layers.
In this webquest, you are going to learn about Sylvia Plath and read a sampling of her work.
Task
For this assignment, you will be reading three to five of Sylvia Plath's poems and analyze one of them.
Process
First, follow the links to read the poems selected as well as some background on Plath's life,
Then, you will choose one poem that you've read and write a one page evaluation of what you take away from it.
Who Sylvia Plath is:
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/sylvia-plath
On the Difficulty of Conjuring up a Dryad:
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse/90/4#!/20586619
Ariel:
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/178962
Lady Lazarus:
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/178961
Two Sisters of Persephone:
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse/89/4#!/20586389
Nick and the Candlestick:
Evaluation
| What It Is |
Excellent! 25 to 20 points |
Good Job! 15 to 19 points |
Let's Talk About It 18 points or less |
| Reflection | Clear understanding of what the poem is, analysis of what the poem means, and reflection on why or why not you liked the poem | Good grasp of what the poem is, clear ability to understand the poem's meaning or to at least try to undersand, reflection on why or why not you liked the poem | No attempt to understand the poem's meaning, no attempt to analysis the poem, no reflection |
| Use of Web Tools | Clearly used the sources provided, did research outside what was listed | Used only the sources provided | Didn't use the sources provided at all |
Conclusion
Closure will be completed when the students turn in their reflection on Plath's poetry. The results - including the general feelings of the poems in question - will be shared on the teacher's website for other teachers to look at.
Credits
Links listed are from the Poetry Foundation and can be found at www.poetryfoundation.org for additional resources.
Teacher Page
Notes for Teachers:
This lesson is called "The Poetry of Sylvia Plath" and is meant for 9th grade English Literature students. It should take about three days for them to complete, and is meant to give them a head start into the research of Plath for the poetry unit we're working on. Thinking objectives are for students to read and analyze and then evaluate what a poem is.
For adaptations, students can do this for any poet on the Poetry Foundation website and can also write an over view of the poet in question, with sources found at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/ .