A. Read and Analyze Structure: “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” – RL.7.5 (20 minutes)

• Review appropriate learning target relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson:

“I can analyze how the structure of ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’ contributes to its meaning.”

• Inform students that in this lesson and the next two that follow they will be practicing their poetry analysis skills, reading works from the Harlem Renaissance to understand how poets craft their work to provide meaning and develop themes.
• Ask students to retrieve their copies of the anchor text, One Last Word, and open to the poem on page 65, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes. Explain that the term “negro” was used by both blacks and whites at the time this poem was written, but that it is now considered an outdated and offensive term and should not be used except when referring to the title of this poem. Help students understand that language often evolves over time, as we come to new understandings and perspectives.
• Explain that students will read the poem several times through before analyzing it. Read the poem aloud, asking students to close their eyes and listen. Read the poem aloud a second time, asking students to follow along. Finally, read the poem aloud chorally as a class.
• Distribute the Analyze Poetry note-catcher. Tell students that just as with the songs they listened to, they will be paying close attention to the figurative language that poets use to create meaning, but they will also focus on other aspects of poetry, which this note-catcher will help them with.
• Explain the design of the note-catcher: In the first section, they will list the title of the poem and the poet’s name. After they have read or heard the poem several times, they will discuss their first impressions with a partner. Then in the first row of the chart, students will record the gist of the poem to ensure their understanding. In the next row, they will note observations on the structure of the poem as well as examples of figurative language. At the bottom of the chart, they will record a theme. On the lines below the chart, they will write a paragraph about how the poet uses structure and figurative language to develop theme. Finally, they will have space to discuss the connections to other works they’ve read in the Harlem Renaissance.
• Read aloud the poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” again, asking students to read along chorally. Invite students to Turn and Talk to a partner about their first impressions of the poem, including the gist, what they notice, and what they wonder.
• Tell students that a narrator of a poem, the person “speaking” the words we read, is called the “speaker.” Poems are often written in the first person, but readers don’t assume that it is necessarily the poet speaking. Since the speaker is often not identified by name, when readers discuss poetry they refer to the speaker of the poem.
• Ask students to Think-Pair-Share:

“What is the subject of the poem?” (The poet talks about knowing different rivers through history.) 

• Ask students to Think-Pair-Share about what else they notice about how the poem is written.

“Is there anything notable about how the lines are arranged or how the lines relate to each other?” (Most of the lines are grouped together. Some of them are indented. Two lines are set apart, and the last line is by itself.)

• Ask students to Turn and Talk to discuss what they already know about the ways poets structure their poems, including any lines that are grouped together.
• Confirm for students that the lines grouped together in a poem are called a stanza. Sometimes the lines rhyme, and sometimes they don’t, but organizing lines into stanzas usually helps to develop a larger thought, much in the way that paragraphs work in stories or informational articles. The way the poet chooses to arrange lines in the poem—including whether and how they rhyme, if certain lines repeat, and whether they’re grouped into stanzas—is called the poem’s structure. Explain to students that poets have many ways to structure a text in terms of stanzas or using rhyming lines. In addition, how the poet arranges the ideas within a stanza is a part of structure. All of these aspects of structure help poets develop the meaning and theme of a poem in the same way that writers of stories and informational texts use structure to develop their texts. 
• Inform students that there are also common forms that poetry can take, and these include specific kinds of structures, such as using a certain number of lines or a specific rhyme scheme. Tell students they will encounter these specific forms later in the unit and learn some of their names, but the important thing about structure is understanding that the poet’s choices about lines and stanzas and the order of the ideas contribute to meaning and often help develop a theme in the text. Record stanza, structure, and form on the domain-specific word wall and encourage students to record the words in their vocabulary logs.
• Tell students that in this lesson they will examine how structure works and that they will use this knowledge in the rest of the unit. Display the Techniques anchor chart and add stanza (structure) to the chart. See the Techniques anchor chart (example for teacher reference) as needed.
• Invite students to retrieve their entrance tickets. Confirm for students that these allusions are to different rivers and events throughout history and that each has a meaning that adds to the poem, which they will examine more closely as they read. Confirm that the Euphrates is a river in the Middle East and home to an area called the “fertile crescent,” where some of the earliest evidence of human civilization has been found. The Congo and Nile are both important rivers in Africa, with the Nile running through Egypt, where the ancient pyramids were built. Finally, the allusions to the Mississippi River, Abe Lincoln, and New Orleans refer to places and events in America. The Mississippi was often used to transport slaves; New Orleans, through which the river flows, was a major hub where slaves were bought and sold; Abe Lincoln ended slavery in 1863’s Emancipation Proclamation.
• Tell students that first they will examine how the poem is structured. Then they will look more closely at the meaning of the figurative language and allusions to see how the author develops a theme in the poem.
• Ask students to Think-Pair-Share: 

“What do you notice about the structure of first three lines of the poem?” (The second line repeats the first line—“I’ve known rivers”—and describes the rivers in more detail.)

“How does the repetition in the first stanza help develop meaning in the poem?” (By repeating “I” to begin the lines, the speaker connects himself to the rivers and to human history.)

“What time period is associated with each river?” Encourage students to use the background knowledge and their responses to the entrance ticket to help them identify the time periods. (Euphrates: the beginning of time or “when the dawns were young”; Congo (huts): early history; Nile (pyramids): ancient history; Mississippi (emancipation): 1863)

“How does the poet organize the poem?” (from ancient times to more modern history)

“How are these events all connected with black people?” Guide students in understanding the chronological structure of the poem and the historical significance of each of the rivers mentioned:

• The Euphrates was considered the “cradle of civilization” (“dawns were young”). The poet is reminding the reader that black people were part of the earliest civilization.
• The Congo is a river in Africa where black people lived a simple life in villages (“built my huts”) as free people.
• The Nile is the river that generated an advanced civilization of ancient Egypt. The pyramids, considered one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, were built by slaves, including black slaves.
• The Mississippi is the river in America that black people experienced as slaves. Abraham Lincoln, in 1863, delivered the Emancipation Proclamation which freed the slaves.
• From the perspective of the poet, speaking broadly for black people, the structure of this stanza helps the reader travel from the earliest civilization and freedom, through slavery, and finally back to freedom.
• Invite students to record the gist of the first, main stanza of the poem in the gist section on their note-catchers. For sample responses, consult the Analyze Poetry note-catcher (example for teacher reference).
• Ask students to Turn and Talk with their partners about what they notice about the final, shorter two stanzas and how their structure helps develop meaning in the text. (The final two stanzas repeat, in part, lines from earlier in the text. This helps to reiterate the author’s point and make the meaning of the poem clearer.)
• Invite students to record these notes in the “Structure” section of their note-catchers. For sample responses, consult the Analyze Poetry note-catcher (example for teacher reference).
• Repeated routine: Invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning target.