What is Poetry?

This was the question that opened our Main Lesson – for a poet, it’s not a straightforward one to answer. While the dictionary defines poetry as “literary work in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by the use of distinctive style and rhythm,” this definition alone doesn’t quite capture the magic of poetry. To deepen understanding, students explored definitions offered by famous poets:

“Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity.” – William Wordsworth

“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought, and the thought has found words.” – Robert Frost

“Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn.” – Thomas Gray

Through discussion, students determined that poetry’s core purpose is to express emotional truth; to move the reader, awaken reflection, and resonate deeply with our shared human experiences. This guided our focus for the analysis and crafting of poetry throughout the Main Lesson.

 Each morning, students practised transforming ordinary sentences into vivid poetic descriptions. They experimented with figurative language, sensory vocabulary, and sound devices, and many showed enthusiasm and confidence by sharing their work aloud, reflecting their growing confidence as writers.

 We began our literary journey with Geoffrey Chaucer, often called the “Father of English Poetry.” At a time when most literature was written in Latin or French, Chaucer wrote in Middle English, helping to elevate English as a poetic language. Students read about his life and legacy, exploring an extract from ‘The Canterbury Tales’ in both the original Middle English and a modern translation. This activity sparked insights into the evolution of language; although the sounds have changed shape over time, enduring themes and images continue to be relevant today.

 From there, we moved to the Elizabethan era and focused on Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 116’. Shakespeare’s language can be complex, but by carefully unpacking metaphors and symbols, such as love as “an ever-fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken”, students came to understand his message about the enduring nature of true love. After analysing the sonnet’s language, themes and structure, students composed their own 14-line sonnets, tackling abstract concepts like mortality, time, nature, and love.

We then turned our attention to the Romantic poets. Romanticism, a movement born in reaction to the Industrial Revolution, emphasised emotional expression, nature, imagination, and spirituality over cold rationalism. Students explored William Blake’s ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience’, comparing ‘The Lamb’ and ‘The Tyger’. These contrasting poems led to rich conversations about the dualities in life – good and evil, nature and technology, and hope and pessimism. Students were inspired to write their own poems on this theme, reflecting on personal growth, change, and shifting perspectives over time.

 Finally, we studied the later Romantics, focusing on the life and work of John Keats. Students were moved by the story of his tragic short life and the deep emotional intensity of his poem ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’. In groups, they annotated stanzas and presented their interpretations, before writing their own odes celebrating people, places, or objects of personal significance.

 Overall, this Main Lesson has been a rich exploration of poetic expression, providing students with tools to read deeply, write meaningfully, and appreciate the beauty and emotional truth that poetry can offer.

Chiara Corbet

English & Humanities Teacher