Before seventh-graders can dive into poetry, they need to know basic terminology related to the literary form. Likely they already understand rhyme, but refresh their memories about rhyme scheme. Make sure they understand line and stanza. "The Eagle" by Lord Alfred Tennyson provides a good start as it is only six lines long with two stanzas and a simple rhyme scheme: AAA BBB. Another highly accessible poem is "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost; it contains eight lines in two stanzas in a simple rhyme scheme: AABB CCDD. Choose other poems with an obvious rhyme scheme and arrangement of lines into stanzas.
Figurative language provides the author with his craft; this is especially true with poetry. Poets utilize everything from personification to metaphor to hyperbole. Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" provides an excellent resource to showcase personification and mood. To guide students through the literary element of metaphor, Langston Hughes' "Mother to Son" provides a visual that students easily understand. Lillian Morrison's "Tugboat at Daybreak" offers several metaphors for students to explore; William Carlos Willams' "Spring Storm" offers another central metaphor. Encourage the students to look for more examples.
Poetic devices are another way that poets craft their work. Through word choice and arrangement of their words, poets create pieces that also sound a certain way. For this, refer back to Poe's "The Raven" for examples of assonance and alliteration as well as imagery. For a lesson on symbolism, have students discuss Robert Frost's "Fire and Ice." For a study of imagery as well as a comparison activity for mood, Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade" and Wilfred Owen's "Dulce et Decorum Est" provide two very different attitudes toward war. Have students identify more examples on their own.
Students study themes, or controlling ideas, in poetry in the seventh grade. To do this, they analyze details within the text, paying special attention to how a certain topic is portrayed in the poem. "Friends in the Klan" by Marilyn Nelson is an accessible poem to illustrate the theme of courage and the social issue of racism. Have the students reflect on the nature of courage in the poem, and ask how they would react in such a situation. Likewise, "Junkyards" by Julian Lee Rayford offers students the opportunity to talk about the theme of progress in relation to the narrator's attitude toward the idea. Have students go back to previously studied poems to identify controlling ideas.