Teaching poetry with songs?

Question

Can anyone tell me any poems that have been made into pop culture songs? There are many out there, I know, and I know a few, but I want some I can teach to middle schoolers.

Answer 1

The Star Spangled Banner for one..

But many songs are themselves poems. If you want to teach kids about poetry and catch their attention, why not just use songs they know. You are sure to get a lot more interest than if you try to teach them about songs they have no interest in. I have worked in Middle School for 16 years and while I do not teach Language Arts, I know for a fact that many of the LA teachers do this!

Answer 2

Instead of trying to find poems that were made into songs, why not just go with the music the kids know?  I do a small unit with my poetry unit that is just dissecting song lyrics the same way we would dissect a poem.  We look at the lyrics first, plot meter and rhyme patterns, then talk about what the message of the song might be.  I try to start with songs they may not know so the actual music is a surprise for them.  The last thing we do is listen to the song a couple of times and then see if their opinion of the message has changed with the addition of the tune.  

You can discuss story songs, ones with repeating choruses, all kinds of songs.  And as a closer, if you let the kids bring in some of their own music as examples, that helps with their buy-in factor and they seem to remember it a lot longer.

Answer 3

Ooooh - one of my favorite activities!!!!!!

"The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes (song by Loreena McKinnett almost exactly 100 years later!)

Remember, ALL lyrics to songs are poetry (hence the term "lyric" poetry)

I also like a lot of Simon and Garfunkle stuff (angst and all - kids appreciate that - "Patterns" is a good one)

Beatles' lyrics like "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" especially if you know the REAL background on that (No, NOT LSD  -  a picture Julian drew in school when he was VERY little)

Death Cab for Cutie's "I'll Follow You Into the Dark" is a GREAT one - imagery, word choice, rhyme