Walt Whitman!

Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman is one of America's most famous poets, and he has written such poems as "O Captain! My Captain!," "I Hear America Singing," and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd." And, of course, the incredibly famous but incredibly long "Song of Myself."

Here is a powerful presentation of lines from Whitman's poems set to music and infused with pictures. It is a great way to show your students how relevant poetry is to things in their communities and to issues going on around the world.

This is a clip from the movie "Dead Poets Society," and it includes a line from Whitman's "Song of Myself." It also introduces the themes of self-expression and creativity that are present in Whitman's poetry. Hopefully it will encourage your students to write their own poems and express themselves!

Write your own poetry!

Fill-in-the blank poetry gives reluctant poets confidence because they are able to supply words to make "real" poems. Although it encourages students to conform to set patterns and rhyme schemes (which is definitely not a characteristic of lots of great poems), it helps them to dive into writing poetry and gives them the courage to be more creative the next time they attempt a poem.

A visual thesaurus shows a word map of the word you are trying to find synonyms for. The linked one is cool because of the graphics when you choose to look up a related word.

This Web site will help you rhyme (almost) any word!