History Lessons from Poetry Assessment

Comparative poetry is defined as the evaluation and analysis of two poems for similarities and differences in
their perspectives and poetic approaches to a similar topic. You may select one of the following sets of paired
poetry:
● "A Dream" by Edgar Allan Poe and "We dream – it is good we are dreaming" by Emily Dickinson

● "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen and "I Have a Rendezvous with Death" by Alan Seeger

● "We Wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar and "Heritage" by Gwendolyn Bennett

Poem #1 Poem #2

Poem Title A Dream We dream - it is good we are dreaming

Discussing ones Dreams vs Reality Discussing the difference between those

Poem Topic who Dream and those who don’t

Author's The tone of this poem is very depressing The perspective of this poem is that she
Tone/Perspective or gloomy. prefers dreams over.
(complete sentence)

Evidence from - Uses metaphors to refer to the - Insinuating that the one of the
the Poem to ups and downs of life two “it” she keeps referring to is
Support the not favorable
- Talks about his nightmares and
Author's
how depressed he is
Tone/Perspective
(including figurative
language devices,
diction, and style)

Theme of Poem
(complete sentence)
The theme of the poem is Dreams, with The theme of the poem is Dreams.
continuous references to them in the
poem.

Comparative In a well-written paragraph of 7-10 sentences, compare and contrast the poets' tones or
perspectives about the topic, issue, or theme.
Poetry Paragraph

In both poems, Edgar and Emily are on the topics of Dreams and Reality outside of
them, but approaching them in different ways. Edgar is drawing from personal
experience and his own life as he usually often does. The poem has a depressing
tone, with him talking about his life and how he’d rather dream to get away from his
sad life. While Emily talks about the same thing, its not so much she wants to get
away from her life, but rather the reality as a whole. Since watching the help video,
the speaker highlights this was around the time of the civil war. So, in turn, the poem
must be relating to what was happening at that time. So, her version of the poem is
about reality as a whole, while edgar is about his reality.

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 History Lessons from Poetry Rubric
On Target Almost There Needs Improvement

Author's 10-8 points 7-6 points 5-0 points

Tone/Perspective
● The student selected a word to ● There is an attempt to select a ● The student may be missing a
(10 points)
represent the authors' word to represent the complete sentence that expresses
tones/perspectives about the topic authors' tones/perspectives, the authors' tones/perspectives
and expressed it in a complete but it is not written in a for one or both poems.
sentence for each poem. complete sentence.

Evidence to 15-12 points 11-9 points 8-0 points

Support Authors'
Tone/Perspective ● The student provided ample ● There is an attempt to locate ● The student may be missing
(15 points) evidence from each poem to evidence of the authors' evidence for one or both poems or
support the authors' tones/perspectives, but the evidence is based on opinion and
tones/perspectives, including examples may be lacking not supported by textual

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 figurative language devices, diction, figurative language devices, evidence.
and style. diction, and/or style.

Theme 15-12 points 11-9 points 8-0 points

(15 points)
● The statement of theme for each ● The statement of theme for ● The statement of the theme may
poem is a complete sentence and each poem may lack a sense of be missing for one or both
reflects a cohesive message that is completeness or is not fully poems, may not be written in a
supported by evidence from the supported by evidence from complete sentence, or is not
poems. the poems. supported by evidence from the
poems.

Comparative 20-16 points 15-12 points 11-0 points

Poetry Paragraph
● The student insightfully synthesized ● There is an attempt to ● The paragraph is missing, too
(20 points)
the information from the chart into synthesize information from the short to develop an idea, or does
a comparative poetry paragraph chart into a comparative poetry not successfully examine or
that effectively compares and paragraph, but the writing may explain both poems.
contrasts the theme, be underdeveloped or unclear.
● There is no explanation of how
tone/perspective, and use of
● There is an attempt to explain the evidence (including figurative
language in each poem.
how the evidence (including language devices, diction, and
● There is a thorough examination of figurative language devices, style) supports the authors'
how the evidence (including diction, and style) supports the tone/perspective.
figurative language devices, diction, authors' tone/perspective.
and style) supports the authors'
tone/perspective.

Unless Otherwise Noted All Content © 2022 Florida Virtual School. FlexPoint Education
Cloud™ is a trademark of Florida Virtual School.