Hopes and Dreams

Poetry by Emily Dickinson and Langston Hughes

http://padlet.com/silverteacher/renaissance
Discussion Answer the questions with a partner.
1. What do you think of when you hear the word hope?
2. What do you think of when you hear the word
dream (not the kind you have at night, but an
aspiration or goal)?
3. How would you draw a picture of hope?
4. How would you draw a picture of an unreached
dream or goal?
Vocabulary A Choose the letter of the definition
for each word. Use the link below. http://dictionary.cambridge.org/
1. imagery (n)
2. personify (v)
3. perch (v)
4. tune (n)
5. gale (n)
6. sore (adj)
7. bash (abash) (v)
8. chilliest (chillest)
9. crumb (n)
10. defer (v)
11. fester (v)
12. sore (n)
13. crust (v)
14. syrupy (adj)
15. sag (v)
16. load (n)
17. run (v)

a.) use of words or pictures in books, films,

paintings, etc. to describe ideas or situations
b.) melody or song
c.) strong wind or storm
d.) to be in a high position (often describes a bird
sitting in a high place)
e.) to describe a nonliving thing as if it were living
f.) beat or hit hard
g.) painful or angry
h.) delay or postpone
i.) coldest
j.) thick and sweet
k.) become infected, produce pus
l.) drop down to a lower level in the middle
m.) amount of weight carried
n.) to become covered in a hard, rough layer
o.) a painful or infected area
p.) a very small piece of bread or other food
q.) drip

Vocabulary B Words can have positive or negative meanings. Choose P

(positive) or N (negative) for each word.
1. tune
2. perch
3. gale
4. bash
5. fester

6. sore (n)
7. crust
8. stink
9. rotten
10. sag

Hope is the thing with feathers

By Emily Dickinson
Reading A - Read the poem.
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/hope-is-the-thing-with-feathers/
Reading B Answer the questions on a piece of paper.
1. What is hope personified as?
2. Where does hope perch (1st stanza)?
3. What does hope do there (1st stanza)?
4. What is described as sore (2nd stanza)? Why?
5. Does hope stop singing in the storm (2nd stanza)?
6. Does hope ever ask for anything from the speaker (3rd stanza)?
A dream deferred
By Langston Hughes Reading C - Read the poem.
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/dream-deferred/
Reading D Answer the questions on a piece of paper.
1. Is a dream deferred a good thing or a bad thing?
2. Choose one of the images in the poem (e.g. Does it explode?). What does this
mean? How would this affect the person that had the dream? Give an example.

Writing - Write a short poem about hope or a dream deferred. Use

imagery and personification as in the poems above.
Research - Use the links to answer the questions.
http://www.answers.com/topic/emily-dickinson\
http://www.poemhunter.com/emily-dickinson/biography/
http://www.answers.com/topic/langston-hughes-poetwriter
http://www.poemhunter.com/langston-hughes/biography/
http://www.levity.com/corduroy/harlem.htm
1. Where and when was Emily Dickinson born?
2. What do you think her life was like?
3. When and where was Langston Hughes born?
4. What do you think life was like for an African-American man
in the United States at that time?
5. What was the Harlem Renaissance (in your own words)?