Reading & Understanding
POETRY
Steps: / Process:1. Predict (title, author, pictures) / Look at the title. Who is Abraham Lincoln? Why do people “walk at midnight”? What happens at midnight? Where is Springfield, Illinois? Why is it important for Lincoln? Have you heard of Vachel Lindsay? What could this poem be about?
2. Read through without stopping-Get a sense of the poem. / Difficult to read. Vocabulary is unknown. Unknown references are made.
3. Read again and take notes (look at punctuation and unknown words). / There are 8 stanzas. Rhyme is ABCB.
Stanza 1: “portentous”, “a mourning figure walks”, “pacing up and down”
4. Read WORD by WORD. Look up words that you don’t know. Make connections. / Stanza 1: Portentous indicates that it is an important event. Mourning indicates that someone is sad. Pacing indicates that someone is worried.
5. Use your 5 senses to visualize and make images-Draw pictures / Stanza 1: I see darkness (midnight in town). I see a sad figure walking. He is near a courthouse. I think he is worried because he is pacing.
6. Question yourself:
a. Who is speaking?
b. What is the setting?
c. What is the title trying to say?
d. What is the theme?
e. Are there any words repeated?
f. Do objects, people or places have any symbolism?
g. What is the tone?
h. What feelings of your own does this poem inspire (the mood)? / a. The poet
b. Springfield, Illinois
c. Abraham Lincoln is haunting the streets of his hometown.
d. Theme: This president/world leader/icon bears the weight of the world’s problems on his shoulders.
e. “shawl”, “peace”
f. Bronzed, lank man, suit of ancient black, famous high top-hat, prairie-lawyer (all refer to Abraham Lincoln), hillside (cemetery), head is bowed (deep thought/prayer), black terror (war), Workers’ Earth (working man), Cornland, Alp and Sea (Europe), white peace (serenity).
g. Tone: Seriousness of being a world leader and trying to help those in need.
h. Mood: Sadness, Darkness