My classes are creating poetry trailers, similar in concept to a book trailer. Since I’ve never tried a video assignment before, I figured a poem was a good start. The students are required to choose a poem, select a theme from the poem, choose three lines from the poem that support the theme, and choose music and images that relate to the theme. In order to show the students what I wanted them to do, I created one myself. So, here is my example poetry trailer for the poem “There Will Come Soft Rains” by Sara Teasdale.
I chose “There Will Come Soft Rains” because I was looking for an atmospheric poem. I always read this poem slowly to savor the mood. I first encountered “Soft Rains” when reading Ray Bradbury’s short story of the same name.
Did the trailer have the desired effect? If so, check out the entire poem below. If not, try a different multimedia experience from The Writer’s Almanac.
There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum-trees in tremulous white;Robins will wear their feathery fire
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
If mankind perished utterly;And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone.
Poetry Friday is hosted today by Some Novel Ideas. Next week, I will be attempting to create a book spine poem, inspired by Cindy at Bookends.
The Cazzy Files 