Gods, Monsters, and Poetry

Author: Pricila C.

Objective: Teach students the use of poetic devices and for students to be able to identify and analyze figurative language in a specific text.

Audience: High School Sophomores

Summary: I’ve decided to use a few of Lana Del Rey’s songs for this lesson plan because I find that songs are an easier way to introduce poetic devices to students. Once students are able to identify poetic devices in a song it will be much easier for students to identify them in a novel. I remember being in middle school and my English teacher taught us what metaphors, similes, and what alliteration was with the song “Russian’s” by Sting. I was very interested in the song because I had never heard it before as it had been released in 1985. He “hooked” the students by introducing a song and he held our attention long enough for the class to learn about poetic devices which we later identified while reading a designated novel.

To begin this lesson I will introduce a song to students and give a little bit of background information. The song I will be using for this lesson plan will be Lana Del Rey’s “Gods & Monsters” and “Carmen”. “Gods and Monsters” was released in 2012 and was even used for an episode of American Horror Story which was “ an anthology television series centering on different characters and locations, including a house with a murderous past, an insane asylum, a witch coven, a freak show, a hotel, a possessed farmhouse, and a cult.” 

I will then hand out a copy of both songs to students and have them listen to the song as a classroom. I will use the episode of American Horror Story to introduce students to a unique television show all while focusing on a bigger picture. As a class we will decipher poetic devices and then afterwards I will have students decipher the second Lana Del Rey song “Carmen” as an assessment.