National Poetry Month: Poem-a-Day

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National Poetry Month is April and we can thank Poets.org for wonderful materials to help us celebrate. Visit their extraordinary website as a place to begin. Listen to a favorite poet, download lesson plans, find out whether there are any special events scheduled locally.

Day	Focus	Poem	Poet
1	Definition of Poetry	“Introduction to Poetry”	Billy Collins
2	Metapoetry	“I Am Offering This Poem”	Jimmy Santiago Baca
3	AP Prompts	“Blackberry Picking”	Seamus Heaney
4	Ekphrastic Poetry	“Musée des Beaux Arts”	W. H. Auden
5	Regular Verse	“Sympathy”	Paul Laurence Dunbar
6	Specificity	“Where I’m From”	George Ella Lyons
7	Modern Verse	“We Real Cool”	Gwendolyn Brooks
8	Theme	“We grow accustomed to the night--” “Acquainted with the Night”	Emily Dickinson Robert Frost
9	Extended Metaphor	“Cliché”	Billy Collins
10	Concrete Poetry (Calligrams)	“Easter Wings” and Others	George Herbert and Others
11	Dramatic Monologue	“My Last Duchess”	Robert Browning
12	Imagery	“Those Winter Sundays”	Robert Hayden
13	Sonnet	“Sonnet”	Billy Collins
14	Allusion	“Barbie Doll”	Marge Piercy
15	Metonymy and Synecdoche	“Part and Whole”	Rachel Hadas
16	Shakespearean (or English) Sonnet	“Love Is Not All”	Edna St. Vincent Millay
17	Petrarchan (or Italian) Sonnet	“The Illiterate”	William Meredith
18	Villanelle	“One Art”	Elizabeth Bishop
19	Slam Poetry	“I Wanna Hear a Poem”	Steve Colman
20	In Memoriam	“Facing It”	Yusef Komunyakaa
21	Undressing a Poet	“Undressing Emily Dickinson”	Billy Collins
22	Heritage	“You Bring Out the Mexican in Me”	Sandra Cisneros
23	Personification	“Talking Myself to Sleep at One More Hilton”	John Ciardi
24	Connotation	“Traveling Through the Dark”	William Stafford
25	Symbolism	“Persimmons”	Li-Young Lee
26	Juxtaposition	“Advice to My Son”	Peter Meinke
27	Music	“Strange Fruit”	Abel Meeropol
28	Irony	“Who Burns for the Perfection of Paper”	Martin Espada
29	Local Color	“Driving in Oklahoma”	Carter Revard
30	Oddities	“The Disappearing Alphabet”	Richard Wilbur

I apologize if the line numbers on many of the selected poems don't quite line up correctly. Please just use them for reference in discussing the poems as I do not have the technical savvy to figure out how to make them align accurately. If you find any other errors -- from misspelled words to broken links, please notify me. Sandra Effinger mseffie@mac.com

	General Poetry Resources	Annotation
	Poetry Foundation	Poetry magazine, extensive audio files (1,983), an email Poem of the Day, multiple podcasts, individual Poem Guides (89), and Essays on Poetic Theory (55).
	Poets.org	Academy of American Poets sponsors National Poetry Month (including a free poster), Teach This Poem (301 lesson plans), Poem-a-Day, Classroom Calendar, and offers audio resources, links, contests, and current events.
	Poetry Out Loud	Site for the national contest offers resources on popular poems and recordings of familiar favorites. Excellent lesson plans.
	Poetry 180	Poet laureate Billy Collins’s website with a poem a day, selected specifically for American high school students. Contemporary, exciting, accessible to all.
	Dodge Poetry Festival	Usually held in Morristown or Newark, this biennial festival lures dozens of renowned poets to its stages. Teaching Resources include Using Poetry Videos in the Classroom, with 100+ videos of poets reading their own poetry.
	#Teach Living Poets	“Complicating the canon” with more than 24 diverse poets, this site offers *Ours Poetica, 250 school-appropriate poems read by current (yes, living) poets. Interactive Hyperdoc Lessons, a virtual library* and links to poet resources. (Preview each poem as some may include mature language.)
	Specific Poets	Annotation
	Internet Poetry Archive	Focusing on only seven modern poets, this site collects extensive audio resources, including interviews and recitations.
	Voices and Visions	This PBS series website includes annotated links and a short poetry video for thirteen of America’s greatest poets. You can even view the programs online for free.
	Specialized Resources	Annotation
	American Life in Poetry	Under the guidance of Ted Kooser, former poet laureate, this site provided newspapers and online publications with a free weekly column featuring contemporary American poems. Though sunsetted on 31 December 2022, the website maintains poem archives of past poems. Poems are very intentionally accessible.
	Artists for Literacy	The Sibl Project, sponsored by Artists for Literacy, offers two CDs of songs inspired by literature. Two CDs are available for purchase. Includes a massive list of Allusive Songs.
	Favorite Poem Project	Started by former US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, the Favorite Poem Project allows people to submit their favorite poems along with a personal story about why they chose the poem. Includes 50 videos.
	Poetry in America (PBS)	Three seasons give us 28 great 30-minute videos. Each offers the viewer a fully immersive experience in hearing, reading, and interpreting a single American poem. Click on TV Series to get to videos.
	Poetry Society of America	Worth a visit, even if only for Poetry in Motion, a series of poems illustrated for display in public transportation venues. On Poetry offers thematic essays and In Their Own Words, poets on their own poetry.
	Rock and Roll Hall of Fame	A specialized educational portal for anyone wanting to study musical lyrics as poetry. Start at Resources. You need to register to access the teaching guides, activities, playlists, audio and video. Artists of the Alphabet alone has more than 50 lessons.
	There’s a Poem for That	YouTube Playlist for a dozen TED Talk poems, each illustrated as a short film. Start with “The Opposites Game” by Brendan Constantine.
	Just for Teachers	Annotation
	Poetry Daily	Offered by Poems.com, but you must register and sign up for daily email. A new poem every day -- online or email.
	Teach This Poem	Featuring a weekly poem, with interdisciplinary primary sources and activities. Sign up for email delivery.

You may want to download the following handouts about poetry in general.

Quotes about Poetry -- Two pages of quotes about poetry to promote discussion
Poetry Terminology -- Seven pages covering poetry terms and forms
TP-CASTT for AP Analysis -- Usual format to guide poem analysis
TSP-FASTT and Terms -- Slightly adapted format with shortened term list
AP Poetry Prompts -- Literature and Composition Poetry Prompts from 1970 to 2025. Also AP Poetry Prompts with the Poems (large file).
Quoting from a Poem -- Guidelines for quoting from a poem, with exercises
Poetry Scanning Worksheet -- Directions and exercises to help teach poetry scansion. Answers.
Poetry Response Journals -- Fourteen literary response journal topics focused on poetry
Poetry Baker's Dozen Assignments -- thirteen assignments for thirteen student-selected poems
Poetry Is Contagious by Betsey Coleman -- Ideas for Student Poetry, Teacher Tips, and Bibliography
Poetry Essay Rubric -- Generic rubric for grading AP Style essays.
Poetry Explication -- Explication assignment and sample explication.
Poetry Is Dead -- My Turn essay from Newsweek on poetry in everyday life.

Back to Assignments or Home.
Updated 25 July 2026.
Corrected because the QuickTime Plugin no longer works.

If you download or print anything from this site, please consider making at least a $10.00 donation through PayPal.
I can maintain and expand this website only with your help.