This week, we read Alfred Tennyson's short poem, The Eagle, as illustrated by Dave Morice in his book, Poetry Comics. We've talked a lot about the image in poetry in other sessions, so I asked about Morice's artistic interpretation of Tennyson's poem -- was he able to capture in pictures what students saw as they read the poem? If so, how did he accomplish this? The comparison was made to movies, where a director zooms in and out with the camera to create a sense of scope, from close-ups to long distance. We also discussed how Morice broke-up the six lines and two stanzas of Tennyson's poem to create movement in his illustrated version.

We then read Emily Dickinson's Hope is the thing with feathers, briefly discussing how the poet describes and personifies hope. Students were then asked to make their own poetry comics, based on Dickinson's poem -- using all of its text, a single stanza or even a line or two only. Some of the best examples are below.

Ms. Ortiz, 5th Grade

Michael B.

Lesley O.

Luis S.

Noel U.

Ms. Fialkowski, 5th Grade

Alonzo A.

Jose B.

Janet C.

Kevin C.

Ms. Rodriguez, 5th Grade

Adriana A.

Juan F.

Brian P.

Efren R.

Mrs. Maxwell, 5th Grade

Carlos N.

Georgina R.

Diana S.

Erica V.

Mr. Heredia, 5th Grade

Nayeli C.

Stephani L.

Efrain R.

Roberto V.

Ms. Montoya, 5th Grade

Isaac A.

Ricardo E.

Jennifer F.

Cynthia R.

Mr. Hughesdon, 5th Grade

Roman M.

Sofia M.

Xiomara S.

Luis T.