The recent conclusion of daylight savings time inspired this week’s poem for discussion, “Do not go gentle into that good night” by Dylan Thomas. After reading it aloud, students noticed the repetition of not just words, but two whole rhyming lines in the poem: the title, and “rage, rage against the dying of the night,” each of which repeats four times total. I told them that this was an example of a poem called a villanelle, which also typically includes another fixed rhyme scheme in its nineteen lines. We found those other rhymes, and talked about what the title might signify—what does “gentle” mean in the poem’s context, and how it figures into going “into that good night.” I also asked what “rage” means, specifically raging “against the dying of the night”? Finally, we discussed the wise, good, wild, and grave men in the poem—who are they—and what’s their relationship to the speaker?
This week’s prompt was to write a poem about day and/or night. Here are some examples…
Mrs. Haddad, 2nd Grade
The Moon
Penny C.
The night is dark, when the
moon
comes
out,
it seems
even brighter,
sometimes,
people
look out
at the moon
and think: how,
oh, how, does the
moon shine?
How people talk about the moon,
it’s almost impossible, that
the moon has big, huge holes, shouldn’t
the moon
be stronger than the
meteors? But when you sleep, it’s even
darker, when you close
your eyes, when
you wake up, it is bright, but
it is still dark.
The Sun and Moon
Yuri H.
The sun is here in
day. The moon is here in night.
Like wolf the sun plays in
day. Like the owl the moon
plays at night.
It’s night see you tomorrow
for it is night you should sleep
just like me. Hoo shhh hoo shh!
I can’t sleep!
Be quiet. It’s day it’s
day. I can’t sleeppppppppppppppppppppppp
Day Dream
Joice H.
In
the day
everyone
is awake.
I like the
day because
it is so bright
all the colors
shine like a
rainbow.
But when the
night comes you
can also have a
dream to not
have a nightmare.
You can always
make a wish
to keep away
your fear.
In the Night
Xya P.
In the night
it was dark and my friends
and the light shut off
and they disappeared and that
was the end.
Day and Night
Leila T.
Day is beautiful
with sun and bird the
day is beautiful like the
night.
The night is beautiful
like the day the night
is nice the night is cool.
Mrs. Ward, 2nd Grade
Night
Krystian B.
As the coyotes
cry the sun goes
down I know it’s
night the moon
comes up I know
it’s night
as
the
sky
gets
dark
I
know
it’s
night
and
I
close
my
eyes
and
go
to
sleep
good night
Untitled
Tanix L.
I like the night because
some animals do not sleep
like tigers lions
and owls.
Untitled
Cian M.
In the cold night and we went to school
and I did not like it because they had hard
work and I don’t like hard work and
it was easy and I figured it out
and I got straight A’s and I was the best
and everyone liked me I was a star.
Untitled
Eliana M.
It was night windy storming
night I sleep only for 1 minute
I am awakened by the storm
I jump out of my bed I find
a book another book and I
read read read and read.
Untitled
Jacob M.
Day
school
breakfast
lunch
Night
homework
dinner
dessert
Untitled
Rileigh M.
When I was going to school a
monster book tried to eat so I
ran and ran and I ran home
and shut the door.
Mrs. Daigle, 2nd Grade
I Like Day
Benjamin H.
I like to be
awake and
play hockey
all day
loooooooooooo
OOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOO
NG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Boy Who Saw the Moon Change Day into Night and Move Around Place to Place
Grayson K.
A boy was walking
he saw the moon in the
day. The boy talked to
the moon the boy said
please move into the bay.
The moon moved into the bay.
Then the moon changed day
into night. Then it said go to Mr. Dean’s
brain! And the moon did
that. Next it said go into
Mrs. Daigle’s tummy and the
moon did that!
Night
Sarah L.
night is beautiful at
dark and when the stars
are out it looks like
a galaxy and if you’re
having a spooky party
the dark is nice
for that spooky party
Untitled
Jamier M.
I can look out my telescope at night
Untitled
Max W.
day
night
I like day
I like the sun
I see sun
I see trees
I like LEGO
I have 5 LEGOs
Ms. O’Connor, 2nd Grade
Nighttime Oh Nighttime
Celeste D.
Nighttime at
nighttime
the moon
comes out.
When the
moon comes
out, owls do
too. When
the moon
and owls
come out
wolves do too.
I have
said many
things about
nighttime. Now
I will say
one more
thing: the end.
The Super Moon
Asher L.
Once at one night there was
a big and bright it was called
a super moon. I went outside to see
it I saw it
two nights in a row. I saw it at
my house one night and after
a hockey game when I was coming
home from Rockford.
The Weird Moon
Samar M.
One night
I looked
up at the
sky. The
moon
was a weird
shape
I wondered
why, I rubbed
my eyes
I felt
glasses
I took
them out
it was
so beautiful.
It was
the sun
and moon
I tried
to touch
it.
I did.
The Day
Nicholas Z.
I like the day because
you get to go outside in
the bright light sunshine and when
I’m in the sunshine I like
to lay in the nice
grass and take a nap also
I like to play football in the
sunshine
