Judith Donahue and Pamela Goucher, Freeport Middle School, Cumberland County
2005
6-8, 9-12
- English Language Arts -- Reading
- Social Studies -- History
20 days
- 1775-1850
- 1851-1920
- The People/Peopling of Maine
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was truly a man of his time and of his nation; this native of Portland, Maine and graduate of Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine became an American icon. Lines from his poems intersperse our daily speech and the characters of his long narrative poems have become part of American myth. Longfellow's fame was international; scholars, politicians, heads-of-state and everyday people read and memorized his poems. Our goal is to show that just as Longfellow reacted to and participated in his times, so his poetry participated in shaping and defining American culture and literature.
The following unit plan introduces and demonstrates an American Studies approach to the life and work of Longfellow. Because the collaborative work that forms the basis for this unit was partially responsible for leading the two of us to complete the American & New England Studies Masters program at University of Southern Maine, we returned there for a working definition of "American Studies approach" as it applies to the grade level classroom. Joe Conforti, who was director at the time we both went through the program, offered some useful clarifying comments and explanation. He reminded us that such a focus provides a holistic approach to the life and work of an author. It sets a work of literature in a broad cultural and historical context as well as in the context of the poet's life. The aim of an American Studies approach is to "broaden the context of a work to illuminate the American past" (Conforti) for your students.
We have found this approach to have multiple benefits at the classroom and research level. It brings the poems and the poet alive for students and connects with other curricular work, especially social studies. When linked with a Maine history unit, it helps to place Portland and Maine in an historical and cultural context. It also provides an inviting atmosphere for the in-depth study of the mechanics of Longfellow's poetry.
What follows is a set of lesson plans that form a unit of study. The biographical "anchor" that we have used for this unit is an out-of-print biography An American Bard: The story of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, by Ruth Langland Holberg, Thomas Y. Crowell & Company, c1963. Permission has been requested to make this work available as a downloadable file off this web page, but in the meantime, used copies are readily and cheaply available from various vendors. The poem we have chosen to demonstrate our approach is "Paul Revere's Ride." The worksheets were developed by Judy Donahue, the explanatory essays researched and written by the two of us, and our sources are cited below. We have also included a list of helpful links. When possible we have included helpful material in text format, or have supplied site links. Our complete unit includes other Longfellow poems with the same approach, but in the interest of time and space, they are not included. Please feel free to contact us with questions and comments.
- Students will try to place Longfellow's poetry in the context of his life and times.
Resources include teacher instructions and document packets. These lessons were developed for seventh graders. The lesson plans can stand on their own or they can be integrated into language arts, social studies or even a science curriculum. Teachers should feel free to adapt and use these plans to suit their needs. The objectives and activities are suggested as a starting point. It is my hope that after teachers and students are exposed to this sampling of Longfellow's poetry they will be motivated to read and study more of his works.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Poetry: Giving students a biographical background
- An American Bard: The Story of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow by Ruth Langland Holberg, 1963. (35 MB)
- Introducing Longfellow's Paul Revere
- American Studies Analysis and Discussion: Transition to Contextual Analysis of Longfellow's "Paul Revere's Ride" Teacher Instructions
- American Studies Analysis and Discussion: Transition to Contextual Analysis of Longfellow's "Paul Revere's Ride" Document Packet
A resource developed through the "Longfellow & the Forging of American Identity" program funded by NEH
