Twelve Great Poems: Summer

Summary
The Twelve Great Poems series continues with the theme of summer. Sunny ideas for the end of term and the holidays are presented.

Twelve Great Poems: Summer

As the summer holidays approach, I hope you enjoy the next collection of public domain poems on the theme of summer. As usual, you can find these poems in my Pages section in the growing collection there or as a classroom-ready pdf. at lcommons.org in the group "Integrating the Learning Commons."

Instead of assigning a report for the fall about "What I did in the summer holidays," consider a pre-vacation activity: encouraging reflection and observation through poetry.

As you read these short works with your class in these last days of school, discuss how the different poets in this collection use keen natural description to experience the widest range of thought and feeling: sorrow (Bai Juyi), miracle (Emily Dickinson), laughter (Paul Lawrence Dunbar), love (John Clare), exploration (Louisa May Alcott), awe (Mary Elcta Adams),  joy (William Blake), mystery (Christina Catherine Fraser-Tytler), dreaminess (Lewis Carroll), humanity (Amy Lowell), time (William Shakespeare), change (A.E. Housman).

Following this discussion, encourage students to keep a "scientific" journal or diary during their summer. That is, (and assuming that their holidays include some interaction with nature), suggest ways they could sketch in words and illustration plants, animals, weather, elements, people, etc. they encounter. Challenge them to follow up their observations with a prose or poetic rendering. Nothing heavy but real. When they return in the fall, hold a goodbye-to-summer party in the library for this group to read their best work within the context of the observational notes. Over strawberries and cream, discuss the transformations from observation to art .  

Summer Is Icumen In
In the meantime, why not get a class or groups of classes to cheer on the holidays by learning to sing (lhudely not lewdly) this famous medieval round!

Sumer is icumen in,
Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweþ sed and bloweþ med
And springþ þe wde nu,
Sing cuccu!
Awe bleteþ after lomb,
Lhouþ after calue cu.
Bulluc sterteþ, bucke uerteþ,
Murie sing cuccu!
Cuccu, cuccu, wel singes þu cuccu;
Ne swik þu nauer nu.
Pes:
Sing cuccu nu. Sing cuccu.
Sing cuccu. Sing cuccu nu.

The wonderful male ensemble, Chanticleer, sings it lustily on YouTube. An exemplary file in Wikipedia gives a history of the song, a translation from middle to modern English, and helpful external links to learn the song visually and aurally.  My research shows that this song, far from being inaccessible, is popular in  music and poetry curriculum worldwide. Understanding the words may not be essential to experience the sheer joy of singing together.

May your summer be one of song, poetry, freedom and joy. School and September will be icumen in soon enough!