Sestina Elizabeth Bishop

This fully prepared PowerPoint guides students through Elizabeth Bishop’s poem Sestina using a structured, collaborative stanza analysis approach.

The lesson begins with accessible pre-reading prompts to activate prior knowledge and introduce key vocabulary (e.g., almanac, grandmother, tears). Students are then divided into groups, each working on one stanza (or the envoi) to analyse understanding, language features, and effects, supported by clear prompts and challenge questions.

The PowerPoint also includes:

A learning objective and student-friendly success criteria

A “Word Story” detective task to explore repeated end-words

Detailed stanza breakdown slides with model annotations and techniques highlighted

A plenary discussion slide to consolidate understanding and explore Bishop’s themes of family, fate, and sadness

This lesson works well for whole-class analysis, group work, or independent study. It encourages close reading, collaborative learning, and higher-order thinking — ideal for exam preparation or in-depth poetry study.