The Cockroach: Kevin Halligan

This 20-slide lesson explores Kevin Halligan’s poem ‘The Cockroach’.

Beginning with discussions about cockroaches(!), the lesson encourages students to think about why Halligan has used this creature as the key symbol of his poem. The text is deconstructed line by line, with questions for students to consider about the poem’s language, form, structure, rhythm and rhyme.

For higher-level thinking, students are encouraged to think about the poem as a philosophical and parodic text. ‘Critical thinking’ questions are included, along with various interpretations of the poem’s tone.

There is discussion of the poem’s key themes, and key vocabulary is also provided to help facilitate sophisticated analysis.

Two version of the lesson are included: one as a PDF (saved to maintain font and aesthetics); the other is an editable PowerPoint.