Leaves of Grass Lesson Plan

If all of the elements of this lesson plan are employed, students will develop the following powers, skills, and understanding:

1. 1

   Understand Walt Whitman's importance as perhaps the most significant American poet, and his influence on subsequent generations, specifically the Beat generation.

2. 2

   Understand and be able to discuss Whitman's ideas about individualism and democracy, in religious, political, and literary contexts.

3. 3

   Understand how the Civil War affected Whitman's writing and create sophisticated analyses of his elegies for Abraham Lincoln.

4. 4

   Appreciate free verse poetry.