Class IV1 did William Butler Yeats’ poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree as part of their curriculum. After reading and analysing the poem, they discussed the differences between living in a city and in the countryside, and its advantages and disadvantages.
Then they experimented with some poetic forms in which they had to use the ideas from the discussion. They were mainly black-out poems, haiku and stem or frame poems. Apart from having to write poems both in school and at home, they were asked to use some digital tools to represent Yeats’ poem.
They made, two posters created using canva.com and postermywall.com, and movie poetry by using Youtube.
Example 1
I like the village because the thought about it brings me peace
I like the village because of its enchanting summer breeze
I like the village because my grandma makes a delicious pie
But I hate the village because insects often drop by
I like the countryside because that is the best place to hide
I like the countryside because everything I like is easy to find
I like the countryside because there my grandma became a bride
But I hate that place because I must pick grapes
Example 2
What I love about the city
Is the glimmering light coming out of the windows of the buildings
What I hate about the buildings
Is that they took the place of a lot of trees
What I love about the trees
Is that I get to have picnics underneath them on a nice day
What I hate about the day
Is that it never lasts long enough on this planet
What I love about this planet
Is that it gives us air to breathe, at least until it’s ruined by people
What I hate about people
Is that they’re sometimes rude on the train
What I love about the train
Is that it takes me to my favourite place.
Jezero Inisfri (Serbian translation)
Sad ustaću i poći i doći na Inisfri
Napraviti kolibu od gline i pruća
U mojoj bašti biće pčele, cveće i mir,
Livada zlatna biće moja kuća.
I čekaće me spokoj što dolazi polako
Silazeći s jutra u kom cvrčak peva.
Tu podne gde sija, a ponoć blago seva
Prohladno veče želeo bi svako.
Sad ustaću i poći, jer celu noć i dan
Čujem tihu vodu kod obale bele.
Dok stojim uz pločnik, niz puteve cele
Ona mi se stalno zavlači u san.
Read more poems in our FB-page Sustainable Poetry.
Svetlana Gavrilovic, Serbia