Robert Frost - The Wood-Pile

Designed to accompany the Robert Frost poetry anthology for CIE AS English, but will be appropriate for any senior study of the poem The Wood-Pile.
This lesson introduces students to the setting of the frozen swamp through a word-generation starter, and encourages students to make predictions about the poem using the title, this starter and what they already know about Frost’s poetry.
The main part of the lesson focuses on analysis of the title, supplies a video recording of the poem, identifies the speaker and situation, suggests useful vocabulary and appropriate language techniques necessary for studying the poem. The lesson then moves on to close analysis of the rest of the poem, concluding with a short video looking at a world without humans to consolidate the poems themes of transience, isolation and nature’s endurance.
As a plenary, students demonstrate their learning through completing a paragraph on the symbolism of the wood-pile and evaluating relevant contextual knowledge. There is an optional homework supplied to consolidate vocabulary within the poem.