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Silence in the Snow by John Gibson
We don’t get snow here, but the colder weather made me think of presenting Robert Frost to my students. I started with the beautiful Susan Jeffers illustrated book, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” Then we read together Frost’s poem Acquainted with the Night and talked about rhyme scheme. A terza rima is a difficult form to write even for gifted kids, so we worked together. We started with a line from my own poem, Snow Day from Illuminate. My first group of students incorporated a repetitive pattern that I reminded them is called anaphora.
Collaborating, stealing lines, playing with rhyme, and writing from an image worked together to result in a nice poem.
Lost in the Snow
a terza rima after Robert FrostI wake to a field of white
where a bunny rabbit hides,
where a night owl takes flight,where Santa’s sleigh slides
where I stand on the ground
where a snowflake above me glides,where something is lost, not found,
where sight begins to fail,
where a whisper is the softest sound,where dreams set sail
and miles to go before I sleep
I am strong, not frail.Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I wake to a field of white.–A collaborative poem by Mrs. Simon’s class
My second group of students was larger, so the collaboration became more cumbersome. Too many different ideas don’t mix well with strong wills and sensitive writers. I don’t think the poem is as strong, either; however, I am struck by the sense of loss and sadness and overcoming that permeates each one. The images of snow covering the page and the words of Robert Frost set a tone for both of these poems.
Winter
Snow fell silently through the night.
These streets I have walked across
into the darkness, out of sight.The sun I have lost,
Frosting over the glass in this faded frame,
The windows are covered in frost.Each pattern has its own fame.
Sun rises, suddenly the cold vanished.
Once it is gone, it will never be the same.Stars above shining bright.
Snow fell silently through the night.a collaborative poem by Mrs. Simon’s class
Reflections on the Teche 