Do you ever wonder what poems to read with your middle schoolers that will keep them engaged while taking a deep dive into meaning, form, structure, and theme?

While I’m still on the hunt for “The Perfect Poem” that will check all of those boxes, I have compiled a list of poems that I do like reading with my middle schoolers. 

1. “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth

After the initial reading students might look at you with a confused look, but once you start breaking it down stanza by stanza they get it. This is a great poem to focus on imagery and personification. If you’re feeling extra like me, you can craft a daffodil hat out of yellow construction paper to wear while reading it.

After reading this poem, I think my favorite quote from a student was, “I wonder if he was so impressed by nature because they didn’t have technology in the 1800s. It makes me think about what we’re missing by staring at our phones all the time.”  I thought it was a pretty insightful comment from a “too cool for school” 8th grader! 

Check out the analyzing guide for this poem here.

2. “See it Through” by Edgar Albert Guest

This poem is pretty straightforward, but it does have some inspiring figurative language sprinkled throughout the three stanzas! Students like this poem because they can relate to it and I like it because it shows them that poetry matters! 

I think some of my favorite lines come from the final stanza:

But remember you are facing

Just what other men have met.

You may fail, but fall still fighting;

Don’t give up, whate’er you do;

I love to point out that their struggles have been faced and overcome by many people before them. I think it provides our students with a little bit of comfort knowing they are not alone.  

After we read this poem, I have my students write a journal entry about who would benefit from reading this poem and why. This activity really brings out the relevance in poetry! 

Check out the analyzing guide for this poem here.

3. “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns

Nothing is as dramatic as a middle school romance, am I right? And this poem is perfect for capturing all of those angsty feelings. This Scottish ballad is all about how the speaker’s love will last forever…

I will love thee still, my dear,

   While the sands o’ life shall run

…it’s just like those middle school relationships! 

And for the cynics in your class, you can focus on how the poem may be over the top on purpose, maybe even leaning towards ironic with its use of hyperboles and symbolism. Roses wilt and die, so how is that a great declaration of love? 

Check out the analyzing guide for this poem here.

4. “Acquainted with the Night” by Robert Frost

I think this poem resonates with a lot of my middle school students because they have felt isolated and alone, especially during Covid, so they can relate to the speaker. It’s a great study on symbolism and tone. 

Check out the analyzing guide for this poem here.

5. “Naming Myself” by Barbara Kingsover

I love everything about this poem—the imagery, the strong tone of the speaker, and the questions that naturally come up after reading about identity. This poem is perfect for getting your students to discuss their ideas and how they relate to the speaker’s thoughts and opinions. 

Check out this stanza:

I could shed my name in the middle of life,

the ordinary thing, and it would flee

along with childhood and dead grandmothers

to that Limbo for discontinued maiden names.

But it would grow restless there.

I know this. It would ride over leaf smoke mountains

and steal horses.  

I know a lot of my students are struggling with who they are and if their name reflects their current sense of self. This poem provides them an opportunity to compare and contrast their thoughts and opinions about the importance of a name with the speaker’s stance. 

This is an ELA Unlimited Exclusive Resource.

 ELA Unlimited members, go to Resource Library → Standards Content → Power Standards → Section 4 → Poetry Activities

6. “I-Years-had been-from Home-” by Emily Dickinson

Confronting the past and facing what has changed in your life can be a scary thing! In this poem the speaker tries to muster the courage to knock on the door of her former home, knowing that if she does so, she will have to come face to face with what has changed since she’s been away. Spoiler alert, she freaks out and runs away.

This gives me Frozen vibes, so it’s a lot of fun to compare the speaker in the poem to Elsa. Especially the song, “Do you Want to Build a Snowman?”

This is an ELA Unlimited Exclusive Resource.

 ELA Unlimited members, go to Resource Library → Standards Content → Power Standards → Section 4 → Poetry Activities 

Resources to Help You

1. How to Annotate Poetry Step by Step Blog Post + Freebie

2. ELA Unlimited

The hub where you can download these resources plus many more!

3. Poetry Pack on TPT

A complete Analysis Guide for poems 1-4 mentioned in this post.