Class: VIII

Cycle no. /date: (11th Jan – 16th Jan)

Name of the topic: On the Grasshopper and Cricket

No. of periods: 3

Teaching aids/ resources: General teaching aids- Chalk-duster, green board , Academic Window.

Learning objectives:

General:

Students will be able to-

 read and appreciate the poem.

 develop creativity and imagination.
 develop four skills of language

Specific:

Students will be able to-

 comprehend the topic.

 identify the poetic elements.

Pre-requisites:

The students are expected to have seen the two insects, grasshopper and the cricket.
Students are also expected to know about sonnet and the two main kinds of sonnet.

Day/
date
 Activity/ Vocabulary
Recapitulation/
Introduction Explanation PPT/
pre knowledge
Video/Audio
The teacher
explains that Sonnet : a
the poem poem of
under The teacher explains that a sonnet is a 14 lines poem. fourteen lines
The teacher asks discussion is a Petrarchan Sonnets are divided into two stanzas. The first
the student what sonnet. There Octave: a
stanza consisting of 8 lines (called ‘Octave’) and the
they know about are two main group or
second stanza consists of 6 lines (called ‘sestet’).
John Keats. kinds of stanza of
(Refer to the last sonnets eight lines
The rhyme scheme of the poem is abba abba (octave) and
page of this lesson namely: a. cde cde (sestet).
1 plan for About the Shakespearean Loud Sestet: the
author) and b. Italian The teacher will now talk about the theme of the poem. Recitation last six lines
or Petrarchan of a sonnet.
The teacher also Nature is always a spontaneous source of optimism and
Sonnet.
asks the students if happiness is the theme of the poem. Nature never imparts Theme: the
Keats’s poem
they can identify pessimism and is never sad. Nature is always singing subject of a
‘On the
the structure of the through the mediums like grasshopper in summer and talk, piece of
Grasshopper
poem. cricket in winter. Change in situation on weather does not writing,
and Cricket’
follows the bring hindrances in the ever continuous mirth of nature. exhibition,
Italian or etc.
Petrachan
form.
2 The teacher asks The teacher Stanza 1:
the students what begins The poetry and music of the earth never ends. When all the Hedge: a
is meant by a explanation of birds are tired because of the heat of the sun and hide fence or
sonnet, what kind Stanza 1 themselves in the cooling trees, a voice can be heard. The boundary
of sonnet the poem (Octave) voice is of grasshopper. He takes the leading role in formed by
is and what’s the enjoying the summer happiness as if he has never done closely
structure of the with his delights. And when he is tired he takes rest growing
poem. beneath a pleasant weed. Loud bushes or
Recitation shrubs.
The teacher also Figures of speech:
asks them about Metaphor: "The poetry of earth is never dead"- - This Mead:
 line is saying how Earth will continue to be beautiful and meadow, a
poetic in its own way. piece of
Personification: "A voice will run"- This line is saying grassland
that the Grasshopper's voice is powerful and can be heard
the theme or the Weed: a
from far away
central idea of the wild plant
Imagery: "...with hot sun, and hide in cooling trees"-.
poem. growing
This line puts us the picture of the birds cooling off in the
trees and makes us feel the hot sun on our skin. where it is
Alliteration: “New-mown mead”, REPETITION OF ‘M’ not wanted
SOUND.
Ceasing:
come or bring
to an end.
Lone:
solitary or
single.
Stanza 2: Wrought:
Students will be
asked to beaten out or
When the birds are silent in very cold the earth never stops
summarise the first The teacher shaped by
and expresses its pleasure through different beings like the
stanza of the poem. will begin the hammering.
cricket. It sings the beautiful songs from the stones. It
explanation of Loud Shrills: (of a
3 seems to be increasing in warmth every moment and half-
Students will also Stanza 2 Reading voice or
asleep human being feels it to be a grasshopper’s song
be asked about the (Sestet) of the sound) high-
coming from grassy hills.
figures of speech poem. pitched and
used in the first piercing.
Figures of speech:
stanza of the poem. Inversion:
Inversion – ‘’The Poetry of earth is ceasing never”
the reversal
of the normal
order of the
words and
phrases in a
sentence
ASSESSMENT:

1. ‘The poetry of earth’ is not made of words. What is it made of, as suggested in the poem? (C/W)
Ans: The poetry does not lie in only a few words, rather it lies in the sounds produces in the words. Words do produce sweet music. This very
music is only the poetry of earth. Here those sounds are the chirping of birds, and sounds are of the sounds of grasshoppers and crickets.
2. When does a grasshopper sing? (C/W)
Ans:- A grasshopper sings on a hot summer day. When the birds hide in cool shades, the grasshopper runs from hedge to hedge creating a sound
which is called the nature’s poetry by the poet.
3.In what atmosphere, according to Keats, does one hear a cricket’s song? (C/W)
Ans:- The cricket’s song is heard in winter. When it is very cold and quiet, the winter silence is broken by a shrill sound. This is cricket’s song.
4.The poetry of earth continues round the year through a cycle of two seasons. Mention each with its representative voice. (C/W)
Ans. The seasons are summer and winter.
The summer’s representative voice is – grasshopper’s.
The winter’s representative voice is – cricket’s.
5. “The poetry of earth is never dead: (H/W)
When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,
And hide in the cooling trees, a voice will run...”
a. Name the poem and the poet of the above lines.
b. What happens ‘when all the birds are faint with the hot sun’?
c. Identify the figure of speech used in the 1st line of the given extract.
6. Nature was one of the greatest sources of inspiration for Keats. In the poem, Keats writes that “the poetry of Earth is never dead.” Prepare a
speech to be delivered in the morning assembly on the topic ‘Nature is our best teacher and healer’. (H/W)

About John Keats

John Keats was born in 1795 and died in 1821. He was an English romantic poet and one of the main figures in the second Romantic Movement,
with Percy Shelley and Lord Byron. John Keats died when he was twenty-five years old and most of his works were published four years before
his death. He wrote most of his poems between 1814 and 1819. Keats’s works were not recognized during his lifetime, as critics didn’t receive
his poems very well, but, his reputation grew after he died and became one of the of the main poets of the nineteenth century.

Keats challenged poetic forms, and created his own distinct literary configuration. He is known, particularly, for his odes, which he wrote in
1819. These are characterized for their great and powerful imagery. During his lifetime, he published fifty-four poems in three small volumes
and a few magazines. John Keats’ most recognized works include “I Stood Tip-toe Upon a Little Hill”, “Sleep and Poetry”, “On First Looking
into Chapman’s Homer“, “Endymion”, “Ode to a Nightingale”, “To Autumn”, among others.