Down by the Riverside

Introduction: Poets paint with thier words. Explain to students that often times the poet leaves the pictured image of the poem to the audience to whom he is presenting to. Read Dave Etter's Down by the Riverside and have the students listen to the words of the poem. Read the poem again, but this time, provide various art untensils to allow students to paint thier own image of what they hear when the poem is read. Wait until the students are completely done with thier pictures before showing them Benton's.

Down by the Riverside by Dave Etter

Uncle Roy

has done it

again. He

has saided our

bright orange kite

with the long

and fancy

tail into

the summer

sky. He will

soon make it

fly higher

and higher.

My sister

Lucinda

prances on

spongy grass.

Our yellow

dog Barney

barks and barks

his doggie

approval.

Mom and Dad

have seen lots

of orange kites

dance in a

warm breeze. Mom

gulps a cold

drink while Dad

is busy

at the grill

cooking meat.

Both of them

leave us to

our young joy

down by the

riverside.

Extension: After reading the poem and seeing the students pictures. Have volunteers stand before the class and explain their vision of being down by the riverside. Show the students Thomas Hart Benton's oil painting. Have an open discussion allowing students compare thier art to Benton's or address why the did or did not include some of the same things that Benton did in his painting. Allow students to express their feelings and ask them if they like disliked Benton's painting. On a bulleton board, post the student's pictures around a color copy of Benton's painting. This can be done weekly with various poets and authors.

Greenberg, Jan. Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth - Century American Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 2001. ISBN 9780810943865

Painting:

Thomas Hart Benton. Down by the Riverside. 1969. Oil on canvas.