Theme in Yellow

Carl Sandburg

I spot the hills
With yellow balls in autumn.
I light the prairie cornfields
Orange and tawny gold clusters
And I am called pumpkins.
On the last of October
When dusk is fallen
Children join hands
And circle round me
Singing ghost songs
And love to the harvest moon;
I am a jack-o'-lantern
With terrible teeth
And the children know
I am fooling.

Discussion and Activities:

• Read the first four lines of the poem and ask students to guess what the poet is describing before reading the rest of the poem.
• Students take turns reading the poem with appropriate rate, change in voice and expression.
• Younger students identify who, what, when, where and why in the poem.
• Identify the poetic style.
• Find examples, if present, of simile (a comparison that uses like or as), metaphor (an implied comparison), hyperbole (an exaggeration for effect) and personification (a description that represents a thing as a person.)
• Students draw pictures to illustrate the poem.
• Each student will write a paragraph comparing and contrasting the custom described in the poem with their own Halloween experiences. Students will share their writing and discuss.
• Students use online or library resources to research Halloween and harvest customs in history, write reports and present them to the class.

P.A.S.S.