2018 Poem #15 -- Personfication In Song

by Rita Kenefic

Many students have difficulty identifying  the various figures of speech. The lyrics to the song, "April, Come She Will" by Simon and Garfunkel are a wonderful example of personification  and can serve as a great way to reinforce this particular figure of speech. Additionally, I’ve found that students often don’t realize that song lyrics are actually poems. Once they understand this, it is likely to pique their interest in poetry.

First, copy the lyrics to "April, Come She Will" and distribute to students. Let students follow the lyrics, as you play the song.

Discuss how the lyrics personify the various months. Solicit students’ opinions of the effect the use of personification has on the poem.

Next, either suggest or have students brainstorm other categories that lend themselves to this kind of personification. Some examples are:  days of the week, holidays, seasons, decades of our life, etc.

Working either individually or in pairs, have students  pick a topic and write examples of personification in their writer's notebooks, using the song lyrics as a mentor text.

To follow up, you might encourage students to work on and complete their poems during independent writing time and share completed poems in some manner. Or you might choose to invite students to look at song lyrics as poems by identifying and sharing a song lyric that speaks to them.

Further Reading:

Rita Kenefic recently retired from position as a reading specialist in Central Bucks School District. Passionate about reading, writing and fostering literacy in the home.  Blogs at “Nurturing Literacy” http://www.helpurchildread.com/