Over the past several months, social media has been a buzzing hive of Tweets, articles, and teaching resources for The Outsiders, as S.E. 
Hinton’s beloved classic celebrated fifty years of resonating with readers of all ages around the globe.
In using The Outsiders as a whole class text this spring with a seventh grade class composed of nearly all boys, I began to explore juxtaposing the beauty and power of poetry during National Poetry Month, and authentic literary analysis. How could I use poetry as an analytical catalyst?
The answer came in an approach that I love because it promotes several of the pillars of writing workshop:
- Student agency/ownership of the writing process
- Collaborative writing and thinking
- Mentor texts as models for writing craft moves
- Opportunities for teachers to participate in workshop as writers
Poems in Two Voices are an excellent way to invite creative literary analysis, since by definition, they challenge student writers to take on the personas of fictional characters and to look at a literary work through the lens of their chosen character’s perspective.
As an invitation into learning about Poems in Two Voices, I shared a poem that I wrote from Johnny and Pony’s point-of-view during our workshop time, as well as poems written by former students.
Seventh Grade Literature
The Outsiders
“The End of Innocence: A Poem in Two Voices” by Mrs. O.
| Ponyboy Curtis | Johnny Cade |
| Nature’s first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold. | Nature’s first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold. |
| Gold was my mother. She was beautiful. | Nothing gold can ever stay. My life has been black. |
| Gold is my brother Soda. Movie star handsome. He kind of radiates. | I pulled a silver switchblade, thinking it was for the best. Disaster from then on. |
| Beauty was the sunrise in Windrixville. There was a silent moment when everything held its breath. I did, too. | I remember Pony’s voice as he read Gone With the Wind. Dallas is gallant, going into battle like those Southern gentlemen. |
| I thought things could only get better, but we went from ice cream sundaes at Dairy Queen to the red Hell of the church on fire. We started it with our cigarettes. | I was a hero for a moment. Instead of being beaten down, I was giving life. Pony said Jerry thought we were sent from Heaven. |
| Johnny never thought of himself. We can’t live without him. The gang needs him. | I don’t want to die now. Sixteen years ain’t long enough. |
| Sixteen years on the street, and you can learn a lot. But all the wrong things, not the things you want to learn. | Sixteen years on the street, and you can see a lot. But all the wrong sights, not the sights you want to see. |
| Then leaf subsides to leaf… | Then leaf subsides to leaf… |
| We had a rumble, but in the midst of the fight I realized, I don’t hate the Socs anymore…None of us should have been there, throwing punches with a gang of future convicts. | Useless…fighting’s no good. I tried to tell Pony that. I have to get the words out while I still have a pulse. |
| Johnny was so quiet, I thought Dallas and I were too late. I thought Johnny was already dead. | “We’re all proud of you, buddy.” That’s what Dallas said. I loved Dallas. I wanted to die with his words in my ears. |
| Johnny was trying to talk to me. I leaned in, close to his burns, his closed eyes. | “Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold.” |
| The pillow sank a little, and Johnny died. | I see something on the horizon. Light. |
| So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. |
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. |
After sharing my poem, and giving students the opportunity to read several student written poems aloud, we wrote the following list of writing craft moves:
Writers of Poems in Two Voices…
- Look back at passages in the text where the characters they’ve chosen are actually speaking, or where they can “hear” their thoughts.
- Base their poems on a specific passage in the book, or make their writing a more general reflection of everything that they’ve read so far.
- Might give a voice to a character who doesn’t speak often or is silent. This allows creative license as a writer. For example, what would Bob say if he could speak to Johnny or Pony about what happened in the park? What would Johnny say to the children he rescued from the church in Windrixville?
- “Steal” lines or word choices from the book such as a favorite Again and Again, or golden line
- Sound like the character being represented
- Decide which lines will be read in unison, and which ones will be read individually
- Include important details from the novel to illustrate close reading
- Practice reading poems ALOUD with coauthors to work on timing and inflection
Two voice poetry allows students to powerfully express how a text has changed their thinking about the world, gives them the opportunity to write with a coauthor, and to present their poetry to others. It works beautifully with any book. My students loved revisiting favorite scenes in The Outsiders, and we’ve also written narrative poetry, found poetry, and whipstitch poetry together.
The end of the year is the perfect time to utilize poetry as an analytical tool.
How do you use poetry with your students? Please add your ideas and questions to the comments below!
Elizabeth Oosterheert teaches middle school language arts and directs the 8th Grade Theatre Troupe at Pella Christian Grade School in Pella, Iowa.
She loves reading and writing with middle schoolers.
Three Teachers Talk 
I love this, and I’m thinking of how to use your ideas with students and their book club books in the fall. I need to know though — what is whipstitch poetry?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Amy,
I’m sorry that I didn’t see this months ago when you wrote it, but whipstitches are short poems that are used to capture the small, good things of life. A whipstitch can be a poem about an element in nature, a character in a book, the possibilities are endless! I wrote a post for Moving Writers called The Wonder of Whipstitch in April that explains more about how they can be used in the classroom. The original idea came from Randi Ward, the author of Whipstitches, and Karla Hilliard, who wrote whipstitches with her students and shared the idea with other teachers. I love that students can write whipstitch poetry about virtually anything. Poet Randi Ward visited with my students last May and they shared some of their “stitches” with her.
LikeLike