This Lesson's Title:

Come Hither,
Stay Away

Using classic poetry to foster idea development and word choice in two parts

This lesson was created by Northern Nevada teacher Matt Fockler.

This on-line writing prompt is based on the poetry of Christopher Marlowe. Before writing to this assignment, students should hear and discuss the poetry of this great poet.

Click here to learn more about this poet.

If you are a Washoe County teacher, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

Christopher Marlowe’s The Passionate Shepherd to His Love and Sir Walter Raleigh’s The Nymphs Reply to the Shepherd are classic examples of early Elizabethan English culture, history, and poetry. In this lesson, writers will analyze the language of influence, seduction and salesmanship used by Marlowe in Passionate Shepherd as well as the logical response crafted by Raleigh. Finally, students will brainstorm other scenarios where influence and salesmanship are used and write their own poems of seduction and denial. Teachers: click here to read the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait in this writing assignment is idea development; encourage your students to brainstorm unique and interesting scenarios for seduction, as well as plausible and convincing reasons. The support trait in this assignment is word choice; each reason the writers give for the seduction must be plausible, albeit emotional, just as the denial must be logical.