Below are 2 examples of the introduction statement (you need one for each poem).
For the creative response, you’ll explore a similar theme or topic, connected to that time in your life. It can take inspiration from the poem, but it doesn’t need to.
“Blackberry Picking” by Seamus Heaney
The summer Elisabeth was a baby, we spent a lot of time at my grandmother’s place on Whidbey Island. There was a brambly network of blackberry bushes just down the road, and I spent hours precipitously balanced on a stool, reaching for the best ones high up in the sun. This poem captures the obsession of picking blackberries, alongside the temporariness of late summertime.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50981/blackberry-picking
“Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins
I’ve always loved poetry, and I want my students to love it – but I find that many think it’s boring, irrelevant, or indecipherable. I want them to know that they don’t have to understand everything – that the act of spending time with a poem, and experiencing it, can be good enough. This poem captures the way some students interact with poetry – and the sense of playful exploration that he, and I, want to encourage.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46712/introduction-to-poetry