Teach This Poem: “From ‘Elegy in Joy’” by Muriel Rukeyser

Look closely at this micrograph of various seeds.

The following activities and questions are designed to help your students use their noticing skills to move through the poem and develop their thinking skills so they understand its meaning with confidence, using what they’ve noticed as evidence for their interpretations. Read more about the framework upon which these activities are based.

1. Warm-up: (Before class, ask students to bring in a collage of things that they feel nourish or support them during difficult times. Items in the collage might include a picture of a pet, words from a favorite song, or an illustration of comfort food.) Share your collage with a classmate. What did you include in your collage and why? What do you like about your partner’s collage? What similarities and differences do you notice between your work? 

2. Before Reading the Poem: Look closely at this image of a micrograph of various seeds. What stands out to you in this image? Why? What questions, if any, do you have?

3. Reading the Poem: Silently read the poem from “Elegy in Joy” by Muriel Rukeyser. What do you notice about the poem? Note any words or phrases that stand out to you or any questions you might have. 

4. Listening to the Poem: Enlist two volunteers and listen as the poem is read aloud twice. Write down any additional words and phrases that stand out to you.  

5. Small Group Discussion: How do the resources from the beginning of class connect to your understanding of the poem? What does the poem say about beginnings or peace? Why is this important? What metaphors do you notice in the poem? 

6. Whole Class Discussion: An elegy is a form of poetry in which the speaker expresses grief, sadness, or loss. How does “Elegy in Joy” express both sadness and joy? What do you make of the repetition in the line, “Nourish beginnings, let us nourish beginnings”?  

7. Extension for Grades 7-8: Choose a metaphor or image from the poem and incorporate it into your collage from the beginning of class. Share your updated or new collage with a classmate or small group. How does this metaphor relate to what nourishes or sustains you? Look again at your collage. What else do you notice? 

8. Extension for Grades 9-12: Work with a partner and write a new version of “Elegy in Joy” about something that needs care, protection, or a new beginning in today’s world. Share your poem with the class. What do these poems have in common? What does this tell us about our world today?

“In this moment when we face horizons and conflicts wider than ever before, we want our resources, the ways of strength. We look again to the human wish, its faiths, the means by which the imagination leads us to surpass ourselves. If there is a feeling that something has been lost, it may be because much has not yet been used, much is still to be found and began.” Read chapter one of The Life of Poetry by Muriel Rukeyser.

The elegy is a form of poetry in which the poet or speaker expresses grief, sadness, or loss.