Gentle Goodbyes

Worksheet Description

This worksheet is a structured guide for students to dissect and understand an elegy. It uses a series of interconnected boxes that prompt students to identify who the elegy is about, the significance of that person to the author, the tone of the poem, its reflection on death and dying, and the type of loss expressed. Each box is designed to focus on a different aspect of the elegy, encouraging students to think critically about the poem’s content and the emotions it conveys. This analysis map not only directs the students’ attention to specific features but also allows them to visually organize their thoughts about the elegy.

The worksheet aims to teach students the critical components of an elegy and how to analyze them. By directing students to provide text evidence for the tone and to reflect on the nature of the loss, it encourages detailed literary analysis and critical thinking. The worksheet helps students understand the relationship between the author and the subject, and how this influences the message and emotional impact of the poem. Ultimately, students learn to appreciate the elegy as a medium for expressing and processing grief, and how poetry can capture the complexity of human emotions associated with loss.