Spooky poetry for Halloween
Oct 15th, 2011 by lapazfarm
And still on a winter’s night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
When the road is a gypsy’s ribbon looping the purple moor,
The highwayman comes riding–
Riding–riding–
The highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.
(That’s an excerpt from one of my very favorite “spooky” poems, The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes. We read poetry every friday and this is one of this past friday’s selections.)
We don’t do unit-studies any more. Not that we think they are bad or wrong, it’s just that we have sort of grown away from that way of doing things.
But we do sometimes do “themes” and one of the more fun themes to do is a spooky theme for Halloween. It is one of our favorite themes and we look forward to it every year. So some (but not all ) of our work will revolve around this theme the month of October.
I’ve already written about Superboy and I reading Frankenstein as this month’s literature selection. Also on theme, his computer graphics project (on Blender) is a zombie head. Very creepy indeed.
Art will be pumpkin carving, sugar skulls, and other dia de los muertos-inspired projects. And maybe this spooky-looking tree project.
And poetry? That’s where the real fun is this month.
Just think of all the spooky goodness out there! Why, Poe alone provides enough frightful fodder to last a month or more! The real trouble comes in trying to choose from amongst all of the many delightfully devilish poems out there. They are always such fun to read aloud in your most spookified voice. But, much as we’d love to, we just cant read them all. So, here are our selections of spooky poetry for the month of october:
The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes
The Raven by E A Poe (of course)
Annabel Lee by EA Poe
The Haunted Oak by Paul Laurence Dunbar
The Hag by Robert Herrick
The Night Wind by Eugene Field (This is a fun one)
(And I am sure we will come up with some more when we hit the library this weekend.)
Tell me, what are your favorite spooky poems to set the Halloween mood?
Love, love The Highwayman, I can recite whole stanzas:)
Theresa
I just awarded you a Stylish Blogger Award:) http://sevenlittleaustralians.blogspot.com/2011/10/simply-delighted-stylish-blogger-award.html
You’ve been tagged: http://theforestroom.blogspot.com/2011/10/homeschool-resource-meme.html
Thank you, Erin!
Now I simply must go listen to Joan Baez singing Annabel Lee, thank you!
Hi Tess! We are reading Poe for the month of October. I’m saving The Raven for Halloween week!
Btw, I nominated you for Stylish Blogger.
Thank you, Faith!
Theresa – thank you for the poetry selection ideas. This is perfect.
The Highwayman always reminds me of Anne of Green Gables.
But I’d have to say The Raven would be my top pick. I’ve been looking over your recent pictures. I can’t believe the way the kids are growing up! 