I chose Tennyson as the first poet my 4th grade class will be studying. Last week, we read "Break, Break, Break." This week, I chose "The Kraken." It's about a sea monster, and I've yet to meet a 4th grader who doesn't dig sea monsters.
The Kraken
By Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Below the thunders of the upper deep;
Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights
About his shadowy sides: above him swell
Huge sponges of millenial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages and will lie
Battening upon huge sea-worms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by man and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.
millenial: related to a period of 1,000 years
grot: grotto, cave
polypi: polyps, a polyp is an animal with a columnar body whose mouth is on top and is surrounded by a ring of tentacles, sea anemones are polyps
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| painting of sea anemones (polypi) by Giacomo Merculiano |
battening: growing fat, feeding gluttonously
two sea-worms:
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