Showin' Up Wordsworth

As our poetry unit is coming to a close (much quicker than anticipated, thanks to the snow week), I wanted my students to apply what they had learned and at the same time work with a more challenging piece of poetry. Yesterday, we looked at Wordsworth's "She Was a Phantom of Delight" to identify similes and metaphors. Today the students wrote parodies of the poem. The results were, well, interesting! What I liked about it was that it challenged the kids to really examine the structure of the poem, and then imitate it. Of course, there is only a certain level of comprehension that seventh graders can usually achieve with poetry this complex, but this didn't stop them from tackling the activity like pros. It also gave me the oppportunity to teach a bit about the man, Wordsworth, and what some of those difficult phrases meant.
For those of you who need to brush up on the poem, here's the first stanza (the only one we looked at):

"She Was a Phantom of Delight" by William Wordsworth

She was a phantom of delight
When first she gleamed upon my sight;
A lovely Apparition, sent
To be a moment's ornament;
Her eyes as stars of Twilight fair;
Like Twilight's, too, her dusky hair;
But all things else about her drawn
From May-time and the cheerful Dawn;
A dancing Shape, an Image gay,
To haunt, to startle, and way-lay.

...and our renditions:

Student A:
"She Was a Booger in Disguise"
She was a booger in disguise
Everything that I despise.
A disgusting image that made me weep
I am now afraid to sleep
Her eyes as tired as a sloth
Her hair covered in dandruff, like a cloth
A sluggish appearance,
Makes me sure I have no interference.
Her flaky skin was a sin,
I will never be the same again.

Student B:
She was a phantom of scare
And when I saw her, I lost my hair
She wasn't a delight
more like a fright
Her face was a disgrace
to the human race
her dusty hair
reminded me of my dirty underwear
I wanted to throw her in the trash
because she gave me a large rash.

Student C:
He was a demon of fright
When he came upon my sight;
A horrible person, sent
to destroy the Christmas ornaments.
His eyes as red as fire would dare;
Like darkness, too, his creepy stare;
But above all things, his trashy lawn
From midnight to the dreary dawn
A fiery shape, the opposite of day,
To scare, to haunt, by the way.

Now, tell me Wordsworth isn't rolling over in his grave!!