A Poetic Journey at YMS
A Four-Level Program for Junior and High School Students
At The Yangming School of Liberal Arts, our poetry program invites young readers and writers into the world of verse, and free verse, where language becomes music, emotion takes shape, and ideas come alive. From the quiet power of reflection to the boldness of creative expression, each level of our curriculum is designed to help students discover how poetry can open both the mind and the imagination. Along the way, students will build close reading skills, explore history through literature, and begin to craft their own voices as poets.
Lines Through Time: Where Past and Present Rhyme
Foundation Level: 19th-Century American Poetry I
Grades 7–8 | Emily Dickinson
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Students begin with the spare yet profound world of Emily Dickinson. Through close reading and discussion, they learn to decode metaphor, sound, and structure while exploring themes such as curiosity, observation, nature, and the small moments that shape everyday life. Dickinson’s poems offer a deeply personal yet often playful perspective on nature—treating it not just as scenery, but as a companion, a mystery, and a source of quiet revelation. This level lays the groundwork for understanding poetic form and the power of compressed language.
Emily Dickinson
Age 16 or 17, photographed between 1846 and 1847.
Intermediate Level: 19th-Century American Poetry II
Grades 7–8 | Walt Whitman & Civil War Poetry
This course introduces students to the expansive voice of Walt Whitman, with a focus on his Civil War poetry. Through close reading and historical context, students explore themes of democracy, heroism, suffering, and national identity. They’ll trace Whitman’s evolving view of the war—from early patriotic enthusiasm to the sober reflections of a battlefield nurse—gaining insight into how poetry responds to real-world events and human experience. Students will also experiment with Whitman’s unique style of free verse.
Walt Whitman
1887, photographed by George C. Cox.
Advanced Level I: American Modernist Poetry
Grades 9–11 | 20th-Century Modernism
Modernist poets broke away from tradition, experimenting with voice, form, and meaning in bold new ways. In this course, students encounter figures like T.S. Eliot, Marianne Moore, Wallace Stevens, and more, whose works often feel fragmented, layered, and abstract. As described by Harvard Professor Elisa New, Modernist poetry is like a mobile—each piece moving independently and asynchronously, yet together forming a unified work of art. Students will learn to embrace ambiguity, decode symbolism, and develop confidence in reading poems that challenge conventional expectations.
Jean Tinguely
Untitled, 1954
"Jean Tinguely: Super Meta Maxi" at Museum Kunstpalast, 2016
Advanced Level II: Robert Frost —
Between Tradition and Modernism
Grades 9–11 | The Poetry of Robert Frost
This course explores the poetry of Robert Frost, a writer who incorporates traditional forms while engaging with modernist themes. Students will examine how his rural settings and conversational tone serve as a backdrop that frames his quiet, thoughtful exploration of complex emotional and philosophical questions. Reflecting key aspects of modernism—such as uncertainty, fragmentation, and the search for meaning—Frost’s work invites readers to look beyond the surface of everyday life. Through close reading, students will uncover how nature becomes a space for quiet conflict and poetic insight.
Robert Frost
1949, photographed by Walter Albertin.
Advanced Level III: British Romanticism
Grades 9–11 | Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, and Percy B. Shelley
This course explores how British Romantic poets turned to nature as a wellspring of inspiration and reflection. Students will read selections from Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, and Stevenson, discovering how the natural world stirred their imagination and shaped their poetic vision. Whether through quiet walks in the countryside or awe before untamed landscapes, these poets used nature to access deeper emotional truths and creative energy. Students will also practice writing their own nature-inspired poems in response to what they read.
Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog
By Caspar David Friedrich, c. 1817, in the Hamburg Art Gallery.