Poems About Growing Up

Directions: Answer these questions by annotating the poems

Fifteen by William Stafford

• 1. Come up with three adjectives that effectively describe the speaker. Look at all of the poem to come up with adjectives that show more than one side of the speaker.

  2. What does the speaker want to do? What does he actually do?

  3. You’ve probably noticed the repetition of the word “fifteen.” Read into it. How does the meaning change each time it’s used.

  4. Overall, what aspect of adolescence does this poem explore?

The Summer I Was Sixteen by Geraldine Connolly

• 1. Who is the “we” in the poem? What are they like?

  2. How is the pool a special place?

  3. What does the speaker see when looking through the chain link fence? How do you interpret this line?

  4. Overall, what aspect of adolescence does this poem explore?