Ask students to write a tongue twister about a vegetable or a fruit. Allow time for them to write these and share them with the class. Explain to students that tongue twisters use the poetic convention of alliteration, which is one way that sound is given to language. Alliteration occurs when the same sound starts succeeding accented syllables. In “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,” for example, alliteration is created by the occurrence of a p sound at the beginning of every accented syllable.

Go over the remaining poetic conventions: rhyme, rhythm, refrain and onomatopoeia. Students should write definitions of the five poetic conventions listed.

• Rhyme refers to echoing or repeating sounds at the end of words. In poetry, rhyme usually occurs at the end of lines.
• Rhythm is the regular repetition of a beat, accent or rise and fall in language. It is the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line. Most poems do not use the same rhythm all the way through. Variety in rhythm is desirable and a necessity. Very few poets favor rhythms that slide into a mechanical pattern or rhythm for very long.
• A refrain is a line, or part of a line, or group of lines, which is repeated in a poem, sometimes with slight changes, usually at the end of each stanza. The refrain occurs in many ballads and poems. Example: The word “Nevermore” in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” is a refrain.
• Onomatopeia is a situation where the sound of a word directly imitates its meaning (for example, “choo-choo,” “hiss”).

Divide students into groups of three. Using Lunchlady Land (from Lesson One), ask the groups to find examples of one of the conventions in the song’s lyrics. Allow five to ten minutes for this activity and then share with the class.

Next, give students copies of “General Booth Enters into Heaven” (handout below). Explain that the Salvation Army is an example of a non-profit philanthropic organization begun in the late 1800s to meet the needs of the poor. This organization was founded by a man named William Booth in London in 1865 to allow Christians to participate in social work. Why was the work of the Salvation Army important then and today? Why isn’t the work of the Salvation Army done by the government? Ask students if they have seen the Salvation Army at work today. What is their mission?

Next, the students should read silently the background note from the handout about William Booth and be able to explain why Vachel Lindsay wrote the poem “General Booth Enters Heaven.” How would students describe the characteristics of William Booth as one who contributed to the common good of the community?

Using the first verse of the poem, identify the poetic conventions students have found in the first verse of the poem. The students should then find examples of these conventions found in the rest of the poem.