Theme in Yellow
by Carl Sandburg
I spot the hills
With yellow balls in autumn.
I light the prairie cornfields
Orange and tawny gold clusters
And I am called pumpkins.
On the last of October
When dusk is fallen
Children join hands
And circle round me
Singing ghost songs
And love to the harvest moon;
I am a jack-o'-lantern
With terrible teeth
And the children know
I am fooling.
With yellow balls in autumn.
I light the prairie cornfields
Orange and tawny gold clusters
And I am called pumpkins.
On the last of October
When dusk is fallen
Children join hands
And circle round me
Singing ghost songs
And love to the harvest moon;
I am a jack-o'-lantern
With terrible teeth
And the children know
I am fooling.
Discussion and Activities
- Read the first four lines of the poem and ask students to guess what the poet is describing before reading the rest of the poem.
- Students take turns reading the poem with appropriate rate, change in voice and expression.
- Younger students identify who, what, when, where and why in the poem.
- Identify the poetic style.
- Find examples, if present, of simile (a comparison that uses like or as), metaphor (an implied comparison), hyperbole (an exaggeration for effect) and personification (a description that represents a thing as a person.)
- Students draw pictures to illustrate the poem.
- Each student will write a paragraph comparing and contrasting the custom described in the poem with their own Halloween experiences. Students will share their writing and discuss.
- Students use online or library resources to research Halloween and harvest customs in history, write reports and present them to the class.