Best Examples of Integrating Poetry into Your 18th Century Literature Lessons

Concrete classroom examples of integrating poetry into your 18th century literature lessons

Let’s start where teachers actually live: “What would this look like on Tuesday at 10:15 a.m.?” Here are several real examples of integrating poetry into your 18th century literature lessons that you can run with immediately.

One powerful example of integration is to teach Alexander Pope’s “The Rape of the Lock” side by side with a short modern text on social media and image culture. Have students read a brief article about online “aesthetic” trends or influencer culture, then ask them to track how Pope satirizes appearance, status, and reputation in the poem. Students create a two-column chart: one for 18th-century obsessions (locks of hair, card games, coffee) and one for 21st-century equivalents (filters, likes, brand sponsorships). This kind of pairing becomes one of the best examples of how poetry can open up conversations about continuity and change across centuries.

Another favorite: use short lyric poems by Thomas Gray or Charlotte Smith as bell-ringers throughout your 18th century unit. Instead of treating poetry as a separate block, drop a 12–20 line poem at the start of class, three days a week, and connect it to whatever prose text you’re reading. For instance, when teaching Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, open with a short poem about nature or confinement and ask: “Whose voice is missing here? Who gets to speak?” Over a few weeks, students start to see poetry as a recurring lens, not a one-off genre.

These are just two early examples of integrating poetry into your 18th century literature lessons; below, we’ll walk through more detailed, ready-to-use scenarios.

Pairing poems with historical sources: examples of integrating poetry into your 18th century literature lessons

If your course emphasizes context, pairing poetry with non-literary documents is one of the best examples of deep integration.

Consider Phillis Wheatley. Start with her poem “On Being Brought from Africa to America.” Then bring in a short excerpt from an 18th-century sermon or a legal text on slavery, plus a modern historical overview from a reputable site like the Library of Congress or a university archive such as Harvard’s Wheatley resources. Ask students to annotate:

• Where does Wheatley echo the religious language of the period?
• Where does she subtly resist or complicate it?
• How does the poem “talk back” to the legal or religious document?

Students then write a short, evidence-based paragraph explaining how Wheatley uses poetic form and tone to navigate power structures. This is a clear, concrete example of integrating poetry into your 18th century literature lessons in a way that supports historical thinking and close reading at the same time.

You can repeat this structure with other poets:

• William Cowper and abolitionist documents
• Anna Laetitia Barbauld and pamphlets on education or war
• James Thomson’s nature poetry alongside 18th-century scientific writing

In each case, the poem becomes a living response to the period’s debates, not just “a poem we happen to read in week 7.”

Satire, memes, and media literacy: modern-friendly examples include Pope and Swift

Students in 2024–2025 are steeped in satire, but they don’t always recognize it as such. This is where Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift can shine.

One engaging example of integrating poetry into your 18th century literature lessons is to treat Pope’s “Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot” or selections from “The Dunciad” as early versions of “call-out culture.” Start by showing a few school-appropriate satirical memes or headlines from a well-known satire outlet. Have students identify the target, the exaggeration, and the implied values.

Then, turn to Pope. Ask students to:

• Identify who or what Pope is targeting
• Mark phrases that feel like “18th-century subtweets”
• Compare the tone of Pope’s satire to the memes they saw

Students can create a short “annotated meme” where they rewrite two or three lines of Pope’s satire as a modern meme caption, with a note explaining the connection. This is one of the best examples of how integrating poetry can build media literacy: students learn to track voice, irony, and audience across centuries.

With Swift, you can use his poetry alongside “A Modest Proposal.” Even though the proposal is prose, pairing it with a short satirical poem lets students see how satire works across genres. They identify common techniques—hyperbole, understatement, persona—and then apply those techniques in a short, creative assignment of their own.

Voice, gender, and power: examples of integrating poetry into your 18th century literature lessons through persona

The long 18th century is full of poets experimenting with voice and persona, which makes it fertile ground for conversations about gender and power.

A powerful example of integration is to pair Lady Mary Wortley Montagu’s verse epistles with Alexander Pope’s. Let students read excerpts from both and map out:

• Who is speaking?
• To whom?
• What power dynamics are at play?

Then, have students write a short “answer poem” from the perspective of a character or figure who doesn’t get to speak in the original text—an enslaved person in a travel narrative, a servant in an Austen novel, or a woman in a political pamphlet. They must imitate at least one stylistic feature of the 18th-century poem (heroic couplets, elevated diction, or formal address).

This activity works especially well in mixed-ability classrooms because students can participate at different levels: some focus on voice and feeling, others on formal mimicry. As a real example of integrating poetry into your 18th century literature lessons, it also gives you a natural way to assess understanding of both content and form.

You can also bring in Charlotte Smith’s sonnets or early Romantic precursors to talk about emotion and mental health. While you should avoid diagnosing historical figures, you can connect students’ observations to modern understandings of well-being using resources from places like the National Institute of Mental Health. Students can discuss how expressions of sadness, anxiety, or isolation are framed differently in the 18th century compared to today.

Short-form writing and poetry notebooks: low-stakes examples of integration

If you’re teaching in 2024–2025, you’re likely juggling shorter attention spans, more screen time, and varying levels of reading stamina. Poetry is perfect for this reality.

One of the best examples of integrating poetry into your 18th century literature lessons is to create an ongoing poetry notebook. Throughout the unit, students:

• Copy out a short 18th-century poem or key stanza
• Paraphrase it in their own everyday language
• Jot down one personal connection or question

You can use poems by Gray, Johnson, Smart, Wheatley, Barbauld, or any short lyric that fits your themes. Over time, students build a small, personalized anthology that mirrors the arc of your course.

To make this digital-friendly, students can keep their notebooks in a shared document or learning management system. They can even record short audio reflections, which supports diverse learners and aligns with current trends in multimodal literacy.

This is a gentle, realistic example of integrating poetry into your 18th century literature lessons without carving out giant new blocks of time. Poetry becomes a rhythm, not a one-off event.

Interdisciplinary projects: examples include art, music, and science connections

Another way to keep poetry from feeling isolated is to connect it to other disciplines your students are already studying.

One interdisciplinary example of integrating poetry into your 18th century literature lessons is to pair James Thomson’s “The Seasons” with a short overview of 18th-century scientific thought from a site like the National Institutes of Health history pages. Students examine how Thomson describes weather, bodies, and the natural world, then compare that language to emerging scientific vocabulary.

You can also:

• Connect pastoral poems to landscape painting, asking students to compare how each medium idealizes or critiques rural life.
• Pair patriotic or nationalistic poems with early political documents, prompting students to track how language shapes identity and belonging.
• Link religious verse to hymnody or musical settings, exploring how meter and repetition function differently in sung versus read forms.

These interdisciplinary moves are not just “nice extras.” They’re real examples of integrating poetry into your 18th century literature lessons in ways that support content-area literacy across the curriculum.

Digital and AI-era updates: 2024–2025 trends you can tap

Teaching in 2024–2025 means your students are working alongside AI tools, digital archives, and open-access scholarship. Poetry fits beautifully into this environment if you lean into it.

Here are a few current, tech-aware examples of integrating poetry into your 18th century literature lessons:

• Have students use reputable digital archives, such as Project Gutenberg or university-hosted collections, to find different 18th-century poems on the same theme (for instance, nature, war, or city life). They then compare how each poet handles the theme.
• Use simple, school-approved text analysis tools to generate word clouds from a poem and from a related prose text. Students interpret which words dominate and why.
• Ask students to draft a modern “imitation” of an 18th-century poem, then have them reflect on which features were hardest to reproduce: vocabulary, syntax, meter, or tone.

These activities show students that poetry is data-rich and pattern-based, which can be especially appealing to STEM-oriented learners. They also provide real examples of integrating poetry into your 18th century literature lessons while building digital literacy.

Assessment ideas: examples of integrating poetry into essays and projects

If poetry only shows up on your tests as “identify this device,” students will treat it as decoration. Instead, build poetry into your major assessments.

One strong example of integrating poetry into your 18th century literature lessons is a comparative essay where students must analyze at least one poem and one prose text from the period. For instance:

• Compare a passage from Gulliver’s Travels with a satirical poem by Swift or Pope.
• Pair a chapter from Robinson Crusoe with a poem about the sea or empire.
• Put Pride and Prejudice alongside a short poem about marriage or class.

Students develop a thesis that spans both texts, using poetic and narrative evidence. This forces them to see poetry as central to the argument, not an optional add-on.

For project-based assessments, students might:

• Curate a small “18th-century poetry exhibit” with 4–5 poems, explanatory labels, and a short curator’s statement.
• Design a lesson or mini-unit for a younger grade level that includes at least one poem, explaining their choices.

These are concrete examples of integrating poetry into your 18th century literature lessons in ways that count for grades, which is often what signals importance to students.

Quick FAQ: examples of integrating poetry into your 18th century literature lessons

Q: What are some simple, low-prep examples of integrating poetry into your 18th century literature lessons?
A: Use short poems as bell-ringers tied to your main text, have students keep a running poetry notebook, or swap one day of lecture for a small-group comparison of a poem and a historical document. These require minimal new planning but steadily build students’ comfort with verse.

Q: Can you give an example of using poetry to support struggling readers?
A: Start with very short, concrete poems—like a few quatrains by Gray or Wheatley—and focus on paraphrase and imagery rather than meter or advanced terminology. Let students illustrate a stanza or rewrite it in plain language before you introduce more technical analysis.

Q: How do I balance poetry with all the prose I’m required to cover?
A: Instead of adding separate poetry units, weave poems into what you’re already doing: one poem per major prose text, or recurring bell-ringer poems that echo your current themes. The examples of integrating poetry into your 18th century literature lessons described above are designed to fit into existing structures, not replace them.

Q: Are there good online resources for 18th-century poetry texts and background?
A: Yes. Project Gutenberg, major university English department sites, and national libraries are reliable starting points. Look for .edu or .gov domains when possible, as they tend to offer well-vetted editions and contextual materials.

When you treat poetry as a thread running through your 18th century course, not a side unit, students begin to hear the period differently. The best examples of integrating poetry into your 18th century literature lessons are not flashy; they’re the consistent, everyday choices that put verse in conversation with prose, history, and students’ own lives.