By Carl Sandburg
The Blackbirch Treasurey of American Poetry. Blackbirch Press: Woodbridge, CT. 2001.
Show pictures of buffalo.
Ask Students what they know about buffalo.
Write down student answers on a large piece of paper.
Take a count of how many students have seen a buffalo.
By Carl Sandburg
And those who saw the buffaloes are gone.
Those who saw the buffaloes by thousands and how they
pawed the prairie sod into dust with their hoofs,
their great heads down pawing on in a great pageant
of dusk,
Those who saw the buffaloes are gone.
And the buffaloes are gone.
Discuss the meaning of the poem.
Ask what does the poet mean when he says the buffalo are gone?
Read the poem again.
Have the students work in pairs to read the poem together.
Have them write down at least 3 sentences on what they think the poet is trying to say.
Bring the class back together and have them share their ideas.
