South Dakota ELA 9-10.RL.9
The Standard
Analyze a variety of related literary texts including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics. Explain how an author draws upon or alludes to source material.
South Dakota English Language Arts Standards (2025)
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students read related works from the same period and compare how each handles a shared theme. They also find references to older stories or texts and explain what those references add.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can use lines from both poems to show how their speakers respond differently to loss. The student can explain why the speaker in “The Raven” asks about “balm in Gilead” after reading its source in Jeremiah.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may say two poems have the same theme just because both mention death. They may treat “balm in Gilead” as a place name and miss the speaker’s question about healing.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Compare how the speakers in “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee” handle loss, using one phrase from each. Then explain what “balm in Gilead” adds to “The Raven.”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs printed excerpts from “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee”; have them highlight each speaker’s response to loss in different colors.
Ask, “Which speaker holds on to hope?” Have students defend an answer with one quoted phrase from each poem.
Play source-match with cards for “balm in Gilead,” “Pallas,” Jeremiah 8:22, and an Athena myth; students explain each match.
Play the chorus of “See You Again”; students compare its view of grief with both Poe poems in two sentences.
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Related Standards
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