A Detailed Lesson Plan

The Death of the Red Mask

I. OBJECTIVES
At the end of the 45-minute discussion with at least 75% proficiency level, the students
will be able to:
a. give expanded definitions of words;
b. relate and reflect the message of the poem to real life situations based on their personal
experiences; and
d. write their own poem about the life.

II. SUBJECT MATTER

Topic: Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats
Reference: www.edu.com, www.gov.com
Materials: Visual Aids, Visual Pictures, Audio Clip, Chalk, and Black Board

III. PROCEDURE
Teacher’s Activity Students’ Activity
A. Daily Routine
Prayer
May I request Mark to lead us in prayer?

Greetings Good morning, ma’am!

Good morning, class!

Checking of Attendance None, ma’am.

Do we have any absentee today?

That’s good.

Review The Last Leaf, ma’am.

Yesterday, we discussed about a story. What
is the title of that story?
Yes and who wrote “The Last Leaf”?
Very good! Do you remember the characters
in the story?
What is the lesson of that story?
O. Henry wrote that story, ma’am.
Yes ma’am. The characters in the story are
Johnsy, Sue, Mr. Behrman, and the Doctor
Friendship is a simple but really a meaningful
word. Love your friends because in the end, they
will be your swords and shields to survive in all
the curves in your life.

Wow, you really remember the story. Good

job! Give yourself a Mommy Dionisia Clap.

B. Motivation/Initial Task
Now, we will start our lesson with an activity.
This activity is called charade. I want you to
group yourselves into two. The instruction is
simple. You just have to guess the word from
the actions of another player who is not
allowed to speak. After you guessed the word,
 another member from your group will be the
one to act. Only the player who acts will be
allowed to say “pass”. You have 90 seconds
to do this activity. The group who can guess
more words will be the winner. As you can
see, I have here 2 boxes in front 2of
1st set nd me. The
set
first group
Heartaches Sickto play has the chance to
Immortal Dreamchoose
among these boxes
Drunk Death and Pain the 1st
to determineSleepy
group, we willMusic
Tired have a toss coin. Let’sWake
Young begin!
Love Fade Numb Beauty
Wings Sorrow Fever Fancy
(Students do the activity)

C. Presentation of the Lesson

Our lesson for today is all about the poem

titled, “Ode to a Nightingale” by John Keats.
Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale is considered one
of the finest odes in English Literature. It
reveals the highest imaginative power of the
poet. This poem presents the picture of the
tragedy of human life. It brings out an
expression of Keats’ pessimism and dejection.

a. Unlocking of Difficulties

But before we read the poem, let us have

another activity. Who wants to have a fun
activity again? Raise your right hand.

Please group yourselves into 4 and pick a

representative.
Class, listen as I give my instructions.
I have 4 envelopes here in my hands. Inside
these envelopes are the words you need to
figure out and picture puzzles to solve. Once
you figured out the word, write it on the
manila paper, which is also inside these
envelopes and then paste the picture puzzle on
the manila paper also. I will only give you 7
minutes to finish this activity and the time
starts as soon as the representatives of each
group pick an envelope here. Is that clear? All
representatives come here in front. Let the
game begins!
(Please refer to the attached documents)
Your time is up! Let’s see if you got the right
answer. Please choose another representative
from your group to explain your work. 3 to 4
sentences will do.
(Students will do the activity)
The picture shows a sleepy man and the word we
figured out is “drowsy”. I think drowsy describes
the man who looks so tired and sleepy.
An hour before dawn, Annie began to feel
drowsy and shifted her position to keep from
falling asleep.
The picture shows a man doing a dangerous
stunt. The figured out word is “perilous”. The
word perilous is synonymous to dangerous and
the word describes the picture.
The firefighters saved the children from a
perilous situation.

Let’s start with the first group. What do you The picture shows a little girl who looks so sad.
think is the relationship of the word with the
picture? Do they have a connection?
Correct! Who can use the word “drowsy” in a
sentence? Yes, Philip?
Very good, Philip. Next group? Please
explain your work.
Very well, group 2. Mark, please use the word
“perilous” in a sentence.
The word is “forlorn”. The word forlorn is
similar with sad and lonely.
The forlorn man was so sad he thought of killing
himself.
The picture shows a group of people listening to
the person speaking and they are also talking.
They looked like they do not agree with what the
speaker is saying. The word is “murmuring” and
I think it also describes the picture.
Passing his father’s closed door on tiptoe, Sam
heard a murmurous sound, and paused to listen

Nice, Mark. What about the third group?

Would you mind sharing your work with us?
1. drowsy- tired and ready to fall asleep
2. perilous- full of danger
Yes, that is right. Can you use it in a sentence, 3. forlorn- sad and lonely, nearly hopeless
Lyca? 4. murmurous- filled with or characterized
by murmurs
That’s good, Lyca. Last group, please present
your work.

Very nice, Group 4. Jayza, use “murmuring”

in a sentence.

Now, let us read the definition of each word

altogether.

1. drowsy- tired and ready to fall asleep

2. perilous- full of danger
3. forlorn- sad and lonely, nearly
hopeless
4. murmurous- filled with or
characterized by murmurs
5.
Good job, everyone! Give yourselves a Good
Job clap.

b. Background of the Author

Before we proceed into John Keats’ “Ode to a
Nightingale”, let’s learn a bit more
background information.
Born on 31 October 1795, John Keats was a
key member of the Romantic movement in
English Literature along with Lord Byron and
Percy Bysshe Shelly.
Essentially, Romantic poet explores how
natural world and the inner, emotional world
of the poet come together.
Although his poems were not generally well
1. What are the literary devices present in
the poem?
2. What lines in the poem use imagery?
3. What lines in the poem use allusion?
4. What does the nightingale symbolize in
the poem?
5. In what stanza did the author stated his
desire for death?
received by critics during his lifetime, his
reputation grew after his death, and by the end
of the 19th century, he had become one of the
most beloved of all English poets.

D. Lesson Proper

Now, let us read the comprehension questions

for you to be guided on understanding the
poem.

Class, read all together. (Students will do the activity)

1. What are the literary devices present
in the poem?
2. What lines in the poem use imagery?
3. What lines in the poem use allusion?
4. What does the nightingale symbolize
in the poem?
5. In what stanza did the author stated his
desire to die?
In stanza 1, the speaker opens with a declaration
of his own heartache and he hears the song of the
nightingale somewhere in the forest. In the
second stanza, he longs for alcohol and he wants
to leave the world unseen and disappear into the
dim forest with the nightingale.

Now, let’s proceed to the poem.

I have here an audio clip. I want you to listen “My heart aches”.
and internalize the message of the poem.

ODE TO A NIGHTINGALE

(After listening to the audio.)

The act of making an indirect reference to
Okay, class. What I want you to do is discuss something.
with your group the meaning of the stanzas
that will be assigned to you. Line 4, “One minute past, and Lethe-wards had
For group 1, stanzas 1 and 2, second group, sunk”
stanzas 3 and 4, for the group 3, stanzas 5 and
6 and for the last group, stanzas 7 and 8. I will
give you 5 minutes to talk with your group.

Your time is up! Let’s start with group 1.

That is absolutely correct! You can probably
tell by the first few words that this poem isn’t
going to be an especially cheery poem. What
line or lines in the 1st stanza gives us a clue
that it is a sad poem? Yes, Janeth?
Very good, Janeth. As the first stanza unfolds,
the speaker compares his mental state to being
intoxicated or even poisoned. He feels like he
forgets everything. In this stanza, he uses
allusion.
Imagery is language that stimulates any of the
five senses.
Line 2 which describes coolness of the wine
Line 3, “Tasting the Flora and the country
green”.
Line 4, “Provencal song”.
Line 8, “Purple stained mouth”.
But first what is allusion? Yes, Melky?

That’s right. Nicole, which line/s in the poem That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,
do you think he use allusion? And with thee fade away into the forest dim.

Good. He uses the river Lethe as an allusion. The speaker wanted to disappear and go with the
Lethe, in Greek Mythology, is a river in the bird.
underworld whose water will erase the
memories of anyone who drinks it and he
feels like he drank from it because he is In Stanza 3, the speaker explains his desire to
slowly forgetting everything. The reason fade away, saying he would like to forget the
behind the speaker’s trance-like state is the troubles the nightingale has never known. In the
nightingale’s song which makes the speaker fourth stanza, he tells the bird to fly away he will
so happy that he can’t focus on anything else. follow not through alcohol but through poetry.
Except for the last two lines, the second
stanza is made entirely of imagery. Rehena,
what is imagery?

That’s right! The poem’s speaker stimulates

our senses of touch, taste, hearing and sight.
What line in the second stanza stimulates our
sense of touch?
Sense of taste? Line 7, “Where youth grows pale, and spectre-
thin, and dies”.
Sense of hearing?
Sense of sight?
Beauty and love.
Very well, class. How about the last 2 lines?
What do you think is the underlying meaning
of these lines? Can we read again the last 2
lines of the second stanza?

Elizabeth, how would you explain these lines?

Correct! The speaker has the urge to leave the

physical world. Why do you think so? Let’s Bacchus, Queen-Moon and Fays.
find out later in the succeeding stanzas. Next
group?

He wants to emphasize the difference between

Very good, group two. As you can see, the the gloomy physical world and the dreamlike,
third stanza gives us a better sense of what the spiritual world of the nightingale.
speaker wants to leave behind by following
the nightingale’s song. According to the
speaker, the nightingale has never known the
sorrows of disease and death that dominate
the physical world.
Imagination.
rd
Siryne, can you tell us which lines in the 3
stanza states that nothing in this world will
lasts forever?

Good. In the last two lines, what are the Fifth stanza states the experiences of the speaker
things mentioned by the speaker that won’t in the world of the nightingale. In the sixth
last forever? Yes, Antonette? stanza, he stated that he has often been “half in
 love” with the idea of dying and called Death in
th
That’s right. Let us move on to the 4 stanza. soft names.
This stanza seems a little bit tougher than the
ones before it. The reason for this is that
Keats has brought in more allusions to
mythology. Who are the mythical figures
mentioned in this stanza? Yes, Elenor?

Very well, Elenor. Bacchus is the Roman God

of wine.The Queen- Moon and Fays refer to
the fairies in European legends. But why do
you think Keats allude to these mythical
figures? Pamela?

That’s correct. He believes that the Maybe he was so lonely that we just wanted to
nightingale lives in a perfect place just like die.
the mythical figures mentioned in the stanza.
Keats also acknowledges that he can use the
“viewless wings” of poesy to experience an
amount of the nightingale’s world. What do
we mean by “viewless wings” of poesy?

Nice. Now, onto the fifth stanza which shifts

our attention back to the physical world. Yes, To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
group 3? Please present your work. While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such ecstasy!
The speaker wants to die with no pain.

Thank you, Group 3. Much like the second

stanza, the fifth stanza exists mostly to
stimulate the reader’s senses especially the
sense of smell. The last line, however, appeals
to our sense of hearing, drawing our attention
to the murmuring of flies on summer
evenings.
Next, the sixth stanza, which primarily deals
with speaker’s desire for death and he has
often been “half in love” with the idea of
dying. What do you think he means when he
said that he is “half in love” with the idea of
dying?
In the seventh stanza, the speaker tells the
nightingale that it is immortal, that it was not
born for death. In the eighth stanza, he is back
into himself. As the nightingale flies farther
away from him, he laments that his imagination
has failed him and says that he can no longer
recall whether the nightingale’s music was a
vision or a waking dream.

It can be. Maybe the speaker is in the state of

losing hope.
Going back to the sixth stanza, the speaker, Ancient emperors, clowns, and homesick Ruth
while surrounded by the nightingale’s song,
thinks that the idea of death seems richer than Charm’d magic casements, opening on the foam
ever. In 6th line to 8th of stanza 6, what did the Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.
speaker want to happen? Kindly read and
explain, Mark?

Forlorn means the state of being sad and lonely.

That’s right. He wants to die while the
nightingale’s song continues because it will
make his death painless. If he were to die, the
nightingale would continue to sing but he
would have ears in vain and be no longer able
to hear.
Okay, last group? You may now explain your
work,

Literary devices present in the poem are Allusion

Very well, group 4. In the seventh stanza, the
speaker tells the bird about its immortality.
He says that the voice he hears singing has
always been heard by whom? Yes, Sarah?
Anna, kindly read the last two lines of the 7th
stanza.
When the word “forlorn” came to the
speaker’s mind, he went back to his senses.
What do we mean again when we say
“forlorn”? Yes, Mylene?
Very good, Mylene. Going back to the poem,
at that same moment, the nightingale slowly
flies farther away from him.
Now that the song is gone, the speaker cannot
recall whether he himself is awake or asleep
and that is how the poem ends.
and Imagery.
Stanzas 1 and 4.
In line 4 ma’am, “One minute past, and Lethe-
wards had sunk”.
In line 2, “Not charioted by Bacchus and his
pards”, and in lines 6 and 7, “And haply the
Queen-Moon is on her throne”.
Cluster’d around by all her starry Fays
Stanzas 2 and 5.
In lines 2,3, 4 & 8. “Cool’d a long age in the
deep-delved earth,
Tasting of Flora and country-green,
Dance, and Provencal song, and sunburnt mirth!”
And purple—stained mouth;

Did you understand the poem? Stanza 6.

Excellent! Now, let us answer the

comprehension questions. Just raise your right In lines 2 to 3, “I have been half in love with
hand if you want to answer. easeful Death,
Call’d him soft names in many a mused rhyme”
What are the literary devices present in the
poem? The nightingale symbolizes Death.

Correct! What stanzas in the poem use

Allusion? Because in the stanza 6 he clearly stated his
desire for death and in stanza 4 he also stated his
Can you tell the specific line in stanza 1? desire to be where the nightingale lives because
he believes that wherever the nightingale lives,
heartaches doesn’t exist.
How about in stanza 4?

What stanzas in the poem use imagery?

In what lines in stanza 2?

In what stanza did the author stated his desire
to die?

Beverly, please the specific lines in stanza 6

that states the author’s desire for death.

Very well. Mark, what do you think the

nightingale symbolizes in the poem?

Why do you say so?

That’s absolutely correct! The nightingale is a

bird that carries both literary and poetic
symbolism. The nightingale in literature and
poetry can represent melancholy and joy, love
and loss, and life and death. In this poem, the
nightingale represents death. The speaker
associated his desire for death to his desire for
the bird. Let us go back to the life of the
author. John Keats composed this poem at the
time when his heart was full of sorrow. His
youngest brother Tom had died, the second
one had gone abroad and the poet himself was
under the suspense and agony by the
passionate love for Fanny Brawne. Do you
know that 2 years after he wrote this poem he
already died? That is right. He died because
of Tuberculosis.

Excellent!

E. Enrichment Activity
Okay! Based on your answers, I think you are Situations
now ready for our activity. Now, group You got pregnant and your boyfriend left you.
yourselves into 3. Choose a representative. What will you do?
Our activity is called “Picture Freeze”. In my Your parents argued and decided to separate.
hand, I have 3 papers. Written on these papers What will you do?
are the different problems that humans You failed your final exams and you know
encounter these days. What you are going to your parents will get mad if you tell them the
do is show the most effective solution you truth. What will you do?
think will solve the problem by means of a
picture freeze.
When I say freeze, you have to be on your
positions and on your position, I must see
your solution to the problem. While you are
still on freeze, one person from your group
will explain why you do that position.

This will be our criteria for this activity.

Explanation -10
Accuracy-10
Cooperation-10
TOTAL: 30 points

Am I clear? I will give you 2 minutes to talk

with your group and the time starts as soon as
the representatives of each group pick a paper
from my hand. Let’s start!

(Students will do the activity)

No one can escape the reality.

Stay positive about life.

Your time’s over. Let’s see your work. Group
1, show us what you got.
Very well done, group one. Let’s give them
international clap type A.
Yes ma’am. There was a time when I just want
to disappear because of all the problems I
experienced but then I realized that those are just
problems and it can’t be solved by running from
it.

How about the second group? The stage is

yours.

Wow, wonderful. Let’s give them
international clap type B.
And the last group? Come on up.
So much talent in one group. Let’s give them
international clap type C.
Very good, everyone. You did a great job!
You may return to your seats.
We discussed about the poem entitled Ode to a
Nightingale which is written by John Keats. It is
a poem about a person who admires the
existence of nightingale. The nightingale
represents death and the person desires the state
of dying. As he listens to the bird’s songs, he
imagines himself dead but as soon as the bird
stopped singing, he was back to his senses.
When he opened his eyes, he cannot figure it out
if his death experience was true or not..

F. Valuing Yes, ma’am.

There are a lot of lessons we can learn from

this poem. What are these?

Yes, that’s right. What else?

Can you relate the message of the poem to

your real life situation? Is there any
circumstance that you or your loved one
experienced what had happen to the speaker
in the poem?

Indeed!

G. Generalization

Who can sum up what we have discussed

today? Yes, Shaira.
Wonderful!
Now, it’s time for the final task. Are you
ready?

Very good!

IV. Evaluation

DIRECTIONS: On a ½ sheet of paper, write a 10 line poem about how much you value your life.

You will be graded according to this rubric:

Content – 25%
Grammar – 20%
Organization of Thoughts – 20%
Impact – 15%
Relevance – 20%
Total of 100%
V. Assignment

For your assignment, please read in advance another work of John Keats, “Ode on Indolence”.

Prepared by:

PAMELA JOY RIVERO PABLICO

A terrible disease called the Red Death has struck the country. It's incredibly fatal, horribly gruesome, and
it's already killed off half the kingdom. But the ruler of these parts, Prince Prospero, doesn't seem to care
about his poor, dying subjects. Instead, he decides to let the kingdom take care of itself while he and a
thousand of his favorite knights and ladies shut themselves up in a fabulous castle to have one never-
ending party. Wine, women, music, dancing, fools—Prospero's castle has it all. After the last guest
enters, no one else can get in—the Prince has welded the doors shut. That means no one can get out,
either…
About five or six months into his stay, Prospero decides to have a spectacular masquerade ball (a ball
where the guests wear masks and costumes). The setup is weird and wild, just like the Prince who
designs it. The ball takes place in a suite of seven rooms, each one dressed up in a different color: blue,
purple, green, orange, white, violet, and black. The black room, which looks like death, is awfully creepy—
it's got dark black walls, blood red windows, and big black clock which chimes so eerily every hour that
everybody at the party stops dancing and laughs nervously. Most of the frolicking masqueraders are too
weirded out to go into the black room.
Anyway, the party's in full swing and everybody's having a wild time when the clock strikes midnight.
Everyone stops dancing and falls momentarily silent, as usual. Then some of the dancers notice a guest
no one had seen before, wearing a scandalous costume. Whoever the new guest is, he's decided to
dress as a corpse, a corpse who died of… the Red Death. He's so frighteningly lifelike (deathlike?) he
freaks everybody out, and he slowly starts "stalking" through the frightened crowd. When Prince Prospero
sees the ghostly guest, he's furious that someone would have the nerve to wear such a costume, and
orders him to be seized and unmasked. But no one has the guts to do it, including Prospero himself.
The Red Death masquerader passes within a few feet of the Prince and starts to walk through the rooms,
heading toward the black room. Prospero loses it and runs after him in a rage, drawing his dagger as he
approaches. But just as Prospero reaches the edge of the black room, the corpselike guest suddenly
whirls around to face him, and Prospero falls to the ground, dead. The shocked crowd throws itself at the
guest, only to discover in horror that there's nothing underneath the mask and costume. The Red Death
itself has come to the party. One by one the guests die, spilling their blood all over Prospero's lavish
rooms. The candles go out, leaving only "darkness, decay, and the Red Death."

 A horrible disease called the Red Death is ravaging the countryside. It's a terrible way to die:
shooting pains, seizures, bleeding from all the pores, and then death. And it all happens within
half an hour.
 Prince Prospero, the ruler of said kingdom currently being ravaged by the Red Death, is "happy"
and "dauntless" and decides he doesn't want to bother with the disease. So he takes a thousand
of his knights and maidens and shuts himself up with them in a hidden "castellated abbey" (that
would be an abbey made over into a castle, with battlements).
 The doors of the abbey are welded shut, so no one can get in. But no one can get out, either.
 Prince Prospero is quite the party animal, and plans to have a good time while the rest of the
world dies.
 The abbey (which Prospero designed himself) is filled to the brim with all the makings of an
incredible party: lots of food, jesters, dancers, musicians, and wine.
 Five or six months after shutting himself up, Prince Prospero decides to have the biggest,
weirdest masked ball anyone's ever seen. The narrator can't get over just how cool the setup is,
and spends the next two pages raving about it. So, here's the setup:
 The ball is set in a suite of seven rooms, which run from east to west. Unlike most suites, they
don't form a straight line, but are at odd angles to each other.
 Each room is a different color, too (thanks to a serious job on the wall hangings) – even the
windows in the rooms are painted. The first room is blue, the second one purple, the third one
green, the fourth one orange, the fifth white, the sixth violet.
 The seventh room is particularly interesting. It's hung entirely in black velvet, but the windows
aren't black: instead, they're a deep blood red color. Mwahahaha…how ghoulish.
 As for the lighting? The windows of the rooms open on to a corridor, and the candles are actually
put in the corridor, so the light can stream through the windows into the rooms.
 This lighting makes the black room so creepy that almost no one dares to go in.
 In the black room there's also an enormous black clock.
 The clock chimes at every hour with a note so strange that all the masqueraders are put on edge
and stop whatever they're doing when they hear it, even the musicians. After the clock finishes,
they all laugh nervously and go back to partying.
 After describing the duke's designs, the narrator admits that our man Prospero's a little on the
odd side. So odd, in fact, that you might think he was insane, though his friends don't think so.
But he does know how to throw one heck of a party.
 The party is one wild good time – it feels like a fantasy land. The masqueraders look like
"dreams" and "fantasms." General revelry for all.
 The night wears on, and gradually the revelers get too nervous to even venture a foot into the
black and red room. The other rooms are jam-packed with people.
 Midnight arrives, and the clock strikes twelve eerie strokes. Everybody stops what they're doing,
as usual.
 Before the clock's done striking, some of the revelers start to notice a new guest has arrived, a
guest who even in Prospero's crazy crowd seems to have gone just a little too far…
 The new arrival is dressed like a corpse in a burial shroud, with aterribly convincing mask that
looks just like a dead person's face.
 If that were all, it wouldn't be such a big deal. But this guy's not just dressed like a corpse; he's
dressed like someone who died of the Red Death. You can tell by the blood.
 Prince Prospero catches sight of the "spectral image" (ghostly figure), who's walking slowly and
deliberately through the crowd. His first reaction is terror, but then he gets mad.
  Prospero demands to know who would dare to insult him so, and orders his guards to seize the
guy in the Red Death getup, and unmask him – he'll be publicly hanged at sunrise.
 No one has the courage to seize the guest. Including Prospero.
 The Red Death masquerader passes right by Prince Prospero, who's in the blue room, and slowly
makes his way from one room to another, heading towards the black room. Everybody shrinks
away as he passes.
 Now Prospero's angry enough to get over his nervousness. In rage, he draws a knife and runs
after the ghostly figure in the Red Death getup.
 Prospero passes from the blue room all the way down to the violet room, until he reaches the
ghostly guest at the edge of the black room.
 The Red Death masquerader suddenly turns around and faces Prospero, who drops his dagger
and falls down. Dead.
 Prospero's revelers, enraged enough to get over their fear, run into the black room and mob the
masquerader.
 As they rip at it, they're horrified to discover that there's nothing underneath the mask and shroud.
Uh oh. You know what that means…
 Everyone realizes that the Red Death itself has arrived at the party.
 Slowly, one by one, each person starts contorting, bleeding, and dying.
 The black clock dies too, and the candles go out…
 "And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all" (14).

The Masque of the Red Death Themes

Mortality
How could an Edgar Allan Poe story called "The Masque of the Red Death" not be about death? Death is
everywhere in this story, from the opening description of the "Red Death" plague to the closing...

Versions of Reality
In the "The Masque of the Red Death," Edgar Allan Poe immerses us in an atmosphere that feels more
dreamlike than real. This is in no small part because, as the story progresses, we get drawn ever...

Fear
Poe's main aim in "The Masque of the Red Death" is to create a growing sense of fear and dread in his
reader, starting in the opening sentence and building straight through to the story's dark clim...

Foolishness and Folly

Prince Prospero, the main character in "The Masque of the Red Death," lives mainly for pleasure, as do
his friends. Better not to think, and not to grieve, they believe – just enjoy life and...