Teach This Poem: “Painters” by Muriel Rukeyser

Copyright © UNESCO.

1. Project the image of the prehistoric cave art from Northern Spain in front of the class. (For more information about this cave art, visit the UNESCO website.) Ask your students to look at the image carefully and write down what they see—colors, images, etc. What questions do they have about the image?
2. Ask your students to get in small groups to share the details they noticed in the cave art and the questions they have. Which of these questions do they think might be possible to answer through further research? Which of these questions do they think we may never be able to answer, and why? For any questions to which we might never know the real answers, have your students imagine what the answers could be based on what they see in the art.
3. Project the poem “Painters” in front of the class. Ask your students to read it silently and write down the words and phrases that jump out at them. Ask a student to read the poem aloud, while the listening students write down new words and phrases that they hear. Repeat this process with another student reading aloud.
4. Whole-class discussion: Keeping in mind what they noticed in the cave art and in their discussions, what visual images do your students notice in the poem? What scene is the poem portraying, and why do they think the poet may have chosen to depict it thisway? How might this imagining relate to current issues in the United States?
5. Ask your students to get in groups with others who have different or mixed perspectives and create their own “cave art.” What important objects, people, or events in their world would they want to include, and what images would they choose to represent these? How would they decide? When your students have finished, post the art around the room and lead a gallery walk, then ask each group of students to talk about how they made their painting.