"The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" by Randall Jarrell
Lesson plans and teaching resources

Randall Jarrell - The Academy of American Poets
Biography, e-texts, bibliography.

Randall Jarrell
Links to several poems. Follow the tab to criticism.

Assignment 1: A Starting Point
This lesson focuses on Randall Jarrell's "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner."

Close Reading Poetry Analysis Lesson 2: Speaker, Figurative Language, & Sound Devices
This lesson plan uses "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" and Teasdale's "I am not Yours" as companion pieces. Students will analyze and interpret the way an author's style (use of poetic devices) develops tone and theme in challenging grade-appropriate poetry. Close-reading skills culminate in an essay analyzing the way speaker's point of view, sound devices, and figurative language contribute a poem's theme. Handouts are provided, including one with charts, text-marking codes, guiding questions, links to the poems and video, an essay model, and an essay grading scale.

"The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner"
Text of the poem with explanatory information added by Jarrell.

Soldiers' Perspectives on War: Can Point of View Convince?
This lesson uses "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" and Wilfred Owen's "Dulce and Decorum Est" as companion pieces to explore the impact of point of view.