Teaching And so concluded the last sunset on Earth.

While Hollywood has spent decades sending the Earth's final days up in a dizzying array of special effects, and YA fiction has tried to provide instruction manuals on how to survive the end of the world while being just sixteen and still find romance in your life, The Echo is here to provide a softer, quieter, contemplative end to it all. And so concluded the last sunset on Earth. by Sivan Sarig is a goodbye note to the end of it all that I think students will enjoy, connect to, and find it much more than merely a whimper, but nothing like a bang.

Jump to Section:

1. Analysis of Poem
2. Paired Texts and Further Reading
3. Lesson Plan
4. Writing Prompts

The first thing I noticed about this poem was the deliberate choice for the characters (and I think it's fair to call them characters in this instance) to play checkers and not chess. Obviously, it clues us in to the purpose behind the shape of the poem right at the outset, but it also begins the themes of deterioration and acquiescence. Even that compromise of checkers, even that game falls apart as the poem progresses, from the speaker fidgeting with the pieces rather than moving them to the line about accidentally moving the other player's pieces. The rules of the world that we have created for ourselves, the things that govern our society and guide our time fall away when it's the end of the world. It all feels like a game where the rules no longer matter because the outcome is determined. This might be an opportunity for students to identify with a poem that is inherently not-relatable (none of us having experienced the apocalypse, at least not so literally), because they can think about the way things fall apart at the end of the school year. Maybe it's just that I'm writing this in May, but the poem seems an apt metaphor for the listless days of testing, of seniors roaming the halls, or slipping attendance, and relaxed standards.