This week's blog post is centered around reading and writing poetry. Now, before you hop off of the page too quickly, I want you to know that I, as a teacher, have struggled with reading and writing poetry my whole life. You are not alone.
My Personal Feelings about Reading and Writing Poetry
Reading and writing poetry elicits two different feelings from me: confusion and passion. I'm sure this is confusing for you, as a reader. Let me explain: Reading poetry, for me, is more difficult than writing poetry because I am constantly trying to imagine myself as the writer rather than looking through the lens of the author of the poetry I'm reading. For example, yesterday I was sitting outside in the sun, holding a book filled with small poems called All the Small Poems and fourteen more, but I could not concentrate on the words. I found myself drifting off, uninterested in the poems. Maybe the topic or theme of the poems was uninteresting. I am not sure; this happens often. When I begin reading a published work by a poet, a feeling of guilt washes over me when I don't particularly like their style of writing. To me, poetry is an art form, so when I don't like someone's art.... the guilt piles on.
However, when I am able to find a poem that I like, I personally like to read poems that come from the heart, that detail the struggles, passion, and heartbreak that everyday people go through. That is the type of poetry that I like to read about. I want to read poetry that makes me want to cry for the author... poetry helps me feel strong emotions... but I love it. Reading is one of my favorite passions because I am able to read about the topics that catch my attention. I can read about my interests and lose myself in the text. I so desperately want poetry to do this for me as well. (I'm going to begin my search for heart-wrenching poetry). I want to lose myself in poetry.
One of my favorite poems is Dante’s Inferno. Dante's Inferno is written by a 14th century poet: Dante Alighieri. This was one of the first poems that in my senior english class that I read that actually stuck with me for a while. I think what caught my attention was the adventure and themes within the plot of the poem. It pulled me in, captivated my attention, and didn’t let me go until I finished reading. This is how I want my readers to feel when they read my poetry.
I consider myself to be more of a writer of poetry than a reader of poetry. I think that is because the way my brain processes my inner and outer thoughts is often in the short, stanza-like forms of poetry. I have always had trouble telling stories to people from beginning to end, I am only ever able to tell stories in fragments. This is what poetry is for me. When I begin to write poetry, it’s as if my brain finally has a release in a form that is acceptable. I am able to write in a way that makes sense to me: the rules of grammar do not apply. It's almost if poetry is a representation of who I am as a person. I've always been misunderstood when it comes to how I speak while telling stories, but if I write poetry... people know that the form of the story being told will be unconventional.
TEACHING Poetry
From my own personal experiences writing poetry, I know that you begin to fall in love with it when you stop trying to “figure out” every hidden message the author incorporated. Sometimes author's mean what they literally wrote.. this is a concept that teachers NEED to grasp. Of course, some poetry has hidden meaning, but not all. In my opinion, poetry is a form of art and, therefore, everyone’s interpretation of art is different. How we interpret poetry is dependent on our background experiences. As a student, I was so frustrated when I couldn't decipher an author’s hidden messages. So much so that I couldn’t focus on the beauty of the poetry itself. I never want my students to feel this way.
Poetry is often overlooked in the classroom. This is because it is difficult to interpret and many people struggle with interpreting art. However, it doesn't have to be. We get better at writing and reading by.... DOING IT! Student's do NOT need prompts when it comes to writing poetry. In my opinion, they need to find the value in the little things. That is exactly what All the Small Poems and fourteen more does. Even though I didn't particularly like this author's style, doesn't mean that my students would have the same opinion. It is my job to give them the poetry and let them analyze it for themselves. All the Small Poems and fourteen more writes focuses on the little things in life such as the sun, pigs, cows, a chair, and more. It is a great book to show students that poetry can be inspired by anything.. even something as simple as a chair. This is what students need... they need to be exposed to poets who can write in a way they can understand.
How I know a Poem is GOOD
When I write poetry, I know that I’ve created a really strong poem when I can visualize the poem while reading it aloud. I always have a moment in time that my pen begins to fly off of the page and the ideas begin to spew out of my pen. Typically, when I write like this, my poems are amazing.... in my opinion. As a child, I always knew I wanted to write poetry, but I never felt like “a poet”. I never felt like I could write as well as a poet and always wondered why; why didn’t I have the ideas, why isn’t my form like theirs, I feel like I’m trying too hard, etc. However, when I started using Mentor Texts to guide my poetry, I finally felt like a real writer of poetry. The more exposure that I have to reading poetry helps mold me into a better
poet. I’ve fallen in love with poetry.
I don't have a checklist, rubric, or anything that helps me grade if a poem is 'good'. With any form of writing, I think you just KNOW when it is good. You can feel it in your soul. Yes, that sounds very cheesy but it's true. Poetry awakens your thoughts and emotions.. so you just know when it is good. I wish I had more to give you in terms of how I personally know.
**I will think on this for a bit and come back and edit my post**
Update: While in class, we discussed Rosenblatt's Transactional Theory of Reading Response, which was exactly what I was trying to describe above. The following slide was provided by Dr. Beth Frye of Appalachian State University, which describes the two different stances that poetry could be viewed as. In my paragraph above, I was referencing the Aesthetic Stance.
How to create a poetry environment:
The poetry environment is one that needs to be fostered from the beginning of the school year. Along with traditional prose, children should be continuously exposed to poetry in and out of the classroom. The poetry environment must be one that students are able to feel comfortable in because poetry is an abstract form of literacy. In my opinion, poetry is one of the more difficult genres of literature because like art, it is open to interpretation; there is no "right" answer to poetry. Many students are fearful of interpreting poetry because of the many different interpretations of it-- I was one of these students. As a students, I just want to get everything "right" to please my teacher, parents, and myself, so when I interpreted poetry wrong, I could feel myself growing distant from it. This sounds a bit dramatic, but I did not have a growth mindset when it came to poetry. I never want my students to feel like this. Therefore, students should be allowed to interpret poetry whichever way they see fit. There are different styles of poetry that can be either interpreted literally or metaphorically. Students must understand the difference between these two styles of poetry to understand how to navigate poetry.
For example All the Small Poems and fourteen more is a book filled with poems that analyze everyday objects both literally and metaphorically. Student should be exposed to poetry like this.
The following excerpt is from this book and the poem is titled pie
"After the yellow-white
Pie dough is rolled out
Flat, and picked up
Dropping like a round
velvet mat, fitted gently
Into the dish, and piled
with slied, sugared
Yellow-White apples"
As you can see this poem is describing the literal process of making a pie. There is no 'deeper' meaning to this poem-- it is simply describing the beauty of the pie-making process.
Comparatively, the poem zinnias calls for students to make a deeper analysis of an everyday object:
" In the house, in the water, they
Will hardly wilt-- I know
Someone like zinnias; I wish
I were like zinnias."
As you can see, this poem is comparing the characteristics of zinnias with the characteristics of human beings. There is a deeper meaning behind this poem which allows students to see the difference between a literal poem and a poem that is more metaphorical.
These are just two examples of poetry that can help students understand and navigate poetry. The best advice I can give is to give your students exposure to different poets from different time periods with different styles of writing. Let your students practice writing poetry, write poetry in collaboration with your students, and share poetry with your students. Poetry is often personal, but your students need to see you vulnerable for them to be vulnerable, themselves.
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